Values, talents and purpose: encourage personal leadership!

For many HR managers it is an annual recurring point of irritation: the employee satisfaction survey. Not only does it take a lot of work and time - on top of that, employees express their displeasure, only to sit back and expect HR or the manager to sort it out. As an HR manager it then feels like it is your sole responsibility that your employees are having a good time. But that time is over: it's time to create a culture in which the employee takes action, time for more personal leadership in the workplace! What exactly is personal leadership, and how do you encourage it? In this blog I explain exactly that.

It goes without saying that as an HR manager or team leader you have the responsibility to ensure a positive working climate. But do you also think enough about the responsibility that lies with the team and the individual employee within the organization? I believe in the power of shared responsibility and ownership in teams, in which servant leadership from the manager and personal leadership from the employee play an important role.

What is personal leadership?

The term 'personal leadership' means that employees themselves have the ability to determine a direction within their work and life. In doing so, they must proactively take the lead and control their own emotions, behavior and communication. Did you know that the difference in happiness is 50% genetically influenced, 10% has to do with external circumstances, and 40% depends entirely on your own attitude and mindset?

If employees want to experience happiness at work, that is largely up to them. But many organizations do not yet know what it is and how to deal with personal leadership. Time to change that!

How can you encourage personal leadership?

To ensure that employees can take control of their work life and happiness, you need to know where to start. As a manager, you can point in the right direction. How are you going to do that?

1. Make sure employees find their values

In order to demonstrate personal leadership, it is important that employees know what their personal values are. This is the fundamental basis from which their behavior flows. Recognizing and being able to formulate these values gives a lot of direction to the needs of the employee as an individual.

If the values are clear, employees will not easily be guided by the opinions of others, but they will be able to be themselves. This can also increase confidence and self-esteem.

2DAYSMOOD tip!

With 2DAYSMOOD's 'me-values' module, you let your employees compile their top 5 (out of 50) values. This way you can discover at a team- and organizational level which personal values your employees find important. And then the logical next step is that you will all live by this.

2. Help employees discover their talents

Good news: everyone has talents! Usually this is innate, but some people develop talent simply by working hard. If you have a talent for something, you often enjoy doing it. But what is the effect of talent on personal leadership?

As a manager, it is important that you help your employees discover and use their unique qualities, so that they feel more energetic and fulfilled at work. With their talent they can give direction to what they need in the workplace. For example, they will work in a 'flow' more often and enjoy their work more. Which, in turn, is very positive for the productivity and involvement of the team.

2DAYSMOOD tip!

Do you want to know what talents your team has? Then you can do the Gallup Strength Finder via 2DAYSMOOD. This way you know where the strengths of your employees lie!

3. Match values, talents and goals

You probably recognize it: the 'why', the 'purpose', or meaning of work. Nowadays this is a very popular concept, because especially the newer generation of employees want to do something that is useful and contributes to a higher goal. Working for money is nice, but that is no longer the only thing that is important about working.

After step 1, discovering the values of employees, you can adjust their purpose accordingly. It is important that employees themselves set goals that are close to their values. The main goal should correspond to both the values and the talents of the employee. There will be the most room for effectiveness and employee happiness.

2DAYSMOOD tip!

Do your employees not yet know what their purpose or goal is? Then you can do the Purpose Journey for teams workshop through our partner JECKX to find out.

Interplay between employer and employee

Ideally, you want your employees to feel happy in the workplace and have them enjoy their work. That is exactly the goal of personal leadership. Responsibility lies with you as an HR manager or team leader as well as with the employees themselves. This ensures a nicely balanced interplay between both parties, whereby employees create more autonomy for themselves.

Employees who determine their own happiness and direction will be more productive in their work and encourage others to take personal leadership as well. And that's exactly what you want!

At 2DAYSMOOD we believe in the power of personal leadership. That is why, for example, we provide each employee with insight into the mood of their own team, and our surveys also consist of questions that address the employee's action orientation. This creates an equal conversation between the team leader and employee.

Do you want to measure how employees are doing more often and create a continuous feedback loop? This is possible with the fast, fun and easy measuring method of 2DAYSMOOD!