How The Best Leaders Encourage Employees to Persevere Through Failure?

 I came across these statistics recently:

• SHRM reported 30% of employees feel that their managers provide sufficient feedback and encouragement.

• Gallup found that only about 21% of employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.

Mistakes and failures are inherent to every job. How a manager responds to it determines his/her effectiveness. 

What is your typical response when your team member commits a mistake?

A - Do you provide appropriate feedback and encourage the team member to learn from the situation and move forward? Or

B - Do you form a perception about the team member and avoid giving him/her important work? Or

C - Do you step in and rectify the situation for the team member? After all, you want the issue to get resolved since you are responsible for the results.

If your answer is A, well done. You are an effective Leader.

If your answer is B, you are part of the majority who get influenced by unconscious biases which impacts their decision-making. 

If your answer is C, your logic makes sense on the surface, but you may not realize that you are hurting your team member by doing their work for them. Doing someone else’s work in the short term hurts their development in the long term.

In similar situations, what should managers do? The answer is one word, ENCOURAGE.

What is Encouragement?

Encouragement is giving support, confidence, or hope to someone. The word encourage comes from the prefix “en” to put into and the Latin word “core,” which means heart. So, to encourage means to put courage into someone else, which goes straight to their heart.

The reason managers need to encourage their team is twofold. 

First, it helps meet a basic psychological need for every human being to be known, valued and understood.

Second, it helps the team member persevere when things are challenging knowing there is someone who has their back.

 “If leaders knew the battles their team members were really facing and how people really felt about themselves, then they would be a whole lot more encouraging” 

Short Story About the Power of Encouragement:

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs crowded around the hole and saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for them.

However, the two frogs decided to ignore what the others were saying, and they proceeded to try and jump out of the pit.

Despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they should just give up. That they would never make it out.

Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and he gave up. Very soon, he died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain.

He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?”

The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

The moral of the story is people can go further than they ever thought possible when they are celebrated and encouraged.

What if the other frogs had actually encouraged the two frogs. Maybe, the other frog would also have survived.

Why do Managers don't encourage enough?

Everyone understands the benefits of encouragement, but most Managers still don't encourage their team members. The biggest reason is, they feel uncomfortable doing it. 

They either feel that too much of encouragement may seem artificial or they want to encourage but don't do it in the right way.  

Encouragement isn't about you; it's about others.

How do you encourage?

Most people who encourage do so naturally without thinking about “how” they do it.  However, it turns out there is a simple formula shared by Jordan Montgomery, author of The Art of Encouragement

Words + Substance = Encouragement

Words = What

Substance = Why

When you encourage, focus on the 'what' and the 'why'

Let's understand this with some examples. 

1. Your team member is struggling with a task. He is already late with his deliverables.

Let's use the above formula to encourage him. 

• “You can do this task (what), because I have seen you solve difficult problems in the past (why)”

2. Your team member has been getting average performance reviews for the last 2 years.

• “You haven’t given up yet for a reason (what), you know deep down you are worthy (why).”
• “Your best performance is right around the corner (what), the preparation and effort is telling me that (why).”

If you are a Manager and want to improve your encouragement skills, make it a habit and use the formula words + substance.

Becoming a Manager who encourages his/her team will enhance your reputation in the Organization. While you might not get to see an immediate result of your encouragement, take solace that it will go directly to the heart of someone else, and that’s meaningful.

Coach Ram
coach-ram.in