A number of years ago two of
the researchers at Gallup reverse engineered literally millions of employment
survey responses and collated the key things that great managers did on a
regular basis. They defined great managers
as the people who were leading highly engaged and high performing teams.
Common Characteristics of Great Managers
The researchers concluded
that these managers had different communication and management styles but they all
had the following characteristics in common:
- They motivate every single
employee to take action and engage them with a compelling mission and vision.
- They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.
- They create a culture of clear accountability.
- They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.
- They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics.
- They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.
- They create a culture of clear accountability.
- They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.
- They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics.
How well are you and your
managers demonstrating the above?
Every one of these
characteristics is driven by effective communication and the willingness to put
the time and effort into getting to know your people, one conversation at a
time. This is not always easy because
the nature of an employment relationship is very different from the ones we
have with loved ones or friends.
Building trust and openness is a skill that needs to be developed and there
are two key elements that need to be considered:
1. Knowing ourselves.
2. Knowing our people.
Knowing Yourself
Consider this quote from the Tao
Te Ching (6th Century BC):
“Knowing others is
intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power”
Or the more recent quote from
Carl Jung (early 20th Century):
“Everything that irritates us
about others can lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves”
How well do you know
yourself; your vulnerabilities and what triggers you? How well do you master yourself, your
emotions, your biases and your assumptions?
Many wise leaders and
managers are recognising the power of having a trusted mentor or coach who
provides an objective perspective and enables a more balanced exploration of these
sensitive areas. Others are practicing
mindfulness in order to get a better perspective and develop the ability to
observe their feelings and thoughts instead of just reacting to them.
Knowing Your People
Over the years I have had
numerous examples of managers finding certain staff ’impossible’, ‘difficult’
or just ‘awkward’ to manage. However,
when the manager increases their self-awareness they begin to recognise that
the member of staff is not ‘being difficult on purpose’ - they are just very
different. This means that they have
different working and thinking styles, traits and mental patterns. They also probably have very different needs,
values and desires. As soon as we bump
into people with opposite patterns to our own, our hypersensitive Limbic
(ancient reptilian) part of the brain perceives them as a foe to be very
cautious of. This is picked up on both
sides and can rapidly spiral out of control and become intensely personal. Once it’s personal, emotions take over and
reality goes out of the window.
Understanding Differences
A manager who seeks to identify
the differences and objectively understand them can adopt a more flexible
approach than their normal ingrained and automatic patterns. This takes effort but it is far less effort
and stress than the alternative. Sadly,
the alternative often ends up in claims of unfairness and even unlawful
behaviour, because the member of staff feels and perceives it that way, even if
it is not actually happening. But as you
probably know, in employment law, you are guilty until proven innocent. Tribunals have little tolerance of managers
who are acting emotionally and letting their biases and assumptions drive their
behaviour.
Gaining Objectivity
An article entitled ‘State of
Employee Engagement 2014’ by Modern Survey, states that “Nothing will create
high levels of engagement throughout the organization like candid conversations
between managers and direct reports about what each employee wants and what
engages them.”
Engagement is all about
interest in the work and enjoyment in the task at hand because it relates to a
bigger more meaningful purpose. But what
interests your people and what do they enjoy?
There are now some very
interesting analytic tools that can objectively identify people’s working
preferences at a level beyond their own conscious awareness. These tools can also identify what the
individual enjoys most at work. The
results of these ‘engagement analytics’ provide a very powerful basis for an
objective and candid conversation between a manager and team member.
Some people can get stuck
because they are conflicted at a level below their awareness, and this can lead
to under or inconsistent performance and a lack of motivation.
In a recent article Dr Dan
Harrison gave some useful examples of inner conflicts where people:
- Want career advancement but
hesitate to take on the challenges related to such advancement.
- Give high importance to
career development but hesitate to embrace the self-development that would be
necessary.
- Desire higher pay but lack
the self-motivation necessary to earn it.
- Want social opportunities
from the workplace but may be so introverted that such opportunities are
hindered.
It is essential for a manager
to understand these paradoxes and help the individual to recognise how they can
help themselves. If they are armed with
reliable engagement analytics the manager can facilitate candid conversations
about what interests their people and how the business can help create
opportunities for them to achieve their personal goals and satisfy their needs. This increases individual motivation because
they become aligned with business objectives and this releases great potential. However, it can only happen when there is an
objective, honest and frank conversation about what really drives individual
performance.
It is worth mentioning that if
there is a genuine mismatch between the individual’s engagement criteria and
what their current role can offer it becomes clear to both parties that a
change in role to something more suitable is the appropriate thing to discuss,
even if this means moving to another department or another organisation.
Some managers may say to this
“But what if I lose my people?”. The answer is to consider whether they would
rather have disengaged underperforming people stay waiting to be managed out
through a disciplinary process or a healthy and mature candid conversation
about how to be creative and manage the situation to ensure a win-win outcome
for both parties.
Building Trust and Accountability
It all begins with ensuring
that you make the time to have regular conversations that allow you to build
trust and rapport. Once you have rapport
you can be far more candid without the fear of things being misunderstood
because the member of staff will not be listening via the Limbic part of their brain. It’s easy to forget that once the Limbic
system is triggered it creates an expectation of negative outcomes and makes
accidental connections that confirm the perception of negative intentions, even
where there are none.
The exciting developments in
engagement analytics mean that managers can now very easily become more
self-aware by identifying their own individual drivers, they can also begin to identify
the inner dynamics of individual engagement for each member of their team. This makes it far easier for the manager to have
a supportive yet candid conversation and together with the employee explore if
there are any unmet needs, or paradoxes that may need to be addressed by the
individual themselves.
This type of conversation
creates more accountability and responsibility because the employee cannot
reasonably expect the organisation to fulfil their needs and aspirations
without them being actively involved. It
creates the opportunity for you to develop a culture of engagement and high
performance together.
This is quite a simple
approach which links very neatly to the characteristics of Great Managers
mentioned above, but the statistics show that it is sadly missing from most
organisations. By taking the initiative
to build rapport and start the candid conversations you will be able to keep
your best people for longer and reap the rewards of a highly engaged team.
As you consider all of the
above you may be curious about exploring more about the very affordable analytic
tools now available and the powerful insights they provide. If you want to discuss them please let me
know.
I am always
interested to hear your thoughts and opinions about any of the above so please
drop me a line at David.Klaasen@InspiredWorking.com
With best
regards
David Klaasen
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