Resource review: human resources Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others.

Resource Review: Human Resources Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others

By James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner Jossey-Bass

Part One: Chapters 1-3

Why is it important to encourage the heart? The authors found that most people perform at a higher level when they receive encouragement in the workplace. People obtain a great deal of satisfaction from positive feedback, but most of us do not think we really need it because we are smart, strong and independent. But we do. Simply put, humans are more in need of encouragement than we wish to admit. We work better and accomplish more when we feel good about what we have done. We work harder for people we like, and we like them because of how they make us feel. The authors point out that the highest-performing managers are closer to their workers and more open in sharing thoughts and feelings. Yet many managers still hang on to the old notion that to be successful in the business world, a leader has to be aloof, impersonal, and unemotional. That is not likely to be successful with today's workers. The word "encourage," in fact, has the same root as "courage," and the act of encouragement is not for the weak hearted.

In their observations of effective leadership, Kouzes and Posner have identified seven elements for encouraging the heart: 1) set clear standards, 2) expect the best, 3) pay attention, 4) personalize recognition, 5) tell the story, 6) celebrate together, and 7) set the example. Each of these elements is discussed and described through examples.

Readers can rate their own strengths and weaknesses in encouraging others through use of the Encouragement Index, a tool to rate one's own behavior numerically. The description of my own score was right on target. The tool provides a glance in the mirror and a point of reference for the rest of the book.

Part Two: Chapters 4-10

Each of the chapters in Part Two elaborates on one of the seven elements identified above. Leaders who encourage the heart set clear standards and then provide equally clear feedback on achieving those standards. This is about goals, but not just the goals themselves. It is also about the underlying values and principles of those goals. If people do not believe in those underlying values, then the job is not a good fit and performance is unlikely to be exemplary. Personal values must match organizational values. This is at least as important as skill sets and it should have an impact on hiring, training, and promoting staff. Once clear standards are set, good leaders can then expect the best of people, and managers who expect success usually get it.

The authors update the 1980's concept of Management By Walking Around and retitle it Caring By Walking Around (CBWA). This is not aimless wandering. Stopping by a cubicle or an office to check in with a worker is an opportunity to pay attention, to look for examples of success, to get to know the individual. Do workers personalize their work spaces, or are they sterile? What significance might this have for how individuals invest in their presence in the positions they hold? How might this be a clue to my management interaction with this person both for him- or herself and for the mission we are meant to accomplish? Paying attention to what is important in workers' lives outside of work may be of assistance in understanding how they value what they do inside the workplace.

A leader will encourage the heart by being openly joyful at another's success, by cheering, by coaching with enthusiasm. In this environment, workers are more likely to help the whole group succeed. Successes should then be publicly recognized and honored. How that recognition occurs should depend on what is meaningful to the person being recognized, not a predictable and stale generic event. How does a manager know what an individual would like? By walking around and talking to people (CBWA)! The celebration of individual and group successes builds a stronger working community.

If leaders are to lead, they must do so by example, by modeling the values and principles of the organization and by valuing the people with whom they work. They must be credible. believable. Kouzes and Posner have found that when workers perceive their managers to be credible, they will have a stronger sense of team spirit, be personally committed to the organization's values, and have a sense of ownership. When managers lack credibility, workers produce only when they're being watched or are motivated by money; they tend to criticize the organization and feel unappreciated.

Part Three: Chapters 11-12

The final two chapters provide guidance and ideas for how to encourage the heart. To start, leaders need to find their own voice and lead from their own experiences. All the "right" tools and techniques are not very important if leadership is not authentic or does not make a personal impact on workers. A degree of "clumsiness" will undoubtedly occur. As with any skill, however, leaders can learn to be adept at encouraging the heart with practice. The authors have provided a list of practical ideas to get started. The list is organized by the seven essential elements; some are simple and some are extravagant. The important thing is to get started.

Marcia Landen

Executive Director, Sponsored Research Services

Indiana University

Bloomington, IN