
Being perceived as approachable by your staff is essential for all leaders. It is facilitated by a combination of our body language (see tip one), words and actions.
I believe that an approachable leadership style has four core benefits:
Ideas - Staff will feel comfortable bringing their ideas to you to create new or enhance existing strategy. No leader has the monopoly on good ideas and you want them flowing in from all areas of your team or organisation.
Feedback - As Mike Tyson famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
To succeed as a leader we need regular feedback from our team. They inform us where our plan is working and failing and will provide ideas as to how to adapt it.
Wellbeing - Staff will feel comfortable highlighting their vulnerabilities. That may be a skills gap and need for training, or a growing level of anxiety and stress that is compromising mental health.
Loyalty - A dictatorial leader that is not perceived as approachable will find they have to generate most of the ideas, monitor, adapt and evolve the strategy and are likely to face a high turnover of staff who do not feel valued.
An approachable leader fosters a culture of collaboration where ideas flow freely from their team. They benefit from a collective focus on the implementation and development of strategy. Finally, their approachability makes their staff feel valued, which creates personal and organisational loyalty.
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