Ice-breakers
A handy and flexible tool to make your meetings more dynamic and engaging!
J’avoue: j’ai souvent oublié que les divers gestionnaires avec qui j’ai eu l’opportunité de collaborer étaient, en fin de compte, des employés, comme moi.
When I asked them a question/request, they received 50 at the same time from other team members and their superiors.
I rarely imagined them tired, overwhelmed, stressed, discouraged, working overtime (a lot and often), etc. I had the impression that they had to have an answer to everything, quickly, all the time, that they had to always be there to listen to my whining, support me, and do the same with my colleagues. They had to (magically, it seemed) be exemplary leaders, mobilizers, empathetic, motivators, good listeners, inspiring, agile, engaging, balancing, coaches, conflict managers, emotionally intelligent, and the whole range of other skills that we demand from today's leaders.
Following a study conducted between 2014 and 2019, Gallup mentioned in its report that “managers are the heart of your organization. They communicate and enforce the standards of your culture and brand. They can make or break any change initiative. Nearly all of your organization’s problems and achievements can be linked to the quality of your managers.”
Added to this pressure are the level of demand and the diversity of employees' needs (which have joined the level of demand and the diversity of customers' and management's needs), inflation affecting the planet, the shortage of labor and especially skills, increased responsibilities, risk management in a complex and competitive global environment, technological advances, etc.
Although stress is inherent in the job of leaders, however, their workload has increased considerably and the hats they are asked to wear are increasingly sophisticated and diversified; they must above all be quick to change them often or to wear several at the same time!
The leader, like his collaborators, seeks to be on his “X”.
There are several factors that can promote and contribute to a healthy leader experience, including:
"It is illusory, even dangerous, to cling to the figure of the omnipotent and omniscient leader who is supposed to solve all problems and have the answer to everything." (“Dare to take risks” by Xavier Durand, Hermann, Paris, 2020, p85).
Leaders are not superheroes, and they are just as likely to experience situations of imbalance, dissatisfaction, lack of resources, toxic climates, etc. during their time in the organization. Admitting this and identifying the challenges is the first step in the right direction.
Leaders have the right to make mistakes, ask questions, and seek help, and this should not be seen as a sign of weakness. A study published in the journal People Management reports that in 2019, 31% of managers had received a mental health diagnosis. I should point out that in 2019, this was even before the pandemic!
Access to a personal coach and HR partners dedicated to their role is a good strategy to adopt in organizations.
Educating leaders in priority management, task organization, conflict resolution, delegation, feedback, and more is essential to support them in their role. Artificial intelligence, when mastered, can also improve their decision-making processes and optimize operations, such as automating routine and repetitive tasks, analyzing historical data to anticipate changes and plan accordingly, and so on.
Typically, the "traditional" career path an employee might consider to increase their compensation and advance their career is to become a manager. However, the skills required of a professional are different from those required of a leader.
Emotional intelligence, agility, understanding political games, etc. are essential skills that can be acquired and/or refined using specific leadership development programs and will only strengthen their confidence in themselves and in the organization in which they work.
Pairing, mentoring, mutual support during periods of high pressure and co-development are strategies that can be implemented to access the advice of more experienced people and have leaders work together, share their experiences and find solutions that are experienced simultaneously in their respective teams.
As true for employees as for their leaders, these are important elements that contribute significantly to the motivation, productivity and retention of leaders.
These elements also strengthen their confidence in their skills and their ability to carry out their responsibilities well, and promote innovation by encouraging creativity in the search for solutions.
It's important to promote healthy, positive relationships between leaders and their employees. The latter must respect their right to disconnect, their need for time to concentrate, and so on.
Leaders can't be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It would be inhumane to think otherwise. Employees can also take responsibility to gain autonomy in solving daily problems.
Some of these strategies are the responsibility of the management of organizations, which are living organisms: a company that promotes the employee experience in alignment with the leader experience allows all parties to lead a balanced and successful professional existence and will, by the same token, guarantee its own success.
Other strategies fall to leaders themselves. They can work to change the public's perception of the burden they feel in their role and their own limitations. Being vulnerable opens the door to improvement, for both leaders themselves and the colleagues who look up to them, in a highly complex and constantly changing context.
A handy and flexible tool to make your meetings more dynamic and engaging!
"Janine, we're equals here. I just have a different role and responsibilities than you. You don't respect me less or more by calling me by my first name. I want to earn respect from my colleagues."
Identify the practices you already master and those that need to be implemented
Deploying modern, effective, and deeply human leadership is not easy. It's demanding. Sometimes uncomfortable. But above all, it has become essential.
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The art of asking questions is a leader-coach's primary tool, enabling him to stimulate learning, facilitate creativity, improve performance, mitigate risk and build confidence.
What happens when trust is weakened within a team? Jorj tells us about it in this video, in collaboration with the Ordre des CRHA.
We look forward to hearing from you to learn how we can support you.