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Employer Insights

What is Humble Leadership? How Can It Take Your Business ...

James launched his mid size, Perth furniture business in 2015. The first three years saw a rapid increase in sales and profitability, but something wasn’t quite right in the last two years. There had been an increase in the number of customer complaints. Late deliveries, unfriendly customer service reps, lost sales opportunities and lost customers started to become a trend. Simply stated, James’ business was in trouble.So, James called his managers into a claustrophobic conference room, he wanted answers. "I depend on you people to make this business work!" he barked. "Sales are dropping like a rock, which obviously means someone's not doing their job. We're not leaving this room until I find out who it is!"No one speaks up. Everyone wants to crawl under their chair. James’ not getting answers, but what he doesn't know, is that the answer is right in front of him.What is humble leadership?James’ dictatorial leadership style might have worked when workers had few options and even fewer rights, but it clearly doesn't work now. The simple fact is that in the current employment landscape, workers who report to the "I know more than any of you" manager become resentful. They're less likely to be creative, resourceful or innovative—because in John's world, a mistake isn't a learning experience.That's why an increasing number of business leaders are adopting a new approach, called ‘Humble Leadership.’ Humble leaders recognise their own limitations. They understand that everyone, irrespective of their position within an organisation, have something to contribute.In How Humble Leadership Really Works, Harvard Business Review (HBR) explains how humble leaders (which they call "servant-leaders") develop their businesses by bringing out the best in their employees:"The key, then, is to help people feel purposeful, motivated, and energized so they can bring their best selves to work…To put it bluntly, servant-leaders have the humility, courage, and insight to admit that they can benefit from the expertise of others who have less power than them. They actively seek the ideas and unique contributions of the employees that they serve. This is how servant leaders create a culture of learning, and an atmosphere that encourages followers to become the very best they can."Why Does it Matter?It would be easy to dismiss James’ lack of leadership skills as little more than a source of discomfort for his workers, not something that fundamentally affects the bottom line. The fact is, almost half of employees who work for leaders like James (according to Forbes) are actively considering quitting. This ‘on average’ costs a business anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them. What are the principal traits of Humble Leaders?Adopting a humble (ie, inspiring) leadership style, typically means higher employee engagement and increased productivity and profitability. For that reason, it's critically important to understand which traits characterise humble leaders. Although every business and every leader s different, generally, humble leaders share the following 5 traits:They recognise their own limitations: one of the main reasons for start up business failures, is leaders who think they can "do it all." From finances to IT to marketing, these leaders assume their leadership position makes them ‘al things to all people’. As a result, they tend to make costly mistakes that place their businesses in jeopardy. Humble leaders have the courage and self awareness to understand when and where they need guidance and advice, and they're not afraid to ask for it.They seek out talent in their workers: because humble leaders know what they don't know, they make a conscious effort to seek those skill sets in their employees. They're more likely to carefully assess employee skills at the time of hiring, and through ongoing performance evaluations. For this reason, they know to whom they can turn when they need help solving problems.They inspire their employees: workers want to perform at their optimal level when their manager acknowledges the contributions they have made. Humble leaders have no problem ‘sharing the spotlight’. This inspires employees to work collaboratively and give their very best to a team effort.They promote a culture of learning: because humble leaders can admit their own shortcomings, their employees are more likely to acknowledge gaps in their own skill sets. This inspires them to seek out training opportunities to advance their knowledge and their careers. Humble leaders are more likely to make those training and career opportunities available to their staff, promoting a culture of continual learning and improvement.They listen: the best leaders listen more than they talk. Their role in meetings, for example, tends to be that of a facilitator who articulates the nature of a problem, actively listens to attendees' solutions and guides the discussion to consensus. This ensures not only the best solution, but also the buy in necessary to implement change.ConclusionA humble leadership style could be argued, is about ‘doing the right thing,’ looking after workers and respecting their contributions. Effectively leveraged and implemented, humble leadership can be a game changer for your business, reducing employee attrition, while increasing productivity and profitability.

Posted by Kim Padmore | min read

Employer Insights

How to Create Success in Newly Promoted Managers

Hey, don’t forget, new Managers need training. People leave managers, not companies.One common complaint we hear from job seekers when we are deciphering their ideal working environments, is that they often feel unsupported by their managers.As we dig further, it becomes all too apparent that in many organisations, newly appointed managers are not receiving the support they need in order to be successful in their role. This creates a knock-on effect of employees not feeling supported and before you know it – you have a vicious cycle on your hands.Thinking about promoting one of the team into a managerial position?Getting to the nub of the issue, success starts right at the beginning of the promotion phase with several questions that need answering:Are the right people being promoted?What qualities should a good manager have?What ongoing should the organisation offer?Before going any further, consider the following to ensure you are fostering a collaborative environment for the entire team.Q1: Does your employee actually want to be a manager?This question may seem very obvious but for some reason, all too often, it is overlooked in the wider scheme of workforce planning. But the reality is … not everyone wants to be a manager. And that’s okay.Success lies in promoting employees who truly want to lead and can handle all the responsibilities that come with their new job title.Great managers believe that the goals of others are as important as their own and as such, make the time for others. They build meaningful relationships that can then serve to achieve results together, as a team. So, does this person enjoy helping others achieve their goals?The impact of poor managers can be catastrophic. Decreased employee morale, increased staff turnover, increased absenteeism, reduced market share and a reduced bottom line – so finding someone who actually wants to manage and understands what it means to be a leader, is essential.Q2: Is the manager a communicator or listener?We all know that communication is the foundation of every successful relationship but the fact is;‘the soft stuff is the hard stuff’for most managers.Managers need to communicate with all employees in a way that they understand as well as being open to hearing about ideas, suggestions or concerns that their team have to offer.And here’s how simple it can be… in a study of 85,000 adult workers in the US in 2014, a high percentage admitted they would work harder if they simply received more praise for their efforts. That’s it!Wrapped up in communication skills, a successful manager will have solid people skills which are the essence of leadership. Being able to relate to others and for others to be able to relate to you is critical in earning trust and building a foundation of respect.Q3: Can they motivate the team?As mentioned, many employees feel that they do not feel supported by their manager, so when selecting an employee for promotion, it is important to assess that this person can focus on the success of the entire team.It means having a genuine understanding of what employees need to feel motivated and valued. It’s about the ability to connect with the team in a truthful, sincere and genuine way so that team members feel they are being listened to and understood. Insincerity is sniffed out so quickly in the work place – it’s not something that can be faked – it has to be real.Employees want to know that their bosses see their efforts and truly value it. This connects to a feeling of job security, well-being, and opportunities for development. And it affirms that the whole team is seen as being trustworthy, dependable, creative and resourceful.In short, by ensuring employees feel motivated, recognised and rewarded, the platform is set for a positive working environment, increased productivity and skyrocketing results.Now what? Provide training!Now that you have assessed this is the right candidate for promotion, it is essential to develop and implement ongoing support for the new manager. Contrary to popular opinion, learning to be a good manager takes time because good talent management skills are not intuitive to most. Training is about:Giving effective feedbackCoaching employeesTracking employee performanceSetting clear goalsDeveloping employeesRecognising and rewarding good performanceDealing with performance issuesThere really is no excuse not to provide training. There are loads of excellent books, podcasts, blogs, webinars, training courses, mentors and coaches, articles, seminars and short courses available to help your managers develop or hone a basic talent management suite of skills.Your investment in developing strong employee performance and talent management skills in your managers will pay off in terms of high employee performance, employee engagement, satisfaction, retention, and ultimately, improved organisational results.Feedback is vitalReceiving performance feedback from others is one of the best ways for a manager to learn. Identify people who can help your managers identify their strengths and areas that need development, without judgment or condemnation.The best way for an organisation to support their management is to provide ongoing support and training, just as you expect managers will do for their teams.Open lines of communications between managers, their supervisors or the business owners are needed as is a willingness to foster a whole company environment that is supportive of the needs of its employees. This creates an ideal knock-on effect and before you know you have a virtuous circle in place.For more information on promoting new managers in your organisation, or information on recruiting management for your company, contact us today.