Strategies for Nurturing Deeply Involved Team Members through Leadership
In the realm of improving employee well-being, it's essential not to overlook the groundwork laid within the workplace itself. Many organizations focus on work perks like extended parental leave or unlimited time off, but the true magic often lies in enhancing the work environment itself. A groundbreaking study, titled "Cultivating Engaged Audit Teams: The Effect of the Lead Audit Partner’s Leadership Behaviors," delves into this very topic.
Penned by Gabriel Dickey, Joseph Ugrin, and J. Lee Whittington from the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Dallas, this study explores how specific leadership behaviors can bolster team engagement in financial statement auditing – a notoriously team-oriented profession.
The researchers, in an attempt to dissect team engagement and its contributing factors, surveyed 82 audit teams. Each team consisted of around five individuals, working on averaging 462 hours for private-company financial statement audits. The study, to be published in Accounting Horizons, showcases the impact of three leadership behaviors on team engagement levels.
As Dickey explicates, financial statement auditing is a veritable treasure trove for exploring team dynamics. The study's findings suggest that leaders can significantly influence team engagement by clarifying roles and expectations, providing regular, expectations-based feedback, and displaying the behaviors they wish to see. This blend of clarity, regular feedback, and modeling devotion fosters trust, respect, and ultimately, high-performance expectations – all essential ingredients for stimulating team engagement.
Curiously, the study reveals that four leadership behaviors - providing a vision, fostering group goal acceptance, supporting individual team member needs, and facilitating intellectual thinking - did not spur higher team engagement levels for these specific audit teams. The researchers infer that, while these leadership traits might be pivotal in other contexts, the study's focus on financial statement auditing yielded different insights.
Ultimately, Dickey emphasizes the importance of highly engaged teams for any organization and encourages leaders to reflect upon whether they contribute to this environment. With responsible leadership development and the integration of these proven behaviors, organizations can nurture employee engagement, performance, and overall well-being.
Research on leadership and engagement offers valuable insights to aid in this endeavor, such as:
- Empathy Walk: Experience a typical day from your employees' perspectives to build empathy and understanding.
- Open Communication: Encourage regular feedback, clarity, and transparency to foster trust and engagement.
- Inclusive Leadership: Emphasize respect, authenticity, collaboration, and open communication to create a sense of belonging.
- Strategic Inclusivity: Engage in meaningful conversations to make employees feel seen and valued.
- Transparency, Empowerment, Decision-Making, and Customer-Centricity: Foster an alignment of values, promoting loyalty and innovation.
By adopting these strategies, leaders can address the key factors influencing team engagement, contributing to a more successful and well-being-focused organization.
In the context of the study, the CFO could play a crucial role in implementing these leadership behaviors to improve team engagement in financial statement auditing. Furthermore, networking with other business leaders who have successfully boosted their team's engagement through similar leadership strategies could provide valuable insights.
