3 Unexpected Actions That Will Make You a Better Leader for Your Team  

There are a lot of books out there on leadership, leading teams, being a leader rather than a “boss,” and more. Being a successful leader starts with having a great team, and having a great team starts with bringing together a group of people who have the right knowledge, skills, and abilities. But having a group of people who are coachable and who actually care about driving toward your goals is equally important.

How can you make people more coachable, or make them care? You need to gain their respect, ensure they value your leadership and opinion, and feel engaged and understood so that they won’t want to leave your team. Being accountable, meticulous, straightforward, and strategic will get you half way there. But the other half requires doing things that may surprise you.

Take a Sick Day When You Need It
One of the things people consider most important when looking for a new job is flexibility, vacation, and sick time. If your employees don’t feel they can take the time they are entitled to, these important benefits become just words.

Your team follows your example. If you never take a sick day, your employees will feel insecure about calling in sick themselves. That feeling of insecurity and witnessing people working while they are sick leads to an unwell team, both physically and professionally. Let people take the time they need to recuperate so that they can be productive when they return to work. The best way to do this is to lead by example. If you are sick, take a day off.

Keep in mind that working from home is not the same as taking a sick day. If you have a case of the sniffles that you just don’t want to spread around the office, the flexibility of working from home can be valuable. But if you have something more severe, you need to take the time off to rest and recover. By setting the example in both situations, you will encourage others to do the same. 

Take Parental Leave
Lead by example when it comes to taking time off for parental leave or to stay home with a sick child, too. It’s been an issue at the top of minds and media that America has some of the poorest parental leave policies in the world, and if you don’t take advantage of even the meager ones you may have, you are sending a message to your team that they shouldn’t use the leave, either. Everyone deserves the time to bond with a child after birth or adoption–fathers and mothers alike. Additionally, everyone should be able to enforce that bond by staying home with a child when he or she is sick. No child wants to get stuck with a babysitter who doesn’t provide the love and comfort a parent does. Worse, no child should be sent off to daycare or school after a dose of Tylenol and a kiss. Take the time to take care of yourself and your family, and your team will do the same.  And they will be more appreciative and productive because of it.

Be Open and Honest About Feedback from Your Own Leaders
Getting (and giving) feedback on how to improve  productivity, strategy, or behavior can be one of the hardest things for a leader or an employee. But providing feedback with transparency and positive intent can make employees more effective and happier at work. The key to encouraging employees to accept feedback without becoming defensive, hurt, or upset is not just about  how you give it, but also in the acknowledgement that feedback is needed and given universally. You should share with employees the feedback that you get from your own boss and what you are working on improving, so they understand that you are human, too, and are striving to be your best and building a team that strives in that same way.

Whether it is in a staff meeting or in side conversations, you might mention something like, “Did you look over the email I sent on this quarter’s results? I’m really trying to be more concise, as that is some feedback I’ve gotten from my boss. It’s challenging because it’s my instinct to give more details, but I am trying to improve there. What did you think?”

Similarly, it is okay to sympathize when giving others feedback. “I notice your updates are lengthy, and we are trying to move to more brief reviews.  I know I have gotten the feedback to be succinct before and struggled with it. Here are some things that helped me… .”

Alternatively, you may bring up your own feedback when an employee has the opposite issue: “I notice you are really succinct in the quarterly briefings. Most of the time, that’s a good thing, and I know I have even gotten feedback in the past that I needed to be more concise. In this case, though, we really need more detail. Can you ensure you demonstrate not only the ranking, but the metrics behind them for this report?”

Showing that you have experienced similar situations makes people want to improve for you and with you instead of walking out of your office, muttering to themselves, “I need to be more concise? Really? Is she so perfect with her mile-long emails?”

Each of these leadership keys allows you to show your humanity and your vulnerability, while still remaining accountable. It’s often said that people don’t leave a job, they leave the manager. To ensure good retention (as well as employee engagement, trust, and efficiency), be a manager who shows and feels compassion, who strives to improve and expects the same effort from her team, and who puts personal safety and wellness of herself and her family before tasks that that can wait and expects the team to do the same. The more you show of yourself as a person and as a leader, the more you open up about your own vulnerabilities and expectations of yourself and your team members, and the more you share your best advice on how to get there, the more your team will respect you. When you have that respect, you will have a team that is willing to work hard to conquer goals with passion and power.