Page 75 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

60 Just Promoted!

vide stretch and that enhance high-level performance. Here again, the self-ful-
filling prophecy comes into play. People with low expectations usually work
at that level. High expectations tend to result in high performance. Help your
people set goals that will help them stretch.

Give People a Choice in How to Get the Job Done
We tend to perform best when we are allowed to develop our own best way to
meet established standards and expectations. We are energized when we bring
our own knowledge, creativity, and resources to the solution of a problem.
Last year we had a problem with a part for a light fixture that we had bought
from one of the large retail chain stores. Some companies empower their cus-
tomer service representatives to satisfy a customer’s complaint however they
think best. The customer service representative checked our records and saw
that we had been charged for a part that we had never received. She credited
our account and offered us a small gift card for our inconvenience. She never
had to ask her supervisor for permission, and she quickly and effectively
resolved our complaint making us feel like valued customers in just one call.
She was empowered by the company to do what she felt was needed to satisfy
the customer and resolve any complaints. Companies that go in the opposite
direction, giving responsibility without control, engender resentment and defeat.

Show Respect for Others
People with healthy self-concepts generally feel that they are respected by
their peers and managers alike. Agreement or disagreement—even conflict—
especially with new bosses, subsides when people feel that their opinions and
ideas are respected. Organizations need exchange of ideas. Better ideas are
often forged from the white heat of disagreement. When we feel a founda-
tion of mutual respect and support, we perform more confidently and use all
our resources.

Relate to People in a Mutually Supportive Way
Empathy, the ability to relate to another’s feelings and perceptions, is essential
to empowerment. Empathy is one of the fundamental emotional intelligence
skills. For years, psychologists have shown that the ability to “put ourselves in
the shoes of the other” so as to understand another person’s frame of refer-
ence is a critical factor in building trusting relationships helping that person
achieve his or her potential. Leaders need to understand and respect the per-