How can a leader extend true, genuine support to the employees? Well, let’s consider a few scenarios before we move further into the topic.
A team member comes to you with panic. He has missed a deadline. What will be your reaction? Extend the deadline and reassign tasks, right? But that may not be the right thing to do for the employee and the company. When you provide such quick fixes, your team members will never become independent decision-makers who can shoulder big responsibilities.
Instead of offering immediate guidance, what if you challenge his perspectives with thought-provoking questions? You could…or perhaps ‘you should’ ask him questions like
- What were the missed tasks?
- What were the shortcomings that led to the situation?
- What steps has he taken to address the situation?
- Is there any alternative solution?
This way, he will learn to think critically and take things on his shoulders. He will become self-reliant and be able to handle tough situations both in the present and the future.
And now, we come to another scenario. Consider the customer care executives who handle routine calls. They are likely to be disengaged at their work. Just start giving them out-of-the-box duties related to their field, like managing customer communities. This will stimulate them intellectually and make them more engaged in their work.
Hidden potential and talents come out only through challenges and intellectually stimulating questions. The challenges you give can be either just simple verbal questions or even small tasks.
Provide employees with engaging challenges and thereby motivate them to grow further. This way it’s not just them—the company grows as well. True support is never about ‘being the boss,’ but about being an empowering friend, philosopher, and guide.
Support vs. challenge: understanding the difference
Let us understand how support and challenge differ.
- Support—In an organization’s context, traditional support is all about providing guidance when an employee stumbles. It involves offering quick answers and solutions for their problems. The approach brings a high degree of control and stifles innovation and experimentation.
- Challenge—Instead of offering immediate assistance with problems, employees are provided the necessary resources and training to resolve the issue by themselves. Challenge encourages employees to be independent and create empowered employees.
Challenging as a form of true support – breaking the comfort zone
True support goes beyond providing step-by-step instructions or spoon-feeding solutions. It’s about making employees more confident, increasing their self-reliance, and guiding the employees to find solutions by themselves.
When employees handle familiar and routine tasks daily, it hinders their growth. Challenges will push the employees out of their comfort zone. It will motivate them to experiment with different approaches and also learn new skills.
Challenging doesn’t mean abandoning the employees
Challenging the employees doesn’t mean abandoning them or letting them find ways completely by themselves. A manager has to extend proactive support and mentorship throughout the process and provide the necessary training and tools.
The key here is to ensure that support and challenge go hand in hand. Support provides comfort, assistance, and reassurance, while challenges, when delivered constructively, will empower the employees, build confidence, and increase growth.
Challenging as a tool for long-term organizational growth
What benefit does challenging the employees bring to an organization?
Challenging will increase employee empowerment. Empowered employees are confident in taking initiative and will be more engaged at work. As per a recent Gallup study report, companies with high employee engagement are 23% more profitable than other companies.
When you give employees the autonomy for problem-solving, they become more innovative. This brings continuous improvement to the organization. Furthermore, the employees will also become better equipped to deal with uncertainties or other challenging situations. This undoubtedly will lead to an adaptable and resilient organization.
Risks of challenging employees and ways to overcome them
When you challenge the employees, you should always follow a middle path. Otherwise, you will overwhelm them and break their confidence. Challenge them the right way and help them grow!
When you push employees too hard or when you assign them tasks that are difficult to handle, it leads to stress and burnout. How can you avoid this? Before assigning a challenge, carefully assess the individual’s capabilities. Initially, assign them small tasks within their capabilities and gradually increase the complexity.
Another negative result that too much challenge can bring is stress and anxiety among employees. They might have a fear of failure and feel inadequate. You can address this by encouraging open communication and making the employees comfortable expressing their concerns.
When employees continuously fail to meet challenges, they might become demotivated. Always ensure that you provide them with constructive feedback. Encourage them to learn from their mistakes. Further, practice appreciating their efforts rather than the outcome.
6 practical techniques to challenge and empower the employees
Consider the practical steps below that you can implement to challenge the employees positively.
- When an employee approaches you for support, do not solve the problem immediately. Rather, ask questions that will force independent thinking. You can try questions like “What measures have you tried so far?” and “Have you identified the cause of the issue?”
- Avoid asking leading questions. Instead, ask them thought-provoking questions. You can also use “What if” scenarios and stimulate them to explore other possible outcomes.
- Encourage the employees to think of the solutions by themselves before approaching you for help. Try implementing the “three before me” rule so that they will try a minimum of three solutions to resolve the issue and only then approach you.
- Provide employees with the psychological safety to experiment without fear of blame. They need reassurance that mistakes will be considered as a learning experience. Further, when mistakes happen, discuss what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future.
- Support the employees to find solutions by themselves. Ensure that they get the necessary tools, training, and resources to handle the tasks.
- Encourage initiative. Appreciate and reward employees who take initiative, regardless of the result. Offer incentives for employees who try to solve problems independently.
Support and challenge, strike the right balance
The traditional concept of close guidance may stifle innovation and proactive problem-solving. However, challenging in excess will lower an employee’s confidence and bring negative effects.
A growth-oriented work environment is a balance between support and challenge. When you challenge employees, it should not create stress or demotivation and make them feel inadequate.
Create a supportive work environment where employees are confident in experimenting with the trust that they can always depend on you if things get tough. Understand the capabilities of each team member and assign challenging tasks accordingly. Offer initial guidance if required and slowly encourage them towards independent decision-making.
Stretch your team, but at the same time make them feel valued!
Frequently asked questions
How do I challenge employees without causing stress?
Challenging employees without causing stress is not an easy task. You must understand the capabilities and psychology of each employee. While assigning challenging tasks, ensure that the employee is capable of handling them. Otherwise, start with smaller tasks and provide training to progress towards complex tasks.
How can I help employees overcome self-doubt?
Self-doubt happens when employees are not confident of their abilities. Encourage open communication where they voice their fears. Assure that making mistakes is fine and the focus is on learning. You must be proactive in providing feedback and discussing alternate options.
What is employee empowerment?
The concept of empowering the employees is all about allowing them to make independent decisions which in turn leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. When they gain more power over their jobs, they become more innovative and improve the organization’s productivity.
