The Forsaken Leadership Principle of BELIEVING

In my opinion one of the most under-estimated leadership principles is The Forsaken Leadership Principle of BELIEVING.  That may sound like a novel concept; however the importance and implications are great.  To believe in something is to have faith, confidence and trust in something.  There is nothing more important for employees than having their supervisor to have faith, confidence and trust in them.

Sometimes organizations and leaders get into the habit of focusing on the negative.  They are quick to point out flaws, illustrate areas for correction and provide reason why so and so isn’t cutting the mustard.  Cutting the mustard is one idiom that doesn’t make a lot of sense.  With that being said, the lack of belief in employees or team members doesn’t make a lot of sense either.

Let’s use the recent NFL draft as an illustration.   Imagine an organization drafting a player, bringing them to camp, giving 15 reasons why they don’t cut the mustard and then eventually releasing them.  A better scenario would be to draft an individual, acknowledge they are now on your team, coach them in their areas of weakness, enhance their strengths and win as a team.

I don’t want to sound over-simplistic, but I truly believe that the lack of success for many team members boils down to the lack of belief from their coach.  If you have a team member who is struggling, believe in them and help them to get better.  The worse thing you can do to a quarterback who is throwing interceptions is to talk about the interceptions.  You coach em’ up and talk about the completions and touchdowns they’re going to throw when they get back on the field.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Believe you can and you are halfway there.”  I’ll take it a step further and say, “When your leader believes that you can and you start believing in yourself, you are three-quarters of the way there.”  For those of you that may have struggling team members who have been throwing a bunch of interceptions, don’t be so quick to kick them off of your team or sit them on the bench.  Coach em’ up and focus on the touchdowns that they are going to throw, knowing that their coach believes in them.  Believe in your people and they will believe in themselves, what a novel concept.

The Forsaken Leadership Principle of BELIEVING.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts and experiences.