What Your Employees Want from You as the Leader?

I often have to remind myself that leading takes time and energy. Directing the feelings, attitudes, actions, and behaviors of a team is a big task. Often, I ask my employees, about what truly aggravates them and what they love about their work and me. To keep me on track, I've created this list of what employees want their leaders to do.

1. Tell me my role, tell me what to do, and give me the rules. Micromanaging? No, it's called clear direction. Give parameters so they can work within broad outlines and boundaries; let them find their niche.

2. Discipline any coworker who is out of line. The entire team must be accountable in a way that is fair but makes everyone cognizant of what is and isn't acceptable.

3. Get me excited. About the company, about the product, about the job, about a project. Just get them excited. Take time to talk about the business; not just work. Let them know how they fit into the big picture and how important their work is to the success of the company.

4. Don't forget to praise me. Motivate employees by leveraging their strengths, not harping on their weaknesses. If someone on your team is a great technician but is socially challenged, don’t force him into a customer-facing role but leverage him into your star level 3 tech.

5. Don't scare me. They really don't need to know about everything that worries you. They respect that you trust them, but you are the boss. And don't lose your temper at meetings because they didn't meet your expectations. It's often not productive. Fairness and consistency are important mainstays.

6. Impress me. Strong leaders impress their staffs in a variety of ways. Yes, some are great examples of management, but others are bold and courageous, and still others are creative and smart. Strong leaders bring strength to an organization by providing a characteristic that others don't have and the company sorely needs.

7. Give me some autonomy. Give them something interesting to work on. Trust them with opportunity.

8. Set me up to win. Nobody wants to fail. Indecisive leaders who keep people in the wrong roles, set unrealistic goals, keep unproductive team members, or change direction unfairly just frustrate everybody and make people feel defeated.

Your job is to make it practical for people to succeed. When you do this, everybody wins!