Managing for performance
Leaders often have high expectations and demands on themselves. You have to be able to deliver great results in your organisation and be innovative. Be open and available at all times. Have the ability to handle stress without being stressed. Manage resources and take great responsibility for their own and others' development. It's not surprising that many people give up or change jobs in the hope that managing somewhere else will be easier.
Making a difference
Basically, most people who choose to become leaders do so because they believe they can make a difference and drive positive development for both the company and their staff. But what is it that creates the conditions for you to succeed with your high ambitions and good intentions?
Relationship and Performance
Research today clearly shows the importance of good relations in the workplace. In some cases, it is crucial to how well you will succeed in delivering results. But not least, it is important for employees to feel the desire and willingness to perform well. Almost everyone does their very best based on the conditions that exist. If the conditions are poor, performance and the desire to perform are also negatively affected.
Balance between relationship and performance
As a leader, it is important to ensure that there is a good balance between relationship and performance in the workplace. Too much focus on performance can lead to the workplace being perceived as hard/cold, while too much focus on relationship risks leading to low production and a high focus on being nice and comfortable.
To develop high quality relationships, leaders and employees need to be able to come together on 'difficult' issues that include emotions along with performance, expectations and challenges.
It is also important for managers to remember their own work situation. The above factors and examples also apply to the leader. What are your own opportunities for good performance?
Leadership development - Transformational leadership
In 2022, Mynak (the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Knowledge) published a compilation of knowledge (Knowledge synthesis 2022:6) linked to how leadership affects employee performance and well-being.
Some conclusions from this are that transformational leadership has a positive relationship with employee well-being and in some studies there is also a clear positive relationship with performance and productivity. There are also positive links between transformational, constructive leadership and employees' mental and physical health.
Transformational leadership largely includes the behaviours described in the points above. What this shows is that as human beings we thrive on being seen and recognised for our skills and that we all need good, credible role models.
The leader's ability to strengthen the quality of relationships determines the quality of performance.
I am convinced that leadership today and even more so in the future will be about the ability to balance relationship and performance, common goals and individual development, togetherness and freedom. As a leader, you therefore need to ask yourself how you can strengthen your relational skills and how you can best work with your unique group of employees.