‘How can I help’ - Leadership interaction, when anchored around this phrase can yield monumental results.

‘How can I help’ - Leadership interaction, when anchored around this phrase can yield monumental results. It makes an organisation of a ‘we’ culture rather than a ‘me’ culture.

"Hey, are you stuck, Do you need help?

OR

"Let me know if you need help", likely would result in a person not asking for help. He\she might struggle the whole day solving an issue and not ask for help.

However, when I straight away say "Hey, How can I help you?", OR "It looks good, let's review and resolve the last couple issues" likely would make him\her comfortable and ask the right questions to get the issue at hand resolved.

Few years back, when I was attending an HR workshop on a new and improved employee performance recording system, and there was an important point that the HR representative raised. She said, this year onwards we need to ensure we take care of (and may be eliminate) our bottom performers. Anyone who has not performed per our standards should get a rating of 2 (on the scale of 1 through 5) during the annual review and would not be eligible for the annual increment or the salary raise. It shocked me and I could not resist asking the question. Really? Should a Leader wait for whole one year to tell a person he\she is underperforming and would be penalized for it by not getting the salary raise? I disagree, I said. The manager should own the responsibility of that kind of performance for letting that happen for 1 complete year… by almost wasting the organization's time, resources, money and more than that, for NOT helping a person who otherwise could have performed well and would have contributed towards the success of the team, the department and the organization.  

Leadership is not about dictating and reporting. Leadership is sitting with the team, working together, assisting each other, making connections and working together. It makes an employee look forward to coming to work each morning. A software engineer solves more issues when he\she goes back home and before going to bed gets a chance to think through the problem and attempt to solve it. This however would happen only if the work environment is such that the individual feels at home while working. Knows that someone cares more than just getting the work done.  

I have had team members in the past who would self-reschedule their planned time off sensing the urgency at work. That was possible when they were supported during time of their personal needs. A family has to be supported along with work and vice versa.

Hire the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them.

 Outstanding results can be achieved when we work to grow together as a team.