The Paradigm Shift

The Great Resignation is upon us. In 1989, Stephen Covey published The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The book helped millions of people improve personal and professional relationships to the tune of more than 25 million copies sold in 40 different languages.

I’ve read the book; I’ve taken the course and one habit that made a huge impact on my life is Habit #5: Seek First to Understand. It’s more important now than ever because these days, people are leaving their jobs at an unheard-of pace.  In his article “The Great Resignation is Here, and it’s Real”, Phillip Kane shares this from the Department of Labor: “According to the U.S. Department of Labor, during the months of April, May, and June 2021, a total of 11.5 million workers quit their jobs.

Money is not Always the Motivation to Stay

Think about it. 11.5 million people!  That’s roughly the population of Cuba! People quit their jobs for many reasons, but your job is to make sure that you aren’t one of them. It’s a  fact – People join organizations, but they leave managers. This is especially true now because Covid has allowed people to revise their definition of job equity. Money and perks are important, but they’re no longer the primary reason for staying in a job. This is a good thing because burnout is real.  I tell my clients it’s important that we work to live – not live to work. It’s my professional way of saying that life is too short to drink bad beer.

Help Them Stay

So, how are you making sure your people work to live and not the other way around?  Here are some tips that may help:

• CARE – This is where habit #5 comes in. If you don’t understand what your people need, you can’t convince them that you care about them. Adopting a servant leader attitude will let them know that they are your priority.
• TRUST – Face it, telecommuting is no longer a perk for your superstars. It is a viable way of doing business and it’s here to stay. If you don’t trust people to do the work, remember habit #5 and find out why. If there’s a performance issue, don’t set policies for everyone; manage the performance. If you find that you believe people won’t work unless you’re watching, it’s time to manage your beliefs. Read my blog for ways to up your trust game.
• KNOW YOURSELF – My first rule for good managers. Work to understand why and how you make decisions. This will help you practice habit #5
• KNOW YOUR PEOPLE – My second rule for good managers. Yep, habit #5 again.

In a nutshell, successful managing is about building relationships. Create strong, caring relationships and your people may not be part of the Great Resignation.

Related Posts:

Do You Trust Your Employees to Fail?
Soft Skills: Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence

References:

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Aug. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People.
Kane, Phillip. “The Great Resignation Is Here, and It’s Real.” Inc., 26 Aug. 2021, www.inc.com/phillip-kane/the-great-resignation-is-here-its-real.html.

Olympic Swimming pool underwater background.

“Stay in your lane”*

If you’re going for the gold, it’s great advice. If you’re the CEO, I suggest you splash about. I live in Silicon Valley where tech companies change the world faster than I can change my socks. Look around and you’ll find the headquarters of major players from Google to Tesla, from Cisco to Apple. This is where many of the big kids play. It seems like there’s a new startup every minute of every day and therein lies the problem.

Company leaders have the vision and drive to create products that change the world, but do we have the skills to get the absolute best out of our teams?  I suggest that most of us don’t because we either can’t or won’t change lanes. We’re familiar with everything in our space and it can be scary to venture out to see what’s really going on. People may find out that we don’t know everything.  Guess what? They already know that.

Subject Matter Expertise isn’t Everything

Just because we have the engineering, mechanical or administrative skills to provide the greatest widget or service in the world doesn’t mean we know everything there is to know about running a business.  I’m a perfect example.  I know a lot about managing people but I’m clueless when it comes to accounting. Like any good CEO, I have “people” to do the things I can’t do. However, like any good manager, I step outside of my lane and attempt to learn or at least understand what my bookkeeper does. I may not understand how to get the information into the accounting software, but I can recognize when something doesn’t look right and start to ask questions. Changing lanes allows us to grow as leaders (increase knowledge and skills), and to excel as managers (build strong relationships).

The Benefits of Changing Views

Leaving the comfort of our safety zone does a couple of things:

• Increases understanding of what’s happening under the hood of our business. We can recognize issues and make corrections.
• Allows us to connect with the people doing the real work by building relationships. Our teams see us as people and not just as the company
• Fosters communication and breaks down silos. If someone suddenly leaves, the work doesn’t come to a grinding halt

I could go on forever with this list, but you get the idea. As managers and leaders, we must understand our business; top to bottom. It doesn’t mean we have to do a deep dive to understand every nuance, but it does mean that we have to take an interest in more than spreadsheets and bottom lines. If you want to build strong teams, swim over to someone else’s lane and see how they do what they do. You just might learn a new stroke or two.

*Special shoutout to the incredible athletes of the 2020 Olympic Games

First Things First

Returning to work after sheltering in place won’t be easy for many employees. Things are better but Covid is still here. Yes, restrictions are being lifted in many areas and life is beginning to get back to “normal”, but the virus is still dangerous. As we return to what “used to be”, managers and leaders, must realize that the people returning to the offices, stores, showrooms, and warehouses, are not the same people that left 15 months ago. And neither are you.

Even if we have not been personally affected by the virus, we have all been changed by it. We have not been able to hug friends and families for over a year and I don’t know about you, but I now want to hug everybody I see. Still, we have to be cautious. Not everyone has been or will be vaccinated. It seems like there’s a new variant every day, and we don’t know if we will need booster shots in the future.

So, what does this have to do with the workplace? Everything. In past posts, I have preached the importance of self-awareness. I have asked you to really know your people and to make your workplace is welcoming and respectful by building trust, coping with conflict, and embracing emotional intelligence. As people return to working in person, it’s time to practice what I’ve been preaching.

Caring for Yourself:

You can’t take care of anyone until you take care of yourself. Unless your team has sheltered the entire time at an all-inclusive resort with fruity adult beverages, this will be difficult. How do you get a group of stressed-out people to be productive? Putting yourself first will make it easier to take care of them. Trust me, I’m old. I know stuff.

Before you return:

• Make sure you are physically, mentally, and emotionally in a good place.
• Be mindful about how you might help them:
• • • Head off constant ad hoc discussions around anxiety and stress by establishing specific times or sessions for people to discuss their concerns.
    • Create a list of resources that you can post or hand out so that you’re not stressing yourself out by answering the same questions multiple times a day.
  • • • Make sure you’re eating right, sleeping well, and staying hydrated.
      • Build some “me time” into your calendar.
      • Have someone to confide in when things get tough.

  Caring for Your staff:

  People may be happy to return to work, but they may also be afraid because they can’t trust their coworkers or you to keep them safe in the face of the unknown. Keep in mind, they’ll take their cues from you. The stronger your relationship with them, the less anxiety they’ll have.

  Before they return:

  • • • Reach out to them and get them to acknowledge and talk about their fear. Ask them to consider creating a set of team norms for dealing with the anxiety when they return. If they agree, make the meeting a priority.
      • Consider various scenarios that might come up and how you (the boss) might address them. This is where knowing your people can help. You may gain insight into the triggers people may have. Find a partner to role-play different scenarios for practice.
      • Identify company resources that can help before you need them (i.e., HR, Counseling Services, Company Policies, etc.). See Caring for Yourself.

  Final Thoughts

  As we return to the real world, my goal here is to bring up some things you may have not considered. It’s not a panacea for every issue that may exist. It is, however, intended to get you thinking about what might happen and how you might prepare for it. We are getting back to “normal” and don’t be surprised if I give you a great big hug when next we meet.

  Related posts:
  Emotional Intelligence and Mental Health
  The Respectful Workplace of 2021
  Mental Health and Coping During Covid-19