A511.2.3.FB_LouBeldotti - Supportive Behavior

SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR

Telly Savalas' tag line was: "Who loves you, Baby?" Just like Shrek and Donkey, their "supportive behavior and relationship" was always there but was generally inferred. They never directly indicated that they cared or supported the other but their behavior towards each other spoke volumes.

In this blog, I will lay out Dr. Gary Yukl's take on supportive leadership. However, before I do, I will impart my thoughts.

As a supportive leader, I have always been there for my subordinates. I have accepted each new person as part of the team. Part of my on-boarding process is to welcome them, introduce them to the team and counsel them on expectations and how to be successful. I would assign them a sponsor and mentor and coach them throughout their tenure. I would sponsor professional development at least twice per month and encourage them to not only seek career development courses but also college courses. My door was always open and they could come to me with personal or professional problems. In times of personal hardship, I would be an ear to bend and a shoulder to cry on. I would direct them to organizations that could help or even try to help myself. I would bring public praise in times of accomplishment and counsel in private when something went wrong. This is Army Leadership. The "Be, Know, Do" of leadership.

BE – this is all about your character as a leader and is foundational to your ability to lead. It gives you the courage to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences. As part of BE, you should be aware of your personal core values as well as your organization’s values. For the Army, their values are:

Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage

KNOW – This is about the knowledge and skill sets you need to be competent as a leader and cover four areas:

Interpersonal skills
Conceptual skills
Technical skills
Tactical skills

Your mastery of the knowledge and skills required for your role are essential to the success of your organization.

DO – Leaders act. They bring together everything they are, everything they believe, and everything they know how to do to provide purpose, direction, and motivation. This involves the following three leader actions:

Influencing
Operating
Improving

(Allen, 2011)

In Dr. Gary Yukl's text, Leadership in Organizations (Yukl, 2013), Dr. Yukl defines supportive leader as a concern for the needs and feelings of other people also helping build and maintain effective interpersonal relations.  He states that it is more satisfying to work with someone who is friendly, cooperative and supportive than with someone who is cold and impersonal, or worse, hostile and uncooperative.  I completely agree with Dr. Yukl.  I know that in my past experiences, I was happier working for a boss who was more of a "people person" than a cold task master.

Dr. Yukl reminded me of Army Leadership in his text.  It was as if I was reading an Army Regulation, Field Manual or policy letter.  In chapter 3, pages 63-72, Dr. Yukl lays out guidelines for supporting, developing and providing praise and recognition for subordinates.  He echoes just about everything I ever learned about leadership as a Soldier in the U.S. Army.  I thought to myself that maybe Dr. Yukl had possibly served in the U.S. Army.  I did a little research and discovered that although Dr. Yukl had never in the military, he had been involved in several projects to help improve leadership in the US Army and Navy.

References

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations. (8th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice.

Allen, BG. (March 7, 2011). Be-Know-Do, The Army's Leadership Model. [BGALLEN: coaching.consulting.ministry].  Retrieved on January 24, 2016 from http://bgallen.com/2011/03/07/be-know-do-%E2%80%93-the-army%E2%80%99s-leadership-model/