5 Underrated Skills Leaders Should Recognize
Employees often get applauded when they close a deal, find a solution, or beat a target. Leaders celebrate their accomplishments and communicate, both implicitly and explicitly, that these performance skills matter - and of course they do matter!
However, these same employees may exemplify regular negative behavior that gets swept under the rug. This constant celebration of one specific type of accomplishment or skill set creates an imbalance in how employees perceive good behavior. There are plenty of critical skills that can be recognized to show better diversity in what you recognize as a leader.
Now, I do agree that not everyone needs a trophy every dang time, drawing from the "participation award" theme that we see in parenting spheres. However, I do think that managers and leaders may unintentionally reward bad behavior (and deflate some employees in the process) when in fact they have great opportunities to recognize other types of skills.
My argument is to recognize employees who display sustained patterns of these skills. Next time the rounds of recognitions happen, make sure to recognize at least one employee who has consistently brought these skills to the table.
1. Being On Time
Being on time is directly related to the skill of managing your own time. Leaders must recognize those who can manage their own time well, regardless of how busy they are (or are not). Yes, busy people need to work harder to manage their time. But being consistently late and disruptive is a negative behavior that the whole team notices. Lastly, being on time doesn’t just mean your butt is in the seat. It means you’re there, you’re present, you’re prepared for the topic at hand.
2. Disposition
We all know the type: slumped shoulders, crossed arms, looking down, heavy sighs - the negative energy is toxic. Recognize those who make eye contact, smile, listen actively, and say "good morning". It may sound silly but a positive and open disposition takes work to develop and sustain.
3. Attention
This is a big one for me. Recognize those who give their full attention in meetings. The employees that have their phone face down, computer closed (I like the half-closed option too), and Slack set to "away". If you're sick of meetings, I guarantee you can cut your meeting time in half if you have everyone at full attention. Thank those who do it, and thank them often.
4. Being Coachable
Your star player who is raking in the key sales may also have a sizable ego that deflates the team and will eventually turn on you as their leader. Is he or she open to being coachable? Recognize those who take feedback graciously, those who seek out feedback, and those who have a healthy dose of humility.
5. Self-Starting
There are two types of people in this world. Those that seek out an answer before asking, and those that ask others first without individual thinking. Do you have employees that interrupt you or your team every 10 mins, seeking easy-to-find-answers? Strong leaders recognize employees who are self-starters - those who do some preliminary investigation, or simply look for that email from last week, before they interrupt and ask for help. In short, these employees can balance independent work and reaching out for help well.
What other skills would you like to see your leader recognize?
photo credit @sotaliya via Twenty20
