At work, I exist in this weird role where I’m not quite one of the teachers, but I’m not quite part of the management. For the most part, it works. When I need to be a teacher, I’m a teacher. When I need to be more mangerial, I’m a manager.

One day, I got to thinking about this situation, thinking about how often this has been the case for me. At school. In volunteer positions. I seems to often find myself walking this fine line between manager and grunt (if you’ll pardon my expression). It occurred to me that people have long responded well to my managerial style, and as I sat there trying to reflect on my current situation, it dawned on me why.

When I was in leadership development in high school, one of the lessons drilled into our head was that you should never ask someone to do something you yourself aren’t willing to do. I embraced that theory as a teenager, and it’s still very much a critical part of my leadership style. I make a point of working right alongside those I lead.

In a lot of ways, it’s very freeing. Everyone can see I’m in there trying to get the job done, and so they feel encouraged to get the job done. Because I’m busy trying to pull my weight, I delegate tasks to people and then trust them to follow through. It’s amazing how that encourages my team to try just a bit harder, because they feel they have a say, that their say counts.

I hear horror stories about people working with managers who stay removed from the team for fear of losing that sense of who’s in charge. I just can’t do it. I need to be not only visible, but an active part of my team.

Written for Slacker Manager’s Free for All Friday

Posted by Rebecca in Uncategorized