Become a Role Model

ONE OF THE most important contributions you can make to your business is to become a role model to your staff. You should strive to become the kind of person that people look up to, admire, and want to be like.

Excellent managers know that they are constantly being observed by their staff and that their behavior sets the standard for the entire work unit. Remember that your people will work the way you do. If you want people to come in early in the morning, you come in early. If you want them to be punctual, make a habit of being punctual yourself. If you want them to set priorities on their tasks, you should set priorities on your tasks. If you want them to use their time well, you should use your time well.

Set the Standard

Your organization or department will eventually take on the attitudes, values, opinions, behaviors, and habits that you demonstrate. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Every organization is merely the lengthened shadow of one man.” You can never expect people in your organization to be much different or much better than you are.

One of the great questions to ask is, “What kind of a company would it be if everyone in it was just like me?”

When you ask and answer this question, over and over, you will always see areas where you could improve and become both a better manager and a better person.

It is up to you to set higher standards for yourself, and then to continue to raise the bar.

The Loneliness of Command

When you are a member of the staff, you can “let it all hang out.” You can chitchat with coworkers, grumble about the company or other people, take long lunches, and come in to work late and leave early.

But when you become a manager, a leader, everything changes. You are no longer one of the gang. Your primary loyalty is no longer to your coworkers but to your superiors. You are expected to set the standards for everyone who reports to you.

Here's an exercise for you: Make a list of the work habits and behaviors of the ideal employee. If all your employees were perfect, how would they work, walk, talk, and interact with each other?

Then, make a list of all of those behaviors that you could personally engage in, in order to set an example for the behaviors that you most want to see in others. Review these behaviors on a regular basis and look for every opportunity to practice these behaviors in your interactions with other people.

Walk the Talk

For example, if you want your employees to treat each other with caring, courtesy, and consideration, then you should make a point of practicing those same three qualities in every interaction with every staff member. Act as though everyone is watching, because everyone is watching.

Never say anything about a staff member that you do not want to have reported back to that staff member (and to everyone else in your department) within a few minutes. There are no secrets in a work environment. Everyone knows everything, and far faster than you would like.

If you want people to have good work habits, establish good work habits for yourself. If you want people to be fully prepared for meetings, come to each meeting fully prepared. Imagine that you are a teacher and that, in their day-to-day work, all your “students” are eventually going to do exactly what you do.

Becoming a role model that everyone admires and looks up to is one of the most important contributions that you can make to your business. It is for you to set high standards to which everyone wants to aspire.