News »Browse Articles » Leadership that Does Not Inspire and Guide

Through my company, we completed an extensive survey with over 10,000 respondents from companies across the U.S. Our goal was to look at productivity and morale and find what destroys these important characteristics in the workplace. What we found was quite powerful. Over the next several weeks, I will share with you the results of the survey and what we found to be the “Eight Killers of Productivity and Morale in the Workplace”.

Killer: 1: Leadership that does not inspire and guide.

We once thought that leaders were born, not made. Now we know that leadership is truly a skill that people can develop. Leadership is the skill of getting people “to willingly do what you want them to do.” When you’re a leader, people follow you because they want to, not because they have to.

“People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their leaders,” says Ann Evanston, CEO of Zena Enterprises. “I meet managers from companies all over the world, whose staff has quit, and yet the managers still come in to work every day.” Staff who are thinking of quitting have low morale; they don’t want to put forth the extra effort that is necessary in today’s busy workforce and do just the “bare minimum” to get by.

One skill good leaders develop is the ability to critically and optimistically think through all the new priorities. They continually ask, “What’s possible?” and “How can we make it happen?” and share those visions and ideas with their team. Then they relate their ideas to staff’s intrinsic motivators so employees buy in more quickly. Great leaders take it a step further and develop the ability to ask their team members questions that will enable the team to come up with the direction in which they should go.

It is extremely important that leaders empower staff to feel that they are a part of what’s going on. Leaders need to know what their expectations are and communicate them effectively to staff. It is surprising how many leaders today have not clearly outlined their expectations! How can leaders clarify to staff something they don’t know themselves? How do leaders create consistency if they aren’t clearly grounded in their most important expectations are?

ACTION ITEM: As a leader, take time to clarify your expectations.

Lastly, remember the difference between the “how” and the “what.”. Too often leaders get caught up in how something is done. That isn’t what matters, it’s the what. If staff clearly know what you want, what it needs to look like when it’s done, what the goal is, what treating customers exceptionally is like…let them figure out the how. When managers get caught up in the how,: they are micromanaging, not empowering, and definitely not leading.

ACTION ITEM: Encourage managers to clarify their expectations.

Ask them to look at all levels of doing business: organizational skills, communications, people development, teamwork, profitability, feedback loops, and initiative. Challenge them not to just “think” about their expectations, but to write them down.

If you are an employee, ask your manager what his or her expectations are in writing. Be specific in the expectations you want clarified.

Our survey results show that less than 3% of respondents felt that all levels of leadership know and clearly communicate their expectations to their team members. Exceptional organizations grow and develop exceptional leaders. Is 3% exceptional enough?

Source:
http://www.hrguru.com/news/articles/1608-productivity-and-morale-in-the-workplac

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