The question of what makes a great leader has been tossed around frequently throughout history. It often calls to mind the image of an awe-inspiring figure standing before a cheering crowd, ready to lead them to glory. While this idea of the singular leader can be romantic and practical, it does tend to minimize the joint effort that goes into creating such a unified community. The core founding principles that generate and maintain a great community are reinforced by those who are the links between members. It is the leadership provided by those who are not crowned with the title of leader that can hold the most sway on a day-to-day basis.
In the modern office environment, this can be seen with the administrative department. This group often takes a more subtle and nuanced approach to leadership, but it can create lasting effects. By reinforcing community norms, being responsive to needs and collaborating or creating solutions, and by connecting unrelated departments, the administrative department leads by example without the leadership title.
At Hausmann-Johnson Insurance (HJI) for instance, this group is often the first face that one sees when entering the office. No one is ever overlooked and everyone is always welcomed with a bright smile, regardless if they are a fellow employee, a client, or a visitor. This level of positivity impacts the community as a whole and can often be what starts someone’s day on the right foot. This reinforces one of the core principles of the HJI community: to build and nurture trusting relationships, not only between colleagues but clients as well. By establishing a sincere and trusting connection, it supplies a foundation that can be built on that encourages others to follow suit.
With this foundation of trust, the administrative department becomes the department that others feel welcomed to rely on. It can be something as small as answering a question about where outgoing mail goes, or it can be something as large as undertaking an in-depth, month-long project. By being responsive to the needs of others and striving to find a solution for any problem, this group provides leadership to those around them. A leader strives to help and improve the environment as a whole so the community stays healthy and functions smoothly in all tasks.
The combination of trust and being responsive to others trickles down to have some interesting effects in the workplace. Many times, departments have no overlap between each other besides the occasional run in at the break room. Since the administrative department interacts with all departments, they end up being the bridge between them. By seeing a trusted person interacting with someone who is a more of an unknown factor, it encourages others to reach out to colleagues that they normally would not. This in turn reinforces the community norms to build relations and once these relations are established, they lead to better cooperation within and between departments. This opens up access to a wider net of knowledge that was previously inaccessible. This benefits not only the community but also any clients as well since any questions can be passed to someone who has more expertise in that field.
The administrative department acts as the link between departments in a workplace and leads by example. By following through on community norms and cultivating a trusting relationships, the administrative team provides leadership to the community without having the title of being a leader. As M. D. Arnold once said, “A good leader leads the people from above. A great leader leads the people from within them.”
COMMENTS