Corner Leadership: The Free Employee Bene t What is the first thing you think about when you hear the following: Cancer coverage, Accident Insurance, Life Insurance? Yes… you think about benefits offered to you as an employee. What about “Leadership”? You may quickly think about your current leader and how effective/ineffective he or she is. You may consider your own personal abilities as a leader. You probably don’t think of it as an employee benefit. Here are several ways the leadership within your school system provides a free employee benefit every day. Employee Retention and Loyalty: Have you ever heard the saying “If you are in a leadership position and look behind you only to find no one is following, you are merely taking a walk”? People follow leaders who show care and concern for them as an employee. Strong Teams: When a leader can put together a group of individuals who have similar goals, the team can be a stronger machine if they work within a culture of collaboration. Creativity: One thing that we don’t always get from our employees, or give as an individual contributor, are fresh ideas which can take our organization to another level. A strong leader identifies ways to give the employee a voice. Recognition: A strong leader gives credit where credit is due. Regardless of how small the idea or act may be, the effective leader actively looks for opportunities to recognize his or her employees. Vision: Effective leaders identify opportunities to improve upon the status quo. They don’t pay much attention to the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” They prefer to live by the idea that there’s always room for improvement. Employees notice this and admire the leader’s quest for excellence upon excellence. Leaders Breed New Leaders: I heard someone once say, “the only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is you not training them and having them stay.” Strong Leaders can serve as wonderful mentors and trainers. They like to see their employees grow in their careers and don’t keep knowledge from others. Attention Leaders! Don’t lose sight of what it means to be a leader! You have people who depend on you as much as they depend on their accident, cancer, life insurance, etc. You can provide a free employee benefit! Lead on! Column Provided by: Shane Pennington, Regional Sales Executive, Educational Benefits, Inc.
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