Leadership Skills You Need to Support Employees With Challenges at Work

These days, management is so much more than making sure that staff clock in on time and that deadlines are met. Today’s manager needs a whole trunk full of hard and soft skills in order to keep the wheels turning and that includes the ability to support a variety of employees. In the modern world, we’re now much more aware of the fact that some employees are able to adapt quickly to change while others need more time.

Similarly, different people react to stress, distractions and responsibility in different ways. For a manager, this can seem like a bit of a juggling act but learning to deal with this through proactive leadership creates balance and so, in this article, we’re looking at the leadership skills you need to support employees who have challenges at work.

Building Awareness of Diverse Workstyles

As you may already have noticed, the average team is a melting pot of different skills and backgrounds - and avoiding meltdowns requires skill. Diversity can be fantastic for creativity but it also means that different people work in different ways. An example of this might be one team member who works best within a structured routine whereas his or her team mate prefers more flexibility and autonomy.

Similarly, an employee on the autism spectrum is likely to bring a fresh perspective on solving problems but may need a more unique level of support to make that happen. The modern leader needs to not only be able to manage different cultures and conditions but also to identify those who need extra help where challenges may not be immediately visible.

Practicing Empathetic Listening

As with so much in life, great leadership at work begins with listening. Great employees are ones who feel valued and heard and this is only possible through empathetic listening when staff voice concerns. Empathy is all about putting yourself in someone’s shoes rather than just barking orders and hot-footing it away. Proper listening may start with our ears but it also involves body language such as a good level of eye contact and not sending signals like folded arms!

The empathetic leader is one who has mastered the art of reading tone and emotional signals and then reflects those signals back with assurance and sympathy. This can be achieved by always making employees aware that you are available and will provide a quiet, safe space in which they can speak freely. That same empathic leader will also always give the employee their full attention - which means no reading emails or scanning spreadsheets at the same time.

ADHD in the Workplace

These days, we know so much more about ADHD than we did even just a few short years ago and the forward thinking manager needs to pay close attention to this. People with ADHD will often struggle with traditional expectations at work such as deadlines and can sometimes lose focus on a regular basis. A good leader is able to support these employees with ADHD time management skills by nurturing the creativity that this condition can bring while helping with structure and organisation.

For the most part, this is about practicing patience with those who don’t fit snugly into traditional routines and harnessing the power of different mindsets through support, guidance and trust-building behaviour.

Encouraging Flexibility and Adaptability

In the “olden days” it was believed that a workplace could only run efficiently with rigid rules and regulations. These days, we’re a little more enlightened and the forward-thinking supervisor puts people first. In a diverse environment, some employees find comfort in strict routines and expectations whereas, for others, this can cause distress.

Hybrid working models and flexitime can be great tools to help accommodate evolving needs at work without losing productivity or focus. This is becauseon employees who are able to work in their own way tend to be more engaged and therefore are simply more effective. Rather than diminishing accountability, flexibility instead creates a healthy environment where every employee is able to reach his or her potential for balanced and sustainable results.

Promoting Skills Development and Training

As well as promoting career progression, gaining and improving skills gives employees a confidence boost and benefits the business in a myriad of ways. As well as job-based skills, team members can benefit from coaching in soft skills such as communication, organisation, concentration and productivity - and both employee and employer will reap the benefits as the staff member grows in confidence and initiative.

Mentorship and peer-based learning are both great ways of bigging up strengths and working on weaknesses and, as a manager or business owner, this demonstrates your commitment to your team’s progress.

Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety

When creating your workplace, you probably put in a lot of health and safety measures to make sure that your employees get to go home in one piece but what about psychological safety? The great thing about the modern world is that we’re no longer afraid or reluctant to start conversations about mental health and diversity. For the modern manager, encouraging staff to share their struggles is a great way of building trust and, just as importantly, businesses who promote trust enjoy 50% higher productivity and see stress levels lowered by up to 74%.

This should also be extended to day to day operations whereby, rather than hiding mistakes through fear, employees feel safe enough to speak to you about them. When a business runs on trust, honesty and respect, it becomes a culture of productivity and creativity within a safe space.

Measuring Progress and Continuous Improvement

We all know that a business that doesn’t constantly evolve and improve tends to stagnate and, needless to say, this is not a good thing. Reviewing, evaluating and monitoring progress sounds like a lot of hard work but it comes down to one thing -  feedback forms the foundation for growth.

When managers take the time to actively seek and collate feedback from their teams, great things can happen. As well as building trust and making staff feel valued, this is an essential tool for making - and keeping - everybody accountable for their contribution. The key here is to be flexible but within a structured review process to make sure each employee - and the business - stays on track.

Leadership That Supports and Strengthens Employees

These days, the role of leader is a complex and varied one and is so much more than getting the job done by any means necessary. Today’s fearless leader needs to be able to recognise different working styles within their teams and then turn diversity into an opportunity for success.

This means staying flexible, keeping conversations open and engendering trust and loyalty. By doing this, you’ll achieve your goals faster and more efficiently - and create a team environment that's not just successful, but fun to work in, too...