The Golden Rule of Leadership

You are now in a leadership position and you have a heartfelt desire to live up to the expectations of your team. You read all about CEOs of large corporations and their leadership style; but your team, their needs, and your experience are a bit more modest. So, where do you start?

May I start with a proverb most everyone knows? It anchors some of our great religions, cultures, philosophies, and is taught at our mothers’ knees. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” See, you recognized it and you know it isn’t a secret. As a leader, if you embrace that sentiment and demonstrate it in your behavior, it will serve you well.

The demands of leadership

Certainly, your past reveals individuals in positions of responsibility bereft of kindness, understanding, compassion, and empathy. Leadership demands much of you. You must find the right balance of a host of behaviors, traits, and emotions to best serve your team while simultaneously coaching, supervising, and leading them to sustained operational excellence. You will find it does not come easily, but your sustained efforts will be recognized and the team will be better for it.

As a new leader you will find that your team expects much of you. In some cases, you may question your ability to fulfill the responsibilities you now carry. Each day will be different than the day before. Your agility will be tested as you serve as a planner, counselor, visionary, mentor, supervisor, trainer, troubleshooter, diplomat, communicator, confidante, decision maker, and cheerleader. Performing the myriad of roles aligned with leadership may seem daunting, but recognizing the influence you wield today and tomorrow will encourage you to do your best and learn from each passing day to improve.

How do you assess, develop, and reward talent?

If you do not realize the influence you have as a leader, I urge you to consider three areas you have a significant impact on your team: performance appraisals, future opportunities, and financial rewards. Let’s look at each of those very important and distinct areas of a leader’s influence and how they are connected.

The ubiquitous performance appraisal

It seems that each organization, large or small, has a unique method to evaluate performance. It may seem superficial or overly complicated, but a performance appraisal, efficiency report, or personal evaluation – regardless of its nomenclature – can spell success or doom to a career. You may find that a new employee is evaluated on a frequent basis during a probationary period. Such a standard allows you and your organization to determine whether a newly hired teammate is a good fit for the assigned role. The probationary period also allows you to assess the hiring decision. Possibly, the newly hired person is having trouble learning the process or procedures tied to an activity. Will additional coaching or training create a success story? Is the person detrimental to the current team due to personality or demonstrated behavior? Be willing to acknowledge a poor hiring decision for the good of the organization. Be fair and objective in the evaluation and both the new hire and the organization will be grateful.

What about seasoned employees and their performance evaluations? The questions to ask yourself are “What standards are used to measure performance?” and “Are the standards objective, fairly measured, published, and acknowledged?” In other words, does everyone know how they are evaluated? It is a simple question to ask and if the answer is “No” then you have an important task ahead of you. Every teammate has the right to know how their performance is being evaluated and how often.

As you set about to complete a performance evaluation it is imperative to consider the entire portfolio of performance, the “whole person,” during the entirety of the rated period. If the rating period is annual, did the individual receive feedback or coaching quarterly or semi-annually? Will your appraisal surprise them? Don’t assume they know how they are performing because you did not criticize their performance during the period. Similarly, do not allow one instance of poor results taint an otherwise stellar performance during the rating period. Again, be fair, objective, and consistent in the standards you establish and measure.

Talent development and career growth

Let’s look now at future opportunities. Those opportunities may be as simple as attendance at a professional conference or assignment to a leadership role that paves the path to career advancement. In decisions such as these, much like performance appraisals, ensure they are fair, objective, and relevant. Why relevant? For example, if you send someone to a conference that is not related to their current responsibilities, while overlooking someone who would immediately apply the conference lessons; it might be viewed as favoritism.

With professional opportunities, keep in mind the benefit that accrues to the organization. Often a company spends scarce training resources to provide professional credentials to an individual only to see that person transfer within the organization or, worse, leverage the new skills into a new role at a new company. Remember, you now serve as an advocate for the star performers on your team. If the larger organization can benefit from your superstars, let them grow into their potential. The organization and the individual will be grateful for your selflessness.

The lifelong impact of pay

Finally, let’s look at financial rewards. Believe it or not, financial rewards begin on the first day of the first job an individual accepts. If that initial job’s pay is below market value then average pay raises will never catch up; that person’s salary will remain unfairly low. If you assume responsibility for a team where pay levels are inconsistent for similar responsibilities and experience, then you have a problem. If there is a disparity between men and women similarly situated, you have a problem. If pay differs based on disparate treatment of any of the seven federally protected classes, then you have a problem. Pay issues follow a person throughout their career. Pay disparity breeds dissatisfaction, discord, and dissent. Pay equity is an imperative if you want cohesion, loyalty, and commitment. Get the experts involved, remedy the situation, and your team will see that action speaks louder than words.

The interrelationship of performance appraisals, professional opportunities, and pay is indisputable. Your role as a leader is to ensure the consistent, fair, objective, and equitable application of the performance standards for your team. The Golden Rule provides a simple, proven manner to accomplish what is expected of you. By doing so, you will reinforce the importance of establishing, achieving, and maintaining high levels of performance. Good luck!