P ERCEPTION OF WHAT A SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP IS

I asked the question What do you do as a leader to support your team?

All of the leaders responded that they try to be available for their team/teams. By showing that the team can call, email or come visit them when needed. One leader said, “I am available for them in the way they themselves prefer”. Listening to the team whenever they come with a discussion point or problem and escalating it further when wished for by the team. Some of the leaders meant that having a high-level understanding of the team’s work and the problems they are facing is important to be able to support the team in a good way. Some of the same leaders meant that a tight follow up, asking questions and coaching the team were important elements.

A constant relationship building with their team to ensure trust and create an open environment

where anyone dares to ask questions or challenge even the leader. Many of the informants said that giving the team clear mandates was seen as supportive to the team.Being consistent in their leadership style, as to giving the team clear feedback and advise were other items considered supportive leadership.

I asked the question In what situations does the team need most support?

All of the 10 leaders asked were united in that support is needed during difficult situations where there is for example, tight deadlines, complex or challenging problems, stress or resistance of any kind. One leader said, “in situations where they are facing a lot of “noise”.

Most of the leaders mentioned in situations where it is a lot of work to do. Some mentioned that they are running ahead and removing obstacles fir the team to support them. When there is poor governance set in advance the team needs more support said a couple of the leaders. One leader said he/she is trying to be proactive in terms of not letting the team end up in many difficult situations and when they do (as they will do, he/she said) he/she is occupied with taking this in as a learning to not end up in the same way next time.

I asked the question Is there anything that makes team members feel unsupported?

All of the informants that were asked said the same thing here, in situations where the leader does not have enough time/is unavailable. One leader said, “when the leader does not have time enough” and another one said, “when they need help and you as a leader don’t reply”. Serval of the leaders also said when the communication is unclear so that the team member lack control of the task to be performed. One leader exemplified with, “if they are not given assistance when needed”. When the team member is not seen or heard is another uniting factor that all leaders mentioned as a critical point to take into consideration for supporting the team. When team members are not getting a swift response was mentioned by two leaders as a reason to feeling unsupported. Several of the leaders also said that having a too big workload would create a situation where team members feel unsupported. “Capacity problems” another one said.

I asked the question Describe a time when your team managed to achieve ambitious goals you set. How did you support and motivate them?

Several of the leaders said they helped assure quality of the work by reviewing it. Many leaders said they made way for the team in this process, by removing obstacles that could hinder the team from reaching its goals. One leader said, “the team are given “full backup” from me as a leader”, “I will do the “dirty work””. Several of the leaders mentioned they use contacts and relations that are good for their team to know and make use of to achieve success. One leader said, “I am trying to give the team sense of purpose and meaning to their work”. One leader

said, that in the end he/she was giving recognition in “the larger team”, meaning that this would also function as a motivating factor going forward. Being proud of one’s achievements.

I asked the question Describe a time you mentored someone in your team. How did they grow? What were they doing initially, and what are they doing now?

(This question was asked to understand more about the different situations and surroundings the leader had been through, in leading a team, this question is summarized to a few short examples below.)

• “It was about career development and concrete pieces on project management, the person excelled from one position to another”.

• “The person grew in their role, mentality and hierarchical (new position)”.

• “New in the company, thirsty for challenges. I followed up closely and showed a large portion of trust in the person. The person blossomed and is now performing this role by themselves without any need for advisory or mentorship”.

• “It was a long relationship. And mentoring of a senior manager. I followed up, and the person did a personal investment in this mentorship. He/she got a promotion”.

I asked the question Describe how you delegate responsibility to team members?

“I delegate with a lot of trust, giving a lot of freedom” one leader said. Another leader said, “I have a big amount of trust in my team”. A third said, “Freedom to work creates trust”. Trust was vital to be able to delegate. One of the informants said, to achieve high performance, trust and delegation is absolutely critical. Several leaders said they are delegating on task/detailed level for junior team members, and many said they delegate as a “solve this problem” type of approach for more senior teams and members. Two leaders mentioned they are using so called power matrixes or ‘complete power matrix’ for delegation, clearly knowing which role is to be delegated with what, and on what level. One leader mentioned he/she delegate responsibility through interest areas, what is interesting to each team member. Another one said on that topic,

“delegation must be motivating”. One leader said, “I delegate as much as I can”. This leader also said, and I refer to the motivational factor the other leader mentioned, “I delegate responsibility for assignments that are interesting and take the boring stuff myself”. Several of the leaders said they are establishing roles early on in the team, to delegate responsibility, this contributed to a clear view on skills matching and dependencies to different persons one said.

Two of the leaders said they were delegating tasks as problems (high level) and asked the team member, “do you need any support from me to handle this/what support do you need to handle this?”. Many but not all of the leaders asked the resources that were being delegated tasks to report on a weekly basis on progress, to ensure deliverables being met. It was clear from all of the leaders that setting the expectations in the delegation, whether it is about setting a culture

from start or doing the expectation setting on a continuous basis, this is important for the delegation to work as expected.

I asked the question How do you ensure that tasks are completed by the team?

Most of the leaders mentioned having status meetings to review progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Most leaders also said that having a discussion and definition about how to complete the task and setting a plan of action would facilitate to ensure that tasks are completed.

One leader said on this, “we discuss how the task should or could be performed”. Other factors that seemed important for many of the leaders were to give the team stimuli to complete the task and also operationalizing the work at hand, making it the most “important” task there is.

One leader meant that “rolling up ones’ sleeves and participate” is a great way of getting task completed. Several of the informants said that, making the team feel their own responsibility for the tasks is strongly contributing to task completion by the team.

I asked the question Imagine you’re assigned an important task but your team members keep interrupting you with questions. How do you complete the task?

I asked the question From the above question: How do you respond to your team?

All but one leader said they would need to complete the assignment isolated from the team. All leaders said they would be clear and direct in their communication to the team that they would want to be undisturbed. All leaders but one mentioned they would ask the team members to schedule other timings with them, this to find some sort of convenience suppleness. One leader said, “it just has to be done!”. Another one said, “clear communication that I have a deadline”.

Several leaders said they would show understanding for the person who interrupts. Several leaders also said they never answer in a stressed way, keeping a clear but concise answer. Many leaders said they would use other leaders to be available for team for questions.

I asked the question How would you motivate a team member who seems discouraged or lacks energy?

“I start with asking questions to find the root cause of the discouragement” all leaders articulated. Most leaders responded, they would change routines and re-distribute tasks within the team to create a change that might lead to refill of energy again. Several of the leaders said they ask the team member the question, “what may I do, as a leader, to contribute to a positive change?”. One leader also said, “I bring in the dialogue with others in the team”. Most leaders mentioned they offload work from the team member and remove the cause of the issue. One leader mentioned he/she review the capabilities again to evaluate the team members sense of mastery of his/her tasks since this often was the underlying reason. Several leaders said they help the team member to prioritize if the work load is too heavy and creates this lack of energy.

One leader said creating competition among the team members in a positive way sometimes helped in re-motivating a team member.

I asked the question What techniques have you used to motivate a team?

All of the leaders mentioned that they give feedback on the work that the team does. Many of the leaders said that their teams are self-motivated, it was in the company culture. Several leaders said they give credit to team members in front of others to show that the team member has done well and deserves a “pat on the back”. One leader said, “I make sure that, for outstanding performance, team members are given appreciation in terms of feedback but also gifts or compensation of some sort”. One leader mentioned coaching as a form for motivation, inviting to competency strengthening seminars and showing appreciation in general. This leader also said that giving team members tasks that means something for them, tasks that were exiting and worth a lot for the team and its members were a form for motivation. Personal feedback was also seen as a motivator to individual team members. Pep-talks were also used by one leader to motivate team members, the pep-talks could consist of getting to listen to other successful people that would be motivating to reach the same level of success. Another leader said on the same topic, “hearing stories about how people have managed to solve assignments or achieved success in any way and making that personification for comparison with “us” (the team) was seen as a strong motivator. One leader also mentioned to use technology, and innovation, as principles for motivating a team. This leader said, “many in my team are motivated by finding new, good solutions to customers and seeing what new technology may do to solve problems is a great motivator”. Several leaders mentioned that when a team gets positive feedback from a customer, that creates a strong motivational influence in the work the team do. Several leaders also mentioned that this applies for internal stakeholders as well, one of the informants said, “getting clients to talk about the positive work or outcome from the team creates high spirits and lots of energy among the team members”. It was evident that having a

“carrot” or as one leader said “cake”, was key in becoming a high-performance team. Another leader said on the same topic, “setting roadmaps for the team or the team themselves doing this is a motivational factor for high performance”. One leader also said that “when team members are not comfortable in their team environment, whether it will be the inside of the team or the external factors, the team will never be motivated as a team”. Another leader said, “creating a social wellbeing by giving interesting and challenging tasks is motivational for the team”.

I asked the question How do you prefer to communicate with your team?

All of the informants responded that they prefer to communicate with their team face to face.

Most of the leaders mentioned also that face to face is preferred when feedback is given and where there is a need for discussions. Some also said that even though great videoconferencing solutions are out there today, that meeting up in person is always preferred due to the fullness of body language and the small details that may separate a good conversation from a poor one, and also to avoid misunderstandings. Several leaders said they like to communicate on 1-1 basis, meaning with one person at a time. When that is not feasible the same informants said, group conversations are done. Many of the same leaders said that the engagement level is much higher when meeting face to face. One leader mentioned it was important for him/her to be less formal in the conversations with the team, he/she meant that “being one in the crowd” created less tension and more progress of work. The following comments were made, “I like to communicate in writing for information” and verbally face to face for direct feedback and discussions, where there is need for input”. Another leader said something similar, “I prefer to communicate when giving feedback in personal or private meetings, but when there is a decision already taken and no need to change it I send those decisions out on email”. And, “for supportive feedback this needs to be taken face to face”. Other leaders mentioned, “Structured information is done in writing and being sent out through emails”, “when we are having competency, knowledge and experience sharing it always has to be face to face in a group to reap the benefits of sitting together, giving and getting each other’s feedback”. Many of the leaders meant that meeting face to face means getting to know each other better. A few leaders, but only a few, used social media to communicate with their team and their members, one leader said on this, “I like to adapt to the team needs, and if the team wants to reach me on Facebook or similar, I’ll adhere to that”. Written communication when there is need for general information. I use team meetings. I prefer to not use mail for individual feedback or communication. To give the team availability several of the leaders allowed for ad-hoc meetings whenever the team needed it.

4.6 Perception of conflict management within a team