May 10, 2013
Popularity vs. Proficiency: How Managers Can Motivate Teams for Effective Leadership
In many cases, being a leader requires a likeability factor where the people you are leading admire and respect you. But sometimes this goes to far when the boss becomes the friend, oftentimes trying to apease or coax subordinates into doing their best work. Inc. contributor Jane Popick elaborates on the concept of setting leadership boundaries as CEO of her own company, writing, “The one thing I’m not down with is being in a popularity contest because this isn’t high school, it’s my business and my No. 1 priority is to serve my customers and my investors. But, this doesn’t mean I’m not in service to my team, because I’ll be the first one to tell you, I work for them and I’m here to help them be more effective.”
She goes on to detail ways managers and CEOs can set limits so that those who work with them are motivated to be effective team players without crossing the line:
With SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive) goals, your company’s goals should cascade in a nice waterfall from the executive team to each level. But what this also means is that at the top of the org chart, you’re ultimately responsible to beat the drum that gets things done so when you sit at that next board meeting you aren’t sweating bullets. In order to get things done you’ve gotta do a few things that the most successful CEOs, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, (who currently rules the roost in the No. 1 spot in a survey by Glassdoor.com) do: