Today I had a major learning experience as I was servicing a customer’s building mechanical system in Washington, DC.
My point of contact (who I’ve developed a great trust relationship with) was in a meeting with two other people. My POC was the facilities manager and he was meeting with a personnel manager and an admin worker. The door to the conference room that they were meeting in was open and so I plainly heard what was being said. I was passing between floors, but the conversation seemed so heated that I decided to linger a little and find out what was being discussed.
Apparently, an access security contract was being discussed. The personnel manager wanted the contract approved, but was willing to bypass upper management’s approval to get the contract going. The admin lady was trying to follow the rules and standards put in place, but the personnel manager was pushing back, and aggressively at that. Finally, in the middle of the conversation, the personnel manager interrupted the nice admin lady and bluntly and harshly told her that she was annoying him and he wanted her out of his presence.
I wasn’t going to stick around to find out any more. I learned all that I needed to about this particular individual.
This caused me to learn something huge concerning leadership. How many times have you or I been under an immature leader? How many times have you been subject to a leader’s failures and lack of quality relationship skills? It is stifling, causes pain, and makes you put up walls to shut out the hurt.
This is what I learned:
- Strong leaders create a safe environment where other people feel respected and able to voice concerns or ideas.
- Strong leaders respect people as invaluable souls, yet have firm boundaries towards those who would malign or tear others down.
- Strong leaders take action and do not allow bullying to occur in their organization, nor are they a bully towards others.
This is one aspect that separates weak leaders from strong leaders.