Leadership vs. Parenting

Would we send our kids to the doctor to get a note to prove they were sick?

No. We use our subjective evaluation based on our personal knowledge about our kids to determine if we think they are really sick and we go from there.

Would we rate our kids against each other twice a year in all areas of their performance: school, sports, co-operation with siblings, quality of grass cutting, manners with Grandma, and adjust their allowance based on the ranking?

picture by Towbar - click for link. — picture by Towbar – click for link.

No. We treat each child as an individual and do what we think is right to help them mature, show them they are loved, help them discover their strengths, and teach them life lessons.

Why then do we subject the people that work for us to things that we would find crazy with our kids? A wise person once said to me, “the only difference between parenting and leadership is that you can’t hire and fire your kids.” To me this means I need to treat people who work for me with the same principles of fairness and caring that I treat my children with, I don’t switch over to a different set of principles and treat people according to what “best practices” are from some management school. For me there is no difference. The more I have adopted this approach, the more rewarding my life as a leader has become.

IBEX Payroll extends our profound respect and immeasurable gratitude to all the ancestors and keepers of the land on whose traditional territories our work takes place. We acknowledge that we are on Treaty 1 territory, the traditional gathering place of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene people and the traditional homeland of the Métis people. This land is sacred, historical, and significant.

Every time we acknowledge this truth, we have an invitation and an opportunity to reflect on the wrongs of the past, what we do in the present, and what we can do to continually honour the people whose lands and water we benefit from today.

This statement only acts as a first step in honouring the land we reside on and its peoples, and must be paired with education, understanding and informed action.