In the past 2 years we’ve experienced the biggest disruption to work since the introduction of the 5 day working week – our work-life boundaries have been forever blurred and for many we experienced a new found autonomy. Our behavioural norms have been turned on their heads and we can’t just go back. As a leader of a team, you are navigating what this means to your team and no doubt considering how you can ensure that your team is engaged cohesive and high performing. This month’s blog is the start of a series, co-written with coach and facilitator Geri McKenna, focused on what it takes to set your team up for successful hybrid working.
Do you believe in signs? …That sometimes we see something that is giving us a clue about a way forward or seems to have caught our eye for a reason? I have to say that logically I don’t. I’m an engineer by original degree and I worked as an engineer as the first 7 years of my career … I like evidence and logic and reasoning. I like to do the research and think things through. I like to think I can justify my decisions, my choices, and the life I lead from that perspective.
And yet….
So this is a bit of a different blog for me this month… I’ve decided to share a gradual change in my thinking, or perhaps I should say experience, which is influencing my approach to living my life just a little bit and I share as food for thought as I think it could be relevant and helpful in the business and management world too. Read on to understand more about what I’m noticing and how I draw insight from this to support managers and leaders.
Have you noticed your team members’ motivation waning or coming and going in recent weeks? Or perhaps your own? You are not alone. With world events being what they are, some basic human needs can feel threatened. Why is this and what can we do to gain some motivational balance?
Leadership can be both rewarding and demanding in equal measure. In good organisations, as a leader you get support through development to enable you to do it well. Often that development focuses on how to lead from an intellectual perspective for example perhaps with an enterprise mindset, or to be strategic in perspective – if it’s really good it will help you to understand who you are as a person so that you can lead authentically but does that include showing emotions? And how are you perceived as a leader if you do?
Below I share some findings of recent research into perceptions of leaders who show emotions which has some interesting insights for female leaders.
As I coach managers and leaders from different industries and geographies there is a common question emerging: ‘how can I keep hold of my early career team members?’
Over the Covid-era, with some positions furloughed, with employees asking themselves ‘is this what I want from my life and career going forward?’ and with the risk of losing a sense of belonging to an organisation when not used to home working, employees are taking stock and looking outside of their current organisations for answers. As a recent related article by Forbes sums up ‘It’s a collective realization that better things may exist or at least they exist temporarily. It may as well be called the great re-evaluation with employees prioritizing more flexibility, more control, and more influence over their career trajectories as we enter the brave new world of work in a post pandemic society.’
As a Manager, what can you do to encourage engagement and ‘stickability’ of early career team members at this time?
A bit of a light-hearted blog with meaning in its message as we approach Christmas… the 12 days of Christmas.. if a manager were giving to a team member. Read on for a sing-along-summary of some good management practices … or, if you can stand it (!), hear my not so perfect rendition – I thought some ongoing key changes would add interest … where as it just made my job more difficult! Forgive the mistakes 😉
On the first day of Christmas my manager gave to me a clear statement of my job role
One the second day of Christmas my manager gave to me, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the third day of Christmas my manager gave to me, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the fourth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the fifth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the sixth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the seventh day of Christmas my manager gave to me, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the eight day of Christmas my manager gave to me, budget for a team member, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the ninth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, a listening ear, budget for a team member, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the tenth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, future career step backing, a listening ear, budget for a team member, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the eleventh day of Christmas my manager gave to me, advocacy with a stakeholder, future career step backing, a listening ear, budget for a team member, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
On the twelfth day of Christmas my manager gave to me, role model behaviour, advocacy with a stakeholder, future career step backing, a listening ear, budget for a team member, training for development, support for a proposal, praise for good work ….. time to solve a problem, a kind word, a helpful piece of feedback and a clear statement of my job role
If you are a manager/leader in an organisation you may well have reflected already on your approach to both management and leadership over the period of the pandemic so far. If you haven’t, it may be a good time to do so. Over 18 months into the Covid era and customers and clients of organisations, as well as their employees, have started to ask themselves how human these organisations are. What might that mean for you?
As we approach the end of the year, I find myself reflecting on the year that was and starting to consider what opportunities 2022 may bring. I recently reflected on my coaching practice over the last year as I put together my application for Senior Coaching Practitioner with the EMCC and through that process came across the ‘7 Cs of Humanity’ as defined by Elaine Patterson, Author of “Our Humanity@Work” Working with the 7Cs. It’s a great framework for human-centred reflection which I think is extremely relevant in current times. If you’d like to learn from your year to date and set yourself up for a great 2022, read on, download the pdf template and answer the reflection questions.
Do you ever find yourself falling hostage to your emotions in a way which makes it difficult for you to show up at work as you would like to? This can particularly be an issue when you are on the receiving end of something that you can’t control. In this month’s blog I share some ideas for how you can help yourself to manage these types of scenarios better.
I’ve recently reflected myself on the question that’s the title of this blog. I’ve been dealing with some difficult news, and, as a coach, I want to create a good coaching space for my clients which is focused on them; I needed to know that I could handle my own emotions and create a professional space but what was the right way to do that? In this blog I share my own learning with the intention of providing some food for thought for all leaders facing similar situations.
