Employee Morale Crushers

Employee morale is perhaps one of the most important but most difficult things to manage. It’s critical to maintain high morale in order to increase retention, but it’s often difficult to get an accurate read on how employees feel and what is causing them to be dissatisfied.​

Most managers believe the leading reason employees leave is for more money. While compensation is a contributor, it is not the leading reason. Rather, a large number of employees leave due to: decreased employee morale, lack of respect from management, lack of employee development, and feeling disconnected from overall company priorities and objectives.

Employees want to feel like they are part of something “bigger” — that their individual role has a broad impact to the business. This applies regardless of job function.  While “local” relationships are critical to everyday morale, their feeling of being connected to the company as a whole is what drives them to stay. It’s more important than ever to nurture the relationship between employees and their direct managers as well as senior leadership, to communicate frequently but with focus, and to make sure employees have clear development plans that establish expectations as well as draws clear lines to business objectives.

Below are the top 10 employee​​ morale crushers as provided by the HR ​ Advisor.​​

1. Managers that treat employees poorly. Poor management is often cited as a cause of morale issues, and it can take many forms. One example is a manager who acts as though an employee is lucky to even have a job, rather than respecting the employee and his or her work.
2. Moving the goalpost. Employees will be understandably frustrated if their goals are continually changing—especially if this happens before the first goal can be accomplished or if the new goals contradict the old ones, making the previous work obsolete.
3. Unclear expectations. Similar to the item above, it’s discouraging to not know what you’re working toward. If the goals are not clear and employees don’t know what role they’re meant to play, they will get frustrated. This is especially true if they’re being judged by a set of criteria, yet don’t know what those criteria are. Employees should be given frequent feedback to know where they stand and what is expected of them.
4. Lack of communication. When employees feel like they’re kept in the dark, it creates resentment and presents opportunities for rumors to run wild. Communication is important all the time and is critical at times of extreme change. The ability to communicate up the chain of command is also crucial for employees to feel heard, and feeling like their opinions matter is highly important to employees’ sense of engagement.
5. Not feeling recognized for hard work. While not every employee will respond to the same types of recognition, most do desire to have their efforts recognized in some capacity. Not only does it confirm that the employee is meeting and exceeding expectations, but it also gives a sense of accomplishment and pride in the work.
6. ​No clear employee development plan. When an employee is hired, often he or she has a long-term vision for what roles they will take on next. When the company and an employee are on the same page, clear employee development plans will be in place and the employee will likely take on new roles over time. But when there is no development plan, there’s a high risk that employees will feel dissatisfied and unable to work to their full potential in the role they’re in. They’re likely to start looking for another organization to get new opportunities. Employees need to see a clear line of how they will progress their career and achieve their goals.
7. Lack of trust to complete the work. This often manifests as micromanagement or an environment in which an employee does not feel he or she has any leeway. Many employees would prefer to do their job to the best of their abilities and make appropriate judgment calls without having their actions called into question at every turn. On the other side of the coin, employees also need to feel free to ask questions without having negative repercussions. They should be able to ask for help and receive it without being perceived as unable to complete the work.
8. An unreasonable workload. While most employees understand that workloads can fluctuate, requiring an employee to keep up with an unreasonable workload for too long is a recipe for burnout and resentment. This is an especially common problem for employers that downsized during the recession and simply expected employees to take on more work—especially if that didn’t come with any recognition.
9. Inappropriate compensation levels. Surprisingly, compensation does not factor as high as some may guess when it comes to morale levels, but it needs to be reasonable, and it needs to reflect the quality of work and responsibility level of the employee. When low wages are coupled with any other item on this list, they will be much more of an issue to contend with, as inadequate compensation tends to compound other frustrations.
10. High turnover rates. When an employer has high turnover, it puts undue stress on the entire organization—remaining employees have to pick up the slack. Additionally, if the turnover comes from employees being let go frequently, remaining employees can lose confidence in their job security.

7 skills that are essential for leaders in 2023

The year 2022 was a challenging year with the lingering effects of the pandemic and related disruptions, inflation, changing work environments, digital transformation, political turmoil, and much more. Leading people in an era of constant disruption and ever-increasing uncertainty is a tough job. And in order to thrive in 2023, it’s essential to adapt our leadership strategies and capabilities. While business-centered leadership and associated competencies will always be essential, human-centered leadership skills are quickly becoming the topmost requirement to succeed today. The new year poses a new set of leadership challenges and demands more relevant people skills to stay ahead in the game. What are the key leadership trends and essential leadership skills set to rule 2023?

1) Self-Awareness and Growth Mindset – Leaders in this new world of work must have the skill of self-awareness: The ability to honestly evaluate, recognize, and regulate their own beliefs, patterns, and actions; and discern the impact of these patterns on others.

2) Empathy and Compassion for Others – Empathy is the capacity to feel what another person is experiencing, and compassion is the desire to help ease their pain, sending is the sensitivity to assess and detect feelings and emotions that are not expressed but can be felt. Building great leaders for the future of work Awareness-based, human-centered leadership skills are the abilities your leaders, teams and organization need to bring out new levels of connection, engagement, and performance. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them” — Albert Einstein

3) Humility + Humanity – While humility is not the first or even the third trait that comes to mind when thinking of successful business leaders, it anchors conscious leaders’ ability to rise above one’s own needs in order to better serve others.

4) Transparency +Truth – Truth is the state of being true or honest. Transparency is the practice of sharing truth. Top-level modeling of truth and transparency is essential to have a culture that reflects these values. The payoff is higher commitment and productivity.

5) Resilience + Emotional Intelligence – Resilience is the ability to bounce back after setbacks and emotional intelligence is the ability to regulate one’s emotions as well as assess others’ emotions.

6) Purpose – When we leverage individual purpose and tie it to a team or organizational purpose, it serves as a north star that can generate higher engagement, improved morale, and collaboration.

7) Servant Leadership – Servant Leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader – An essay that he first published in 1970. Servant leaders share power with their people, put the needs of employees first, help people develop and perform, and exist to serve them. There you have it! 7 skills to cultivate as a leader for greater impact and relevance in these times.

Employees are people, not assets

I can’t even begin to count the number of business owners and CEO’s who have told me that their people are their organization’s greatest asset. They are very proud when making the statement.

I truly wish this statement was true. I wish when you watched those business leaders in action you saw that philosophy in their words and actions. That you saw people being cared for, nurtured, and developed. That’s what you should do for people. Sadly, most of those business leaders really do treat their people as just another asset. 

People are not assets. They are people, real life honest to goodness, human beings. 

Back in 2010, I had dinner with a former colleague. He was the CEO of a major software company. He was one that often told me that the organization’s people were their greatest asset. He tried to hire me, telling me each time what a positive impact I could have on their people. 

Unfortunately, the company was formulating a plan to lay off a significant number of employees and he seemed genuinely troubled by the idea. He said I was an excellent human resources executive and in times like these he really needed that expertise.  I asked if he had considered every alternative to laying people off. He said he thought so. 

I said, “so you’ve eliminated executive perks like company cars, significant meal allowances, fitness club memberships, and similar perks. His answer contradicted his “people are our greatest asset” statement. He said those things had indeed been considered but were rejected. He said it didn’t make sense to disrupt the lives of the executive team to save “maybe 10 or 20 jobs.” I’ll bet it would have made sense to the people losing their jobs. 

Businesses are predicted to face significant headwinds in 2023. My advice to many business leaders would be to dial back the “people are our greatest asset” line. Because when push comes to shove those assets may be the first thing you decide to do without. That’s not a great look. 

Of course, there may be a chance that your organization is one of the many (thankfully) that still chooses to behave as if your people truly matter more than anything else. Your actions match your words. Not only do your people hear that they matter, but they also feel it. 

You lead your people rather than manage them. You invest in them. You develop them. You provide them with the best job security of all. You grow them into people who will always be in demand, even if circumstances prevent them from remaining a member of your team. 

As an Authentic Leader you know that words matter. You know that thoughts matter. You know that if you think of your people as an asset, like your building, a computer, or inventory, then that’s how they will be treated. Your thoughts and words shape your actions. That’s how it works for everyone. 

So, you see people for what they are. Human beings. That makes a difference in every decision you make. It means that when things get tough, you’ll ditch the executive fleet of cars and drive your family Ford.

It means that when you get to the last resort of having to separate with some of your people it will truly be a last resort. Because you know that you don’t actually run a company, you lead people and they run the company. 

Managing Stress Through Chaos

Perhaps every leader around the world has dealt with a huge amount of stress in 2020. And 2021 has not brought any relief thus far. Even those companies who are thriving during the pandemic had a different kind of stress.

I found that leaders who took the time to think through their actions and get feedback from other stakeholders did much better than those who did not.  Yes, we have to cut costs and make tough decisions, but the way you go about it can make a big difference.  A big difference to your company, your employees, and your customers.

Sometimes in the midst of a situation we do not realize how stressful it is.  We need to be more self-aware and acknowledge that this situation is different, more complex, and perhaps with higher stakes than normal.

Once you know that your situation is more stressful than normal, it is important to remember that denial is not a good strategy. Simply saying we will be fine will not work.  You do not have to be super-hero.  It is ok to acknowledge that you are stressed and that it is having an impact.  In fact, when you can name and acknowledge the stress you are feeling you are taking a positive step in dealing with it. Additionally, your recognition of the stress will help you lead by example – your denial could lead to the team’s denial as well.

You know how you respond when stressed. You can make that list, and please do.  Whether you get agitated more easily, talk too quickly, yell too often, or become reclusive, know your “signs”.  When you see yourself acting in those ways more frequently take that as a sign that you need to apply some approaches to reduce your stress. If you have a trusted advisor who can point these behaviors out to you, please ask for their help.

Decision making is an important part of our leadership role – and something that is often impacted by our stress level. Once you know you are feeling the stress of a situation, consider the following:

• Am I involving the right people in and getting the right perspectives on my decisions? Often in stressful times people make quick decisions and do not benefit from the insights of others.
• Is this the right decision? Stop and take a deep breath (which will help with your stress to start with), and look at your decision again – have you considered the right factors, and will this decision be successful?

Don’t stop after your decision is made and your action taken.  Keep the team involved and communicate as much as you can with your employees.  Now is not the time to stay in your office.  If you have remote workers, keep them informed.  Allow for questions.  In the end your entire company will benefit from the way you handled an extremely stressful time.

Silent Forces that influence your decision making

Good leadership is about good decision-making. Processes upon processes have been developed to help leaders make decisions, yet we often fail to consider the silent forces that influence decision-making.

This post identifies three hidden forces, offering a self-awareness exercise and an action to improve decision-making.

Identity

A leader’s identity is entwined intricately with their decision-making. When an employee is promoted to a leadership position, yet still identifies with being an employee, that leader will struggle to make decisions, course-correct and initiate difficult conversations.

For example, some leaders identify with being nice more than they identify with being a leader. As a result, patterns such appeasing and avoiding are developed to cope with conflict. While these issues may be partly skills-related, the core issue is identity. We will not and cannot make decisions outside of our own identity.

Self-awareness: Describe yourself by starting each sentence with the statement “I am.” For example, “I am impatient,” “I am dependable” and “I am a perfectionist” might be the first three ways you identify.

Next, look at how these definitions serve you or inhibit your leadership. If you identify with being an impatient perfectionist, chances are you micromanage, believe no one else can get it right and are not as approachable as you need to be. The point is that your self-identity manifests itself in leadership behavior and results.

Action: Pick an area where you want to shift your identity. For example, if being impatient is not working for you, start to shift your language. Instead of saying, “I’m impatient,” say instead, “I’m learning to delegate and become more present.” Or “I balance urgency, while paying attention to what’s important and relevant.”

This will start to elevate your awareness so you can change your automatic programming to become more intentional with your leadership behaviors.

Intention

To paraphrase author, Gary Zukav, “If you don’t know your intention before an interaction you will know it afterwards.” Your intention is like a goal with a soul.

Intention is about not only the final outcome but the journey. For example, if you need to have a difficult conversation, start by examining your real intention. The two primary questions you need to ask are:

1. What do you want to accomplish by having the conversation?
2. How do you want the other person to feel afterwards?

Do you really want to help the employee, or are you just “documenting” the conversation so that you can legally terminate employment? Do you really want to improve the employee’s performance, or are you using your conversation as a match point to prove your power?

Self-awareness: Think about one or two interactions where you got sidetracked or surprised. Describe a conversation where you reacted (and felt justified) then later had regrets. What would you have done differently if you had been thinking more logically? Perhaps you should have spoken up sooner, or you should have researched to confirm or deny assumptions.

Action: Before any difficult conversation, write down your end result. Then write down how and why you want to help the person involved. Do not act until your motives are pure.

Once your “energy” is cleaned up, articulate your intention at the start of the conversation. It should sound something like this: “My intention for our conversation is to help you get up to speed on your client calls, and to understand what barriers might be in your way.”

Emotion

Decision-making happens from the logical brain, the pre-frontal cortex, but emotions can hijack your decision-making. The human brain has limited resources available for self-control. The key is knowing how to interpret emotions rather than having emotions guide decision-making.

For example, anger is not telling you that you are right, and the other person is wrong. Most likely, anger means an expectation has not been met, or a boundary has been crossed. Anger is not the truth, but it is the fuel to get you there. 

Self-awareness: Make a mental list of a recent conversation that went south. Work backwards and remember what emotions you had before the conversation. Notice the themes and patterns. You will probably find some unprocessed emotions. Or you may find that you avoid conversations and need to speak up sooner.

Action: The next time you feel strong emotion, breathe, and take a pause. Buy time if you find yourself in a situation with a high-conflict person where you feel the strong urge to fight, flight or freeze. Get a meeting with the other person on the calendar so that you have time to get a plan in place. Talk with a coach or counselor if you need a thought partner to gain clarity.

Companies’ and workers’ priorities have changed during the coronavirus pandemic.

HR experts expect employers and employees to experience a new work world initially, and perhaps long term, rather than business as usual once the Coronavirus pandemic ends.

Not only will organizations need to consider measures to ensure the health and safety of their returning workforces—phased-in returns to the workplace and physical distancing, for instance—they also may encounter greater employee demand for flexible hours, remote-work arrangements and generous paid sick leave as part of the new normal.

I think we’re walking into a completely different world with a different set of rules.

Reopening May Start and Then Stop

Business leaders told President Donald Trump, who recently announced phased-in, less-restrictive social distancing guidelines, that they want to see extensive testing and more available personal protective equipment before allowing people to go back to work.

Large swaths of the U.S. economy remain fully or partially shut down or are operating remotely as the country struggles to contain the virus, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives domestically. At the same time, employers are starting to think about moves they might take to re-establish a regular work life, including rotating schedules, virus screening, cleaning and providing protective equipment.

I could see that return drag on for six months plus, at least. The return will come in phases, and I think there will be a real examination about what needs to return and when.

Forecasters expect the outbreak and restrictions to mitigate them to persist for months or longer, with potential subsequent waves of waning and resurgence, until a vaccine or effective treatment becomes widely available.

Workers’ Priorities Have Changed

When employees return to the workplace, HR consultants predict that many will have shifted priorities after a long stretch of remote work and sheltering in place with their families.

I think that people are going to not only demand more flexibility, but they’re going to have a proven business case for it.

Employers hurting financially after the shutdown might find that keeping employees working from home can help cut costs.  As this goes on it’s going to be a blueprint … of how businesses might operate in the future.

Schedules and Work Areas Shift

Some of the issues HR may face once employees start coming back to the office, include the possibility that some workers won’t be comfortable taking public transportation or being in the office.

New policies will have to be created related to remote work, commuting and workspace etc.

Mercer, which has been talking to clients and surveying employers around the world, has started to hear about rotating schedules, splitting teams and staggering the workforce so companies don’t concentrate workers in one place.

Longer term, there’s going to be a lot more questioning around where to work and the hours of working.

Pay Practices Change, Too

Meanwhile, retailers, fast-food companies, manufacturers and other employers unaccustomed to having workers exposed to serious illness may need to provide hazard or premium pay during the high-risk period, and some are already are doing so.

The return phase can be complex, with schools and day cares closed and children at home, employees may need more paid-sick and family leave.

“I think more time with family at home is going to change the dynamic about the role that work plays in [an employee’s] life,” she said.

Time to Create Policies and Guidelines

Automotive-seating manufacturer Lear Corp. recently published the “Safe Work Playbook,” a guide for safe practices at work during the pandemic, including steps for cleaning and disinfecting equipment, staggering shifts and lunch breaks, setting up a pandemic response team, establishing onsite health screening, and creating protocols for isolating employees who come to work sick.

The 51-page guidebook, which includes information based on recommendations from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aims to help organizations navigate the new normal, said Lear President and CEO Ray Scott. “This has been a difficult time for everyone, and re-establishing a workplace where employees feel comfortable performing their jobs safely is a multifaceted challenge.”

 

How Nice Leaders Can Destroy Your Company

In my business I see this a lot, people in leadership positions who’s desire to be liked overrides their ability to be competent leaders. Although the boss-employee relationship is of critical importance, when relationships become misaligned with organizational goals, team problems shortly follow. A pattern that’s easy to miss: A faltering team that belongs to a likeable leader.

Overly “nice” leaders often create unintended and unnecessary team drama because their overriding priority is to be liked and to avoid conflict.  There are three styles that nice leaders often use to unintentionally create team drama.

The Best friend

New leaders often have not developed the leadership identity they need to set boundaries, initiate difficult conversations and separate their feelings from the facts of their job. They often thrive at first during the honey-moon period when everyone gets along, but falter when reality sets in. Reality begins when Jane complains about Tom. The best friend leader is more invested in making sure no one gets their feelings hurt than giving honest feedback and guidance. Instead of coaching Jane and Tom to work out their differences, the best friend listens, offers explanations and short-term tactics to create harmony. If push comes to shove, the best friend leader takes sides to protect his own turf, thus creating trust violations.

Here is a list of some best-friend behaviors to look out for:

• Gossiping with employees about other employees
• Avoiding difficult conversations
• Being inauthentic about the real problems
• Blaming upper management for decisions
• Listening to hear-say

The best friend leader cares more about being liked and making employees feel good than he/she does about aligning with the mission of the organization.

The hero

The hero  is the boss who loves to help. The hero does well at first with a new team that lacks skills or confidence. The problem is that heroes never seem to shove the baby birds out of the nest. These leaders create unhealthy codependence and do not understand the difference between helping and rescuing. Helping is teaching a man to fish, while rescuing is giving the man a fish — over and over. 

The hero leader has certain qualities that can be identified:

• Inability to ask for what he/she wants
• Taking credit instead of giving credit
• An addictive desire to fix everyone else’s problems
• The open door has become a revolving door
• Overly dependent employees

When a leader tells you he/she has had to compensate for a brilliant yet somewhat incompetent employee, don’t look at the employee as incompetent, but instead to look at the leader as one who needs to be the hero. The reason the incompetence exists is because it has been allowed in the first place. There is always a secondary gain the hero gets from other people’s incompetency.

The hands-off leader

It sounds great at first to hear that the leader is “hands-off.”  You’ll hear statements like, “I trust everyone to do their job,” “I provide a lot of autonomy,” “I’m a “hands-off delegator,” or “I’m always here if people need me, otherwise I just stay out of their way.” This method works until it doesn’t. If the team is having trouble don’t look first at team dynamics, look to see if there’s a hands-off leader who is avoiding. Look for signs of a hands-off philosophy when you find complaints that have not been addressed, or if team squabbles and turf wars are hampering productivity.

Some signs of hands-off leadership include:

• Brushing complaints under the carpet
• Changing the structure before talking to the individuals
• Failure to assist lower-level leaders when problems occur
• Not seeing the drama until it has gotten out of control
• Inability to see the role leaders play in the team’s drama

Sometimes a hands-off leader helps create autonomy and more responsibility and sometimes “Hands off” translates to disengaged leader. Use wisdom to discern that distinction.

The paradox of likability is this: The very qualities that makes a leader likeable can also become the obstacle to growth and the root cause of costly mistakes. When you notice team drama, the natural response is to look at personalities, but when you dig deeper you find a hidden root: A leader that is simply too nice. While likeability can be an advantage, the disadvantage of unbalanced likeability is unintended team-drama and lowered productivity.

 

 

Improving your effectiveness in todays complex world.

It takes courage to be a leader in today’s workplace. Leaders live in an ever-changing world made more complex by the quantity data, social media, consumerism, workforce diversity and enhanced technology.

Gone are the days when the leader was an all-knowing manager with unwavering confidence, a resolute sense of direction and a keen ability to determine the right solutions.

These huge shifts have created a more complex workplace for leaders than in the past. This complexity poses land mines for leaders, particularly because:

• Root causes to problems might be unknown or not easily discernible
• A single solution might not exist
• No one person has the solution to the problem

In these circumstances, leaders are far less effective when they address symptoms of the

problem, assert only their opinion or point of view, fail to capture multiple perspectives to solve the problem or focus on only one solution.

Leading successfully through the never-ending maze of complexity requires a bold, new approach to identify, implement and sustain effective solutions:

• Begin with listening, versus acting. Identify compelling questions that spark dialogue among diverse stakeholders who are closest to the problem or situation. For example: What key events led up to this situation? What does the data suggest? What are the problems, barriers and/or challenges that the team is experiencing? How do these challenges affect the team’s or organization’s ability to produce intended outcomes?
• Demonstrate curiosity.  Explore themes and patterns that begin to emerge from dialogue with stakeholders. For example, what factors seem to contribute most to the situation: failed processes, inadequate technology, human error, etc.? Are there critical intersections in the work process where problems seem to form, grow, and mature? From these themes, seek ideas from stakeholders on interventions that could resolve the situation, whether in whole or in part.
• Take a paced, thoughtful approach toward the solution. Even if a clear solution hasn’t emerged, consider tests of change to study the effects of different interventions. Ensure that each test of change has an objective and baseline data. Once the test has been shown, determine whether the objective was met and if improvement was both measured and experienced.
• Champion learning. From the tests of change, determine what was learned and which solutions should be implemented on a fuller scale to address the situation.

To evolve their leadership approach in complex situations, leaders can advance their self-awareness by asking;

• How do I foster a safe environment where diverse, honest perspectives and recommendations can be shared?
• Do I tend to listen and learn, or tell and act?
• How do I encourage opposing views and creative deviance from the norm?
• How will I make the time to experiment, potentially fail, and extract lessons learned when pursuing the right solution to a complex situation?
• How can I cultivate a work environment where solutions emerge and failure is a natural occurrence on the road to success?

 

If you’re not helping people develop, you’re not management material

Skilled managers have never been more critical to a company’s success as they are today.  Not because employees can’t function without direction, but because managers play a vital role in talent management. Gone are the comprehensive career management systems and expectations of long-term employment that once functioned as the glue in the employer-employee relationship.  In their place, the manager-employee dyad is the new building block of learning and development in many organizations.

Good managers attract candidates, drive performance, engagement and retention, and play a key role in maximizing employees’ contribution to the company. Poor managers, by contrast, are a drag on all of the above.  They cost your company a ton of money in turnover costs and missed opportunities for employee contributions, and they do more damage than you realize.

Job seekers from entry-level to executives are more concerned with opportunities for learning and development than any other aspect of a prospective job.  This makes perfect sense, since continuous learning is a key strategy for crafting a sustainable career.  The vast majority (some sources say as much as 90%) of learning and development takes place not in formal training programs, but rather on the job—through new challenges and developmental assignments, developmental feedback, conversations and mentoring.  Thus, employees’ direct managers are often their most important developers.  Consequently, job candidates’ top criterion is to work with people they respect and can learn from. From the candidate’s viewpoint, his or her prospective boss is the single most important individual in the company.

Managers also have a big impact on turnover and retention. The number one reason employees quit their jobs is because of a poor quality relationship with their direct manager.  No one wants to work for a boss who doesn’t take an interest in their development, doesn’t help them deepen their skills and learn new ones, and doesn’t validate their contributions.

This isn’t what departing employees tell HR during their exit interviews, of course.  After all, who wants to burn a bridge to a previous employer?

Instead, they say they’re leaving because of a better opportunity elsewhere.  And so what happens is that organizations remain in the dark regarding how much damage their inept managers are doing.

Regardless of what else you expect from your managers, facilitating employee learning and development should be a non-negotiable competency.  Becoming a great developer of employees requires managers to expand their focus from “How can I get excellent performance out of my team members?” to “How can I get excellent performance out of my team members while helping them grow?”  Savvy managers know that doing well on the second part of the last question helps to answer the first.

The best managers ask, “How can we harness employee strengths, interests and passions to create greater value for the firm?”  Systematically linking organizational performance and individual development goals in the search for learning opportunities and better ways to work is a hallmark of organizations where sustainable careers flourish.

 

Try Servant Leadership

When you’re a leader you are merely overhead unless you’re bringing out the best in your employees. Unfortunately, many leaders lose sight of this.  Power can cause leaders to become overly obsessed with outcomes and control, and, therefore, treat their employees as means to an end.  There is fear of not hitting targets, fear of losing bonuses, fear of failing and, therefore people stop feeling positive emotions and their drive to experiment and learn is suppressed.

Take for example a Company I worked with a few years ago.   The engagement of its employees, who manufactured car parts, was dropping while management was becoming increasingly metric-driven in an effort to reduce costs and improve production times. Each week, managers held weekly performance debriefs with employees and went through a list of problems, complaints, and errors with a clipboard and pen. This was not inspiring on any level, to either party. And, eventually, the employees, many of whom had worked for the company for decades, became resentful.

This type of top-down leadership is outdated, and, more importantly, counterproductive. By focusing too much on control and end goals, and not enough on their people, leaders are making it more difficult to achieve their own desired outcomes.  The key, then, is to help people feel purposeful, motivated, and energized so they can bring their best selves to work.

There are several ways to do this, and many books written about the subject. But one of the best ways is to adopt the humble mind-set of a servant leader. Servant leaders view their key role as serving employees as they explore and grow, providing tangible and emotional support as they do so.

To put it bluntly, servant-leaders have the humility, courage, and insight to admit that they can benefit from the expertise of others who have less power than them. They actively seek the ideas and unique contributions of the employees that they serve. This is how servant leaders create a culture of learning, and an atmosphere that encourages employees to become the very best they can.

Humility and/or servant leadership does not imply that leaders have low self-esteem or take on an attitude of servility. Instead, servant leadership emphasizes that the responsibility of a leader is to increase the ownership, autonomy, and responsibility of employees and encourage them to think for themselves and try out their own ideas.

It sounds deceivingly simple, but rather than telling employees how to do their jobs better, start by asking them how you can help them do their jobs better. The effects of this approach can be powerful.

Consider the manufacturing business I mentioned previously. Once its traditional model was disrupted by a competitor taking their employees, the management team decided that things needed to change. The company needed to compete on product quality, but in order to do so, they needed the support of their employees who built the product. And, they needed ideas that could make the company more competitive.

After meeting with an outside consultant and some training, the management team tried a new format for its weekly performance meetings with the employees.

Instead of nit-picking problems, each manager was trained to simply ask their employees, “How can I help you do your job to the best of your ability?” There was huge skepticism at the beginning, as you can imagine. Employees dislike of managers was high, and trust was low. But as managers kept asking “How can I help you do your job to the best of your ability?” some employees started to offer suggestions.

Small changes created a virtuous cycle. As the employees received credit for their ideas and saw them put into place, they grew more willing to offer more ideas, which made the managers more impressed and more respectful, which increased the employee’s willingness to give ideas, and so on. Managers learned that some of the so-called “mistakes” that employees were making were innovations they had created to streamline processes and produce quality products. These innovations helped the company deliver quality products within the production schedule.

What it comes down to is this: employees who do the actual work of your organization often know better than you how to do a great job. Respecting their ideas and encouraging them to try new approaches to improve work, encourages employees to bring more of themselves to work.