Exercising authority in the workplace is not about domination and control, yelling and punishing. It's about monitoring and detection, listening and guiding.

  The trick is to recognize that your employees/subordinates see you as their monitor, provider and guide, as well as their leader ... someone who in everyone's mind is a sort of parental figure within a professional establishment. Believe it or not, this is the most commonly accessed mental default or paradigm among members in a group or organization. Predominately, your subordinates want to trust and find comfort in your presence ... someone to help them, teach them, guide them, to run to and complain to when things go wrong. Our emotional memories of a distant childhood are automatically projected onto the present professional clan, with you — the manager — as the perceived "parent."

I. Benevolence

  Unfortunately, of course, this default can provide negative emotional projections if those past childhood memories aren't good ones, with one possible result being a difficult person or problem employee whom no one finds easy to understand.

  And that is where effective management steps in.

  Most employees are troubled by odd or eccentric behavior in their co-workers. The most common and natural response then is to eliminate or minimize the influence of the strange, new oddity, and they will begin to ridicule or heckle this person ... possibly to the point of harassment ... possibly even cajoling you the manager into joining them in the ridicule.

  Your true compassion will then be thrown in the middle of a real, live test, and only your fervent resolve to quell the teasing or badgering, to demand more professionalism in the attitudes of your subordinates, could save you and your establishment from potential troubling consequences later on. You will be expected — at least by your more sensible workers — to take control and steer the prevailing atmosphere away from teasing and more toward sympathy and compassion.

  Our world is home to billions of personalities; hundreds of different cultures, languages and religions; hundreds of thousands (millions?) of personal beliefs and experiences converging and clashing and intersecting at each single mind, with each and every one of us.

  When we become leaders, we become servants of this mass, our people. Just as parents and teachers lead and provide for our youth, effective managers lead and provide for their employees so that they may lead happier lives. This analogy is more fitting to the "ideal" manager-subordinate relationship than most inexperienced managers may realize. Your employees or subordinates look to you for care and guidance quite analogously as children perceive the parent, guardian or teacher. We all naturally want to trust our authority figures, not fear them.

  The organization is your ship, captain, sailing the high seas of unpredictable personalities. Fortunately, you do have power over this sea, but only if you possess the prerequisite willpower for the job. Otherwise, serious legal repercussions could ensue, and later on shall you wish that you had exerted a stronger, self-disciplined "teacher attitude" at the outset.

II. Subservience

  Managers serve employees, not the other way around. In turn, the employees serve the organization of which you are all a part, and the organization then in turn serves each of you. We provide our subordinates with all the tools, training, atmosphere and guidance that they need to do a good job ... first, for themselves ... second, for the company ... third, for the supervisor.

  The trick to effective management is this:

You care about how they feel, how alert they are, how cautious they are, how freely they're communicating and sharing information, how their task performance can be improved upon or made easier, how adequately your benefits provide for their needs, and on and on and on. If you don't care about your subordinates and let them know that you do, they won't care about doing a good job. Make the effort.

REMEMBER:

  The employee who fails probably lacks a trainer who trains: compassionate training, tailoring the training strategies to suit the personality of the trainee.

REMEMBER:

  Your employees/subordinates are your primary servants. You monitor them. You supply them with what they need to do a good job. When they fail, first look at yourself. Where did you go wrong?

  Your subordinates want to like you. They want to do a good job and earn your respect, but you must exert the required effort needed to make that easy for them. Otherwise, tensions will build, tempers will flare, accusations will run rampant: No one will enjoy working for you over any lengthy duration. Employee turnover will SOAR.

  The satisfaction of your subordinates matters more to you than that of your customers. You can't please your customers without pleasing your employees or subordinates first. Plain and simple. This is not to say that your customers are insignificant to you; quite the contrary! If a customer should accost you with a particular complaint, careful analysis and deliberation will then determine who is to fault (usually — almost always — shall you agree with the customer). But, so long as everything is running smoothly and no major problems develop, in your mind your subordinates are top dog.

  In their minds, however, the customer sits at the top of the food chain. They must remain focused on who they are serving, i.e., the customer, not you.

  And that's the catch! Your focus is on them, while their focus is on the customer. They should feel so comfortable around you that your presence is but an insignificant triviality. You are their mentor, their guide, totally committed to helping them at doing a good job.

  Lao-Tse knew and professed all this over 2500 years ago! When your employees/subordinates are trained well, they perform well, each interpreting and projecting his or her own personality upon the guidance that you have provided to act autonomously in new creative directions using those means that you have set.

III. Security

  Certainly, as leader, you must remain realistic. Surely, there are con artists in our world: liars, stealers, cheaters. But keep these thoughts to yourself. ALWAYS give everyone the benefit of any doubt. Yes, always.

  At times, you may suspect a con in your gang. But suspicion is NEVER sufficient grounds for accusation. Keep an open mind. Allow for all the honest possibilities. Unless you have 100% certainty, NEVER ACCUSE!!

  Develop a strong relationship with your local police department. When suspicion builds to an incredulous point, call them and have them look into the matter to either verify or reject your personal conviction. They have all the means to do it right. That's their job. Leave ALL accusations to them!

IV. CONCLUSION:

  Your job is to keep the machine running. Keep everything maintained. Foresee any future trepidations. Prevent any single point from breaking down.

  Your subordinates should become a gang of caring, communicative, cautious, alert and well-trained busy bodies. Keep their spirit and enthusiasm going. Make a habit to recognize accomplishments and appreciate suggestions. Maintain a trusting, happy, compassionate atmosphere. Keep the channels of communication open.

  And NEVER forget your priorities!

References:

1. On Leadership, quoted by Principal Robert J. Ballantyne, at http://www.ballantyne.com/Leadership.html.

2. For suggested further reading click here.

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