Now more than ever, organizations need to be agile to adapt to the rapid pace of change. They need self-directed team members who are engaged and take initiative. To accomplish these things, organizations need flexible, trusted, emotionally intelligent leaders. Agile leaders create agile workplaces.
If you want engaged employees focus on developing flexible, trusted leaders.
The variance in employee engagement among departments attributable to differences in managers, according to Gallup’s State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders.
The Flexibility and Trust Survey collects responses from the leader’s direct reports to measure two aspects critical to developing high-performing leaders: Interpersonal Flexibility and Interpersonal Trust.
Interpersonal Flexibility assesses the degree to which others see a leader as approachable and easy to work with, seeking to build mutual understanding, giving encouragement, and willing to adapt their behavior to work effectively with others.
Interpersonal Trust measures an individual’s overall trust-building ability as perceived by others. Observers measure the degree to which the leader operates by the four behaviors that build trust: Acceptance, Openness, Congruence, and Reliability.
When leaders are perceived as being both flexible and skilled at building trust, their teams are more committed and willing to go above and beyond. Productivity and retention improves, as well as overall results.
The first step is collecting leader and observer feedback via The Flexibility and Trust Survey to assess the level of flexibility others see the leader as having, and the overall level of trust they have with the leader.
The Action-Strategies-By-Design team will debrief the leader on the results of the survey and provide information outlining desired behaviors and development recommendations. (virtually or in person).
Next our team will support the leader in creating and implementing an action plan to improve flexibility and trust with their team members.
Ongoing follow-up is available to support change. The process can be repeated in six to nine months to determine progress and refine the action plan.
When leaders are flexible and trusted, employees take more initiative and are more passionate, committed, and responsible. The result is improved productivity, greater innovation, and more creativity – leading to an advantage that is hard for competitors to match.
Employees who are led by leaders who exhibit a high level of emotional intelligence are more loyal and less likely to leave - even for a better offer. These leaders retain their most valuable team members and avoid the cost of recruiting, onboarding, and training new employees.
As the quote often misattributed to Darwin says, “It is not the strongest of the species nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” And it is the organizations that can adapt that will survive today’s rapid pace of change. Adaptable organizations require agile leaders.
It is clear, more proactive employees, improved retention, and greater agility lead to better results.
