What is Participative Management?

Participative Management

What is Participative Management?

Participative Management is a management style that requires the cooperation of personnel. It aims to build commitment and develop initiatives within work teams. To do this, the manager must delegate parts of his power and it’s necessary that the teams decide together what solutions to adopt.

It’s important to create a trustful relationship between the teams, where respect and collaboration from everyone will be emphasized. Work valuation must also be there for this method to work.

The different axes of Participative Management:

• Delegating power:

It’s necessary to give some power to the employees. They must be able to make decisions at their level as soon as possible, while having the opportunity to refer to their manager (for example let your employees self-plan their work and the orientations they prefer).

• Motivating teams:

Participative Management should inspire employees to participate in corporate decision-process. While setting rules and limits, the employee must be able to show his involvement and motivation when making decisions.

For example, it may be motivating for employees to choose themselves which tasks they prefer to focus on and coordinate their work with each other.

• Foster collaboration:

Teams need to communicate and collaborate as much as possible to be more effective.

By promoting listening and understanding of the issues, teammates will build reciprocal trust, thus benefiting the company’s operations and internal development of the teams.

ChallengeMe can definitely help you achieve such an effective collaboration, with a collective intelligence platform build around Peer Learning.

Positive points of participative management:

  • Employees are more involved in their work because they’re able to better express and max-out their ideas. They will also be given lots of feedback and directives regarding their actions.
  • The motivation is higher in the working groups, indeed this mode of operation is based on the valuation of each one’s work, and the employees will do their best to get recognition.
  • Engagement is also higher among employees as they will have a greater sense of belonging to the company, through the responsibilities they are given.
  • This will result in greater cooperation and knowledge sharing between the teams. There will be a true collaborative culture in the company that will positively impact the company’s results.
  • There will be greater autonomy among employees, they can go further in their work before consulting their manager.
  • The exchanges will be easier thanks to this spirit of collaboration. Employees will be less afraid to suggest new things to their peers and employers.

So we can see that positive points are numerous and very beneficial for the company, but is it easy to set up that participative management ? There is a whole framework to create for this change to take place in the best possible way.

What must be done to create the best possible framework:

First, it is necessary to communicate a lot. Do not hesitate to talk to your peers and employees, communicate on the progress of the project, on the possible solutions etc.

Then you really need to listen. There is no point in giving teams importance and decision-making power if they are not listened to. It’s a key element to reinforce commitment and motivation within the company.

Respect for others is one of the main mechanisms of participative management. Also, teamwork recognition and its valuation are important. It’s crucial to give importance to the solutions provided by employees. Employees will have more confidence in themselves and less fear of taking initiatives if it allows them to gain recognition in their work.

Involve your employees to work in collaboration as often as possible, exchanges must be regular and fruitful so that the sharing of knowledge is beneficial to everyone.

To create this spirit of collaboration, several solutions exist such as Peer Learning and Reverse Coaching, two good methods that also really work well when combined.

ChallengeMe and Participative Management?

With the ChallengeMe platform, you’ll have the opportunity to set up an ideal framework for Participative Management. It will give your teams a new dynamic that will be a real strength for your business. You will also increase the motivation and collaboration of your teams by creating Collective intelligence environment that promotes a knowledge sharing action in your company.

Conclusion:

Participative management can be a real solution to energize your teams, build commitment, and taking initiative. It requires some preparation to be introduced, but the positive effects you can draw are real and numerous. Above all, it’s necessary to create a corporate culture based on collaboration and the valorization of each one. Managers will only have to delegate some of their power and to set limits and rules to be respected.