3 A Concern for and Understanding of Each Member of their Staff
To exercise leadership, managers must ensure that each member of staff feels a sense of satisfaction. To do so, managers must first understand their staff.
Everybody has different strengths, abilities, backgrounds, experiences, etc. Job related knowledge, and skills, work attitude, interests and concerns, etc. also differ. Managers who have a good understanding of their staff can make the best use of these different strengths to achieve the overall work objective.
Careful observance over how their staff report to them and how they work is important to this understanding. When a member of staff is troubled by work or a private matter, there is a tendency not to express it. The issue may escalate into a serious problem if the manager has no knowledge of it and cannot take action in time. It is essential to create opportunities to converse with staff in a relaxed atmosphere, such as over a meal. Most important, staff must always feel that their boss cares about them and has their interest at heart.
4 An Understanding of the Way Groups Operate
Where there is only one member of staff immediately below them, the manager need only understand this one individual. If there are several staff, however, besides knowing each one individually, the manager must also understand them as a group.
In the office, apart from formal grouping such as departments and sections, there are also informal teams such as lunch and recreational groups. The relationships between colleagues in these informal groups may sometimes influence the office mood and operations.
In formal groups, there are proper channels and opportunities to communicate ideas and activities such as through reports and meetings. In the case of informal groups, however, it is sometimes even difficult to ascertain that they exist. Managers must not dismiss their existence as an outside concern. Instead, they should take an interest in their activities, and make sure that their existence is desirable for the office, or at the very least ensure that they do not develop in such a way as to be detrimental to the office.
5 The Ability to Invigorate Others
As described above, it is important that managers know each member of staff individually, and their staff together as a group, and be concerned about developing and making the most of each of their abilities. The office as a whole should have a harmonious, lively and motivated work atmosphere.
Managers, instead of relying on their staff to create a good working atmosphere, should actively lead by example. Their own positive attitude should inspire staff to follow likewise and build a lively, motivated working spirit within the office.
