Being a leader must be very difficult: You have to make decisions and have the last say in matters which concern others. Not only people, but also the place, environment and standard they find themselves in.
At the most basic level, a leader is someone who leads other. A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. You make things change (hopefully to the better) and function, and you make it all happen by loyal subordinates, who have the qualifications needed to get the job done.
If one, or more, of those postulations are lacking, you really have a hard time trying to be a leader. Simply because you are not... at least not the leader you ought to be.
If I were to call a meeting, and the people to attend agreed to both time and place, I would expect them to be present and prepared. Regardless if it is a parents committee meeting at my children’s school, the team at work or some charity work group.
Efficient meetings have an agenda, and the agenda has significanse to the job instruction. In other words: to participate in those meetings is part of what you are paid, or signed up, to do.
Ever participated in one of those meetings with no agenda? To me they come across as pretty meaningless because nobody really knows what they are supposed to have opinions on, or what to check on beforehand.
I get so frustrated when grown ups expect me to waste time on meetings which often end up as a pointless exchange bazaar of recipes. I think there is a time and place for everything. If I am effective at work; well, more time to play.
Further on I would be really upset if someone brought their underaged child to the meeting, and when commented upon I got the answer that they all totally accepted the child’s presense. I may be totally wrong about this, but I think there are issues which are adult problems and worries... just like I believe there are activities that apply to adults only.
In addition I would be really upset if the participants just popped by for a few minutes, especially if that participant was the head of department...
To be a leader means you would just tell the rude, totally unengaged head of department to sit down and participate.
Tell the parent of that child to find somewhere else for the child to be during the meeting.
If the emloyee takes his liberty to consider your meeting unimportant or insignificant there should be some kind of consequence. There must be fait in the understanding that the leader knows, and act, according to the workplace's and the emplyees' best interest. We are not very good at anarchy, you see.
Do what a leader is supposed to do: take charge! And demand they act according to the responsibilities they have in their job. (Reading this I do understand why I could easilly come across as a rigid nerd..)
Just like the leader. The leader is responsible for every call he or she makes (at least that is what we expect he or she does... That being said; I notice that lately being the best at blaming others, has been the goal.)
Even more so;The scary part is that he or she is even more responsible for the desisions not being made.
Every day I teach classes of teenage boys. They do not really want to be there, they just want to get done with it. Get their education and get on with their lives. I consider myself a leader. I have learned through trials and failures, and I have been trained in classroom management. I know what it takes to be a leader.
When people hear I am a teacher, I usually get the “Oh, that must be hard. How do you cope? Do you get their attention?”
Yes, I do! Because my students know what I expect of them. They know I prepare classes where they are to learn things which are, and will be, important for them. I do not just muck about. Time is precious and we do not waste time just to make time pass.
The difference between being a friend and being friendly is huge!
I would expect grown ups, with important jobs, to have the same respect and attitude to their work as my students do to theirs. When they come to us, they may not be quite there, but it does not take long untill they are on board.
In private I am no control freak. I probably am one of the most disorganized and distracted person I know of.
But when at work, I am given a responsibility which I am paid to act out. My time and my person belongs to my employer. If I do not do my job it is like buying carrots in a store and go home with a bag full of chocolates. Very nice (and everybody who knows me can relate to this analogy, cause I just adore chocolate!), but not all that suitable for dinner... except for dessert, perhaps.
The thing is; if we only eat desserts, all the time, we end up being unhealthy and unfit for fight.
I wonder if many leaders, with great cvs, let their subordinates run their own comfortable show, eating desserts.
