Many Organizational Development Consultants and Human Resource Professionals would say that, “If you provide the right combination of benefit packages and employee perks (Build it and they will come) then your team will hit productivity and coalesce around the organization’s vision and goals.” My empirical research suggests something altogether different….For example, how can followers reach their maximum potential without experiencing a level of inspiration from witnessing their leader’s behavior? In other words, if the Leader is not “Modeling the Way” for their followers, how can they be inspired to show up every day and make it happen!
Four components for your staff to be successful
In the organizations that I consult with, I make it very plain that four components must be present for your staff or self-directed teams to be successful, and go to the next level. Hope, Optimism, Resilience, and Self-Efficacy; these attributes must be a common fixture amongst your people, so much so, that it becomes the norm for optimal behavior. Moreover, when one of your team begins to exhibit behavior contrary to the attributes I have put forth, their own colleagues will “call” him or her on it and bring the vision back to the forefront. Let’s unpack these attributes based upon my research findings.
How these four components work
Hope is not an ethereal thing; it gives life and is almost palpable to those who have experienced its comfort. From a behavioral perspective, the construct of hope has been defined as a processual endeavor to think about one’s goals, along with the motivation to move toward and the ways to achieve these goals. Optimism is the bedrock and belief that a preferred outcome will take place while holding on to a general tenor of positive expectations about your life and the ability to make it happen. Resilience in a work setting is vital to the health and optimal functioning of your team…it undergirds your follower’s inspiration. My research has shown that when an employee experiences adversity, two things can occur, they will either succumb to it and raise a flag of defeat, or the adversity will cause them to cope effectively while adding the experience to their repertoire of organizational learning. In other words, the presence of Resilience will only make them (and the organization) stronger as they cope with adversity. Finally, Self-Efficacy is about moving beyond merely being confident in your talent, skills and abilities, but possessing the belief that you “will” execute the course of action to produce desired outcomes and the entire organization will be better for your contribution.
Importance of four identified components for ensuring organizational healthy culture
The four identified components not only produce inspired motivation, but create the added benefit of an organizational culture that is healthy and waits with expectation for good things to occur. In a time of economic uncertainty and when employees are giving all the signs they want more from their leaders’ (almost screaming it from the roof tops), leaders have a responsibility to convey the message, “we want you to buy into what we are selling, we want you to believe in the vision once again, we seek after your inspired motivation for the daily grind that society calls work, and we will partner with you to make it happen….”
