Leadership in the Corporate World

What is a MANAGER? A manager’s title reflects what he/she is responsible for. Now, there are a lot of things that I would look for in a Manager. Someone I can respect, someone who directs but does not impose, someone who you can directly approach should you have problems with your deliverables. A manager is also someone who can motivate you to do your job properly. Is coaching and motivating your subordinates also a part of a Manager’s job? Most Definitely! For you to consider yourself a Manager you also have to be a good coach. Before I go ahead and proceed with my current topic, let me just take a step  back and ask you, my readers, what is a COACH?  A Coach, teaches, inspires and motivates their players. The term coach does not only apply in Sports. This also applies in the current Corporate world. What are the essentials of being a good coach? You teach your subordinates that WINNING IS NOT ALWAYS EVERYTHING.  Yes, we all like to win, but it’s not the end of the world should we lose. By losing, we teach ourselves one thing, and that is to STRIVE HARDER TO BECOME A BETTER PERSON.  You also want your subordinates and yourself to IMPROVE ON YOUR SKILLS. Because by doing so,  this will be one of your stepping stones to success. By investing on skills. It is also important for you as a coach to UNDERSTAND and MOTIVATE your subordinates. As a Coach you should also be TOUGH BUT FAIR. Pretty self-explainatory right, easy to read but hard to understand. You need to be firm in your decisions and should apply it to everyone and not take sides. It is also important for a coach t MAKE IT A TEAM EFFORT. I doesn’t necessarily mean that if you are in a higher position than your subordinates, it gives you the right to maltreat them.

We can relate the work of a Manager to the behaviors a Coach posesses. It is a Managers job to Motivate their subordinates, be fair in all their decisions, and the last but the most important thought is to make it a team effort. Why? As a Manager it is your job to lead your team. Withouut you, there will be no one to provide directions to your team.  The higher you go up the corporate ladder, the more SERVICE ORIENTED YOU BECOME. Being a Manager does not give you more authority, it gives you more responsibility to take care of your team, to take care of every team members needs. A good leader does not ask people to do things for them, they establish a degree of respect that your team members would willingly do things for you.

They say, you will know if that person is a good leader when their subordinates follow them even if it means leaving the current company to be with their leader. I know, I’ve had a good mentor. Managers are not only your boss, more importantly they are your friend who you can approach anytime.