Last summer I had an opportunity to work for a family friend who owns a number of motel franchises. I primarily took the job to earn some cash and get used to the workplace environment in the real world, but little did I know this job may end up being a valuable lesson in leadership. Watching my uncle managing his several motels opened my eyes to what an effective leadership looks like. My uncle is the most effective leader I have ever met and I look forward to few other summer jobs with him in order to learn more about effective leadership qualities.
My uncle has taught me one cannot be an effective leadership without strong communication skills. He communicates with his subordinates in both verbal and written form and he maintains formal tone in all forms of communication. He has adopted an open communication policy and anyone can approach him with an idea or report a problem. This has helped me identify new customer service opportunities in a timely fashion and address problems on a priority basis. His employees serve as his ears and eyes even when he is away on vacations. He understands it is not easy to manage several motel properties and open communication can be quite valuable in ensuring close monitoring of the business.
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My uncle has former powers due to simply being the owner of the motel properties because his real powers are not formal but informal. I observed fierce loyalty for my uncle among the employees because he leads through examples and treats them well. My uncle has strong work ethics, is not afraid to admit when he might have misjudged a situation, offers generous compensation to his workers, and also praises their hard work on regular basis. As a result, employees work hard and often go beyond their basic responsibilities to keep customers happy. My uncle told me he had to lay off some employees during the financial crisis but he provided half year wages to those who were let go and also gave them strong references. This only improved his reputation among the remaining employees.
Even though the employees enjoy strong working relationship with each other, conflicts can arise from time to time. My uncle makes sure he listens to all sides so that everyone feels he is being treated fairly. While someone is bound to get disappointed by the outcome of the decision, being treated fairly makes it easier for the disappointed party to accept my uncle’s decision.
My uncle engages in frequent negotiations on a day-to-day basis whether it was with business customers or suppliers. He believes the key to successful negotiation is understanding the needs of the other parties as much as possible and reaching a solution that appears to be win-win for everyone. I have seen some negotiators prolonging the negotiation process to tire out the other party but my uncle usually offers a fair solution at the beginning so that the goodwill between the parties can be preserved. He adopts the same strategy when negotiating the job terms with new hires.
He understands the employees are not like other factors of production. As a result, he offers both monetary and non-monetary rewards to keep them loyal and engaged. He gives them fair wages but is also generous in verbal praise for a job well done. He also offers up to two weeks paid vacation per year to everyone who has worked for him for at least two years.
I used to think of famous people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates when naming effective leaders but my uncle has taught me effective leaders are all around us if we pay attention. In short, effective leaders lead through examples and treat their followers with respect.
