The leadership skills and behaviors identified for improvement are
building trust in their employees, recognizing an employee’s
accomplishments and empowering employees. These skills tie to the
working conditions, reward and recognition and recognition praise
categories in the engagement survey. c
Building trust in their employees refers to the engagement survey of
working conditions under “I trust my supervisor” and “Provides
leadership who act in just and ethical ways.” Leaders foster
collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships (Kouzes,
2021). A leader must exude confidence in their employee and
understand that they need to handle their role independently. This
trust in the relationship will promote a stronger bond between the
two parties. This trust also rolls into the leader acting in just and
ethical ways when making decisions. To fully trust your leader to
make ethical decisions or question situations from an ethical
perspective will improve the working conditions for the team and
organization. c A bond of trust between an employee and their
leadership team affects all areas of an organization that will
strengthen their relationship and result in growth and success.
Recognizing an employee’s accomplishments ties to the reward and
recognition category under “My Supervisor takes the time to praise
those who do an excellent job” and “When people work extra hard to
meet our goals they are rewarded accordingly.” Praising an individual
builds confidence in their role and when they reach goals they are
rewarded appropriately. This will vastly improve the survey results as
they have decreased each time. c When people see the successes and
hear the positive feedback, it creates momentum (Kouzes, 2021).
Leaders can use this momentum to draw focus on the organization’s
values and long-term goals that will keep the team inspired and
motivated. c
Empowering employees correlates to the engagement survey of
recognition and praise under “I feel encouraged to come up with new
and better ways of doing things” and “My work gives me a sense of
personal accomplishment.” c A leader understands that each team
member brings their own unique skills and talent, and everyone
should be given a chance to voice their opinion. c Being in a
challenging situation provides employees the chance to work on their
process improvement skills and provide that feeling of
accomplishment when their ideas are executed. The employee being
recognized in the team should be acknowledged for their
contributions. This behavior will strengthen the employee to think
outside the box and keep their job progressing through individual
development. c c
Source:
Kouzes, James M., Posner, Barry Z. (2021). Leadership Challenge, 6th
Edition for Southern New Hampshire University. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
