Which of the following statements sound familiar to you?
A. You’re implementing some form of change in your organisation and you would like to be a more supportive leader.
B. You understand that the people in your team need to take the reins and be more responsible for delivery, but you find it hard to take a step back.
C. You get too involved, can be too bossy and you think the team cannot function without your input.
I guess a) sounds familiar otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article, b) because you see taking a more supportive role will allow you to take a step back and c) well maybe this is you?
When you are working with diverse groups of people that have varying levels of skills and experience, it can have an adverse effect when you get involved and start telling your team what to do. They may either:
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Stop thinking for themselves and just wait for your solutions (you’re going to get involved anyway so why bother)
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Do it your way even though they know it’s not the most effective solution
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Do it half-heartedly and start to show signs of being disengaged
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Smile, do it and then talk behind your back with the rest of the team
None of these behaviours from your team are productive and will drain away your time and lead to less than acceptable levels of performance. I’m sure you are already aware of this. Here’s the problem: it’s your behaviour that will need to change for this situation to improve. This may seem bizarre initially, but the non-productive team behaviour is a response to how they are being managed and the environment that has been created.
If we want to see improvement, we need to change something. Right? If we leave things as they are, make no changes and expect to see an improvement, well that would be crazy. Surely? So the ideas below are all subtle changes that will help you to become a more supportive leader and will lead your team to achieve more positive results.
You may be working on implementing a new strategy, driving continuous improvement activities, or simply wanting to see better performance in your organisation. Whatever you are striving to achieve with your team, these 20 ideas will help you make the transition to becoming a more supportive leader.
1. Start with why: If you haven’t read the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek then you should. Don’t do reading? Try the video instead. ‘Why’ am I starting with this idea? Because it’s important you can clearly explain ‘why’ you are asking someone to perform a particular task. If I asked you politely to do something but couldn’t explain why, would you do it? Maybe? What if I said…
I would like you to finish reading this post because each one of these ideas will increase your team’s effectiveness by at least 1%. What would a 20% increase in teams effectiveness mean to you?
You need to send out a big enough ‘why’ to your team to keep them motivated.
2. Set a clear vision that will stretch your team: If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Is the end result you are looking to achieve clear? Does it stretch your team enough so that they remain motivated? Too far and people burn out. Too little and people get bored. Check with your team. Ask them. What is the end result you are trying to achieve? Here is a great Article on the Mind Tools website to help you set Stretch Goals: Using Stretch Goals with Your Team
3. Understand the change or improvement approach you’re using: Whether it’s Lean, Agile, or another form of improvement activity, make sure you understand it. Too often leaders bring in external experts and expect them to “do it to the team.” This usually ends in tears because the leader doesn’t fully understand the approach. The best question to ask if you are working with external support would be: “What can I expect to see in my organisation in 5 years’ time?” This will give you insight into whether they’re taking your organisation in the direction you want.
4. Appreciate it’s a journey and not a project: Improving performance and increasing your competitive advantage needs to be a constant, not a short term project. When positive changes are made you need to consider how they will be sustained today and in the future. If you refer to any work as a project, your team will view it the same way and will usually go back to the old way when the project ends. Don’t make this mistake. Think about the journey and how you will sustain improved performance.
5. Appreciate the importance of values: Values are at the core of who we are and act as our compass when decision making, therefore our values are what drive our behaviour. When you meet someone who shares you values, you just know. You don’t need to ask them what their values are. You can tell by the way they behave. At Manufacturers Alliance one of our values is ‘lifelong learners’. When you have people in your team that challenge the status quo by embracing a growth mindset and are on a journey of continuous learning, they approach all tasks in the same way. Important to us and to our customers.
6. Decide who your key people are: Who are the key people in your team that will make this happen? Focus on the top 20% who are providing 80% of the results. Not the bottom 20%. The top 20% are your allies and will go the extra mile. Trust them. Really trust them. Get out of the way and let them decide how to realise the plan.
7. Build cross functional teams: Cross functional teams will break down the invisible walls between departments and stop the organisation working in silos. Cross functional teams will offer a natural diversity and ensure changes are aligned with overall business performance, not just local targets and initiatives.
8. Define the rules of engagement: When working in teams we need rules. Not a charter, just a list of 5-6 rules on how we intend to work together. This is best created by the team working on the task. The discussion around creating the rules is very powerful. People gain an understanding of what is important to other people in the team and what makes them tick. They will also hold each other accountable once the rules have been created and agreed.
9. Provide a budget: When delegating a task to another person in your team, or to a whole team, provide them with a budget. I have seen a number of improvement ideas fall by the wayside because it was perceived no budget was available. Leaders are usually pretty resourceful, so they will ensure they get the most from any cash available.
10. Agree milestones: If you are delegating a sizeable piece of work agree the milestones, the expected completion dates for each stage and how you would like to be kept in the loop. This may be a formal type of monthly reporting, presentations at milestone completion points or informally on a daily or weekly basis.
11. Help your team spot trends in performance: Your role as the leader is to help the team recognise performance and the associated trends. For example, in some markets speed is the key differentiator, in others it may be innovation, service, or quality. Your role is to help your team see the bigger picture and guide them towards the best course of action for the organisation as a whole.
12. Help to the remove the boulders in the road:
Along the journey the best way in which you can support your team is to remove the boulders in the road. Not the tiny grains of sand, not the pebbles, or the rocks, let the team work through these. You focus on the road ahead and get involved when they are experiencing a potential show stopper. This can be a member of the team that is hindering progress, the need to purchase a critical resource outside of the forecasted budget, or a customer causing mayhem for the team.
13. Communicate that change is good: Without change we cannot improve. If we carry on doing what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got. Today organisations need to continually improve performance in order to maintain a competitive advantage and maintain/increase market share. It is important that you remain positive about change and always talk and behave in a way that suggests just that. If you become uncertain or negative your team will become sceptical and lose motivation. Read our article “10 ideas that will break down the barriers to effective workplace communication” for further tips and advice.
15. Let people fail: This is the toughest one! Especially when you feel what someone is suggesting is not the way you would do it. You need to let go. You need to support your team by allowing them to make their own mistakes. Yes that’s right, making mistakes is a positive step forward because if people are making mistakes they are trying something new. The best way to approach failure, is to treat each step that does not take you in a positive direction, as a learning experience. Accept the lesson learnt and move on.
16. Promote learning and the development of people: When we move away from tasks and failure, to the development of people and learning, we allow growth and improvement. The whole culture of the organisation changes when people feel supported and that they are getting better in their role. These are natural laws of the universe. People want to work autonomously, they want to feel part of something bigger than themselves and they want to get better at what they are doing. You can’t build the organisation on your own. Build people and let them build the business.
“You don’t build a business. You build people and the people build the business.”
16. Make time to listen to your team: You have two ears and one mouth. Use this as a guide to how much talking to listening you should be doing. You should be supporting your team by spending 60-70% of your time listening to them. Not the kind of listening where you wait for a pause to interject with your idea. The kind of listening where you wait until they have finished talking and you offer praise and your help if they feel it’s required. Listening is an art and needs a lot of practise. Ask your team if they feel you are a good listener. If you are prepared to hear the truth that is.
17. Give feedback 3-1: People generally need three times more positive feedback than negative feedback to maintain their current emotional state. If you want to increase someone’s emotional state to something much higher. Guess what. You will need to provide more than a 3:1 ratio. Basically provide your team with lots of praise and avoid negative comments.
18. Be self-aware: To become more self-aware you must first accept that you are not perfect and you never will be. You are capable of becoming more effective. We all are, but perfection is not going to happen. You will need to be prepared to listen to feedback from others and accept that it may be and quite possibly is true. The journey of personal development and becoming a more effective leader starts with becoming more self-aware. There are a lot of behavioural changes suggested in this article that would provide you with some good material to ask your team, ‘How am I doing with…. ‘. Pointing the finger at others and suggested everyone else should improve is a little unfair and will not inspire your team to follow you.
19. Coach people: Learn to become a coach and help your team find their own answers by challenging their thinking. It helps if you have experienced being coached. When you understand what it is like to be a coached, you are more aware what your team are going through. Be aware when you are falling into tell mode and stop yourself. If you continue to tell people what to do they will be forever dependant on your for answers to their problems. When people do approach you with problems ask them, “What do you think we should do?” or “Show me the problem and let’s see if we can we fix this together”.
20. Hold people accountable: You can support the performers in your team by holding people accountable. Don’t shy away from the people who say one thing and do something else. A high performing team needs to be able to rely on all members to do their bit. You don’t need to behave like a tyrant, just hold people to their role and task commitments.
21. Make time to celebrate: Bonus idea! You don’t need to do anything too extravagant. You are recognising your team’s contributions and demonstrating your appreciation. Provide them with a written thank you letter, bars of chocolate, a day at the races or a day’s holiday. It’s your choice. The worst thing you could do is nothing.
You may be doing a lot of these already but hopefully you find these 20 ideas on how to make positive changes in your organisation useful. We are all on the journey and should revisit this list on a regular basis. If your team do not feel supported they will start to become disengaged and less effective and let’s face it we cannot do it without them. It is our role to ensure they feel supported and that they are continually reminded what a fantastic job they are doing. Performing team needs to be able to rely on all members to do their bit. You don’t need to behave like a tyrant, just hold people to their role and task commitments.
