By Corina Manea
When you begin your career, you’re eager to learn as much as possible to please your boss, to do everything great and to climb the corporate ladder fast.
As you gain experience and are more competent in your job, you start thinking about your role in the company:
- How does your work affect the bottom line?
- What you can do more of and better?
- How can you grow as a professional?
Then comes a time when you’re really good at your job, you’re an expert.
Now is the right moment to take a break and, by that I don’t mean taking a sabbatical year, but to take a moment and analyze you career.
Write down what is it you most like about your company, boss, colleagues, and daily tasks. Write down what you like the least. For each, jot down what you can do to improve—whether it’s a relationship with a colleague or boss, a process in your daily job, or in the company.
If you haven’t figured that out yet, I am talking about the perspective of loving your job and what you do.
So far, so good.
But here comes the hard part: How do you know your leader is the right one?
How Do You Know You Work for the Right Leader?
A lot has been written about great leaders and their qualities, however, not much is said about what you need to look for to know you work for the right leader.
Believe it or not, knowing you work for the right leader and being invested in the company you work for determines your success and influences your personal brand.
No matter how good you are at your craft, if you work in a toxic environment, you’ll never give your best, nor feel part of the team.
The right leader shares his/hers vision with company’s employees and gets them excited about meeting their goals. Being part of the team is more than just doing your job, is being part of the vision and knowing that what you do on a daily basis influences the bottom line.
The right leader is interested in her employees beyond hello or how was your day. She is there for them, she’s interested and listens their ideas, opinions, problems. She cares about them and makes sure everyone knows what counts.
He is also interested in the personal development of his employees and sees that they follow their passion at work, but also outside. He supports them, isn’t afraid to invest in them, and isn’t afraid his employees will go to another company.
Newsflash: If you care about your people, they are loyal to you, period.
The Right Leader Sets Your Future
This quote from Richard Branson holds the truth:
Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.
If your leader puts his/hers employees first, listens to them, mentors them, and helps them be better at what they do, then you know you work for the right leader.
You will come to work motivated, feel invested to go beyond your job description. You will come up with ideas to improve your work and the processes in your company. You will feel part of the company and its successes. It will become your project, the reason you get out of bed every morning.
Working for the right leader will affect not only your work at his/her company, but also your future as a professional. It sets the base for the way you approach future career opportunities, it will help you see beyond the shiny new object and look for what matter most for you, instead of a title or a big paycheck in a toxic environment.
Do you work for the right leader? How do you know that?
