Taking a deep breath to write this article. A little voice nagging inside me: “You can’t tell this! People might think that you are megalomaniac!” Okay, so think that I’m megalomaniac but we can also take a look at the facts.
When I was at school my class mates always wanted me to be their “Klassensprecher” something like speaker of and for the class. And I was their “Klassensprecher”.
Later in business life my colleagues elected me to become their “Betriebsratsvorsitzende”, their works council chairperson.
What does this mean from other people’s perspective? That they saw the ability to represent them and their interests, be it in the class at school or at the workplace.
Have I ever Been a Boss?
Yes, very early in my life and later a leadership position in IT. I had my own shop with three employees when I was 23 years old. I had to close the shop after five years for health reasons. My skin could not deal with chemicals. No therapy worked. The worst for me was to terminate the contracts with my employees.
What kind of leader am I? I love to encourage and empower people and treat them like humans not machines. I remember for example Gabriele, she applied for a job and was in practice the weakest of all applicants but though she was almost unbearable nervous at the interview I chose her for a different reason. I felt her eagerness and determination to catch up and to become the best she can be.
To see and help people thrive for me is up to today the highest reward I can achieve. I want people to enjoy their time at work, most of their life people spend on the job. Why does it have to be a misery? I also can be tough, don’t play with me. I made one employee redundant. She handed in a sick-note twice without being sick. How did I know? Customers saw her. I had a conversation with her on both sick-notes. The fist was that I don’t want her to lie and I asked her about the real reason. She shrugged her shoulders.
The conversation after the second sick note was about my gut feeling “She dislikes the profession, she made a wrong choice”. I asked her straight away “Anja, do you like the job? Would you enjoy being a hairdresser if you only could find a different employer?” She hesitated a bit but then admitted that she dislikes the job itself. She could agree that I don’t do either her nor me a favour in continuing her employment. We talked about what she could do and back at the time the job agency in Germany was really doing a good job: Helping people to change their career or to expand/improve their knowledge or skills.
Taking Time off Without Sick Note?
I guess I regard everything in life as a matter of balance. If employees work overtime almost regularly why are there leaders unable to give back? Making a drama about allowing them to leave 20 or 30 minutes earlier. The regular employee doesn’t ask for leaving earlier if there is still something that needs to be done in these 20 or 30 minutes. My employees even knew their daily schedule when they were at home. Calling and saying “My first customer comes at 10:00 AM. Did anything change? If not can I come an hour later?”
How many sick notes might only be handed in because employers or leaders don’t show the same flexibility they expect from their employees?
Mutual Interest
My employees learned everything because they should be able to cover for me if I fell ill or if I wanted to travel on my holidays. Of course, not every employee enjoys tasks not primarily having to do with their profession, like administrative stuff but they liked it and so I let them go for everything they wanted to learn. It has to be a mutual thing.
Is this talent? I think so. The problem is, there are no vacancies looking for leaders like me. And the worst: I have no certificates.
The Wonder Called Me 