When you are polite and pleasant to other people, it usually makes you feel better about yourself – but there is no guarantee that you will see much work getting done. The risk is that if you are too polite, your employees might not take you seriously. Business coach Barbara Pachter argues that you have to be “polite and powerful”. Don’t smile too much and don’t use passive language. According to her, when you are a manager, it is all about balance: you need to hold your subordinates accountable. Are you too nice to people? An article on the Open Forum website can help reveal the answer.
1. Too many smiles
A smile is usually a good thing in any other situation, but in a business setting a constant smile may sometimes be perceived as a weakness and lack of dominance. So smile – but not too much: you want to gain and maintain the respect of others. In other words, you need to be taken seriously but still remain friendly enough that your team can be honest with you.
2. Language you use
Say “I suggest” or “I recommend” rather than “I was wondering” or “Would you perhaps …”. You don’t want to sound like you have low esteem and that you are unsure about what you are saying.
3. Too many apologies
An apology is fine where appropriate. But if you apologise too often, it can harm your professional image. And if you do have to apologise, say you are sorry just once.
4. Avoiding confrontation
When you are a leader and something is wrong, you need to confront the worker responsible as soon as possible. Your need to be liked by your team must not prevail. Huge problems could result from any attempts to avoid confronting directly someone who has made a mistake. If mistakes are not talked about, you may soon see your entire department collapsing.
-jk-