Are you a nimble manager, able to adapt to different situations? Or do you maintain the same demeanor and managerial approach, no matter what? In the ever-evolving work landscape, it’s an asset to know how to nimbly move from one project to another without getting stuck in a rut, as well as being able to motivate your team to do the same. Here are some guidelines to get you thinking about what you can do to be a more nimble leader:
• Recognize your communication and management style. Do you have an accurate depiction of the type of leader you are? It’s often tough to evaluate this on our own. Doing some sort of communication/behavioral or personality test helps to ask the right questions, so you can determine where you fall in the spectrum of management styles. The Behaviors and Communication assessment (DiSC) is a great place to start.
• Appreciate your staff’s diversity and differences. Whether it’s age, race or gender, a diverse workforce is something to be celebrated. However, that doesn’t mean they’re easy to navigate. Providing your staff with opportunities to evaluate their communication preferences, whether formally or informally, will go a long way in understanding what makes them tick and how you can effectively motivate them to be their very best.
• Keep an open door policy. It’s a lot harder to get to know your employees and how they prefer to be managed when they feel you are unreachable. Maintain an open door policy, so employees know that they can turn to you to share challenges and triumphs. This will give you a more transparent and candid look into the dynamics of your team. Of course, an open door policy doesn’t have to mean your door is literally open all the time. Communicate to your team that you are always available to schedule a time to talk. That way, you don’t feel like you have to drop everything or sacrifice time you spend doing strategic work when an employee needs you.
• Experiment with different approaches for different employees and get their feedback on what they prefer. If an employee tells you they don’t like being micromanaged, then try a few different approaches and measure the outcomes. For example, if you ditch daily check-ins in favor of a weekly meeting with the employee for a month, compare project turnaround times, communication issues and overall work produced to see if it is, indeed, more effective.
No matter what, it’s important to know yourself first. Then learn more about your employees to effectively adapt. Need a little guided introspection? We can help.
By Blair Koch
