Teach as You Lead

Leaders, or managers, are teachers. I always wanted to get as much accomplished as possible with as little effort as possible. So, as general manager of my hotels, I would empower my department heads to take on more responsibilities and I would encourage them to teach the employees under their guidance how to take care of and monitor progress of these extra responsibilities. They loved the fact that I trusted them to handle these assignments, they enjoyed learning, and they felt more like a part of the overall team. I would spend the required quality time with them to make sure they understood the steps or processes in the projects, and when they had it I would leave it to them. If they had any questions I was quick to be there and help them through. Eventually, my hotel was running with heightened efficiency and my personal workload was less than it was before. This gave me more time to focus on other areas of a general manager’s responsibilities.

Understand that leadership is more of a purpose to guide and teach others and not some lofty position for other to praise. If you lead your people, the praise will come automatically and, more importantly, it will be from their hearts. They will want to do more for you and they will want to complete assignments with the best quality work they can, because they respect you. Since your employees represent you, and every manager is judged by his/her staff, it is far better that they see you as a true leader. Become the purpose, not the position.