Aug 30

Leading Means Teaching Respect- and Regardfully

Stephan Polomski
Stephan Polomski is director human resources, coach and trainer

During my time in China and Thailand I learned that people there bow respectfully to somebody else, however, they do not yield. – Leaders accompany other people during the process of working. In this process leaders support other people to find their own resources and their own power. Leaders foster self-feedback and self-responsibility by doing so. As a consequence others discover on their own what exactly they really need in a certain working context and what exactly they need to execute in a certain situation.

Leading is no longer mistake-oriented but resource-oriented. Leading others towards their own resources is absolutely relevant for any kind of project management and for result-orientation anyway.

“Resource-oriented leading means to support the development towards self-empowerment and entrepreneurial thinking.”

Resource-oriented leading means to support the development towards self-empowerment and entrepreneurial thinking.

The basic questions are:

-          How is it possible to choose in a self-responsible way my own emotions and my own thoughts?

-          How could I become an even better conductor of my inner orchestra, of my inner team of resources?

-          How can I establish flow with myself and with my colleagues?

At least the Western culture is shaped by the belief “pain purges”. Everybody knows the claim: no pain – no gain. Experiences on this pattern start in school: feedback is given, when something is not there, when students are not able to do something. The assumption is, that humans learn by making mistakes – a German saying goes: One becomes wise by mistakes. Negative feedback is believed to be more effective for learning than positive feedback.

And nothing different happens in the context of leading. I know many leaders who strictly focus on mistakes and on lack and they strengthen attention there. At the same time these leaders cut their working force off existing potential and flow, meaning they cut them off existing inner resources.

That is why self-empowerment is so important for subordinates because self-empowerment helps to stay resourceful and strong even though the structural framework is tough.

All we need to do in such a framework is to remember a situation in which we were very creative and happy with ourselves, when we felt we had full command on the most important resources inside us. Mostly, this situation is a flow feeling or a moment of excellence – a harmonious moment of contact with ourselves and with others.

The more we learn to stay in this state of mind, the more we become respect- and regardful, the more we become tolerant. And, by doing so, we shape day by day the company´s culture and initiate change from tough to resourceful and friendly. Our state of mind makes the difference whether the system we are working in is balanced or not. It reflects if we are balanced in all our roles or not.

Without the inner shelter room of inner resources it happens easily that we hurt others back if we have been hurt.

Everywhere, where one person has taken responsibility for another person or a group of persons the most important expression of this relationship is the dialogue, is communication. Especially leaders have to conduct regularly talks with subordinates in order to stay in contact.

The basis for contact is the ability of the leader to understand the inner world of the subordinate by perceiving attitude, voice, and physiognomy outwardly in order to conclude which emotions and thoughts might be relevant in the current situation. In order to do so, leaders should empty their own brain of thoughts and remember that resourceful situation I was talking about.

By doing so, a respectful and regardful atmosphere is created, the basis for trust, and leading can take place.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2012 at 01:00 and is filed under Human Resources, Leadership, Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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