There are two highly effective and easy servant leadership strategies that you can implement that will build your culture and increase your team’s loyalty and devotion to you.
What are they you ask?
They’re the simple, yet highly effective principles of Appreciation and Edification and their power of building team culture, loyalty and devotion and, ultimately team performance, should never ever be underestimated. And to ignore them, is at your own detriment.
While the pay is a main driving factor for your people to go to work, it’s Appreciation and Edification that will ensure the top performers come to work for you, stay loyal and devoted to you and give you a stellar performance.
Appreciation.
There are some really creative leaders out there, who take the time to dream up ways to show their appreciation to their people, with their efforts paying dividends for the teams’ culture, performance and loyalty and devotion to them as the leader. And they’re often not elaborate or expensive, but they show that they care and appreciate each and every member of their team.
For instance, a local Primary School Principal surprised her team on Mother’s Day with a breakfast in the staffroom, – she’d also taken the time to write a personal note to each team member that were placed inside little cake boxes with a beautiful cupcake inside. So simple, but so effective. Her staff posted their appreciation all over Social Media that day. This principal has turned the school around from when she took the reins and has attracted a top team of teachers to the school, and, one of the reasons is that she takes time to regularly show how much her people mean to her.
Another example of a simple yet highly effective display of appreciation that I recently read about is where a leader gave her team a present of appreciation every day of the week for a week, again each with a handwritten note saying how much they valued them (see the pic). Not a big budget, just some creativity that yielded a massive boost in team spirit, loyalty and devotion.
Now these ideas may be way off base for your team, but I’m sure they give you the gist of what I’m getting at and you can come up with many alternatives to show your appreciation to your own team, which I’m sure you’ve done so already.
How do you show appreciation to your team members?
How often do you do it?
What’s your next idea of how to show the love to your people?
Edification.
Another incredibly powerful servant leadership strategy to bolster team culture, loyalty and performance is Edification – where you can promote anyone but yourself. Everybody wants to feel special and be recognised and, when you promote others in the team you lead, it’s a very powerful behaviour.
The world constantly tells us that it’s “all about you”, but the problem with that is, that if we’re all just thinking about ourselves, then no one is often looking out for anyone else and that never leads to anything great. When someone actually does take the time to see past themselves and care and promote another person, and show their respect and honour to them, it often surprises and delights the heck out of us – because, it’s usually unexpected.
For instance, acknowledging an awesome performance on a client pitch, to highlighting the effort of team members who stayed late to get a concrete pour done on site, to praising a team member for all the extra hours of effort they’re putting into improving their skills, are all ways you can edify others.
And when we’re edified, it empowers us and fuels an even greater performance and increases our loyalty and trust in the edifier.
When you have a team that practises this servant leadership strategy constantly, team culture and performance cannot help but be bolstered.
How often do you edify and praise your people?
Who needs to be empowered through praise?
There are two ways you need to consider when looking to edify your team – and they are public edification (in front of others) and private edification (just you and your team member). Each have their place and the more you get to know your team members, the more you’ll understand how they prefer to be edified.
Do you know how your team like to be edified and praised?
What’s the next way you can edify someone this week?
Can I encourage you that if you don’t really know how your team members like to receive praise and edification, then find out? It’ll be worth your while. You want to ensure your good intention is having the desired effect. (In the next blog in this Servant Leadership series, I’ll be talking about two highly effective ways you can get to know your people at a greater level so you’re best able to serve them as the leader. Stay tuned!)
You need to build people to build your business.
When you grow and empower your people through Appreciation and Edification, you prime and fuel your team for a winning performance.
How effectively are you utilising the power of praise and edification in your business or the team you lead?
What could you do more effectively?
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I trust it helps you build your leadership strength so you can live a better life!
Take care and keep climbing!
Coxey
I talk further about this in my book, “The Dream Is Everything”.
If you’d like to receive a FREE e-copy, (RRP $24.95), click here.
In case you missed it:
The Servant Leadership Example | Is Your Team Being Served? | Part 1
The Servant Leadership | How’s Your Humility? | Part 2
Coxey Live – The Servant Leadership Theory
