Work Relationships Feeling a Little Wobbly?
wobble, wobble…
Relationships between leaders and teams can feel unsteady and uneasy. Remote work, the “Great Resignation" and a changing generational workforce has created soft-footing for bosses, hiring teams and operational leaders. There are many schools of thought about how to build productive and trusting working dynamics and, certainly, at least some of them must be right. But, I think there’s an easier way. Let’s talk it out here and review possible tactics.
Tactic#1: Pressure Makes Diamonds
While pressure makes diamonds it does it by crushing it’s resources. I’m sure we’ve all had leadership that subscribed to this philosophy but I’d bet many fewer of us are still working there because of it. Here’s a fact: Fear is not trust. Here’s another: No one works better when they’re afraid. Confusing fear with trust is the root of many a frustrated leader and an equal or greater number of direct reports who have their resumes on the street.
Tactic #2: Happy people make good employees.
This is most certainly true. However, is it really your job as a supervisor to make people happy? I’d argue “no.” I do think its our job to create healthy environments in which people can thrive and pursue their personal happiness but happiness is about so much more than success at work and that can’t be your responsibility. In short, stay out of the “friend zone” with your direct reports - it’s not really the nature of the relationship and someone will always end up hurt or disappointed when it fails in the name of commerce.
Tactic #3 & Corner Talk’s recommendation: Align your successes.
When you run a large team, there will be folks in that team that love you and others that do not. That’s OK because friendship, it turns out, is not a key metric of success as a manager. As they say: “it’s not showfriends…it’s showBUSINESS.” As long as you are respectful, decent and clearly define what success looks like for them your team will perform for you. Here’s the how: Speak with your direct reports and explain to them how your success is directly aligned with their success. That’s it. Watch as the other noise in the conversation falls away as that hits home. Favoritism, grudges, and other perceived slights fade into the background when people know that you are rooting for them because self-interest is a motivator that is easy for them to trust. I’d hope that there is also a spirit of collegiality behind your interest in their performance - but, should that still be in development, this will still work. Try it out and remember: Your teammates should never feel like adversaries, pals, nor raw materials (lumps of coal) to be squished into performance.
Also, be nice.
Chief Seconds wishes all of you success in your interactions with your teammates. To learn more about how to build powerful teams that punch above their weight class without burn out, ask someone who’s done it before. Contact us here on the website or email me directly at bruce@chiefseconds.com.
Talk soon.
