Over the years in business I have distilled some common traits of great leaders.
One of these traits is “Approach”; that is how a leader approaches their teams and interacts with individuals.
This I believe is the foundation of every great leader. They need to consciously monitor their approach and be aware of how they interact with different team members as this affects individual performance and behaviour. They need to be adaptable to people while still maintaining a consistent outcome. A good leader understands that how they interact with people and how they behave must be devoid of any unconscious biases they have in their “Approach” to a team or team members. Unconscious biases can be gradual and slowly change how someone treats and interacts with people in the workforce and if not checked eventually become a habit. These biases while being sub conscious are very often observed by others in the management team. The result of which is people feeling that they are being treated unequally. Being aware of these behaviours is especially important as a leader is expected to set and mange individual and team performance, set goals and above all maintain accountability equally without Bias. A leader must suspend any bias they may have and to do this they need to be self-aware ensuring consistency in how they manage their team. It also ensures that you not only make your team accountable to an outcome; you make yourself accountable as a leader.
Basically, not all human beings are the same, they all have different filters and belief systems. While we intuitively know this, consciously trying to change our approach when interacting with different people and understanding the biases that we may have is a conscious behaviour that is often neglected. There are so many layers to people, everything from cultural perspectives, educational backgrounds, personality traits and value systems that greatly affect how people process and interpret information. Some people work well under pressure, others don’t. Some respond best to tough love; others take it personally and shut down. In order to optimise your effectiveness as a leader, you must have the ability to customise your approach on a person by person basis, based on the situation at hand. Your capacity to execute this concept will play a huge role in your ability to get the best work out of your team. Your approach is also linked to your personal awareness. There is a difference between management and employees, bosses and workers. Leaders understand the nature of this difference and accepting it; moulds their image, their actions and their communication. They conduct themselves in a way that sets them apart from their employees. Not in a manner that suggests they are better than others, but in a way that permits them to retain an objective perspective on everything that’s going on in the business.
Given the above it is little wonder that a Leader must change hats numerous times during the day. Therefore, great leaders adapt and change to suit the different personality profiles and communication styles, that in turn help a leader communicate and manage more effectively.
We as individuals are naturally drawn to certain types of people outside of work; we create friends and relationships based on an alignment to our values, communication styles and socio-economic conditions. We unconsciously seek out and find these people and align to them, this is an unconscious bias. We have an unconscious bias regarding many things we interact with outside of the work environment and as a leader it has no relevance outside of work. Inside work, having these biases can destabilise teams and create anxiety.
People are very aware if a bias exists in the workplace, a good leader ensures their approach negates this.