In Scandinavia, we thrive on flat structures, trust and little distance between the managerial role and employees. This forms a good basis for the Scandinavian management model - employee ownership. Responsible employees and a high level of commitment create efficient and good workplaces.
Written by: Runar Heggen
Employee ownership is about employees taking responsibility together with their manager - both for the results created, for the working environment and for the workplace as a whole. In this committed interaction, we must also acknowledge and take responsibility for each other's vulnerability. Managers who tone down their control regime and show trust may find themselves insecure if trust is abused.
It is much easier to talk about good leadership than to be a good leader. Confidence in the leadership role is crucial to creating confident employees. Insecurity is contagious. It is therefore necessary for managers to feel secure in their leadership role.
How to create confidence in your leadership role
1. Results
The most crucial factor is performance. It's no surprise that poor results create insecure managers, while the joy of good results creates security. With this knowledge, you can have a pretty clear idea of how a manager is doing based on monthly and quarterly results alone.
2. Be wanted
Then comes the certainty of being wanted. This is a security factor for managers that is just as important from above as from below. Knowing that you are wanted in your leadership role by your employees has roughly the same significance as knowing that you are wanted in your position by your board or superiors. A manager is also an employee with the same need as everyone else to be seen, appreciated and receive positive feedback. Such feedback is just as important from the manager's employees as from senior management.
3. Feel socially adequate
If a manager's behavior and mannerisms do not fit in with the environment, they can easily be perceived as socially awkward. Here, it is the individual's subjective self-perception that is crucial. Some people are socially skilled and can easily adapt to most people in a work environment, while others thrive primarily among "their own kind".
4. Professional adequacy
If the manager feels that he is on thin professional ground and understands that he lacks the competence to take on the position, this can have dire consequences for the performance of the leadership role. The worst case scenario is a manager who is afraid of being exposed in relation to their professional inadequacy.
5. Structure and predictability
The last of the five factors is structure and predictability, which is on the same level as professional adequacy. Clarity and planning are in many ways more important than the plan, because they create security. This is particularly important in demanding situations where requirements for precision and speed leave little room for improvisation.
For a leader, it is therefore crucial to build a good leadership platform and to know which coping strategies are easiest to use when you feel insecure. This provides valuable self-awareness to work with the best possible and appropriate coping strategies.
Runar Heggen, CEO of Teamwork AS
HR plays a key role in creating safety and interaction
The company's HR department can play an important key role in ensuring good interaction and security throughout:
- Create awareness and dialog about the aforementioned warning signs and what we can do together to ensure that both managers and employees take responsibility for job satisfaction.
- Everyone needs positive feedback and to be seen - this applies to both managers and employees. HR has the expertise to create a positive feedback culture.
- Introduce good employeeship as an essential part of the company's culture - it becomes both lonely and burdensome if the manager has to "bear all responsibility".
- Work with development tools that are combined with daily operations to ensure that everyone contributes to increased productivity and interaction. The manager alone has no chance and everyone has a responsibility for both results and "making each other good".
Our management model in the Nordic region with committed interaction requires good relationships. Interaction is first and foremost about relationships. Our most important tool is conversation and good dialogues. Employee ownership is about helping the business achieve its goals.
Some uncertainty can make us sharper and create good decisions. At other times, it leads to such strong insecurity that it has a paralyzing and destructive effect on relationships. As professional employees, we must take care of each other's vulnerability and take responsibility. This is the responsibility of all employees - it creates secure managers and employees.
Source: Employee ownership - what makes people take responsibility and show initiative. J. Velten, S. Tengblad and R. Heggen
