When you think of supportive leaders in your life, what did they do?
Chances are, they were willing to come alongside and help you figure out how to get results.
In other words, they were helping not harping.
A servant leader mindset is an interesting perspective on leadership. In a traditional organization, the CEO is at the top and all the front line workers are at the bottom. Those at the bottom work for the boss.
In a servant leader mindset, the organization is inverted upside down. The leader is at the bottom of the organization supporting the people that actually add value above them at the front line. When you’re a servant leader, you’re thinking about how to make people’s jobs easier and make it easier for them to generate results.
I’ve got a few tips to help you be more supportive as a leader.
Number one is support your team. They need your support to get them the materials they need, to get the equipment working well, to have production schedules that are both realistic, but also challenging. And they need to know that you’re there to support them in achieving the results that you expect from them.
The second thing you can do is ask how you can help. In other words ask, “What can I do to make things easier for you? What can I do to run interference with other departments to get us what we need to be successful?”
Your team needs you to support them, not nag them. Share on XIf you ask how you can help them and constantly work at making their jobs easier, better, and more productive, they’re going to see you as a tremendous leader.
The third and final thing you can do is to stay engaged. You can’t just drop something on them and walk away and never work with them again. Your team needs to see you walking through, making observations, giving positive feedback when it’s warranted, or correcting things that are going off base.
Your job as a leader is to stay with them so that they see they are in this with you to achieve the results expected of them and be productive as a team.
