Thursday, March 8, 2012

Dads play differently to Mums


My little girl loves playing with her Dad. It’s different to playing with Mum. Sometimes it’s faster, more exciting, louder. Is it better? At times, I guess it is. Sometimes Mum’s way is best.

I’ve watched with interest as a Dad in my swimming group does the exact same exercise with his little boy that his Mum does. Only where Mum swishes Hayden side to side in a rhythmic calm fashion, Dad swooshes fast left – right – left suddenly. Hayden calmly enjoys Mum’s interaction and giggles with glee at Dad’s.
As someone who owns one real estate office with 2 other people and another with 4 other people I’ve seen the same thing with staff in our offices responding differently to each different leader.
Some interact as friends, others as confidants, others are the go to person when something needs fixing, others are the expert in different areas, others are feared (slightly!) and some are respected more or less on different topics.

Everyone has her own leadership style. Mine has certainly evolved over the years and is completely different to 21 year old me when I was so desperate to prove that I was old enough / experienced enough / tall enough (!) to lead.

Interestingly, there are people who are leaders in our office who aren’t business owners. They’re leaders because of the open and honest way they communicate. They’re leaders because of their knowledge. They’re leaders because their opinion is respected.

What’s your leadership style? More importantly- what do you wish your leadership style was?
Pick a few words from this list that you wish people through about when they considered you as a leader:

Accountable, Dependable, Ethical, Moral, Honest, Trustworthy, Respected, Knowledgeable, Helpful, Compassionate, Caring, Experienced, Wise, Expert, Dreamer, Vision, Leads by Example, Involving, Well Planned, Fair, Integrity, Gives Credit, Humble, Open, Creative, Dedicated.

Now – why not ask your team to anonymously list up to 5 words they think relate to you as a leader. Is what’s coming back to you representative of what you would like to be putting out?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

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