12019
65
False

Posted June 03, 2016

Four Behaviors of Great Leadership

By Mark A. Noon, USAF (Ret.)

When was the last time you had a one-on-one conversation with your boss? Have often are you frustrated by unreturned emails or voicemails from a leader? If you are leader, how would your direct reports answer these questions?

In this two-part insight on leadership, we’ll look at a study that was done in 2015 by the Gallup organization that defines four behaviors that great leaders possess. This first insight will delve into the actual behavioral characteristics. The follow-up insight will talk about the impact these traits have on organizational employee engagement. Employee engagement is one of the top areas I’m asked to speak about in organizations across the country, and it is one that connects me to the purpose of what we do at Studer Group.

In the April 2015 Gallup study1, Jim Harter and Amy Adkins identified these four behavioral characteristics of leaders that engage employees the most:

  1. Have regular meetings with their employees
  2. Provide daily communication by phone, email or in person
  3. Return calls or emails within 24 hours
  4. Have and set clear goals and expectations

One of the most amazing things that the study points out is that leaders who continuously demonstrate all four behaviors are 17 times more likely to have an engaged workforce. Interestingly enough, leaders who do not demonstrate any one of those four characteristics are seven times more likely to have actively disengaged employees.

So what does this research mean for you? How can you help make these behaviors practical for every leader in your organization?

REGULAR MEETINGS. When Studer Group’s coaching teams work with organizational leaders, ensuring leaders communicate with direct reports consistently and frequently is a top priority. We call this Rounding, or more specifically, Leader Rounding on Employees. It is simply the act of having a regular, scheduled, productive, proactive conversation face-to-face with each and every employee. In some of the organizations I have the pleasure of coaching, I’ve seen employee engagement improve as much as 20 percentage points over a three-year period by using this tactic. Another organization made it to Modern Healthcare’s Top 100 Best Places to Work using this tactic. It’s about consistency and accountability, but mostly it’s about relationships and trust.

DAILY COMMUNICATION BY PHONE, EMAIL OR IN PERSON. For some this can seem like a difficult task. For example, you may have employees in different locations. Luckily, these days technology allows us to communicate every day and with every employee. We find that if you schedule time on your calendar to connect daily, just like you would with any other appointment, it can help ensure these connections are made.

24-HOUR RULE. You’re likely thinking, “How in the world can I return emails and voicemails within 24 hours?” I once felt the same way, but it is possible to adhere to a 24-hour turnaround. This has always been a priority for me. I don’t always respond with the answer. Often it’s simple acknowledgement that I received the message; that I will get back to them with an answer; and, I offer an appropriate timeframe for that answer. This at least allows people to know the message got through. It can be very frustrating for the sender to wonder if their message made it out of “email never-never land”.

CLEAR GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS. The last, and potentially most important behavioral characteristic of great leadership, is establishing and communicating clear goals and expectations. That is, where we currently stand, where we need to be, and what behaviors will get us there. Expectations are not a job description. Expectations are typically the standards by which we conduct ourselves, or how we behave in an organizational setting such as, returning messages within 24 hours, daily communications, etc. The first thing every supervisor, director, manager, and leader should do with a new employee is set clear goals that will be consistently measured, and then align those goals to the behaviors that are expected in your department.

Whether organizational or personal, goals are necessary for employees to feel valued and appreciated and help move people from purpose-oriented to purpose-driven participants. Purpose-oriented people know what the organization is doing (goals) but their contribution may be minor. Purpose-driven people are focused on the goals, innovate by bringing new ideas, and drive outcomes to the highest level. Another way to describe this: Purpose-oriented people know the values of the organization, but purpose-driven people live them.

To really make goals work for the employee and organization, the goals must be measurable. When employees see success around specific goals, it deepens their engagement. They feel appreciated and valued. They work harder. Innovation happens. We’ll be talking more about outcomes of engagement in part two of this series.

As a best practice, this conversation should always start with WHY these are our goals and expectations. Especially in the healthcare setting where our goals are often tied to patient safety and clinical outcomes, it is imperative we connect behaviors back to the goals. Handwashing programs are a classic example of this.

Great leadership requires dedicated communication from leaders and investment in what matters most to your employees, colleagues, and teammates. In the part two of this insight , we will explore four outcomes of great leadership.

1 Employees Want a Lot More From Their Managers, Gallup, April 2015, http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/182321/employees-lot-managers.aspx

Donwload the Insight

Author

Print Page