Leaders vs Others

Without thinking about it, state your role on your team in one simple sentence. 

If you said, “My job is to make sure people are getting their work done,” you see yourself as a watchdog. That implies a lack of trust in the team, and little value-added in your role.

If you said, “My job is to allocate resources,” you see yourself as a manager, someone who gets the most out of the team. You’re going to automatically focus on efficiencies.

If you said, “My job is to make execute the policies my bosses have,” you’re an administrator, put on the team to perpetuate the status quo and follow the rules.

 

Only if you said, “My job is to make my team better,” do you really see yourself first and foremost as a leader. It’s usually a self-identified role. Your bosses and management are going to talk to you about the first three tasks, and you’ll always have to do some of those. But as a leader your first love, best time and most energy has to be focused on growing people.