What Parenting and Leadership have in Common
Leadership is the art of getting others to do things your way because you want them done. This saying is remarkable because it is true for parenting and leadership—after all, isn’t that what we strive for with our kids every day? Unfortunately, most of the time we fail in our attempts to convince our kids to comply with our requests, and this can sometimes put a lot of strain on our relationship with them.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful as parents if we could get our kids to do what we want without constantly nagging, yelling at, or reminding them? Wouldn’t it be even better if there were a simple technique we could employ to improve our parenting skills to achieve this?
Being a good leader and a good parent requires you to pave the way for those you are responsible for to succeed. Whether it’s a child or an employee, you should be concerned about their growth, demonstrate your belief in their skills, and give them the resources they need to overcome challenges and succeed.
In order to strengthen your relationship with your children and increase their chances of happiness and success, leaders and parents must figure out how to inspire others, encourage cooperation, and motivate themselves. Like any other ability, parenting is a skill that can be developed and can help in maximizing their chances of happiness and success.
Keep reading this article to find out what Parenting and leadership have in common.
When raising children, empathy is a crucial consideration. It is also necessary when managing people. Developing empathy while interacting with your children makes it easier to make them feel understood.
We must therefore ask ourselves, “Why shouldn’t we demonstrate empathy toward our staff?” Employees are oftentimes frustrated, they feel overwhelmed by their tasks and they might have conflicts with each other. As a manager, you are under no obligation to discipline your staff members, but by showing up when they need you and paying attention to what they have to say, you can show them that you are sympathetic and can support them even when you are powerless to alter the situation that is causing them pain.
Having clear expectations and goals is essential both in the workplace and at home. Having a vision allows us to look ahead and anticipate potential problems before they arise. Strategy on other hand helps us to plan how we are going to deal with parenting challenges on the occasions when they do.
We become less reactive to our children’s behavior when we make plans in advance, which helps us avoid many issues and improves our ability to handle them when they do arise.
Knowing when to step back is another quality that is similar between Parenting and leadership. Are your employees having trouble making sales, implementing a new programming language, or helping your child with a new toy? As challenging as it may sound, let them try, fail, try again, and fail once more. As a manager or a parent, your role is to give them some hints about how to complete the task
Being a good listener is another trait shared between parenting and leadership. You don’t always have to take action; listening comes first. Sometimes, people just need someone to hear their thoughts or their problems without judging them too much, interrupting them, or being focused on giving a reply.
Another crucial trait shared by parenting and leadership is trustworthiness. You children or your staff members will trust you first before they can obey you completely.
So how do you gain trust? You can gain trust by trusting them first, by being a good listener, by hearing and accepting what they have to say, and by showing them empathy. Both as a leader and parent, you have to keep your word and be the support they need to grow and learn.
Closing thoughts
No one is ever born to be a great parent or leader, and you only become one by trying over and over. You are a lifelong learner who is constantly absorbing new information as a parent and a leader. Being a perfect parent or leader doesn’t require any special skills or a set formula. You can only learn by playing the part and acting in it.