We know that change is a constant in business and is often associated with high stress. By involving others, however, you can reduce change-related stress and make it a positive experience.
Participative Leadership is associated with low stress and positively correlated to performance. You don’t need to have all the answers, nor pretend you do. All business outcomes require the commitment of other people – and you can’t buy commitment, nor loyalty. Yet it takes committed and loyal people who are inspired by a vision and want to contribute their talents to see a shared advancement.
Participative leadership means engaging the team to explore the best way forward so better decisions eventuate; keeping them informed of the true situation (good and bad) under all circumstances; maintaining awareness of their morale and taking action to keep it high, being approachable, and supporting your people.
During change, people are strongly influenced by their leader. If they are included and see commitment and passion for direction, they buy into this and are more likely to become passionate and committed. If they bump into roadblocks and hurdles and are not supported by their leader they become disillusioned.
The displayed data is from Change Lab 2020 research by Dr. Lindsay Godwin and Michelle McQuaid, particularly exploring change as a result of COVID-19. Data was collected between June and September 2020 and builds on insights from the 2019 Change Lab Workplace Survey.
39.1% of Australian workplaces and teams are consistently thriving when it comes to the changes experienced over the last three months.
40.4% of Australian workers reported that they understood the key decisions being made in their workplace.
40.5% of very successful changes had leaders who adopted an “Invite and Inquire” approach, opposed to 8.5% which had a “Tell and Control” approach.
13.5% of participants reported “really struggling” in terms of wellbeing with a “Tell and Control” approach, opposed to only 4.6% for “Invite and Inquire.”
Watch this short video to hear from Grant Fuller on their experience on how they got people involved through Participative Leadership. Grant took part in The Integrated Approach pilot program at the McConnell-Dowell Decmil Joint Venture project.
According to Interpersonal Solutions and Around Leadership (2014), the Participative style is often referred to as empowering, as leaders “involve team members in decision-making processes, easily accept and incorporate employees’ suggestions, and show they understand the feelings of employees.”
Bringing this leadership approach to your organisation means equipping leaders to cater to underlying innate needs we all share (SCARF) and directly starts to address some of the core issues that currently impact wellness:
Being modest, calm and patient enhances relationships
Asking and listening to employee’s opinions aligns with Status and Fairness, while addressing Influence and Change
The same goes for the success factor of drawing employees into the decision-making process
Giving employees space to carry out their tasks aligns with Autonomy and addresses Pressure and Influence
Facilitating group discussions aligns with Status and Relatedness, and addresses Relationships and Change.
Call To Action
Allowing people to participate has numerous wellness benefits, such as:
Employees feeling valued, motivated to perform well and more committed
Employees having increased job satisfaction and a sense of empowerment
Relationships are built on mutual trust
Creativity and innovation increase among employees through team collaboration.
In the tools and resources section you will find a piece on Communicating Change which overlays wellness reactions with a Lysander change model.
As you invite people into the decision-making process for your next change, use the Communicating Change guide as a reference point to maintain awareness of your people and steer the change process towards the above wellness benefits.
Taking it Further
On Destructive Leadership:
“…the systematic and repeated behaviour by a leader, that violates the legitimate interest of the organisation by undermining and/or sabotaging the organisation’s goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and/or the motivation, well-being or job satisfaction of his/her subordinates.”
Through the Leadership Development section you have explored leadership styles associated with “The Light Side.” There is, however, a “Dark Side” to leadership which have been shown to be destructive to wellness. These dark leadership styles include Authoritarian, Distrustful and Withdrawn and can have a substantial negative impact on wellbeing, and even directly contribute to a deterioration of an individual’s mental health.
According to Interpersonal Solutions, identifying, measuring and challenging interpersonal behaviour provides clear markers on the journey to better leadership, teamwork, and individual contribution.
Creating wellness at work means to recognise the importance of promoting cultures that reward effective interpersonal behaviours, sanction destructive ones, and provide regular feedback on skills to enhance member contribution and personal wellness.
If you recognise leaders in your business who demonstrate "dark side" approaches, it is a red flag and incredibly important to be putting development in place to build awareness and teach different ways of going about it.