Deposits and Withdrawals

If you have been in a leadership position hopefully you have heard about the concept of deposits and withdrawals.  You must deposit, invest, into your team before you can make any withdrawals - asking for things back from them just as you would do with your bank account.
 I would say that you must make numerous deposits before making any withdrawals.  In fact the more you deposit and invest the less you will ever have to withdrawal and when you do these withdrawals become very easy to do.
I have experienced this in the past from my own supervisors.

I had one who from day one of meeting him he approached me in a way that made me feel appreciated.  He would ask my advice about things in my department - even when he knew the answers (but I didn't know it at the time) - and he would simply talk to me like I mattered.  And he did this on a daily basis.  This allowed him to ask me for things that other supervisors wouldn't have been able to ask.  In fact, many times he wouldn't even have to ask.  Because he invested so heavily in me and others around me the need for withdrawals was tiny.  We gave the extra effort without being asked.  We identified issues before they ever reached this supervisor.  We took care of him.

I had another supervisor that from day one she was the opposite.  Instead of asking for my advice or opinion she just barked policy and compliance.  She would point out opportunities and started her withdrawals from me and those around me.  We complied but because there were no previous deposits from her we quickly ran out of that discretionary effort that makes things flow smoothly.  Now, we didn't do anything that was detrimental to the business but this supervisor never got the very best from anyone and she couldn't understand why.

So...as leaders we must make our deposits into our teams.  Deposit and invest so much that we all become billionaires!  Then, when the inevitable withdrawals have to come they seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the deposits.