Leadership

The Month of October is dedicated to Stomping the Elephant in the Office. Now is the time for Small Business owners, managers and workers to take the economy in their own hands and become the businesses that make a difference. Businesses that maintain profitability and have low employee turnover usually are doing many things right. This starts at the top with leadership that is in tune with reality.

I recently saw a CEO of a local company leaving one of his retail facilities. He did several things:

1. He stopped and chatted with the store greeter,

2. He picked up some litter as he walked out the door, and
3. He helped a customer break loose a shopping cart from the corral.

Even if I had not known who this person was, I would have smiled and enjoyed watching this engaged individual. The customer likely did not know who he was, but several employees that were nearby did and will remember. Simple acts of respect to the world around us are hard to ignore and often cause others to respond similarly. Not all people will follow our good examples, but the more we try, the harder it will be to ignore out leadership.

An engaged leader leads to engaged employees who will work with passion and connection to their company. They drive innovation and move an organization forward.

Linda Fayeweather

 

The Toxic Employee. I'm sure you have worked with a few coworkers or had a few employees that could be considered "Negative", "Not a Team Player", or somebody you just avoid. They cause drama, or feed drama. They are employees that don't promote a healthy work environment and usually the ones that complain the most. Whatever they are, they are toxic. They drain other employees desire to work, they hurt the company, and generally sabotage their own work.

The most common types of Toxic Employees are the:

         Office Gossip or Tattletale - passing rumors around or informing to your superiors
        Pessimist - everything is doom and gloom
        Social Butterfly - social beyond "I really like to work here", often have very long stories
        Corporate Climber - the one that casts moral scruples aside for personal gain
        Not my Job - person who believes just the job description and nothing but the job description
         Bad Boss - Career Builder survey shows that 26% of managers are unsure of their own abilities as a leader.

Being a leader is a choice, not something selected for you. You know you are a leader if people are following your lead. The toxic employees can become leaders if allowed to live in your organization - not the leadership you want.

Jeff Mendelsohn

liquid@liquidmechanix.com