By Elizabeth Mannix, Ph.D.
The success of an organization relies on the productivity and satisfaction of its employees, which in turn relies on excellence in leadership. How can a good leader become a great leader?
When you are evaluating your own leadership skills, the first thing to do is determine your leadership style. Then, consider if your way of leadership is bringing out the best assets in your people. Whether you’re in the top leadership team of your credit union, heading up a smaller team, or even working one-on-one with another individual, most of what you do relies on the abilities and success of the people you manage. How can you be more effective in your particular leadership style to help your employees succeed?
One way to do so is to create a climate that makes your employees feel motivated, creative and supported. On a tactical level, this means providing your employees with the resources they need. It could be as simple as providing them with a computer program or more space to meet and work. They may need training in a certain set of skills in order to better perform their job. These seemingly simple solutions can make a big difference to your employees.
Motivating your employees also requires encouragement in the form of incentive. “Incentive” usually refers to compensation or benefits, but when it comes to building a supportive culture, it means letting your employees know your credit union encourages and rewards them for taking on more responsibility and challenges.
Part of this approach is making it clear to your employees what will happen when their efforts fail. Many high-performing organizations have cultures that allow for failure. When a project or program doesn’t go as planned, it’s treated as an opportunity to discuss what went well and what didn’t go well. If you, as a leader, ensure your employees are aware that taking risks that support your strategy does not have dire consequences, they will be more likely to take on challenges that drive your strategy forward.
Making such changes as a leader may also require that you persuade others these changes are for the good of the credit union as a whole. A key characteristic of an excellent leader is understanding where your sources of power and influence lie. Often we rely on data and logic to convince those around us of a change, and that is absolutely necessary, but it’s not the only path to persuasion. Look at your network to find other powerful people that share your vision. Gather them as allies and build a coalition by showing them how your proposal will support the current strategy.
One of the best things you can do is look outside the movement to other industries and organizations that may have already solved problems similar to yours in creative ways. While you won’t use every part of these solutions, you can use them as models of how your vision can work, which can be very compelling.
Overall, great leadership is very much about how you delegate and empower others to make your credit union’s strategy happen. Make these your leadership goals, and you, your employees and your credit union will all benefit.
Elizabeth (Beta) Mannix, Ph.D., is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Management at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
