If I had to ask you the question: Are you honest?
What is your knee-jerk response?
“Of course I’m honest in everything I do?”
Now let me ask you this: Are you always honest with expressing what you think, feel and wish as a leader? Do you really do a good job of hiding the fact that you are annoyed, irritated or downright angry?
If you think that you do, you may be seen as passive aggressive.
I had an interesting discussion about passive aggression recently and it gave me the insight about how passive aggressive behavior of a leader directly influences productivity.
You want your teams to be productive this year. You set some great stretch goals during business planning and are ready to tackle this with great energy this year.
You have a plan and that means you have an agenda; agendas often mean that things have to go your way.
Your team knows that, so they put their energy into getting things just right for you
Always pleasing the boss stifles creative thought. Instead, it puts people into make sure to cover your butt mode.
Can you be honest with yourself about being in control and not wanting to lose control?
Can you allow others to explore other ways to achieve the goal?
Be honest with yourself about your plan and agenda. Be honest with your employees about what you expect and find ways that you can let go so that they can do it their way.