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Jim sat with his manager to discuss his performance during the past six months, but during the discussion with his manager Jim was caught off-guard with his manager's discussion:
"Jim, you are too soft with your people, you need to show them you are a jerk, show them who the boss is."
Now the culture of the organization is very toxic, but Jim was the exception to the rule, but now he was being forced to adopt a style of management not align to his personality and his values. So eventually, when the pressure was unbearable from his manager, Jim left the company to the disbelief of his team. But can you blame Jim, how can anyone lead in a culture of distrust between employees and management.
Inspire Trust
One of the biggest mistakes many leaders make, according to David Horsager, is to assume that people trust them merely by the virtue of their title. Trust is not a benefit that comes packaged with the nameplate on your door. It must be earned, and it takes time. Trust can't be built overnight; it requires time, effort, diligence, and character. Inspiring trust is not slick or easy to fake. Trust is like a forest. It takes a long time to grow and can burn down with a just touch of carelessness.
Great Culture, Great Company
Your workplace should not be a place people dread every day. Employees should look forward to going to their jobs. In fact, they should have a hard time leaving because they enjoy the challenges, their co-workers, and the atmosphere, according to Neil Patel. Your job shouldn't provoke stress, while the work may be challenging, the culture shouldn't add to the pressure of the work. On the contrary, your culture should be designed to alleviate work-related stress.
Focus On Your Leadership Character
You might have the authority to tell people what to do, but if you're an ineffective leader and your character is questionable, you won't be able to guide, influence, inspire and motivate anyone to accomplish anything. As an inspirational leader, you cannot have an unpredictable leadership character, one that changes with every passing wind. Your real leadership character will show up sooner or later, and people will eventually know if you are a fraud, or if you are a genuine leader.
All jobs have some level of challenge, according to Lisa Tyan— even on good days.
However, if going to work (or just the thought of going to work) makes you tired, depressed, or even physically ill, that's more than just general work stress; these are the signs of a toxic work environment. Work should never be a prison sentence, waiting for bail every day at 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We spend so much of our time at our place of work; it should be a natural extension of our home, and I believe in all my heart that every organization should and can be a great place to work.
An organization's culture doesn't turn toxic because of a few bad seeds. It becomes toxic because the leadership didn't see or outright ignored the signs that something was amiss. "Leadership sets the tone of the workplace culture and acceptable behavior patterns, according to Shahnaz Broucek, a professor of coaching and mentoring for MBA students at the University of Michigan.
The onus, ultimately, is on the leadership to identify and fix the source of a team's disintegration. But what if leadership is the problem? Hmm, great question, this means the leader must get it right with themselves first before they can get it right with their team.
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About Gifford Thomas
I am the founder of Leadership First and the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible. At Leadership First, we are committed to publishing the very best inspirational leadership quotes and articles to inspire our 125,000+ community of leaders to believe in the impossible, while creating an environment free from toxic, fearful and intimidating leadership. We believe everyone can and should enjoy their work, but it must start with the leadership leading by example. Follow our community of leaders HERE, and let's change the leadership status quo to help inspire and motivate our leaders to make a difference and create an organization their people will love.
You can download a copy of my book The Inspirational Leader and Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible by clicking on the word inspirational below: