Leadership is Not About Being in Charge

Episode #046

1. What is a leader?

  • Facebook Meme: When you think of a leader, do you envision someone barking orders? 
  • What leadership is: Leadership isn't about being in charge. It's about nurturing those in your charge. Taking care of your staff and team gives them the confidence to deliver exceptional customer services and goods.

2. Workplace Title

  • Your title means nothing: The title you carry within the workplace does not mean you’re in charge. In reality, you’re in service to those around you. 
  • Underdogs matter more: The ones reporting to you are your top priority as a leader. Putting your focus on them helps them deliver positive outcomes to clients and customers. 

3. Servant Leadership

  • What is servant leadership?: It’s a leadership style that prioritizes others' needs to help them perform at their best within the organization. 
  • Why it works: This approach fosters trust and a sense of collaboration, making leaders and employees feel like they are part of a team, which is key to success.

4. Transforming Employee Engagement Through Leadership Prioritization

  • Low work engagement: Only 34% of employees are engaged at work. This leaves a large number of employees in the background, quietly waiting for retirement to come.
  • Leaders can change it: When leaders take responsibility and prioritize their team's well-being and development, they can transform these employees into highly engaged individuals. 
  • The changes: Highly engaged employees outperformed their peers by 147% in earnings per share. This shift in engagement, driven by the leaders, can increase revenue and customer success, empowering the organization.

5. Impactful Leadership Example

  • Pepsi’s former CEO: Indra Nooyi's leadership at Pepsi resulted in impressive 80% revenue growth. 
  • How she did it: Her focus on performance with purpose and employee wellness not only connected the employees more deeply to the company but also significantly contributed to its success. 
  • Motivation works: Leaders who inspire and motivate their teams, like Nooyi did, can increase employees' loyalty and bring success to organizations.

Leadership Sandbox Podcast is brought to you by Tammy J. Bond

In today's swift-moving employee market leaders are far too often putting people that are technically good at their jobs into leadership positions, without first developing them on how to be leaders of people.

How do you course correct, or better yet make sure you don’t make that common mistake? Develop your people to lead others from the moment they join your team. For more tools on how to develop others around you, contact us today. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Amazon Podcast, or Spotify.