Leadership & Management

Step 1: Credibility

Your success as a leader and the commitment of your employees depend on whether people believe in you.

• Do I communicate openly and am I accessible?
• Do I encourage employee growth and development?
• Am I honest and consistent in the way I carry out the company's vision?
• Create your own action plan
• Resources

Do I communicate openly and am I accessible?

Action Plan

• Use clear, simple and direct language when speaking or writing to employees. Avoid using hollow clichés or phrases. Be upfront and speak with conviction, giving the same messages that you give to any other groups, e.g. suppliers, investment community, etc.
• Try to be visible and engaged in impromptu conversations with employees. It doesn't matter if you're wearing a suit or jeans and a T-shirt; employees will look at your face, your manner and body language and will decide for themselves if they find you credible.
• Where practical, hold meetings to review/reaffirm organizational priorities and encourage employee engagement and discussion. Keep the meetings positive and solution-focused rather than negative and problem-focused.

Do I encourage employee growth and development?

Action Plan

• Create and encourage a culture of opportunity by having training programs that build employees' skills and advancement opportunities. If a small company, take charge of matching employees with specific training yourself.
• Build pride by ensuring (as much as possible and practical) that the company has the most up-to date systems and technology available. Make sure employees are aware of this by properly introducing new technology and explaining what advantage it will give employees and the company. Also be sure to adequately address the fears and frustrations of having to give up the old way of doing things and learn something new. If employees know that you know what they are going through, they will be less likely to resist changes.
• Offer opportunities for employees to develop interchangeable skills, so that an employee not using a system, say database management software, can choose to learn that particular skill, whether for the value of learning something new or with an eye to moving to that part of the business from their current post.

Am I honest and consistent in the way I carry out the company's vision?

Action Plan

• If one does not exist, develop a relevant vision for your company (e.g. to be an industry leader) that also reflects the goals and values of your employees.
• Use concrete examples to explain how each department or individual can be true to your vision on a daily basis.
• Be ethical and encourage employees to behave in an ethical way, both in their dealings with co-workers and external groups such as suppliers and customers. If you must occasionally stray from the vision explain why, instead of remaining silent.
• Do not sugarcoat or try to put a spin on failures or shortcomings, big or small. Employees can get angry and even counter-productive if they feel they are being lied to. They may feel more in control and able to adapt if you share the facts with them.

Create your own action plan

Leadership Matters-Ensure Credibility [PDF]

Resources

The following are links to resources that may be of interest to you. If you click on a link you may be entering a third party website not maintained or controlled in any way by Great-West Life.