Collaborate Your Way to Effective Leadership
Every season seems to bring a new, trendy ‘key to success’ leadership style and accompanying books, articles, coaching seminars… Leadership methods are not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing, and the technique that you pursue can increase your chances of being an effective leader for your team and organization.
One of my favorite leadership styles is collaborative or “Participative” leadership. Participative leadership is a style in which input is encouraged across all levels of an organization. For individual contributors, the focus on collaboration increases the power and responsibility of decisions made. For management, this form of leadership is usually more effective than authoritative styles as it can enhance outcomes, increase job satisfaction, and boost team morale.
By having team input up front, the team’s output will remain consistent throughout the development process. With a focus on building consensus, one avoids always ‘giving orders’ and more on guiding focus.
What this might look like:
A company is preparing for an office move. It will likely result in employees changing their commutes.
The CEO of a more authoritative-led company might pick the new location without discussion from employees or management, give employees a list of tasks to complete, and set deadlines for results.
In contrast:
The CEO of a more collaborative-led company might form a committee to gather information on employees’ desired locations, commutes, public transportation, and parking options to help identify possible new sites. Employees are given opportunities to discuss the final candidates, share concerns and questions, and coordinate logistics for the impending move.
Between these two paths, which do you think will result in employees being more supportive of the change in location?
By learning to be a more collaborative leader, you can improve relationships with your team and boost your own career goals. Consider these suggestions to increase your collaborative style.
1. Be trustworthy. For participative leadership to work, the team must trust their leader. Be sincere and transparent with what you can share and keep promises that you make.
2. Bring your team together early and often. Employees are more likely to develop healthy bonds and improve their professional relationships with a team structure that is nurtured.
3. Actively seek out your team’s input. Encourage engagement in decision-making processes.
4. Welcome diverse voices and different perspectives. This will be one of your greatest sources of fresh ideas and reduce potential for ‘blind spots’ when decisions are discussed.
5. Provide positive feedback, and reward creative thinking. When you build a positive feedback loop, employees will feel safe to engage in discussion and bringing fresh ideas to the table.
There is never too early a time to begin practicing your Participative leadership.
I will discuss overcoming obstacles to the Participative leadership style in a future post.