Followers Follow

Team members grew from 2 to 3. It was really bothering me why the team members were not time conscious. They came late to work, except one who had to leave home very early lest he be caught in serious hold-up. In the afternoon, they took more time than their break hours. On this particular day, I came in from lunch by 2:15p.m. Break time is 12-1 or 1-2 but we just take 12 - 2. Team members were not on seat. They started strolling in from 2:30p.m.

I wanted to give all of them a query instantly but I was stopped by a warning that said, "Lead by Example." I held my peace. I decided to come to work early and actually monitor their timing. Same thing with lunch. I would return early from lunch and monitor their timing.

This was a week's exercise. I noticed that when I began coming to work early, their resumption time was readjusted to some minutes after I came in. Similarly, when I started returning from break early, their return time from break also readjusted. They were simply following their leader.

That was how I spoke change to the team. It was not a case of "Do as I say and not as I do". Anything I wanted them to do, I did it. I demonstrated that they could do it too. I only had justification to give them a query if they were doing wrong things which I was not doing.

For me, "Leading by Example" was one of the greatest things I learnt during my experience of learning to be a "Manager".