The most important rule for being a great role model is to avoid being a bad one. This sounds obvious but it is a trap easily fallen into (See our Case Study: Excessive Cell Phone Use by Physician). It is difficult for an obese physician to successfully counsel an overweight patient regarding the importance of weight loss. If there is a rule in the office against the personal use of cell phones, do not use your cell phone for personal calls. If the office has a specific dress code, adhere to it.
Most of the “rules” about being a great role model sound obvious, primarily because they are.
Unfortunately, this does not mean that they are followed routinely. Even the best role models and fantastic leaders have an occasional bad day. It is important to strive to be a great role model every day, including your bad days. Many articles suggest you always present a calm and confident demeanor. It is important for this to be the rule, but it is also important to recognize that you may fall short on occasion. That is simply the price of being human. Forgiving yourself and learning from those situations is role modeling for strong recovery, learning, and resilience, after all.
Honesty and integrity are key attributes of a great role model. Strive to tell the truth and do what is right even, no—strike that, especially, when no one is looking. Team members must see an honest leader.
Recognize the right path, follow it, and lead others along it.
Hard work is also a vital element – honest hard work. A role model works hard, helps others, and performs above expected standards. A great role model works hard, works smart, and is persistent. Giving up at the first sign of adversity tells the team that their efforts will likely amount to little or nothing because almost all projects face a problem at some point.
A good role model is confident but not arrogant. Avoid complacency. Resting on your laurels is a recipe for failure. A leader who is confident in his or her abilities will instill confidence in the team. Just as negativity is contagious, so too is confidence.
Confidence is also important when mistakes and errors occur. Confidently admitting a mistake and talking about how you plan to prevent it from recurring usually increases a team’s respect for their leader(s). Great leaders take ownership of the mistake and correct course. They do shift blame to subordinates, which erodes confidence from both the individual being blamed and the entire team.
Respect and common courtesy are vital characteristics of a great leader, a great manager, and a great employee. Simply put, be sure you select your leaders and your team from people who demonstrate strong ethics, accountability, responsibility, humility, and a willingness to learn A good role model has these traits and makes them known.
From the cleaning staff to the senior managers, make sure everyone knows you understand these principles are important to the practice. When people exhibit those behaviors, compliment them, and, when possible, put your compliments in the personnel files.
A worthy role model must be knowledgeable in the field and also aware of what they do and don’t know and how to share that knowledge. Being able to acknowledge not knowing a particular item assures the team that you are authoritative about those topics that you profess to understand. This builds confidence.
The desire and ability to share knowledge is a vital component of being a role model and leader.
Being a role model doesn’t end when the workday ends. It extends well past the doors of the practice. That doesn’t mean you need to be involved in 10 different extracurricular charities. There does, however, need to be a realization that the leader follows a consistent code of conduct both inside and outside the practice. Bragging about outside activities is counterproductive but so is leaving them completely hidden.
A team needs to know that their leader is a deserving role model.
Being a great role model is just one facet of being a great leader, but its importance should not be underestimated.
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