Leading and empowering your team
A lot has been said about how managing, motivating and empowering people is essential to business growth.
Though reference books on the subject abound, this art and science of leading people can still be a mystery to a number of supervisors, managers and business owners.
This is a cause for concern as leaders make important decisions that can significantly affect their subordinates’ performance, from creating job descriptions and KPIs to something as simple as approving an application for leave.
Anna Esperanza, a licensed MBTI Practitioner, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner and member of the American Counseling Association, can help executives become better people managers.
She has more than 18 years of extensive experience working in various industries such as education, fashion retail, government, finance, hotel, healthcare, telecommunications, food and beverage chains, as well as several non-profit, faith-based and social change institutions.
We asked Esperanza some questions about how to effectively lead a team in the workplace.
Here are some of her insights.
Q: What are some important things that a leader should consider in empowering his team in an organization?
Empowering people implies two things.
One is empowering them to be more engaged or empowering them to be able to maximize competencies.
If a leader wants to empower in order to increase employee competencies, he needs to understand the employees’ potential, specifically his or her abilities, skills, interests, values, and motivation.
That way, whatever task or specific requirements that the leader wants to add on top of the employee’s job description, the person will be fully interested in following through from beginning to end.
Maximizing competencies also takes into consideration a person’s lifestyle, most especially in assigning a particular project.
You can’t just keep on assigning and letting this person adjust his whole life to the job. For instance, that person’s lifestyle includes spending quality time with his family.
Then the boss suddenly told him that he needed to work on a night shift.
This situation can obviously hamper the person’s lifestyle (i.e. less time for family) which will eventually lead to his demotivation and low engagement at work.
Q: What are some essential tips in giving feedback?
Before giving feedback, the leader should first be able to identify what is the goal of the feedback.
Is the goal of the feedback to encourage growth or to correct? The process of giving feedback depends on the objective.
The main goal should always be for the improvement of the person and not just to criticize a person.
Here are some tips in giving feedback:
- Give functional feedback with no attached subjective emotions.
This is because giving feedback with emotions makes it more personal rather than functional.
For instance, instead of saying “I’m upset when you are always late in submitting report,” you can instead state “I think it would be better if you submit the report on time. With that we will have no delays.”
- Be generous with your words by appreciating your team members.
Feedback should always be a combination of positive and negative things because this way, you are motivating the person to improve further.
- Identify the expected measurable change.
This is needed to identify if there is really a significant improvement that has taken place.
- Create an inclusive and collaborative solution.
The solution to the problem should be mutually acceptable to the person receiving and giving the feedback.
The giver should also ask the receiver the following questions: How do you think you can improve? What would be the significant milestones?
Once the solution or plan has been made, both parties should meet again after a few weeks to know the results and see whether there is a need for further adjustments or not.
- Communicate at an appropriate time.
The feedback must be given at a time that is mutually acceptable to both.
The giver should ask the receiver when is the best time to discuss the matter at hand.
He must also be able to state the topic of their upcoming discussion.
Q: How can a leader effectively manage conflicts within a team?
Conflicts may happen between the leader and the subordinates, or among the employees themselves.
If the conflict is between the leader and his subordinate, the leader should be able to:
- Identify the issue with the subordinate. This is because both parties might have a different opinion on what the true issue is.
- Deal with the facts and not the circumstances that come with it. For instance, instead of saying “John, because you are late, Ben was not able to finish his report, and our boss got really mad”, you can instead say “John, when you are late, it affected the whole team because there was a delay in the process flow so I hope that you can be on time. Is there any way we can resolve this issue?”
- As a leader, look at your contribution to the situation and be responsible for it.
- Stay within the area of concern.
When the leader has subordinates who are having conflicts, the goal of the leader is to solve the conflict and not to know who is right and who is wrong, but to be able to come up with an appropriate solution.
Initially, the leader should have a one-on-one conversation with both parties, he should be willing to listen and should avoid giving his own perceptions on the said issue.
He should not feed on the employee’s emotions, nor agree or disagree because the subordinate might think that his boss is on his side or against him.
After knowing the opinions of both sides, the leader should let the subordinates meet.
Herein, the leader should act as a mediator and facilitate communication between the two by: telling them about his understanding of the issue and asking them if they agree or disagree; and also asking them about the possible workable solutions.
Once a mutually accepted and workable solution has been implemented, the job of the leader is to have follow-up session after x number of days or weeks in order to see how these two subordinates are working together.
This is also to see whether the issue has already been resolved.
(Esperanza will be the resource speaker for the Professional Workshop in Inter-Personal Development.
It is a workshop on leading and empowering others to achieve their maximum potential at work. The workshop will also help participants discover their leadership style and manage their team according to job functions.
Developing proper work boundaries by addressing office politics, enhancing conflict management skills and developing a succession plan will also be covered in the workshop.
The workshop will be held on Nov. 25-26, 2015 at the Inquirer Academy Building, Chino Roces Avenue corner Ponte Street, Makati City.
The professional workshop is brought to you by Inquirer Academy and would be ideal for department heads, managers, supervisors, team leaders and entrepreneurs.
To know more about the workshop or Esperanza, you may write to [email protected] or call 8341557. Look for Astrud De Castro or Arvin Maghirang.)
