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Good leadership requires change

People don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses.

Employees want to be part of something bigger, to have purpose in their career. The WHY behind what a business does is more important to most employees than WHAT a business does.

Team members want to be appreciated, and appreciation is more than just monetary.

I didn’t make those things up. They are all researched and proven to be true, but, to some leaders, managers, and business owners, those things sound fluffy, ridiculous, and unimportant. They consider those things perhaps just a fad or another mark against a specific generation. They ignore it.

Yet those who are taking that change in culture seriously are realizing how true those things are and how much positive impact it has on their business if they create an environment where those things are recognized and honored.

If what I shared in the first paragraph is true – and plenty of sources demonstrate that they are indeed true – then why are there still so many people leading others who aren’t bothering to change their leadership style? Who aren’t adapting their leadership to the new culture? Who aren’t investing in their own leadership development?

Especially during what is being called the Great Resignation.

Do they expect those things to go away soon? Do they expect or demand that their team adapt to their stagnant leadership style? Do they not care or not believe those things are true? Are they allowing their egos to get in the way of becoming a tremendous leader? Do they not know how to become the leader today’s employees want?

If those in leadership roles today cared about the changes happening in the workforce and how it will, undoubtedly, negatively impact their business, the following examples would not still be happening. Yet, these are all real examples of terrible leadership that I have witnessed or that have been shared with me by people who experienced it firsthand:

The leader who has rules for his team but does not follow the rules himself. A true, “rules for thee, but not for me,” environment.

The leader who hasn’t stepped foot in the area where his employees physically work in almost three years.

The leader who presented an idea as his own, but it was pitched to him by a team member just days earlier.

The leader who has his son working on his team and regularly allows the son to behave differently than the other team members are expected to behave. Showing up late and using his cell phone are two examples.

The leader who treats his team members differently and the dividing line appears to be those who socialize with him at his house versus those who don’t.

The leader who told her employee that he was worthless and would never be hired by anyone else.

The leader who has never said “thank you” to her team members, some of whom have worked on her team for more than seven years.

The leader who blames her poor leadership on the attitude and behavior of her team members.

Not all examples of poor leadership are that obvious. Some are more subtle, like lack of communication, not listening to the team, not getting to know team members, not having flexibility, demanding trust instead of earning it, talking poorly about one employee to another, not empowering employees to truly make an impact, or any number of other actions.

It exists all around us and it is not OK.

It is one of the roots of some larger societal problems we are experiencing. A leader has such an incredible opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of those they lead. But so many leaders are choosing not to, for whatever reason.

It takes a person to consciously decide they want to be a better leader and provide a better environment for their team. A leader who wants to impact their team members in ways that go far beyond the boundaries of the workplace.

Those leaders seem to be few and far between. But they don’t have to be.

Leaders need to step up and decide it’s time to put out into the world the leadership that so many people are desperately hungry for.

Otherwise, do they truly deserve committed team members?

Jackie Krawczak is president of Jackie Krawczak LLC. Her column runs every three weeks on Thursdays. Follow Jackie on Twitter @jkrawczak.

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