What I learned from Simon
Sinek: To inspire is greater than gaining Alpha status
Most
people believe that that when it comes to leadership and how you can be an
influencer at the workplace, it’s either you need you need to be an “Alpha
Male” or an “Alpha Geek” and other types of Alphas so others will follow
you.
We
need to change this mindset. Being the
leader of the pack does not necessarily require gaining Alpha status. Let’s put
this concept in a geek’s perspective.
If
you are behind the service desk, specifically the technical support department,
others look up to you if you are the Alpha Geek; the person who knows almost
every technical detail about the product or the service your company is
offering. You are the go to guy because
you can troubleshoot complex issues in a breeze. You can be the Subject Matter Expert (SME) in
your organization. An SME is someone who
has expert –level knowledge on a specific subject; it may be industry laws and
regulation, Service Level Agreements, database optimization, and other
technical stuff. You own this domain;
you live and breathe on this stuff. You
can also be the guy or girl who gets things done because you know how to push
and “Boss” people around. These Alphas lead
because of authority, others are forced to follow them or face their
wrath. These bossy Alphas are the ones
that can go and speak directly to C-level executives because they simply have
the balls to speak with them.
You
can be any of these types of Alphas and be the leader of your pack. You are the leader because you possess
something others don’t have, a skill, power and/or authority. However there is
a different route to leadership. We can
still be leaders even though we are at the bottom of the organizational
hierarchy or at the bottom of the food chain.
If you have the natural ability
or at least try to make it your purpose to inspire others do better on what
they do.
Here
are some simple things that you can do to inspire people you work with at the
workplace:
If
you know a success story, share it.
Focus
on how the hero was able to accomplish the goal and overcome adversity. Everyone loves a monomyth; the story of a
hero’s journey, leaving the comfort of his home to answer the call of
adventure, and going back home victorious.
This bullet works best when dealing with a project gone astray and the
deadline was yesterday.
Know
the first names and last names of the people you work with.
This
sounds obvious but in big companies, most only know each other by last name and
what is their position at work. Often
times, the names of those with key positions are the ones mostly remembered by
other employees.
Make
it a habit to always check “How is family doing?” before you ask for a
work-related favor or task.
Show
compassion towards the people you work with and be vocal that you always want
them to do well in life.
Let
the other person stuck at the cubicle right next to you that you are his friend
first before his or her co-worker.
Share
stories, check on each other, and spend lunch and coffee breaks. Developing a bond with people you work with
makes problem-solving fun.
Show
to the people you work with that you trust their experience over technology
You
will always prioritize listening to what your co-worker has to say on a
specific issue rather than focus on what software is saying about a specific
issue or task. In the absence of data,
we rely on people with enough experience about an issue to make an intelligent
decision what to do next. Wisdom will
never be a trait of computer software.
Approach
people you work with at their desk and engage them about a work-related task or
issue.
Avoid
wasting bandwidth through endless e-mail exchanges. Nothing beats face-to-face communication when
trying to clarify something. A lot of
issues gets escalated merely because of “lost in translation” – the e-mail
thread has gone too long that the root cause of the issue is now buried with hearsay.
