We Over Me - Tips for Selfless Leadership

As humans, most of us are wired to be selfish. There is nothing wrong with being selfish especially if you are fighting for your basic needs in life. However, as a leader, you reach a higher position in life where you are responsible for other humans.

At this stage of life, it’s time to transition into being selfless as a lot of people are dependent on you and are looking up to you. Also, you have already achieved all your basic goals and needs, so this is the next best step for growth.

Selfless Leadership means giving priority to the needs of your team over your own. It means giving priority to the group goals than your individual goals. It means ‘We’ over ‘Me’.

A lot of us are not able to do that transition. Here are a few tips on selfless leadership.

5 Tips for Selfless Leadership

1 – Think We Over Me

When we start our career, we tend to be selfish as we are new to the professional world and we take time to feel secured with our work and job. Also, at the start, the goal is to reach a good place in your career.

However, once you become a leader, you need to be selfless in your actions and goals. You need to place an organisation’s interest over your self-interest. One of the key points for this is to become secure with yourself and your work.

Working as a team or working as we can result in incredible outcomes. A leader is as good as his team. Give priority to your team to become a better leader.

2 – Manage the Ego

To become a leader, you need to have the ability to be a team player. One of the biggest roadblocks for this is ego. Our ego tends to separate us from the team and makes us feel superior to our team. We need to let go of that ego and should believe that everyone in the team, including you, is equally important.

Do not be a slave of your ego; history is full of instances, where leaders at the top, came crumbling down due to inflated ego and with them, the companies they were leading

3 – Employees First

You need to build an employee-first mindset. Employee first mindset is a huge job. You need to start by empathising with your employees. Be humble with your team members. Be transparent and true to your words. Be helpful when they are in distress. Remember, people should feel valued in an organization.

Know: Why Empathy is Important in Leadership

One of the statements you should always remember is ‘Treat your employees as you will like to be treated’.

Also, celebrate or appreciate even small achievements of each team member. Recognise and reward contributions /efforts of your team

If your employees are happy and motivated, your goals will become relatively easy.

4 – Open Communication

Open and transparent communication is essential to successful leadership. Start having one to one communication with your team members. It’s a great way to engage employees with thoughtfulness and earn their respect.

Be accessible to employees. Your cabin door should be open to all irrespective of their position. Encourage them to talk, not only about good things but also about things that are going wrong or require improvement. Seek solutions and suggestions from them. These are the people who know the ground realities and hence, the best solution providers. As a leader, you should also be open to constructive criticism.

You can not demand respect, but need to earn their respect through consistent and moral behaviour with employees.

5 – Accept Mistakes

Mistakes in any job are inevitable, after all, we are human beings.

Do not admonish them for mistakes, instead engage with them, understand their viewpoints and counsel them as to how to avoid mistakes in future. These mistakes could be big learnings for them and that could add high value in future.

Employees feel more confident and are willing to go beyond their regular responsibilities when there is no fear of making mistakes.

These are some of the essentials, which helps leaders build and lead a great company.

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