Be Flexible

 Assume the best

 Make room for innovative ideas

 Admit when you are wrong

Be Flexible – Assume the Best

Trust is a powerful leadership tool. Use “antennae” questions as often as possible, such as “Why did you decide to do it that way?” Avoid “horned” questions altogether, such as “What gives you the right to mess up everyone else’s schedule?”

For example:

• Don’t you think you should try to have a good relationship with your co-worker? Horned question.
• What caused you to miss the deadline? Antennae question.
• Do you have the authority to make the decision? Horned question.
• How could you have serviced our client better in that situation? Antennae question.
• Why are you always so negative? Horned question.
• What do you think went wrong in this situation? Antennae question.
• Why can’t you commit to a deadline? Horned question.

How can you show your team members that you trust them? How can you “treat them gently?” How can you build a better team?

Cross train team members; give them more responsibility; use team members to train other team members.

Empower them to believe in themselves by believing in them first; respect your team.

Be patient when correcting mistakes; give them the information they need to do it right the next time.

Ask yourself: “What do they need from me to succeed?”

RESPECT your team: employees are more effective when they feel respected.

Be Flexible – Make Room for Good Ideas

It is your responsibility as a leader to be open to innovative ideas. The quickest way to destroy an atmosphere that encourages innovative ideas is to fail to listen. Furthermore, non-verbal messages can also shut down innovative ideas. Let us list a few of those:

Non-verbal Messages

How can you tell when the person you are speaking to…?

• …could care less about what you have to say?
• …could care less about you?
• …is distracted and not giving his or her all attention to what you are saying?
• …is trying to find a way to end the conversation?
• …has taken offence at what you have said?

Verbal messages

A sample of lethal phrases includes:

• “Been there, done that.”
• “It’ll never fly.”
• “I’ll get back to you.”
• “The boss will never sign off on it.”
• “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
• “That’s not for us.”
• “That’s not in your job description.”
• “This is the way it’s always been done.”

Cut lethal phrases from your conversations and open the doors for co-operation problem solving.

Be Flexible – Admit When You’re Wrong

One of the worst ways we can show our inflexibility as a leader is not to to admit when we are wrong. On the job, we may believe that a confession will compromise our authority – but a manager who is incapable of realising and confessing a mistake or a misunderstanding will never be elevated to the status of leader in the eyes of her team.

• Why do you think we often find it difficult to admit when we are wrong?
• As a manager, have you ever been in a position when you had to admit a mistake?
• How did you admit that you were wrong?
• How did your team respond?