Management Training Tips:
Open Leadership Style Keys Positive, More Productive Team

By James A. Baker
Houston, Texas
Management Training Institute
November 2009

Practically every organization – regardless of size or function – is divided into two camps: labor and management. Label them however you want – Indians and chiefs, sergeants and privates, bishops and vicars, faculty and students, administration and faculty, generals and everybody else – everywhere you go there are those that boss and those that get bossed. This creates challenges for those on either side of the “great divide.” On one hand, organizations crave clear leadership to articulate the vision and rally the team towards success. On the other hand, bullying disguised as leadership can bog down any organization under a smelly load of resentment and resistance from those in the trenches. As an executive, manager or team leader, how can you walk the fine line between motivator and dictator, and equip your people to be successful and fulfilled as they function in your organization?

One important factor is to develop what is known as an “open” leadership style. In a nutshell, the strategy behind open leadership is to focus on developing relationships of trust and mutual respect with those around you. When those who work under your direction and authority clearly grasp the fact that you respect them and are focused on their success, they work harder and develop a higher commitment to you and the organization. Put another way, as your team members come to realize that you believe in them, they begin to believe in you, and that can make a big difference.

This open leadership style stands in stark contrast to the more autocratic approach that uses power to command and coerce. Even if such managers aren’t actually trying to offend those under their direction, their failure to create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect always leads to a poorly motivated team that views the leader with suspicion and resentment. They assume the leader/manager doesn’t truly care about them or their welfare, and therefore is not worthy of their trust or their best effort. Managers caught in this cycle of antipathy often find themselves forced to apply more and more pressure in order to sustain the production of their team at even a baseline level. In such situations, employee turnover can become unacceptably high, and mission-critical processes can bog down completely.

In today’s hyper-competitive economy, anything a manager can do to increase the team’s competitive edge and create positive energy in the workplace is well worth pursuing, especially if the process for achieving it is so simple. There are only three components for remodeling yourself into an open leader:

1. Take time to listen. Certainly, as a manager, your plate is already quite full. But isn’t one of your most important goals that of giving your team the support it needs to perform at a high level? Can it be possible to effectively support your team members without spending time listening to their needs and concerns? An open manager will find ways to be available, both on a regular and on a spontaneous basis, to make time for those who need to share ideas and frustrations.

2. An open manager goes beyond simply being available to listen; an open manager tries to really understand what is being said. Learn to practice active listening, which is the art of asking good questions and focusing on what is being said to you, rather than jumping in and making excuses and correcting what is being said to you. Your team members need to know you have “heard” them, and that you understand what is on their minds. Try to reflect back what is being said to you, using phrases such as, “Let me make sure I understand what you are saying. What you are telling me is … ,” then try to repeat word for word what is being said to you. You won’t be able to effectively support people until you understand what they really mean, rather than simply understanding what you think they meant.

3. An open manager acts on what team members share. Your team members will appreciate that fact that you spend time listening to them. However, they will quit talking to you, quit trusting you, and lose respect for you if you don’t take action on the things they share with you in a way that makes it clear that you care about their needs and you want to help. Of course, some team members can be chronic complainers with a perspective that is not helpful for the team or the organization. Dealing with disaffected employees is also part of being an effective leader. But one of the best ways to protect your team from disgruntled employees is to practice open leadership long enough and sincerely enough that everyone can see that you have their best interests at heart and are responding proactively to provide the support they need.

Becoming an open manager will pay big benefits in a very short time, as long as you remember one thing: your job as a manager goes beyond achieving goals, your job is to help the people you are managing achieve their goals. If you care about people more than you care about goals, you will succeed at reaching them both.