As a business leader when you think of accountability, who is the first person you think of holding accountable – yourself or your team? Leaders often fall into a pattern of looking at their team when there are problems. Sounds logical, right? If people in your organization are showing up late, leaving early, taking long breaks, being rude to customers (fill in this list with whatever frustrates you); there must be something wrong with the employees. You might believe that your responsibility as a leader is to have a stern talk with them, or maybe a motivational coaching session with a guest speaker, or perhaps it is time to just clean house and fire some people. The truth is, it may be time to ask yourself this question, “Who are you looking at?”
You may have heard me talk before about the Managers Mirror in which leaders have to ask themselves 2 key questions: “Am I providing the tools and resources to my team that they need to succeed?” and, “Is my team reflecting the characteristics in me that I want to see in them?”
When presenting on the Managers Mirror, I give the following example of providing resources.
“If I hire a sales person and tell them to make 20 calls per day, but I don’t give them a phone…when those calls aren’t made, whose fault is it?”
Truth is, if you’re upset that your team is not performing up to your standard, there is a good chance they are reflecting their leadership. It may be time for you or your management staff to do a self-reflection to determine why your company culture is one that does not hold these values important. Of course I am not implying this is always the case, there are certainly situations when an individual just does not fit on the team; but when an entire team is not performing up to expectations, it is rarely the entire teams fault.
The most common argument to this is usually where the leader rambles on about how they have earned the right, or since they are the boss they can do what they want. But in reality, this is the workplace equivalent of “Do as I say, not as I do.” Although you may be able to get your team to perform in this manner, it will not be in a healthy company culture and this is no way to earn trust, and develop loyalty.
So next time you see something in your team that you don’t care for, try looking in the mirror and ask yourself, “Who are you looking at?”
