The Importance of Supportive Leadership
Embodying supportive qualities as a leader is one of the most effective behaviors you can utilize in the workplace. Leadership is all about putting your team’s needs over personal success. Consistently supporting your employees will bring success to your endeavors and those successes will speak for themselves. Use the tips below to implement a more supportive leadership style, so you can continue to grow and transform your team into its best possible version.
Build Relationships and Cohesiveness
Building strong relationships within your team is essential for the cohesion of the group, but it isn’t the only factor at play. How your team collaborates in the environment in which they work is just as important. Create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and grow. That may mean changing the way you’ve been leading, but it will give your team a strong advantage when it comes to tackling difficult tasks together.
Steering Your Team to Positive Action
There will always be instances at work where you’re fed up and just don’t want to deal with the situations arising around you. Check in with yourself frequently and encourage your team to do the same. What is causing stress and what can be changed to make the workplace a more positive experience? It may involve taking more downtime at home or allowing your team to work more flexible hours. Discuss the options with your team so you can get back on track as quickly as possible with a more positive outlook.
Allowing Failure to Be an Option
Leaders who expect their employees to never fail are setting their teams up for added stress and more failure. Failures teach us valuable lessons about where we can improve and what processes are not functioning as expected. Take any failures as learning opportunities and give your team the opportunity to grow and learn from their mistakes instead of chastising them.
Making Yourself Available
Nothing says you’re unsupportive more than being constantly unavailable for your team. When leaders become too bogged down in tasks, they tend to lose focus on their team. Assess whether or not you need to make yourself more available. Then, try to schedule individual and group meetings, keep an open door policy, reevaluate your body language, and find ways to manage your time more effectively. These changes may seem small, but they can go a long way in showing your team that you are as committed to their success as possible.
