Can You Be Informal and Professional?

We have another listener question, this time coming all the way from the UK. Deanto Callo wants to know if it is possible to be friendly and informal with your staff and still maintain professional standards?

It is possible to be friendly and maintain expectations and standards with your team. You have to decide who you are and what you stand for, as a leader and as a company. Make sure your team knows what you stand for and how it will help them grow and get better. When you have clear expectations, you can still be friendly and approachable. It is good to have friendly relationships and a comfortable atmosphere, as long as your team knows how it works.

I like to say manage like a mother. Mothers want you to be successful. They care about you, and they will hold you to the family standards and expectations because it is in your best interest, and they care about you. Mothers are informal and friendly, but they are firm and fair and manage with empathy and discipline.

As long as you set expectations, reinforce expectations and then enforce expectations, you can cultivate a relational atmosphere. Your attitude will determine the outcome. People want to work in an orderly and predictable environment – it lets them know they are safe. The boundaries must be clear. Monopoly and poker have different rules – make sure your team knows what game they are playing.

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