You're a supporter...right?

Teresa Amabile recently wrote about her research into Perceived Leaders Support of people leading teams of others.  The article is summarized at HBS Working Knowledge.

So.  What make can you do to increase the creativity of your team?  (Remember whether or not you think you are doing these things, unless your team perceives you are doing them, you are wasting opportunities for growth.)

1. Monitor the team's work effectively

-give timely feedback

-react to problems by listening, understanding, respond with help

-share with team about your own work- the good the bad and the ugly

2. Provide socioemotional support

-show support for team member's actions or decisions

-help alleviate stressful situations initiate plans to help those you lead help themselves

-socialize when the time is right.  (it should happen organically not by mandate)

-keep members informed of potential stressful situations

-address negative feelings with difficult conversations

3. Recognize good work privately and publicly

4. Consult those you lead about their work

-ask for ideas

-listen

-implement their ideas

What can you do to kill your team's creativity?

1. Monitor the work ineffectively:

-check on the status of the work too often

-display inadequate understanding of capability of those you lead

-provide nonconstructive negative feedback on work done

-check on the status of the work for too long

-display lack of interest in work and ideas of those you lead

2. Fail to effectively clarify roles and objectives:

-look for results from team members who aren't capable of producing them

-don't give enough detail on expectations for a project or event

-change goals and objectives frequently

-look for results that are counter to other expectations from the organization

3. Deal with problems ineffectively:

-pretend like there are no problems

-create unnecessary problems

4. Make sure your perception of your support of those you lead is reality. 

-get feedback from colleagues and those you lead

-ask yourself: do the people you lead realize that you like them?

And finally, a shocking revelation: After analyzing 12,000 diary entries from team members asked to journal the support they perceived from their leaders, there were more reports of negative leader behavior than positive behavior.