As football season comes to an end, the fair weather fans are coming out of the wood work. Your coach is a hero…unless they lose. Your fantasy football QB is amazing…until he gets sacked. We’re all there screaming and buying t-shirts when the times are good, but do you leave the stadium to beat traffic in the 4th of a bad game? No one wants to be called a fair weather fan, but it’s so much easier to support a team who wins.
Supporting your team (now we’re talking about work) shouldn’t only happen when things are looking up, it should happen all the time. Traditionally, it has been taboo to bring emotions into the workplace. Finally, there has been a realization that we need emotion, and more than that, we could never truly remove it from the work equation anyhow. This new focus on emotional intelligence is stirring up some great insights in business.
Being an emotionally intelligent leader means knowing when and how to support your team. It’s natural to dole out praise and approval when everything is coming up roses; that support comes a lot less naturally when the ball is fumbled. Tough times in business are actually the moments when your team needs to hear you cheer them on the most. Whatever the problem is, from your line-up to your coaching or training, here are a few ways to avoid being a fair-weather boss.
Be Their Coach
Surprisingly enough, avoiding being a fair-weather leader depends greatly on accountability. Holding employees accountable means defining clear expectations and responsibilities. Employees need to know exactly what is expected of them in order for them to deliver. Coaches set goals for each member of their team, and closely track their progress. There are great employee rewards programs that will track and document performance. This allows leaders to not only recognize the issues, but also progress.
Offer the Best Training
Facilitating improvement or problem solving is very hard to do if nothing is being measured. It is vital to track employee training. Systems like Cyber Train are a great way to offer the best in LMSs. An effective training management program not only trains, but also uses metrics to improve that training.
Create a Star Line Up
Software for recruiting is improving everyday. Finding great talent to build a strong team will rely strongly on the tools you give your HR department or recruiters to work with.
Tech like Cyber Recruiter allows leaders to recruit more efficiently. The resources that are saved on the processes involved in HR and recruiting can now be put toward improving the candidate experience, in depth sourcing and decreased time-to-fill. After all, a great QB is useless if no one can catch the ball.
Sticking with your team through thick and thin creates a support structure and cohesion that fair weather leadership cannot facilitate. While performance is a powerful metric, the big picture of performance is more important to follow than the spikes and valleys.