In your role as leader, making sure that you are there to serve your people, to ensure they are the best they can be involves more giving and less taking. These ‘Leadership Wisdoms’ words will hekp you appreciate the reasons why. And how being a giving leader is ultimately much more rewarding than being a taker.
There are many times for a leader to consciously say ‘Yes’ to situations with their people. In another ‘Leadership Wisdoms’ poster here, you will find out why. Yet there are also times where it is important to learn to say ‘No’ more often. Or your ability to do your job can be affected.
A leader’s role has to focus on particular activities. Generally aimed at being the best they can to develop and utilise their people, there can easily be calls on their position to get involved in things they have no need to.
It is an easy trap to fall into. When asked for help, or appreciation of their expertise, the halo of their ego can easily get in the way of the focus they need. So, there is a skill in getting over people who play on a leader’s goodwill for their own interests.
Saying ‘No’ to people can take a bit for them to get used to and in the first instance, declining support that takes their eye off the ball can make for an uncomfortable feeling. Yet the best leaders learn how to set effective boundaries by saying ‘No’ often enough to enable them to do their own job well.
Sometimes, this is with their own people as well. Pushing back to get team members to stretch and challenge themselves rather than run to their leader to fix things for them is a really valuable aspect of the role – and the skill of saying ‘No’. Both for the leader and also for the development of those people in their teams who would most benefit from it too.
To download the poster, backed by the article and 5 Steps to Saying ‘No’, click here.