Are You A Happy Leader? – Featured on The Straits Times (19 Jan 2016)
Are You A Happy Leader?
High-Growth Leader Help Their Teams To Succeed.
Evidence of positive psychology has shown that happiness does have a return on investment. We call it the Return On Happiness (ROH).
In multiple keynotes and training sessions that I have conducted on how leaders can make a difference for their people, most leaders mention that happiness is only good to have, and not a must have. I choose to disagree for one simple reason — happiness does translate into high performance at the workplace.
People who decide to stay or leave usually ask themselves the question: “Am I happy following this leader?” The conclusion is simple — if the leader is a happy leader, he or she attracts happy people, and you have a happy team that performs.
Of course, life is not a bed of roses every day — there are times when we need to sleep on thorns. But the benefit of a happy team is apparent. A happy team walks the extra mile and gets things done with the team in mind because the leader takes care of his or her people. Here are three beliefs happy leaders should have.
Build People, Not Business.
We tend to look at the equation the other way round. An age-old assumption is that if the business is doing well, then we will have resources and time to build people.
All businesses whether small or big, require good people to drive performance. Without good people on board, organizations will lose people faster more quickly than they can recruit, and the vicious cycle continues.
I know a former general manager in a hotel chain who was a relationship builder. He knew when frontline staff took their annual leave and specifically for what purpose. He even knew all the frontline staff by name. On one occasion, he asked one of the employees if she took leave to attend her daughter’s one-year-old birthday party. The employee was astonished that he knew that.
Obviously, this leader is someone who knows how to build people. He does not just expect a good work performance, but shows the human side of being a leader. When he left, he was replaced by a new general manager whose philosophy was solely about business profit. The employees’ morale took a big dip over time and business margin suffered. This leader forgot that people are the business.
Build Opportunities. Not Policies.
Happy leaders understand that all people want to be given opportunities to grow in their careers. A happy leader is not too concerned about trying too hard to retain people, but believe that if they can help their people to grow in their careers, investing time to coach and mentor them to success, people would naturally want to stay on longer.
Happy leaders want to make a difference in the lives of people who work with them. They want to see their people succeed because when that happens, they succeed too. A happy leader understands that all people want to be given an opportunity to grow in their career, just like themselves in their early years.
A happy leader is not too concerned about trying too hard to retain people, but their firm belief is that if they can help their people to grow and prosper in their career, investing time to coach and mentor the people to success, people would naturally stay on longer to value-add.
Happy leaders want to make a difference in the lives of people who work with them. In my work with leaders, It is a hard truth that it is challenging to find more leaders who are willing to pass on whatever they know and groom younger talents nowadays.
A happy leader is fond of seeing their people succeed. Because when their people succeed, they succeed too.
Build Mindset. Not Habits
A happy leader continually challenges their people beyond what they can do. They believe in building a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset. Stretching people beyond their baseline helps them to see possibilities and challenge personal limits.
Happy leader expect a high standard from their people. They understand, empathize, and celebrate both success and failures because they know failures will help their team to grow and evolve.
Are you a happy leader? Are your people willing to stay with you during tough times?
Article by:
Joseph Wong, the behavioral transformation coach of TrainingGearAsia. He is an author and thought-provoking professional speaker and chief leadership facilitator on topics of influence, leadership and motivation at work. Email him at influence@traininggearasia.com.
