Employee Guidelines (principles) vs. Employee Rules (laws)
- Provide Framework vs. Box to live in.
- Gives you a “floor”-minimum vs. Gives you a ceiling – “maximum”
- Encourages innovation vs. Encourages conformity/sameness
- Frees up employees to win vs. Creates fear of losing
- Emphasis on effective result vs. Emphasis on process/procedure
- Emphasis on employee ownership vs. Emphasis on we/they blame games
- Encourages participation/innovation vs. Encourages hiding/work-arounds.
A Key Objective in creating happy employees: Create “ownership” of their job, and help them see how it fits into the bigger picture (process mapping is a great way to do this.)
How do you lead in the new world? By becoming a Servant Leader. The best leaders have always led this way, but if you don’t lead this way in the new employer world, you won’t keep your employees.
Leaders do not exist to be served by those “under” them. They do not have the right to have others make them look good. Having a title on a door does not make you a leader. Leaders are focused on how they can make everyone else around them more successful (the servant leader). Employees are very clear that the leader’s job is to champion them and give them the vision, environment, resources, training, and connections to be wildly successful. The smart leader knows that if everyone around them is successful, they won’t have to worry about their own visibility or success.
Be a servant leader – create ownership among your employees for their positions, and focus your energies on making them wildly successful. You’ll have a great business and make more money in less time as a result.
