Authority can be pretty powerful stuff – especially if a person is not used to having it.  It has a tendency to go to people’s heads; sometimes there is no stopping it.

And unfortunately, the more authority a person has, and the more promptly and unquestionably people respond, the greater the danger of forgetting that authority is not a substitute for leadership.

“So what?” one might think.  It’s true that the principals of good human relations apply to the chairman of the board as much as they do to a supervisor or manager.

But why bother? If it is easy to make people do things, why stop to explain and persuade?  Why bother to consult other people and ask their opinions?

Because they deserve your respect, that’s why.  And as their leader – not their authority – you owe it to them.

In a sense it is too bad that anyone in this world has to have authority over anyone else.  But we have to have bosses; that is the way the world works and the way we get things done.  The best we can do is to make the situation as tolerable as possible by carrying the authority lightly, using it with discretion, and not letting it go to our heads.

Almost all of us throw our weight around occasionally.  Next time you find yourself doing it, check up on yourself and ask yourself some questions:

• Have you tried to interest people in doing a job right instead of merely forcing them?
• Have you tried to figure out what’s keeping them from doing better?
• Have you made a real effort to get cooperation?  Or did you just get in there and push?

Never let your authority blind you to the need for leadership.

The cliche about a problem worker “having trouble with authority figures” may reside more in the authority figure than the worker.  After all, who ever heard of someone “having trouble with leadership figures”?  So from time to time, consider your own management style and ask yourself: Am I being an authority or am I being a leader?

Which would you want as your boss?

Secrets & Strategies For Office Professionals

The Economic Press, Inc.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Employment, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.