Should you focus on managing your boss or your team?

As a leader in a company, what’s more important to you?

Before we pick one (or both) options, it is important to understand the context behind this question. The real question here is ‘How do you become a better leader for everyone around you?’ Does making your boss happy OR ensuring your team & peers love you really make you a better leader?

While both focus areas are important for a leader, the most important focus area of your leadership is managing YOURSELF! Better self-management will improve upward and downward management skills exponentially leading to overall increase in efficiency of a team. The chart below describes the “exponential” relationship between how well you are managing yourself and the efficiency of your team –

Impact of managing yourself well on efficiency of your team

AND this is how your team feels throughout this journey >>

Impact on managing yourself well on team sentiment

So what does managing yourself mean?

Focus on leadership values — Hold yourself accountable to important leadership values like honesty, empathy, accountability and courage. Try a weekly 1:1 with just yourself where you can ask yourself questions such as -

1. Do I really care about the growth of my team members or my peers?
2. Do I really know what is my boss’ expectations of me?
3. Do I really care about adding value to my company?
4. Do I know what are my key goals for this week?
5. How many hours did I work ‘efficiently’ last week?
6. What am I good at vs where do I need help?
7. Do I shy away from putting myself out of my comfort zone?
8. Do I blame others for my own flaws?

If you are honest to yourself, the answers to these questions will reveal opportunities to manage yourself better. As you progress through these 1:1s with yourself,

1. The day you can genuinely feel like you care about the growth of your team members, you will start to manage them better
2. The day you really understand the expectations from your boss and your key goals for the week as well as your plan to stay efficient throughout the week to deliver on those goals, your boss will be happy

Up or down, it is easy to recognize someone who seems in control of themselves! Well, if your team looks super confused, it is time for a 1:1 with them yourself 😉