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<\/a>Facing the green meanie<\/h3>\nNow, this might be putting your boss (or you) to the extreme. Perhaps poor treatment in childhood doesn’t send you careening down the mountain and through the hallways like a green meanie with the goal to hurt others. But the Grinch in us comes in varying degrees.\u00a0 Perhaps you simply want to keep professionalism in the workplace so you come across aloof and cold.\u00a0 Or maybe you\u2019re opposed to people having too much fun.<\/p>\n
But even without intention, many leaders easily come across as a killjoy. The tendency to be cynical, stingy and unapproachable comes at the most inopportune times:<\/p>\n
- \n
- When a colleague or team member comes to you with suggestions;<\/li>\n
- When someone brings a concern to your desk;<\/li>\n
- When a problem needs to be resolved right away and you just can\u2019t deal: or,<\/li>\n
- Simply when someone is so annoyingly perky.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The hard truth is that many leaders, managers, and department heads <\/strong>don\u2019t mind being perceived as unapproachable. They think there is power in that.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s a style that has worked for them and their command and control<\/em> work culture.\u00a0 And in many ways, keeping familiarity at a distance has its advantages – that is until the pandemic. Now how to be an approachable leader is gaining ground and the wise leaders are shedding the green hair and investigating the meanie side of their nature.<\/p>\n
What does it mean to be approachable?<\/h3>\n
Approachability means being easy to meet with and talk to.<\/p>\n
Being approachable and respectfully sincere, frank and forthright helps lay the groundwork for building good relationships with colleagues and creating a strong team so that ideas can flow in a psychologically safe way – one that is free from repercussions and snarky remarks. What it is NOT is having your office door open any time of day, or having a seeming hotline anyone could call to air out problems and concerns.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/h3>\nHow to be an approachable leader by being the right kind of approachable<\/h3>\n
There\u2019s a huge gap between being proactively approachable and being a complete Grinch. It\u2019s all about appropriate boundaries. It is being assertive rather than aggressive or the proverbial doormat, who accommodates until there is no more to give. While you can\u2019t be a \u201cbuddy\u201d to all your employees, going the extreme won\u2019t cut it either. The key is to strike a balance between keeping team leadership top of mind and maintaining workplace rapport with improved genuineness. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
Treat everyone the same.<\/h4>\n
The balancing act is akin to being a parent with several children. You have to be consistent.\u00a0 You can\u2019t pick favorites.\u00a0 One way to keep things on the same level with everyone is to be meticulous from the get-go \u00a0(as early as hiring).\u00a0 More often than not, recruiters can get carried away with sunny dispositions, shortlisting those who seem fun to hang out with.\u00a0 But instead of personalities, zero in on qualifications.\u00a0 Are candidates a good fit for the job description?\u00a0 Are they sold on the company\u2019s vision?<\/p>\n
Establish ground rules with a strong memorandum of understanding.<\/h4>\n
Some distance is good.\u00a0 As a manager, there should be respected leadership.\u00a0 This ensures that everyone gets along courteously without overstepping boundaries.\u00a0 For instance, managers can spend happy hours at work but shouldn\u2019t attend birthday parties of their employees\u2019 children.\u00a0 Or perhaps, everyone should maintain a personal and professional social media account.<\/p>\n
Keeping your non-work-related affairs separate makes it easier to interact.\u00a0 In the same light, managers shouldn\u2019t contact employees during off-hours, UNLESS necessary and urgent.<\/p>\n
Throw toxicity out the door.<\/h4>\n
Seems reasonable, right?\u00a0 But it’s sneaky how easily leadership mistakes are made.\u00a0 Here are some devious ways of being toxic:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Micromanaging<\/a><\/li>\n
- Assigning too much work to others<\/li>\n
- Being unreasonable with deadlines and goals<\/a><\/li>\n
- Solving problems with a quick fix instead of something more permanent<\/a><\/li>\n
- Publicly bullying others or making sarcastic, half-meant jokes (full blown green meanie behavior)<\/li>\n
- Discouraging creativity and innovation by shooting ideas down immediately<\/li>\n
- Not delegating work to the right people with procedures clearly understood and actionable<\/li>\n
- Not setting goals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Nurture camaraderie.<\/h4>\n
Never hole up in your green meanie cave. Keeping one\u2019s distance while nurturing relationships at work isn\u2019t just doable, it\u2019s encouraged.\u00a0 Have lunch with them. Schedule one-on-ones with each team member. Get down and dirty in the trenches with them when performing tasks.\u00a0 Taking the time to know your employees allows you to see what their interests are and what motivates them.\u00a0 Sometimes, you\u2019d be surprised to discover a special skill (which you never would\u2019ve known since nobody asked!).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Be trustworthy.<\/h4>\n
Trust among members is non-negotiable.\u00a0\u00a0 Leaders must establish trust to create a dynamic and engaged work culture.\u00a0 There\u2019s no getting around it.\u00a0 Robust relationships are built on honesty and respectfully sincere, frank and forthright communication.\u00a0 A good friend will tell you when something is wrong \u2013 no matter how much the truth hurts.\u00a0 In the same token, a good leader communicates well and implements catalytic coaching to help team members progress and improve.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
In an approachable workplace environment, people feel that it\u2019s all about training, preparation, and working together.\u00a0 When there\u2019s trust, when people feel they won\u2019t be humiliated, shut down, or given the boot, the work moves forward.<\/p>\n
On a final note\u2026 what becomes of the Grinch?<\/h3>\n
In the end, he realizes that it wasn\u2019t really holiday celebrations he shunned but being hurt by social rejection,\u00a0 being left out and isolated.\u00a0 Building a true sense of belonging turned him around.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t too far-fetched when it comes to some\u00a0 leaders in power positions.\u00a0 \u00a0Because they cannot trust others, they are wont to keep to themselves.\u00a0 Because they keep to themselves, opportunities to improve and maximize their team\u2019s skill sets are missed.<\/p>\n
If this feels familiar to you or if this feels like you or someone you work with, know this is a solvable issue for leaders who want it to be.\u00a0 Trust can be taught and nurtured, as much as earned.\u00a0<\/a>Trust is the T in in the TIGERS Model for collaborative leadership,\u00a0 work culture and team development. The other TIGERS principles are Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Rick resolution and Success. You can grinchy negative workforce and leadership behavior here in this complimentary introduction to TIGERS.<\/a><\/p>\n
Care to dig deeper into how to be an approachable leader and lose the Grinch?<\/h3>\n
The following posts and courses carry the conversation deeper.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Genuine Communicator coaching program\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n
- Leadership Fundamentals<\/a><\/li>\n
- Six Principles that Build High Performance Teams<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blogs<\/h4>\n
https:\/\/corevalues.com\/leadership\/team-problem-solving-activities-can-help-leaders-develop-an-attractive-work-culture\/<\/p>\n
https:\/\/corevalues.com\/remote-workers\/what-are-some-remote-work-tips-for-managers\/<\/p>\n
https:\/\/corevalues.com\/productivity\/stop-micromanaging-invest-time-in-self-management-strategy\/<\/p>\n
Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton<\/p>\n
About TIGERS Success Series<\/h2>\n
TIGERS provides a comprehensive, multi-pronged and robust system for improving your workforce behavior, work culture, profitability and project management and team leadership success.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>We specialize in building cooperation among employees and collaboration between departments for profitable, agile, and high performance team outcomes.\u00a0 Scaled to\u00a0 grow as your organization and leadership performance improves, our proprietary\u00a0TIGERS Workforce<\/a>\u00a0Behavior Profile<\/a>,\u00a0Micro-Training technology and group facilitation\u00a0<\/a>methods result in your\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>high performance team outcomes and change management success. We also license and certify elite internal and external consultants and project managers to use our resources for similar outcomes.<\/p>\n - Leadership Fundamentals<\/a><\/li>\n
- Micromanaging<\/a><\/li>\n