From Onboarding to Ongoing Support - Cultivating a Thriving Team of Leaders: A Guide for Managers, Part 3

We've reached the final chapter in our journey to unlocking new leader success!

Remember part 1, where we laid the groundwork for a smooth transition with initial support and preparation? And in part 2, we explored the magic of regular one-on-ones and a handy meeting format. Now, in this grand finale, we tackle the ever-evolving question: How do we nurture our leaders' long-term success beyond the onboarding phase?

While this series wraps up today, our commitment to supporting our team's growth must never fade. We can agree, can't we, that their continued success remains our top priority? So, let's dive into actionable strategies for keeping the momentum going and empowering our leaders to thrive!

WORKPLACE CULTURE

A recent article in Forbes noted that workplace culture is “one of the top drivers of job satisfaction, and it was one of the elements which had the greatest impact on employee retention.”  They go on to note that  

"When employees were satisfied with organizational culture, 77% of them were likely to stay with their employer."

77%!  That’s a number that should get our attention and signal the importance of focus on this topic.

Study after study also finds that culture matters more than pay to a majority of employees.  According to a recent article posted by reclaimai, “56% of employees value a good company culture over a higher salary, and 47% of employees cite company culture as the driving reason to look for a new job.  While money is important, happiness is what gets employees to stay.”

So, what do we mean by "workplace culture”? It’s what the organization values and how it feels to be at work.  What are the norms and expectations? What is the attitude of the team and leader? How connected do they feel to the organization's purpose? How comfortable and enjoyable is it to be at work? Do employees feel valued, respected and trusted? A post on Indeed UK explains it this way:

“It's the environment you create for your employees and the sum of your organizations’ traditions, interactions, attitudes, values and behaviors. A healthy workplace culture aligns the company policies and employee behaviors with the company's goals while focusing on the well-being of individuals.”

And there it is - the environment YOU create for your employees.

I discussed culture extensively in a previous blog post, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but it is important to note that if you’re not thoughtful and intentional about your culture, you will likely find the culture is not what you want it to be.  Whether you create it or not, culture happens. 

I want to also caution you about evaluating your culture yourself.  As the boss, you are likely not the best judge of how your employees feel at work and how connected they feel to the organization’s purpose or mission.  You also may not be the best judge of what is of the most value to your employees.  I encourage you to seek out input in a way that will be honest and genuine.  This might mean open conversations, anonymous surveys or even bringing in an outside consultant to observe the culture in action and have confidential conversations with your team and provide constructive feedback to you. (this happens to be one of the services Ready 2 Imagine offers)

Culture takes continuous effort and mindfulness.  A strong culture should be celebrated, prioritized and protected, while still being evaluated to make sure it fits with changing times. 

TRUST AND MICROMANAGEMENT

How much employees feel trusted and valued is a significant part of the culture.  One of the biggest enemies to employees feeling trusted and valued? Micromanaging! If we’ve worked hard to find the most qualified person for a job and set them up well for success, one of the most damaging things we can do is to micromanage them.  Micromanagement says we don’t trust or respect them, two critical areas for job satisfaction.  Yes, we’ve got more experience and might be able to quickly come up with ideas or solutions, or even complete the task in half the time.  If we do that, though, we rob them of growing and gaining experience. Experience builds proficiency and our leaders will only gain that proficiency if we step back and let them do the work.

In the two previous posts I talked about the importance of help and support, so where is the line between help and micromanaging?  “Help” means we are there for the leader to come to when needed and we check in and ask for updates from time to time, while refraining from taking over when those updates are provided.  “Micromanaging” means we, the supervisor, take control.  It means we aren’t able to delegate, or when we do we are constantly checking in and “making suggestions”. Let’s face it, if the boss “makes a suggestion” the employee is likely to feel they don’t have a choice. It means our leaders need to run everything by us and don’t really have any decision-making power.   Micromanaging can be extremely detrimental to your business and, as noted in this post by GrowthForce, can actually destroy workplace culture, which we’ve already identified as critical to job satisfaction and employee retention.

I do understand the tendency to micromanage.  We may be worried the employee will do the task wrong, make a mistake, not complete the task or they may change 'how we’ve always done it', and then it will fall back on us to 'clean up the mess'.  As I shared in the prior posts, failures and mistakes can be a great learning opportunity for our team and a culture where it’s OK to make mistakes or even fail can end up being a culture where employees, as well as the organization, really thrive and grow.  Learning to 'clean up the mess' with kindness and support can also be a great learning opportunity. 

Let’s look at a couple of those other worries.  “The employee will do the task wrong”.  It’s an interesting use of words.  If the goal is to complete the task, then as long as the task gets done there likely isn’t a right or wrong way.  This ties into the 'how we’ve always done it' worry as well.  It’s easy to make the assumption that, based on our experience, however we would do a task or however the task has always been done is the 'right way'.  One of the benefits of getting new members on your team, though, is the benefit of new perspectives.  If we empower our team to figure it out themselves they just may find a way that better fits their strengths and may even be more productive or efficient.  If - instead of telling them they could have done it a different way - we celebrate their resourcefulness, that builds a culture that encourages new ideas, innovation and creativity. 

So, take a moment to reflect honestly on your style? Do you have a tendency to micromanage? Even just occasionally?  Let’s talk about some ways to break that habit.

• Give some thought to where your micromanaging comes from. What’s the root cause? If you can understand it, you can begin to find ways to address those concerns which will help you shift your style.

• Start slow! As with any change, it will take time.  Don’t expect to go from a full-time micromanager to totally hands off over the course of a few days or even weeks.  Evaluate the tools or methods you use to micromanage and work on one at a time, gradually eliminating them over time.

• Work to build trust in your team.  Remind yourself why you hired the people you hired.  It doesn’t make sense for you both to be doing their job.  Remember that giving them autonomy tells them you trust them.  When you catch yourself micromanaging, remind yourself you just told them you don’t trust them. 

• Be honest with your team about the efforts your making.  This ties into the above recommendation.  Being honest also helps them trust you.  If they’ve worked for you for a while and are used to being micromanaged, they may not trust that you can/will actually change.  They might also be nervous that they don’t have the skill to do it without you (the micromanaging built some of that).  Let them know you’ll all be working through this and set up ways to help each other remember the shift you’re making.  You, or they, can then refer back to this conversation when they are seeking too much input or when you are stepping in and taking over when you said you wouldn’t.

• Don’t ask to be cc’d on emails.  This is one of the ways micromanagers keep an eye on things.  Let them know it’s fine to communicate about this project without you and that they can update you on anything critical at your regular check-ins.  Hooray for an inbox with fewer emails!

• Learn to delegate.  Truly delegate.  Hand the project to them, make sure they are clear on expectations and that they can come to you with questions and then let go.  As an added tip, give them a little more responsibility than you’re comfortable with.  Change happens outside your comfort zone!

• Don’t go to the meeting.  You’ve got more than enough meetings to attend.  If the team will be meeting on a project that you’ve delegated, skip the meeting.  Your presence likely stifles their creativity and willingness to speak more freely.  There is a higher likelihood they’ll come up with new ideas and make more progress if you’re not there, and you’ll have more time to take care of your own job.

• Find tools to help remind you of your goal.  It could be a post-it on your computer with a reminder phrase, or a wallpaper on your phone or computer – wherever you email and schedule meetings – “let go”, “trust”, “I’ve got a great team”.  Set up a code word for your team so you all can help remember the goals around autonomy.  I once had a team that would constantly get off on side conversations during staff meetings, which stretched the meetings longer than they needed to be.  They came up with “cantaloupe” as a code word that anyone could say in a meeting when they’d gotten off track.  What’s your “cantaloupe” for micromanaging?

• Celebrate mistakes and failures – including your own.  One of the best ways to build trust in a team is to model honesty yourself, especially in challenging moments.  It’s OK to apologize for overstepping.  This is more comfortable if you’ve talked with them about it already, as noted above.  Acknowledging your own mistakes also helps build and maintain a culture where mistakes and failures are OK. 

I hope this series of posts has been helpful.  Change can be hard and it can also be exciting.  Our team seeing us learn and grow is one of the best ways to inspire them to do the same.

To quickly recap, here are the main points covered in this 3 part series:

• When hiring a new leader, make supporting them your top priority.

• Prepare in advance so their space is ready for their arrival and they know what to expect on their first day.

• Set up more than adequate training for them in their first few months on the job. 

• Consider an external coach as part of the hiring package.

• Schedule and prioritize a regular one-on-one meeting with them.  You can find a recommended template on part 2 of this series.

• Assess your workplace culture and work to make sure it’s one that will build satisfaction and loyalty among your team.

• Empower your team and build trust and growth by not being a micromanager.

I wish you all the best in working with your leaders! If you find yourself in need of support in any of these areas, please reach out.  I’d be happy to set up a time to connect and discuss how Ready 2 Imagine can support your important work.