Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1522439
Reliable Plant Annual Edition | www . reliableplant.com 21 ACCOUNTABILITY No one appreciates it when a boss or leader places the blame for their own mistakes onto their subordinates. is "Successes are mine; mistakes are yours" attitude has no personal accountability, which is a critical attribute of any good leader. A mine I previously worked for had planned a shutdown for its ore processing plant. Because of the considerable number of tasks and resources involved, including the use of highly specialized contractors, precise and detailed planning and scheduling were required. During this process, one of the managers made the executive call to start the shutdown a week early. e result was total chaos. Most of the contractors couldn't make it to the site, and the spare materials needed to complete multiple projects still hadn't arrived. As a result, most of the tasks couldn't be completed, and the shutdown advancement percentage was less than 25%. In the post-shutdown review meeting, all staff were required to meet in the conference room, where we were harshly reprimanded and made to take the blame. By making us the responsible party, the manager "washed his hands" of any accountability, and famously said, "If I'm going down, I'm not going alone." is outcome led to resentment among team members, which resulted in a break- down of communication, loss of morale and a decrease in individual effort. SUPPORT FOR NON-WORK- RELATED ACTIVITIES Non-work-related activities, such as holiday celebrations and friendly competitions, are a great way to encourage camaraderie, enhance communication between team members and motivate the people you manage. rough these team-building activities, team members can interact in a more relaxed setting, which presents the opportunity to form relationships and connections with peers they may not normally interact with. is fosters a sense of belonging and togetherness, which solidifies the feeling of being a team and leads to greater job satisfaction. CLEAR COMMUNICATION As a leader, one of your critical tasks is communicating information to your subor- dinates. To do this effectively, you must understand how to best phrase your message so the information will be more easily understood and absorbed. Otherwise, you risk creating confusion and misunderstanding, which, at best, leads to frustration and, at worst, dangerous consequences. By taking the time to make sure your message will be understood, not only are you effectively communicating the information that your team members need to perform their roles, but you also demonstrate that you are consid - erate of them and foster a team mentality. CONCLUSION A leader shouldn't be perfect, and I would say we should doubt a leader that never fails. A leader can make mistakes, but they should be conscious of them and use them as tools to help them learn and evolve into a better leader. at is the hallmark of any great leader. Leadership is a journey, and we are all capable of learning from both positive and negative experiences by identifying the traits that lead to the ultimate outcome and using those to guide how we grow as leaders..