Intentional Leadership Integrity Book

Table Top Training Strategy # 12

 Expect The Best

There is a saying:  "What you get is what you expect and inspect with respect."  It isn't just how leaders view their people that influences a staff member’s behavior;  it's the actions that result from viewing them that way!

Management Expectations and Staff Achievement (MESA) is one of the ProActive Leadership workshop modules that helps leaders recognize and eradicate productivity-destroying behaviors of which they are unaware.  It helps them learn 15 proactive leadership behaviors which support, rather than block, motivation and the expression of high character and competence in staff members.  The result is reduced absenteeism and turnover, greater productivity, and more loyalty and high regard for the leader and the enterprise.

These supportive proactive leadership behaviors fall into three categories:  A) Response Opportunities, B) Feedback, and C) Personal Regard.  Each category has five leadership be­haviors that positively influence the expression of staff-member competence, achievement, and productivity.  We’ll be looking at them from the frame of reference of a staff meeting setting.  However, the behaviors are appropriate for any and all face-to-face settings. 

 Response Opportunities Category  

Equitable Distribution of Response Opportunities - Leaders call on staff members perceived as high achievers during meetings more frequently than they call on those considered low achievers.  Unfortunately, the snubbed persons soon realize that they are less apt to be called on.  They also know why the leader calls on them less:  it’s because they are not included in the group of "smart" ones.  They will either find other ways to get attention or become invisible persons at all meetings.  Either way, they are denied an equal opportunity to participate in and learn from the meetings.

Individual Helping - Leaders know low achievers need individual help, but high achievers and average staff members are more aggressive in asking for and re­ceiving help.  In meetings and the work setting, one or two staff members are usu­ally consistently ignored, despite non-verbal and verbal signals for help.  Merely commenting on what staff members do does not necessarily constitute help.

Latency - The time between asking a question and terminating the response op­portunity is called "latency."  Leaders usually allow high achievers more time to answer a question than low achievers.  If high achievers hesitate, the leader waits for them to think through an answer because the leader feels confident the response will be worthwhile.  When the low achiever hesitates, the leader anticipates no answer or an inadequate response, so the response opportunity is shut off and the question goes to another staff member.

Delving, Rephrasing, Giving Clues - When low achievers are ques­tioned, they are frequently given the easiest questions and are "let off the hook" if they look puzzled or bewildered.  Helpful leaders provide additional information and encouragement to help staff members respond to questions.  If their answers are incomplete, incorrect, or there are no responses, consider rephrasing the questions, giving clues, providing additional information, explaining the questions, or asking different but related questions.  Repeating original questions is not delving.

Feedback Category

 Affirmation and/or Correction - After responding to the leader's questions and directions or performing in some way, staff members usually want to know what the leader thinks of their performance.  Leaders are far less apt to respond to the low staff members’ behavior than to that of the high staff members who get feedback about 97 percent of the time.  Skilled leaders tell all staff members when their responses or work is or is not acceptable and why, and specifically what would make it better.

 Praise of Performance - Effective leaders make frequent use of praise to encourage and to reinforce desired performance.  High achievers receive the most praise from leaders; yet, low achievers probably need it more.  Evidence suggests that giving a staff member courteous, direct feedback about how his or her answer or performance is incorrect and can be corrected results in performance improvement.  Unqualified criticism appears to block staff member achievement.

 Listening - In the average meeting, two-thirds of the time spent talking is by the leader.   Staff members wait for their turn to interact with the leader or to be called upon in a discussion.  When the awaited turn arrives, the staff member may be disappointed to learn that the leader is not listening.  Maintaining eye contact with staff members, nodding, and verbal acknowledgments tell them their responses are being heard.

 Reasons For Praise -  Often just a word of praise is sufficient, and explain­ing would be ridiculous.  But a staff member who completes a task deserves to know why it is good.  Leaders usually provide process feedback if the process used in producing the desired results by the staff member is erroneous or inappropriate.  They are less likely to provide process feedback when praising.  Telling the why behind praise has a much stronger impact.

Accepting Feelings - The ability to understand the feelings of a staff member, to respond to feelings, clarify them, and acknowledge them is a rare skill.  Leaders with this ability can often mobilize positive feelings into motivation and successfully control negative feelings that might otherwise get out of hand.  If staff members are inhibited about expressing feelings, and if leaders do not handle their own feelings, how are staff members to learn to cope with feelings honestly?

 Personal Regard Category

Proximity - Leaders spend more time working with and being near staff members perceived as high achievers.  Staff members perceived to be low achievers tend to be avoided.  Often low achievers seem to be placed, or themselves choose to be, at the farthest point possible from the leader.  If staff members are working individually or in clusters and the leader is moving about the room, a positive result oc­curs each time the leader goes to a staff member and verbally or non-verbally interacts.

 Courtesy - One often observes the sheer rudeness with which many leaders rou­tinely speak to staff members.  They don't say "please" or "thank you."  They simply give orders without explanation.  Yet, if we do not respect others, how can we expect them to respect us?  Strangely enough, these leaders often insist that staff members behave respectfully toward them.  They need to stop being concerned over how staff members express their respect for them and instead set their minds and hearts to the task of learning how they can express their respect for others.

 Personal Interest/Compliments - Taking time to listen to a staff member who wishes to share a personal experience is often difficult.  But repeatedly refusing to listen to certain staff members tells those people that their lives are unimportant.  There should be a distinction between praise of performance and compliments of a personal nature.  Praise is given when the staff member's activities are directly related to work objectives; personal compliments are given for behaviors which are extraneous to work.  Staff members need both types of reinforcement.

 Appropriate Touching – Leaders appropriately touch high achievers through double handshakes and pats on the shoulder more frequently than they do to low achievers.  Some leaders are reluctant to touch or to be touched by staff members.  This suggests a physical revulsion or a fear of the possible consequences of physical contact.  Appropriate touching is a form of communication.  The friendly,  appropriate, and timely supportive touching of staff members can be quite effective for building trust and rapport.

 Constraining - A constraint is when a leader does something to stop a misbehavior.  Constraining is sometimes needed and should not be eliminated, although infrequent constraining usually reflects effective leadership.  The nature of the leader's constraining  behavior and to whom constraints are directed are the important factors.  Hostile, threatening constraints are linked to decreases in productivity, whereas non-threatening constraints are tied to increased achievement.  Constraints should not reveal that you expect appropriate behavior from some staff members and misbehavior from others.  The best delivery of the constraint is calm, firm, and courteous.

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