Good leadership instead of expensive fitness subscriptions and yoga at work
Companies invest millions of euros in health programs for employees. Most of my acquaintances who work for larger companies receive gym subscriptions from their companies, but rarely make use of them – what costs nothing has no value😊. Almost every company has mindfulness and yoga classes, with the same success
Despite this, the number of burnouts and stress-related sick days is rising. According to Ärzteblatt, half of all employees feel threatened by burnout and, according to proactiva BKK, the number of sick days due to psychological reasons has tripled in the last decade. Why is the return on investment so poor? And what can managers do to ensure that employees are healthy and motivated at work?
David Rock’s SCARF model provides a simple basis for this. It is easy to understand, but its implementation is not trivial and sometimes requires a not insignificant change in behavior or even the abandonment or reformulation of beliefs. What does SCARF stand for?
S – Status
C – Certainty (security, predictability of the future)
A – Autonomy (independence, possibility of co-design)
R – Relatedness (connectedness, relationships with others)
F- Fairness
If these basic needs are met in a positive way, people can work together cooperatively and trustingly.
So here are 10 tips to help you achieve these goals.
Healthy leadership – 10 tips from the field
1. management by walking around – intensive daily communication with every employee
Being a manager doesn’t just mean having a company car and taking part in management circles, but first and foremost very intensive daily communication with all employees. Many managers are very happy to exercise their rights, but rarely their duties.
2. employees need transparency
Thought is not said, and said is not yet understood. If an employee does not understand exactly what the manager means and wants, and a hierarchical corporate culture does not allow many questions to be asked and communication at eye level, this puts employees under stress. They try to “muddle through” and guess what their manager wants.
Communicate your tasks clearly and unambiguously. Put yourself in your employees’ shoes – would you then be clear about what you want?
3. agile working – communication at eye level
For many companies, agility is a corporate value. Unfortunately, agility too often remains a value on the flipchart of the last strategy conference. Employees don’t dare to ask questions or say something that shows a possible incompetence that the boss doesn’t want to hear.
In addition, some managers are easily annoyed when an employee asks a lot of communication questions because it naturally takes time to communicate intensively with employees. However, agility means communication at eye level
Create an atmosphere of trust – employees should be able to ask you any questions without fear
4. create clear roles and responsibilities
“Agree yourselves” is a frequent statement from managers. However, this is not conducive to some complex tasks or conflicts of interest. Managers should therefore proactively create transparency in roles and responsibilities in their teams and departments.
If employees are unable to implement self-organization in certain tasks and projects, this does not usually mean that they are incompetent, but perhaps that they are afraid of complexity or new tasks.
New tasks and the development of new skills not only require motivating words from a manager, but also the transfer of know-how. Managers should be aware of this so that they can actively support their employees in developing this know-how. Otherwise efficiency will be lost in the stress.
Support your employees and create clear responsibilities.
5. goodbye micromanagement – focus on strategy
Do you know this too? Does your manager get involved in everything and even wants to control a number after a decimal point? Strategic tasks such as the implementation of efficiency programmes, digitalization or sales strategies fall by the wayside.
Concentrate on the strategy and let your employees do their job.
6- Keep meetings short – then employees can finish work on time
Send documents in advance so that everyone has the chance to start the meeting well prepared.
Do without perfect formatting for internal meetings. Of course, a presentation for customers must be state-of-the-art, but internally the focus is on speed and functionality. Because every hour spent on super formatting is wasted on more important tasks.
Limit the individual contributions to the discussion in terms of time. Verbose presentations may score points in German lessons, but in business they simply steal time.
Another good tip: train your employees in the art of the elevator speech to get to the heart of the matter.
7. make decisions and not hope that everything will solve itself
Studies by Allensbach have shown that making decisions for employees is the top priority when it comes to expectations of managers. This is what leadership is all about. But decisions can also be wrong. This is why many managers prefer to sit out the problem instead of taking the risk of making a wrong decision. After all, managers also have to think about themselves. And those who do nothing don’t make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes, you get promoted. Of course, the corporate culture also plays a major role here. Employees, on the other hand, “learn” that it is pointless to make good suggestions. This leads to frustration and ultimately to staff turnover. Not a good sign in an age of skills shortages.
8. give feedback regularly, not just once a year
Giving feedback sounds easy, but it often isn’t because the person concerned doesn’t know how best to proceed. So here are the most important feedback steps once again:
- Step 1: Concrete observation – I have observed that…
- Describe the facts, state facts, but no evaluation or interpretation
- Step 2: Personal evaluation – I don’t like…, it irritated me that… Even if we learned it differently in the past: Convey I-messages from the role of the superior with a reason without evaluating the other person
- Step 3: Comprehensibility of the experience (optional, situational)
- Step 4: Look to the future Express expectations, goals, consequences and wishes. Important: Realistic things that can be implemented
This also works with praise! Then, of course, it is much easier. You should also bear the following in mind when giving critical feedback:
- The facts must be indisputable!
- No dispute
- Taking a clear position
- You don’t have to start a discussion, you can leave it at that
Important: Suitable place and time
9. make communication as personal as possible
An Asian proverb says “Never write when you can call. Never call when you can meet”. Words and written statements are good, but they can also be interpreted differently. In addition, it is not possible or only very cumbersome (through several dozen e-mails, for example) to clarify unclear aspects. Therefore, pick up the phone more often, or even better – make a video call if you are working from home. This approach has always proved successful in our company. It significantly increases the efficiency of communication. Of course, nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting, but in these times we all have to make the best of it. Ultimately, this also strengthens your own credibility.
10. good communication pays off in the long term
Efficient communication and support for employees in difficult times pays off, especially after a crisis. Impersonal messages or even radio silence alienate employees. And it’s so easy to withdraw these days. Working from home may be a great solution for some, but for others it is a welcome opportunity to shift down three gears. Motivated employees may then leave your company after the crisis. And as has always been the case, it is always the best who find a new job first.
