https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl8pEzfT9Sg

Do you want to improve employee engagement, increase the quality of your workplace relationships, and create teams that are greater than the sum of their parts? Make generosity a core aspect of your leadership style.

Many leaders we work with are often operating from a place of scarcity – their first priority is to look out for their own job, their own budgets, their own department, and their own team. To be honest, given the management culture that persists in a lot of companies, this is sometimes a valid approach.
But in most companies today, this is the exact wrong way to work – often, politics between teams or departments happens to the detriment of the company as a whole.

Being generous with your support

If you’re a leader within your organization, a big part of building influence with your peers has to do with recognizing that they’re facing workplace challenges too. We often find that in cross-functional meetings, Finance only cares about Finance’s projects, Marketing only cares about Marketing’s projects, and so on.

The first thing you can do is be present during those meetings and actually pay attention to what’s going on throughout the organization. Then, you should go a step further and actively engage by giving praise for good ideas. Maybe showing support is the tipping point for that person getting the budget / resources they need.

This also is relevant within the teams you may lead. Being supportive of your employee’s initiatives and ideas is one of the best ways to keep them feeling engaged and included.

Being generous with your resources

We find that many leaders become hoarders – of budgets, of talent, and of knowledge. We aren’t going to name any names, but too often we read articles about failing corporations where managers will sabotage each other, withhold crucial information to use it as a bargaining chip, or preventing top talent from advancing out of their current position.

The bottom line is that working with hoarders drives away top talent, creates budgetary inefficiencies, and stops ideas flowing throughout organizations.

If you’re in a leadership position, do the exact opposite – share your expertise and points of view when you know you can add value, don’t hold on so tightly to your annual budget, and help your top talent build their careers – even if it means they’ll eventually leave your team

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