Does Your Employees’ Impression of You as a Leader Matter?
Does your employees’ view of you matter? Do you care if they like you as a leader or not? These are important questions to answer. Some business leaders seem not to care about how they’re viewed in the organizations. They only care about getting things done. If you view leadership this way, it’s not necessarily a bad idea. However, others care about what their employees think about them. They want to please everyone, including the people they work with. If you’re this type of leader, it’s also your choice.
Everyone views leadership differently. For some business leaders, it’s all about satisfying everyone in the team. For others, relationships don’t matter as long as objectives are achieved.
Relationships are important
Being concerned about how people think of you is okay as long as your goal isn’t to impress them. You care about what they think because you see them as equals. Even if you’re the leader of the organization, you still want to know their views. You understand that you’re not the only person who can contribute to the team. If you worry about how they think of you, it’s because of your intention to be better. You want to be a more capable leader. You listen to constructive criticisms. It’s a problem if you have too much faith in yourself, and you completely ignore other people’s views. Even if there’s a consensus among your employees about your terrible actions as a leader, you still don’t care.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
The other side of the coin is when you care too much about what others think. You decide based on how you can please your employees. If you worry about how they think of you as a person, you could end up being too hard on yourself. It’s also not a good idea. You might have excellent qualities as a leader, but you ignore them because you believed in what other people say. You might also have a hard time being tough, especially in implementing difficult decisions because you don’t want to make your employees feel bad.
It’s okay to make friends
Another issue among leaders is that they worry about being friends with their employees. They don’t want to step this line since it could open a can of worms. Professional relationships are on the line because of being friends. The truth is that you can be friends with anyone and still maintain professional relationships. Just because you become close with a subordinate doesn’t mean it should affect how you deal with work. If your friend makes professional and unfair favors because of your position, you should never be friends in the first place. The good thing about having friends at work is that their views hold more water. They know you better and they can help you during tough times. They won’t decide for you, but they will open your mind.
It’s always tough to be a leader. You’re caught in between maintaining a distance and forging relationships with your employees. You want to be loved, but you also want to be tough. Find the right balance between these two, and you will be fine.
Photo Attribution:
1st and featured image from https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/fit-in/1200×0/filters%3Aformat%28jpg%29/https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fglennllopis%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F04%2Fistock_000017326764large1.jpg
2nd image from https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/8-tips-for-effective-leadership.html
