3 Green Flags of a Good Leader
1. Professionalism
The best leaders lead naturally by example and rarely say things like “do as I say, not as I do”. This can apply to work-life balance, respecting one another, and even office gossip. Early on in my career, I was surrounded by office gossip and the only way to fit in was to join in. A few orgs later I know what a healthy culture looks like and I can tell you with 100% certainty – gossip is nowhere to be found.
So how can you diffuse or disarm a gossiper? If you ask them point blank: have you talked to John or Lisa about this? Then, if they continue to ignore your subtle hint, set a firmer boundary by sharing respectfully that you don’t participate in gossip, in or outside the office. If that doesn’t work, then you might benefit from doing your best to avoid workplace confrontations with this person or by giving feedback to HR. I have yet to meet anyone in HR who encourages or tolerates gossip as they know it’s one of the quickest ways to foster a toxic culture.
2. Communication
The best leaders I’ve worked with maintain an open line of communication coupled with reciprocal feedback. Staying in touch with your team is one aspect of communication, the other important one is how you communicate with them. When you communicate over slack, text, email, etc. you lose the ability to read any kind of verbal cues whether that be tone or lack thereof. The same can be said for body language – is the other person leaned in and engaged or are they leaned away with their arms crossed? If your manager has poor communication skills, try and engage with them over a video call, in person, or give them a call. Try writing out a script of what you want to say in the conversation. If those approaches don’t work, it might be worth reaching out to a mentor for advice on how to best work with a poor communicator.
3. Availability
The best leaders I’ve reported to always made time for me – my questions, my feedback, thoughts. I have only had two managers who really went out of their way to hear me out. One of the core drivers of human nature is to be heard and or seen. What’s more powerful than that?
In contrast, a glaring red flag is an unavailable manager. What does an unavailable manager look like? They block off their calendars, they are unresponsive to your messages and when they do respond they make it increasingly difficult to have a conversation. I’ve had leaders reschedule on me over a dozen times spread across 6 weeks and it was a time-sensitive matter regarding attrition and retaining top talent. After consulting with colleagues with similar experiences, I felt empowered to speak up and give this person the feedback they needed to hear to be a better people manager.
As a recap, good leaders offer availability, openness, and the willingness to hear and see you. Having a weekly team meeting, weekly 1-1s, and flexibility to hop on a teams call goes a long way in building trust and stability for any team. A good leader also sets appropriate boundaries such as making requests during normal business hours and not responding late in the evening. By setting the example of a healthy work-life balance, good leaders show their team what good looks like each and every day.
