Each leader has their own tendencies, idiosyncrasies, and expectations. One of my leaders hated popcorn, so, of course, at Christmas I gave him a metal bin of popcorn. Thom Rainer finds the word “interesting” obligatory, so I often find myself trying to find another word.
When you are not the leader, you must know your leader. In many ways it is like marriage. The more you communicate and seek to understand, the stronger the relationship will become. As your leader feels heard, he or she will be more open to feedback. When your leader sees action, you are increasing the trust between the two of you.
Here are four easy questions you can ask yourself about your leader. In most cases these are questions you can ask your leader directly (just add “Is my leader a” to the beginning of every prompt below).
Introvert or Extrovert? People often mistake this question with someone’s ability to interact with people. Both Thom and I are introverts, and both of us can interact with people. But people drain us, and we work more effectively on tasks alone. Leaders who are extroverts are energized by conversation and enjoy a collaborative process to get work done. One way this impacts work is that I try to schedule short meetings. My emails to him are task-oriented and clear.
Micro-manager or Macro-manager? Micro-managers need to know the details and need to know tasks 1 to 100 have been completed in any given project. Macro leaders want to guide the process and delegate the details to…
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