The Motivational Power of Supportive Leadership

Consider this situation: An exhausted implementation team leader comes to you and explains how impossible it is to meet a key deadline. There are just too many issues to address, overwhelming problems to be solved and not enough people to do it. What do you do?

1. Tell the worker to take some time to think more clearly about ways to get the job done.
2. Explain to the worker that you will personally assist in completing some of these tasks in order to meet the deadline.
3. Have the worker describe the situation and the assistance he needs to meet the deadline
4. Begin modifying the plan based on resource constraints.

Most project managers have experimented with some or all of these options, but the most effective one is the one that shows you as a supportive leader. One of the most powerful strategies to motivate the workforce is to present yourself in a support role. It may seem contradictory, but you can build your leadership abilities by strengthening how you support your project staff.

Proper orientation is a crucial part of support. It is unfortunately common today for workers to start out in a new company with insufficient knowledge of their organization, enterprise, standards and expectations. This is hard to believe, because it has been known for years that new employees who start badly will rarely develop a good attitude about their employer and will be the …