The profile of a good leader is ever changing, but the last three years especially have turned well-established leadership styles completely upside down. New work models and forms, as well as new technology and communication tools, require adaptation of both the team and the leader. Studies reveal that in the 1st quarter of 2022, employee productivity fell by 7.5% – the most severe decline in 75 years. The diagnosis? The consequences of “bad leadership.”
A quote from a German article by Wiggli states: “This is the era of leaders – the time of ‘bosses’ is over.”
But how can you avoid being an old-fashioned “boss”? Further, what is a “good” leader? The list of approaches on what to do, how to behave, and what is unacceptable is overwhelming. Indeed, sometimes the simplest yet best solution is right in front of us, and many times doesn’t require a 180° transformation to yield positive results.
Sociologist and author Tracy Brower, PhD, published an article in which she outlines three essential leadership qualities valued most by team members.
Here’s 3 steps for leaders to manage teams effectively:
#1: Show your team how much their work is appreciated
If you conducted an impromptu questionnaire on the street asking people how competent and appreciated, they feel in their job, how many would respond with “very much”? Probably not so many. The unfortunate reality is that there are many people stuck in a rut in their jobs, carrying on but uninspired. Their reason for working? Maybe to feed a family or kill time, but certainly not because they feel very appreciated in their role and working environment.
Yet all human beings long for recognition. This applies to all areas of life, including work. After all, is there anything that feels better than being validated by one’s managers? Deep down, employees feel the desire to be an important part of something big, to make a personal contribution to a shared goal, and to have the opportunity to demonstrate skills and talents.
How can leaders emphasize skills in the team?
First, it is extremely important to communicate the common corporate vision as well as the company values in a transparent way. Moreover, remind yourself daily the importance of every contribution and the personal value of everyone towards achieving that goal. Highlight this in your day-to-day work. Because the truth is that every employee functions as an essential, irreplaceable piece in the big puzzle of the company’s success. During this, also make the team responsible for results; both for successes and failures: no one in the team is supposed to have the feeling that their own work is irrelevant and unimportant.
Empower your team by giving them confidence to solve problems or difficult projects on their own. Learning by doing may lead to great developmental improvements.
A quote in a Forbes article finds its own words for this: “Make employees feel responsible for what they do. Let them understand and truly appreciate the value of the work they do and how their role impacts the overall business. Get their buy-in and let them feel the value of what they are doing.”
Provide transparent and honest feedback and show support – even in the case of mistakes or failed projects. This way managers can prove that they are attentive to all the team’s activities and make constant efforts to enable employees to do better.
#2: Foster a sense of autonomy and flexibility in your employees
Studies have shown that increased levels of decision-making are significantly correlated with more engagement, better performance, and higher levels of satisfaction. If you take a closer look at this, it is easy to see why. For instance: If an employee’s working hours can be arranged more flexibly, the more likely the person is to be able to meet multiple demands – and this may even lead to a better quality of work and life. All people naturally yearn for a sense of independence, to benefit from more freedom of choice, and more personal responsibility –– especially as this provides a sense of trust.
How can leaders create an autonomous work environment?
Let your team decide from where and at what hours they want to work. The increased flexibility leads to a better work-life balance, better well-being, and can even increase performance and productivity.
Empower your workforce. Encourage creative input and participation in projects, involve them in important and relevant decision-making processes. Provide the team with new challenges every day, while leaving it up to the employees to decide which projects they want to be part of, or even take charge of, and which they would rather not. Because after all, being personally interested in a project also has a great influence on a participant’s motivation — and the more motivated the team, the better the result.
Basically, freedom of choice plays an important role in terms of autonomy, and the more decision alternatives, the better. This does not only apply to decisions regarding working hours or participation in projects: the freedom to decide on smaller and perhaps less important events also gives a feeling of autonomy. Like deciding whether to join the team for lunch, spend the break alone, or with your favorite colleague in the park to clear your head. Offer your team a choice of alternative actions but make clear and communicate frankly: everything is possible, nothing is mandatory.
#3: Take care of your workforce
An organization can be made up of 5 or 30,000 employees, but however many your team consists of doesn’t change the fact that there are many individuals involved. Individuals, people like you and me. People who long for harmony and care. The daily work routine consumes a lot of time in the life of a full-time working person. Therefore, it is even more important that the person feels comfortable and well cared for. In this context, it helps to make employees experience that their supervisors care about them. When it comes to busy and frequently stressed managers, attention is a scarce resource. All the better if they “sacrifice” their valuable time and devote it to the employee — it creates a feeling of being something special, something important. In addition, appearing present and accessible has the effect that employees are more likely to trust them and are more motivated to work towards the same goal.
How can a leader demonstrate care to employees?
You have certainly heard the term duty of care before – in the German civil code §618 it is defined with the following words: “…the obligated person is protected against danger to life and health as far as the nature of the service allows it.”
It is written on paper, but how the law is interpreted and lived out in the end is up to the employer. Yet it is the execution that makes the crucial difference whether you can really call yourself a caring employer.
Be authentic and present in your daily work routine, take time for your team and get to know personal characteristics, try to build, and maintain real, healthy relationships with team members. Employees are not just a means to the company’s success. Demonstrate interest in the personal lives of your employees and invest in sincere and respectful one-on-one conversations at the same level. This way you provide employees with a sympathetic ear and create the basis for mutual trust. Especially when it comes to private and personal problems, such as personal or family crises, financial difficulties, or mental health, the manager as a person of trust can act well as a mediator and refer them to appropriate additional support services.
Mareike Awe, MD: “A true leader is usually not the person in the group who talks the most. It is the person who listens best. And listening means not only to hear what is being said. But also, to see what is not being said.”
According to studies, a successful leader spends about 2.5 hours a week exclusively listening to their team and solving problems. Yet a good internal corporate culture and positive relationships between team members can also buffer people who are experiencing mental health challenges. This makes it even more important to lay a foundation for the workforce to build good relationships. The key? Team building activities, such as collaborative projects and tasks. The feeling of achieving great things together and the opportunity to learn from each other in this process strengthens the trust and relationships of all individuals in the company.
Moreover, you can demonstrate that you are concerned about their well-being by asking your employees questions about their future and supporting them in their professional or personal development, such as by giving them the opportunity to learn a new language on the job.
Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric: “Before you are a leader, success is all about developing yourself. When you’re a leader, success is about developing others.”
Forecast
Research conducted by the University of Bologna and Wilmar Schaufeli, University of Utrecht, proves that people who feel that their manager cares about their well-being tend to be more successful in their careers. Another research paper by Project Oxygen states that by having a culture of care in the company, high levels of employee engagement are 71% more likely. The reason for this is that people feel a high need for reciprocity. If they believe that the leader trusts them, hands over personal responsibilities and takes care of them, they react by showing more commitment, dedication, performance, creativity, and productivity. This, in turn, has a direct influence on the success of the company, since satisfied employees make satisfied customers.
In addition, a positive working atmosphere, and healthy relationships throughout all levels of the company also shine outwards – a good opportunity for employer branding to attract job seekers, especially in times of a depleted candidate market.
We now know: Managers who take time for their team and listen to them improve the team’s well-being. But daily support with the personal problems of other people requires a lot of time and is also emotionally exhausting for the leader. People who have been in leadership positions for a long time and have dealt with employees’ problems many times are often more capable of dealing with the emotional burden. But newcomers can also seek help to successfully master this challenge, such as with business coaching with Speexx.
Being a good leader will not always be easy, that’s for sure. But the moment you realize that your support has a strong positive impact on your team and company, you know it has been worth it.
Sources
Tracy Brower, Forbes: New Science Of Leadership: It only Takes 3 Things to Succeed
Wiggli: Caring Management: Wie Sie ein fürsorglicher Manager werden
Lanaj & Jennings, Harvard Business Review: The Costs of Being a Caring Manager
Institute Success: The Top 5 Traits of a Manager Who Genuinely Cares about Employee’s Success
Forbes: 15 Ways to Empower Your Employees
