An important factor in organizational resilience
Leadership plays a significant role in the success and future viability of a company. There are countless models that describe leadership from different perspectives – one approach is called “enabling leadership”. It has been shown that “enabling leadership” is an important factor of resilient and successful companies. But what exactly is behind this term?
What characterizes empowering leaders
Leaders who lead in an empowering way create spaces for the people on their team. They provide them with resources so that they can successfully complete their tasks. They manage to get tasks out of the way and see it as their job to empower others to accomplish those tasks.
There are two major blocks for which leaders are responsible, both related to resilience. The first is to create a social context in which people can flourish and develop. This includes, for example, a culture of appreciation, feedback (in both directions) and inspiration. Furthermore, a structured context must be created in which people can work reasonably and well. This includes the principle of “job-matches-talent.” People should be deployed where they can contribute their skills. Because this generates a lot of energy.
Furthermore, there should be opportunities for further development, also independent of a management career. Not everyone is cut out for or wants to take on leadership. But many people still want a challenge and the opportunity to develop themselves further. For this reason, there should also be the possibility of a specialist career.
Why many companies fail at this
Unfortunately, many companies fail to do so. A critical factor is often time. Managers have to process so much information at the same time. Especially in times of crisis, there is often so much to do and so many demands from all sides that there is not enough time to lead really well. “Leading well” means taking the time to invest in people, to nurture them, and to support them in successfully accomplishing their tasks. This can only be accomplished by knowing the individual needs of the people on your team and getting to know the person. This is because good leadership responds individually to the individual personalities in the team. But often, time tends to be invested in the things that generate the most pressure. So it happens that time for employees receives little prioritization.
Leaders shape the culture of the company
When leadership is weak, incomplete, or driven by fear, it creates an unhealthy value scheme that runs through the entire organization. Professor Hehmel once said that the sum of the leaders’ values is, in effect, the organization’s value canon. How leaders live their values shapes the overall culture. This can have a positive and inspiring effect, but also a negative one. This is precisely the challenge of leaders: they have a lot of influence, and it matters that they use it properly.
Empowering leadership only succeeds when everyone pulls in the same direction
In most companies, there are multiple leaders. Together, they must find a healthy way to use their influence. It is important that leaders get along well with each other and themselves first, in order to be a good role model at the top. It’s important to work with leaders as a team and invest in their individual resilience. This is because organizational resilience depends on the entire leadership team, not just an individual leader. Even if one person is particularly formative, it ultimately comes down to the interaction of all leaders.
Leaders must also take good care of themselves
If you as a leader are responsible for resilience in your organization, it is important to also take good care of yourself. After all, only those who take good care of themselves can take good care of others. Self-care is an important foundation for being able to successfully manage your job.
