Leaders play a huge role in the progress and growth of any organization. Be it a time of crisis in the company or an employee struggling to keep pace, both heavily expect the leaders to make a leadership impact and safely steer them out of the worrying situation. Leaders are also responsible for maintaining the team together and guiding its team members to reach their potential in the company. Apart from this, they are the most looked upon individuals in the company.
With so much at stake in the leadership and management role, leadership style further plays a huge part in achieving the company's goal. As a leader, you have to constantly observe and provide feedback to your team members to ensure they perform better for the organization. Simultaneously, there are always people who seek feedback so they can improve their quality of work. However, the way feedback is delivered can offset people, and you must avoid such situations for the company’s betterment. Therefore, it becomes important that you develop a leadership style that is more inclusive and less offensive to the people you work alongside in the company.
Tips to Make Leadership Style Not Offensive
Every leader exercises a unique style of leadership. The way they conduct themselves to how they react to various situations creates a leadership impact on the company for better or worse. However, with the change in the company or organization, leaders often are expected to have a great adapting ability to mesh well with the company's way of working and conduct. Furthermore, some leadership styles can be considered unfit or even offensive, depending on your workplace. Hence, it is important that if you find your leadership style not working properly in your current workplace, then adapt to the ways to create the leadership impact. More importantly, you must focus on ensuring your leadership style isn't offensive. Therefore, to help you adjust your leadership style to one that isn't considered offensive, here are some tips that you can practice.
Take Permission for Feedback
It is one thing to observe and provide feedback to your employees or team members, and it is another thing how they receive it. Some people are great at taking constructive feedback, while others can find it offensive. Such employees think that since the company has hired them for their ability, they must have faith in them and not question their abilities at any chance the company may get. Hence, as a leader, it becomes your responsibility to maneuver the situation to share the feedback without making it look not very respectful. And the best way to do so is to take permission before providing feedback. When you ask for permission, the other person will find it more respectful and may show more keenness towards getting feedback. It is an important lesson in leadership.
Feedback Does Not Decide a Person's Value
Workplace conflict and crisis in the company are bound to happen. However, it would help if you practiced more caution and did not blame people's ability or commitment when it happens. Understand that impactful leaders focus on the problem and not on the person. Also, focusing on a person's mistake can get taken as a personal attack, and it may cause distraction from the real issues. Therefore, instead of concentrating on the person, emphasize where the problem started and address a cumulative solution.
Allow Your Employee to Shine
Several leaders tend to control everything. They want everything to go through their nod of approval before employees can apply and execute it. Leaders do it to minimize the scope of mistakes and create a more cohesive working environment. However, such practices can get seen as authoritative and may not sit well with some employees. As a result, employees may withhold their natural ability to perform to their potential. Also, employees may not find it ideal to work in a restrained environment. Therefore, as a leader, you must do your best to provide space for your employee to shine. You can further encourage such practice with open one-on-one discussions.
Always Provide Constructive Feedback
As a leader, you must never forget that feedback is meant to help the employee reinvent themselves, not repeat the same mistake, and perform to their potential. Therefore, you must consider providing constructive feedback whenever possible. Also, while doing so, you must not be harsh with any input or act disrespectfully towards your employee.
Build a Culture of Action
Now, providing feedback is always the first step towards fixing loopholes in the work. However, unless and until you find a way to translate that feedback into action, your company may not make progress as expected. Therefore, besides providing feedback, it is equally important that you build a culture of action in your company. Use the feedback to motivate your employees to perform better. Provide mentorship and coaching to support your employees' work on their toxic behavior and frustrative behavior.
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