I'm currently a Team Leader at a smoothie corporation called Jamba Juice, and a challenge that i faced was creating a sense of authority. I am 5'2" and can have a very sweet disposition, which does not easily allow for an authoritative presense. However, i refused to be the type of manager who used fear and anger to get my point across. I studied other managers who i worked with, leaders of the world, and even asked my team members how I could better lead them while still being approachable. The one main thing that i learned was how important each team member's self image meant towards their performance. Successful managers had team members who loved to come to work and willingly gave all their effort. They accomplished this by acknowledging how important each member of the team was to the whole, and gave each person the opportunity to give their best. Each succussful manager also held themselves accountable as well. For if they did not take their responsibility as a leader seriously, their team members were not going to take them seriously. So I let go of my fears of coming across brash and mearly held my team members accountable for their responsibilities to the store, while praising them for doing their best. The more i held myself accountable as a leader the more they took me seriously.
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