The ARC of Support: Manager-as-Collaborator

1 Sept

Ten years ago, I undertook some contract research for a manufacturing company in northern Sydney. After gathering and reviewing some employee satisfaction survey data, the CEO was keen to do as much as she could to support workers. The company had just won lucrative North American & European contracts and she wanted to make sure people were as engaged and as happy as possible. However, there were signs from the survey data that things could be better.

After spending some time better understanding the firm’s history and operating environment, I recommended digging into the survey results by talking to the employees, theming the data, preparing a statement of findings, and using that to drive decisions about change. The CEO was very keen for me to start this work, so I commenced a project called…

The Motivating Workplaces Study

The design of the project was straightforward. A representative sample of 27 employees took part in a confidential 30-minute interview, with roughly half from the front office, and half from the factory-floor. Using a relaxed & informal approach, I asked the employees to tell me about their most motivating & demotivating experiences at work. This proved to be quite effective. Using some probing questions, I was able to obtain a lot of detail that wasn’t captured by the earlier survey.

For me, the most interesting insights came right at the end of the interview when I asked, ‘what is one thing the company could do to really improve your experience at work’. To give the question extra significance, I made a point of saying that they could name ANYTHING they liked. This meant they could say things like more pay or annual leave, better training, greater work flexibility, gym memberships…literally anything that might make a difference.

Voice and Choice!

After analysing the data, we were surprised by two things. First, only 4 employees said anything about money! This was reassuring for the CEO because it indicated the company was paying people well enough to minimise it as a demotivating factor. Second, & more interestingly, the thing employees were most keen to see was improved interpersonal communication. More specifically, they wanted more voice & choice - a better chance of getting their voices heard, along with more opportunities to influence company decision-making.

Helpfully, the employees gave lots of specific examples, which made it easy to present a series of recommendations to the company, along with a one-page summary that they could distribute internally (to show employees their voices had been heard).

The ARC within the ARC

What these findings confirmed is that – more than anything else – employees want to be respected.

But we’ve known this for a long time. It’s why people often say, ‘people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers’ & why so much focus has been given to training managers in interpersonal skills like active listening, solution-focused questioning, & strengths-oriented coaching. These skills are important becuase they develop relationship quality & trust by supporting an employee’s basic needs for:

Autonomy – by taking an employee’s perspective, ideas & interests seriously.

Relatedness – by interacting in a way that conveys genuine care & concern.

Competence – by recognising an employee’s abilities, strengths & past accomplishments.

Fortunately, nearly 50 years of research confirms that good things happen when managers support these A-R-C needs. Aside from enhancing job commitment & work engagement, employees also feel better…they report higher levels of well-being, can cope better & display more positive work behaviours. In a very real way, we can say supporting these needs puts the ARC into the ARC of support!

The heart of collaboration

Whilst the word collaboration can mean different things to different people, it is most simply defined as “the action of working with someone to produce something”. Given that organisations rely heavily on collective effort – everyone working towards the same goals & outcomes – all managers should strive towards creating a climate of collaboration.

It just so happens that when managers bring a spirit of collaboration to what they do, teams tend to function at their best because their members feel valued & respected. Whilst this might seem like common sense, maintaining a need supportive, collaborative mindset can be tricky when things are busy, time is tight & people are working remotely.

Awareness, listening & action

Like most things, awareness is the key to changing, modifying, or sustaining certain behaviours. And so it is for this.

It is worth remembering the VERY BEST health & wellbeing program any company can offer will be built through its human relationships, most especially those developed between those who lead & those who follow.

As the motivating workplaces study clearly showed, people value being respected. Employees want to feel listened to, have their perspectives acknowledged, where possible, acted upon. By doing this on a regular basis, managers & leaders provide vital support for the autonomy, relatedness & competence of employees, creating the conditions needed to help organisations thrive in tough competitive environments.

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