Earn Your Legitimacy as a Leader
| No job title or level of expertise is enough to make you a legitimate leader in the eyes of your employees—you need to earn that distinction through your actions. Here’s how. * Communicate clearly. Tell a compelling story about where your team (or organization) is coming from, where it’s going, and why. Crucially, you need to be able to convey how your employees fit into that plan. * Demonstrate fairness. “That’s not fair” are words that will swiftly undermine your legitimacy. As the person who sets the tone, you need to proactively communicate care and respect for the people you lead with transparency and consistency. Favoritism and opaque decision-making will demotivate your employees and lead to a culture of self-protective and political behavior. * Behave with integrity. Do you act in accordance with your espoused values, especially when doing so is costly? * Be authentic. Authentic leaders are as honest about their successes and strengths as they are about their failures and weaknesses—and they’re open about who they are beyond their professional lives. * Put others first. Acknowledge that leading is a privilege, generously give credit where it’s due, and make sacrifices before you ask others to do so. * Lead with purpose. People don’t just expect you to boost performance and profits; they also expect you to infuse their work with a sense of mission and meaning. Show that your motivation is in service of a larger goal (e.g., serving society or creating real value for customers) rather than a more mundane goal (e.g., increasing shareholder wealth). |
| This tip is adapted from “How New CEOs Establish Legitimacy,” by Nitin Nohria |
