As a father, you become an authority figure to your children, and that requires learning how to educate, inspire, and discipline them. Whether you realize it or not, many of the skills you develop as a parent can be applied to your role as a leader in the workplace.
Encourage Curiosity
As you watch your children play and grow, you will notice that they’re curious about everything. They want to know how things work and why certain things happen. You should adopt this sense of curiosity to help you improve workplace productivity. When you ask how a process can be improved or why productivity expectations weren’t met, you can find new methods that may work better. Aside from your own curiosity, you can also outsource troubleshooting prompts to employees; in doing so, you show employees that you value their input and trust their expertise, further promoting employee loyalty and contribution.
Be Less Critical
When you’re with your children, you probably adopt a more generous mindset. You may find yourself praising your children frequently while holding your tongue when you want to criticize. Taking this philosophy into the workplace will help you keep employee morale at a high level. Praising your employees often will encourage them to perform better. By the same token, limiting unnecessary criticism and keeping it private will avoid negative feelings, which can hamper employees’ productivity.
Set a Good Example
Just as your children look to you to know how to behave, your employees will look to you as a mentor. They will observe how you speak with others, how you approach your duties, and how you feel about the company for which you work. When you embody the work ethics and traits you want your employees to adopt, they’re more likely to become the type of team you want them to be.
Setting Expectations
As a parent, you make sure your children know what is expected of them. You undoubtedly have established clear rules and the punishments that will go along with breaking them. By establishing similar boundaries with your employees, you can ensure every employee knows what expectations you have in the workplace. Your employees should have a clear understanding of their duties as well as of what behaviors are considered inappropriate.
While your approach may differ based on the environment, the skills you develop as a father can help you evolve as a leader or manager. There are many traits you will have to adapt to better deal with your children, which can also help you become a better leader.
This article was originally published on MichaelRalby.org