Do you pressurize your subordinates in order to get work done or to get more done? Some of my colleagues boast of being able to push their subordinates into get more work done, and of being able to get it done faster as well. A few of them even take sadistic pleasure in exercising their managerial powers. Would you consider yourself to be one of them?

When you are the boss, pressurizing sounds like a fine thing to do to, doesn’t it? After all most of us would have had experiences wherein our bosses did the same to us too – got us to do work through means that would not necessarily bring up happy memories when looked back on? There, you’ve hit the nail on its head. It’s certainly true that being the boss puts you in the position to be able to boss over those lower in the hierarchy, but when you choose to do so, just like how you do not hold sweet memories of your bosses having bossed over you, so will your subordinates not have any better memories of you having bossed over them either.

Through the use of power, you would most probably be able to push them to deliver more. And that would probably bring you success in the short term. But at what cost would that be? By exercising power to pressurize someone, you most likely wouldn’t leave the person happy. Do you realize that in the long term this could actually backfire on you at some point? We must remember that we live in a world where things change fast. Someone who is your subordinate today may very well be in a stronger position tomorrow, and you wouldn’t want anyone, given an opportunity, to vent out any hurt feelings back on you, would you? While the chances that your subordinate would be your boss someday are remote, it cannot be ruled out altogether. And if that seem too far fetched, think of all the other roles performed by the stakeholders of your day to day responsibilities – your customers, clients, business partners, etc. Does it also seem too far fetched that your subordinate could land up playing any of those roles and be a stakeholder that could turn the tables on you someday?

In my many years in the industry, I’ve come to learn that at the end of the day, it is not the short term success that matters most, but rather the trail of relationships that you leave behind. If you leave a clean trail behind you with no hurt feelings, there is very little to worry about. On the contrary, you actually can look forward to people coming to your aid when you need help. However, if you leave a dusty trail behind you, there is always the fear that the wind could blow in the wrong direction and bring the same dust hurtling towards you.

Many of the principles that I follow in managing my teams come from inverse applications of my experiences with many of the bosses whom I have worked with along my career path. Looking back on my earlier experiences, I know that if my boss would try to force me into doing something, especially when the task is not a part of my responsibilities, I would most likely retaliate, or in the worst case, perform the task just for the sake of performing it and hold back bitter memories towards the boss. I’ve learnt from this, and now I apply the inverse of it in managing my team, through the art of getting my subordinates to cooperate with me in meeting the goals. Instead of bossing over them and maintaining a separation between me and the team, I make an attempt to lead through cooperation. And it brings a lot of happiness my way to see my team happy with me, while at the same time being able to achieve success in many big ways. The secret I’ve come to know is to be the boss without being bossy, and to get work done through cooperation and unity.

In leading a team, true happiness comes from seeing people working for you not because you want them to or because you have the power to make them work for you, but because they feel like working for you, because they feel part of the mission and are willing to cooperate with you. So, if you want to be a successful leader and leave a clean trail behind you and be happy too, the secret is to get your team to willingly cooperate with you.