Why Leaders Should Challenge the Golden Rule
Weâve all heard the saying, âTreat others the way you want to be treated,â and, for the most part, itâs good advice. In fact, most of us can probably agree that pausing to think about how our words or actions might affect others before we actually say or do anything is the ârightâ thing to do. In order to be trusted and respected in both our careers and our daily lives, itâs always important to make sure weâre considering othersâ thoughts and feelings rather than just our own.
When it comes to leadership, however, these traditional words of wisdom might be better stated as, âTreat others the way they want to be treated.â At least this is what Gallup suggests in its book titled, First Break All the Rules. The book studies some of the most successful managers, measured by their ability to turn their employeesâ talents into high performance. Gallupâs research findings suggest that one of the most prominent traits of successful managers is their ability to capitalize on their individual employeesâ unique talents.
Capitalizing on employeesâ individual talents means that managers must treat each employee differently. By nature, treating everyone differently contradicts the conventional wisdom of âtreat others the way you want to be treated,â which implies that everyone wants to be, and should be, treated the same way.
Rather than identifying a âmodelâ employee and trying to create clones of this employee throughout his/her team, a great manager will instead work one-on-one with each of his/her employees to identify their unique talents, and then continually work with each employee to further strengthen those unique talents. In this sense, then, the most successful managers go out of their way to treat their employees differently. By treating their employees the way they want to be treated, these managers are encouraging growth, development and high performance at the individual level.
As a sales manager, think about the performance of your sales team. Is there improvement to be made? Is your team not performing at the level you think they are capable of? If so, consider your management style. Are you prone to following the âmodel employeeâ approach where you try to coach your other employees to do things the way your âmodelâ employee does? If so, maybe you should consider adjusting your management style. Try instead to focus on truly understanding your employeesâ individual talents and differences and then encourage them to further strengthen those talents and differences.
By encouraging your individual employees to strengthen their talents and be more themselves you will increase each individualâs performance, and ultimately, increase the performance of your entire sales team.
The article originally appeared here.
About the Author: As the Chief Sales Officer at Carew International, I'm committed to the exceptional delivery of sales training and leadership development you need to exceed your companyâs growth and profitability goals, and to help each participant attain their professional performance potential. Carew provides:
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When I'm not helping clients boost sales performance, I cherish spending time with my wife and two children, running, cycling, traveling to new places, and reading about - no kidding - sales and leadership development.