Leadership Rejection

Leaders, would you agree that sometimes it isn't whether those employees follow you, listen to you, or even do what you say? Sometimes and somedays you just want to know if they like you, like any of your ideas, or think you are in any way cool. It's human nature. We all want to be liked and to have other people indicate that they like us in some way. Leaders can experience rejection and it can be painful, particularly if you are new to the position.

You can tell if you are suffering from Leadership Rejection if you:
- frequently ask for approval from others
- you fish for compliments
- refuse to get close to any employee or become friends with them for fear of feeling rejection

If you feel Leadership Rejection is impeding your ability to lead well, try these tips:
- stop taking everything as personally - sometimes comments are aimed at your title, not you
- find a sounding board outside of the office that you can validate your opinions and thoughts with
- seek approval from your superiors by asking for objective feedback and guidance to improve

Sometimes the rejection a leader experiences comes from the feeling that he or she is not "good enough to do the job" or "not knowledable enough" or "not old/young enough", etc. Before you convince yourself that others are rejecting you, be sure it's not coming from you.

Happy Leading,
Monica