Leaders Must Teach Employees 5 Unwritten Rules

Many employees go to work faced with troublesome dynamics because they have selfish leaders that just want them to follow orders – without understanding what they are supposed to follow or why.   Too much talent is left on the table with potential that rarely gets seen because employees must cater to their leaders’ agendas without  having a voice in the matter.    Unfortunately,  too many employees have bad leaders.

To be an effective leader, you must be a great teacher.   Employees want leaders that are mindful of their needs, have their backs and trust themselves enough to share the momentum of their success.   Leadership is about teaching:  sharing key insights and know-how and giving employees access to critical experiences that will smooth their career path and enable them to build influential relationships.

Responsible leaders make sure their employees are never blindsided.   They provide them with the tools and access to the resources they need to anticipate the unexpected.   Today’s leader must allow their employees to work with an entrepreneurial spirit and unleash their passionate pursuits – to help build their confidence and teach them to embrace failure as a platform for growth.   While leaders must empower their employees, they also must be diligent in teaching them how to navigate the workplace terrain well enough to assure they can succeed without them.

To be certain that your employees are well-prepared to achieve success on their own, here are the five unwritten rules leaders must teach their employees.

1.  Navigate the Organization

Workplace success requires a deep understanding of how the organization functions, where the political landmines exist, how decisions are made, the standards and the expectations of leadership – just to name a few.   Every organization has a culture that sets the tone for the types of people that are hired.    Every employee should know why they were hired – and where they fit.

Many employees exist within an organization without understanding their existence in it.  There is a reason they are employed by the company and it’s not just because of their ability to perform the job description.  Help them navigate the organization and find out.  It’s their responsibility to know why and how to best leverage it.   Perhaps they work well across the organization by breaking down silos; or they may not require a lot of hand-holding and their low maintenance demeanor fits well with how the company operates.

They must never stop navigating the organization and must learn to know it well enough to anticipate the ebbs and flows and where the current is headed – and where they best fit to support it.   They are responsible for their career success, no one else.  As such, they must invest the time to understand their surroundings so that they are never blindsided and can be proactive to course correct as needed.

I was fortunate to have been taught this unwritten rule by a leader that was wise and selfless enough to share the temperament of the organization right after I was hired.   Because I was a young executive he wanted to make sure that I didn’t become frustrated with the chaos – but rather knowledgeable enough about how to navigate the organization and block out the noise, and to anticipate the unexpected.    This was the most strategic onboarding process I have ever experienced – and it has served me well for the past 25 years.

2.  Build Influential Relationships

The relationships you build within the organization will influence your future.   Employees must know who they can trust and those that can elevate their influence and position them for success.   Your employees’ workplace networks will shape their reputations over time – and if not built properly they can become burdensome.

Most leaders encourage networking both in and outside of the workplace. The goal is to teach employees to strengthen their circles of influence – and this requires them to be clear about their personal goals and objectives.  There is no reason to invest time and energy in a relationship that cannot provide mutual benefit.    They can certainly have acquaintances – but if their goal is to advance their career and elevate their influence – they must align themselves with those that support  their agendas and that allow them to equally reciprocate their support.

I learned the value of this unwritten rule early in my career from a leader that never wanted me to build relationships with people of influence.    She was threatened by my personality and felt vulnerable when we were both in the same room.   She made my life at work miserable   and made it her mission that I wasn’t exposed to anyone of influence.   When this dynamic became too disruptive and peers took notice, I made sure to sustain those relationships outside of the office to temper her attitude.  She eventually left the organization.

Success comes to those who are surrounded by people who want their success to continue.  Can you identify five people in your workplace that support your success?   If so, are they reciprocal relationships?

3.  How To Do Your (The Leader’s) Job

When you can teach your employees how to do your job, it broadens their perspectives and provides them with a greater understanding of what you expect of them and how to be more successful in doing their own jobs.   This supports the notion that when employees know exactly where they fit, they can be more confident in connecting the dots of their responsibility for the betterment of a healthier whole.

Too many leaders are territorial and would rather help their employees understand their specific roles and responsibilities without giving them access to the entire ecosystem and how it all works.   While I understand this approach, it can backfire quickly, especially when there isn’t enough bench strength and the leader is promoted or leaves the organization.   A good leader has the circular   vision to see beyond, beneath and around her immediate responsibilities – and thus is mindful to expose her employees to how the entire ecosystem works and to prepare them to assume more of her responsibilities should it be required of them in the future.

The same leader that taught me how to navigate the organization is the same one that taught me how to do his job, so that I could be prepared when called upon to assume greater responsibilities – which is exactly what happened more quickly than I could have ever imagined.

4.  Think Independently

If your employees can’t survive without you – you are being irresponsible to your employees and putting the organization you serve at risk.  You can never discover your employees’ full potential without knowing how they naturally think, act and perform – and without always requiring your opinion and/or approval.

Failure is not fatal, but rather a platform for growth and development.   Encourage employees to share their points of view, their ideas and ideals -- and to not fear the consequences or that they are being disruptive.   Enable them to stretch and think differently by embracing their diversity of thought.

This unwritten rule was encouraged by one of my leaders in my first job out of college and it served as the lens I saw through as I made many of my career choices and the leaders I  chose to work with.   The ability to think independently gave me the confidence to lead, take calculated risks, make better decisions – and prepared me to lead others.   It allowed me to be my most authentic self and gave me the courage to develop and live my personal brand as a leader.

5.  Get Discovered

When leaders can teach employees the aforementioned points 1 - 4, this is what best prepares them to get discovered.   When leaders can put their employees into situations where their talent will shine and their abilities will get noticed, the probability of discovery is much higher and will hold more weight.    Besides, employees can’t earn the respect of others when their leaders stand in the way of their ability to unleash their potential.

Leaders must also do a better job of encouraging their employees to promote the efforts of others, rather than endorsing self-promotion.   When employees contribute in meaningful and purposeful ways that impact the bottom line and the people around them – they will eventually get discovered.   If employees choose self-promotion as a strategy, it may help them short-term, but it will not be sustainable.  The value of their intangibles defines the difference between short-term success and long-term significance.   Self-promotion will not enable their ability to get discovered, it will only slow the process down.

Just as a teacher leads the classroom, you must teach those you lead in the workplace.  Being a leader means knowing that you are teaching others to be leaders too, and not being threatened by that.  Teaching someone else to think independently, to get discovered, even to do your job – doesn’t mean you are teaching them to replace you.  It means you are laying the groundwork for your own advancement as a leader – built on a legacy of helping others to reach their full potential.

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