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Managing the Whole Person

January 7, 2021 by Megan Esposito Leave a Comment

How an Increase in Empathetic Leadership May Have Staying Power

What workplace changes will stick once the pandemic subsides? Maria Goldsholl, TechCXO’s Managing Partner – Human Capital, identifies three HR and leadership trends that will have staying power.

This article originally appeared on CirrusMD and their series on top trends in human resources

In a year when Zoom fatigue became a real thing, and millions of bosses and employees personally experienced any number of emotional and psychological challenges due to quarantines, stress and isolation, trends have emerged that may redefine workplace interactions for the better.

No one went untouched in 2020, and when all experience some pain and loss – including the boss — empathy can grow, particularly for leaders. Suddenly, stubborn, long-held biases held by some managers, such as “working remotely is just a way to sleep in and avoid work,” instantly vanish. When a manager is struggling with their own kids being out of school and stuck at home for months, they may be ready to extend more grace to single parents.

The pandemic has been a test of true leadership for many and a new perspective on viewing the whole person. Leaders have asked themselves, “How can we support people through this pandemic?” and “What really matters (and what is just corporate nonsense and busy work)”?

What emerges will be stronger, more holistic leadership with an eye toward prioritizing employee wellness, not just to reduce health insurance premiums, but to care for the whole person.

Here are three positive trends that may take hold.

New Respect for Wellness

It’s not a mistake that in the realm of “Health & Wellness” programs, Wellness is listed second. It may be an even more distant consideration than that. This year changed just how real mental and psychological wellness are for people. Physical health has always had quantifiable costs and benefits attached to it, including productivity, healthcare costs and culture. Now employers can more clearly connect how health and wellness have evolved with how contributors like sleep, exercise, and burnout all play a role in our overall mental health. What was otherwise considered a stigma to discuss has now become a mainstream part of the employee conversation.

Look for employers to offer their employees more through their wellness plans to diagnose things like sleep issues, and to lean more heavily into practical applications such as wearables that can monitor mental health.

Project Management, Prioritization & Efficiency get a boost

Almost all research suggests that people worked more, not less, this past year with the surge in remote working. Early on in the pandemic, frequent one-on-one check-ins were popular. However, as people tired of these tactics (Zoom fatigue) as overkill, they lobbied directly to supervisors to cut out endless forms and tedious meetings. With other things tugging at them, such as caring for children or parents, there was little time to waste on bureaucracy. Drawn out presentations became crisper. Online meetings got shorter and priorities became more pointed. Project management applications got a boost and soul-crushing, email-centric management got jettisoned.

More goals and objectives were turned into sprints with tidy deliverables and success criteria.

Performance Management Overtakes Performance Reviews and Evaluations

We’ve long lobbied for more of a performance management culture versus the overuse of quarterly and annual performance reviews.

Performance management calls for ongoing communication, a focus on clear actions, behaviors and results, and linking work to larger strategic objectives. In the year of more empathetic leadership, many company leaders reported that they are easing up on the dreaded end-of-year performance review. For example, Google skipped mid-year appraisals while the number of promotions doubled.

Shorter, more frequent check-ins actually made supervisors better informed as to how people were progressing. Managers were grateful too as some said getting rid of mid-year reviews saved them 20 hours or more.

We can all hope that leaders retain some of these trends, and that they no longer draw a hard line between a person’s work life and their personal life but rather view them as a whole person.

Filed Under: Human Capital Tagged With: Building Culture, CHRO, Performance Management

How to Build a Tech Culture that Makes People Want to Stay

October 29, 2020 by Megan Esposito

One of the first things to suffer when things take off, is culture. Rapid hiring that ignores cultural norms can introduce new attitudes and expectations. Some good, some bad, the worst of which can deteriorate trust and breed a culture of fear — and fast. So how can you start to repair a tech culture?

One of the most effective ways to build efficiencies in a technical team is to focus on culture. It’s said that culture trumps strategy. Why? Because the execution of any strategy by a dysfunctional team, will be poor.

Some of the signs of cultural problems within a technology organization are:

  • Poor communication between development teams
  • Lack of visibility to the business
  • Ability to avoid accountability
  • Avoidance of meaningful conflict
  • The ridicule of ideas

If you’ve spent any time at all working within a technology team, you’ve seen several of these problems.

So, let’s get started. Below are three things I do to get things moving.

Prove that Conflict and Vulnerability are Acceptable

People often avoid conflict because their leadership taught them to. It’s that simple.

Many situations occur where someone disagrees with leadership and they are dismissed. Worse, they could face ridicule in front of their peers. The effects of this type of behavior are fast acting and long lasting. In such a culture, the best ideas often die before they’re ever explored.

Many years ago I was co-writing a song with a very talented writer who said to me, “Give me any ideas you have an I’ll give you mine. Some are going to be awful, but you never know what other ideas an awful one will spark.” It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I soon recognized my ideas weren’t getting an eye-roll. That motivated me to dig deeper. We agreed, we disagreed. There was meaningful conflict. We were kind to each other, but didn’t hesitate to disagree.

It was an impactful experience that I carried into other areas of my life.

[For More Posts like this, see Kevin Carlson’s blog: The Fractional CTO]

And that’s exactly how to approach it in the tech world. Prove that conflict is acceptable by welcoming new ideas. Avoid any response that could make a person regret their decision to be open.

More important, the team should see you do this with other leaders. Show that you’re not afraid to be vulnerable and introduce conflict. Above all, show your team how to do that while being kind.

Praise Those Who Take Accountability, Whether for Success or Failure.

One of the best signs of an improving culture is the admission of failure. In a recent client engagement, a team member sent me an email telling me of a problem they caused. It cost the company customers and money.

Here’s what I did next:

  1. Immediately thanked the person for bringing the issue to my attention
  2. Asked for their recommendation on how to solve the problem
  3. Requested they quantify the impact to the company and share the detail with me

This person knew they made a mistake. There was obvious regret. But they had the courage to step forward and make things right. No need to make them feel any worse.

It’s important in this situation to express gratitude that you’re now aware of the issue. Learn what went wrong. Hear recommendations from the person that brought it to your attention. You will get the best from your team if they can be honest with you without fear of retribution.

Quick story: A CEO and CFO were talking about a new salesperson. The CFO was angry that the rep messed up a $2 million dollar deal and recommended he fire the salesperson. The CEO responded, “Why would we fire someone we spent $2 million training?”

Be Open in Your Interactions with Everyone

A few years ago, I had been coaching a 25 person development team on the importance of building trust. I wanted people to admit when they didn’t know how to do something. I wanted them to be open when they made a mistake.

Then it happened.

I had been upgrading a Jira instance and something went wrong. Long story short, every single bit of data had been completely wiped from the system. Not realizing that had happened, I decided to head home and get back at it the next day.

The next morning everyone was frantic. Luckily, one of my colleagues saved me from embarrassment and restored Jira from a backup. Things were up and running again. All was good with the world, right?

Not at all. I needed to prove to the team that everyone, including and especially me, needed to be open. At a team meeting that afternoon, I opened with, “We found out who deleted the data from Jira.” A nervous silence enveloped the room as people looked around and tried to guess who was in trouble.

“It was me”, I said. “I made a mistake during an upgrade and I apologize if it caused anyone any trouble.”

The team was gracious and accepted my apology.

From that point on, people new that it was OK to be honest. That they could trust I wouldn’t hold myself to a different standard than I expected from them. Communication almost immediately began to improve.

You must be the example you want your team to follow. Asking people to be accountable, yet avoiding it yourself is only going to build cynicism in the team.

If you’re in a position of leadership, prove that you will hold yourself accountable. And prove that the standard isn’t any different for you than it is for your team.

It’s an Ongoing Process

You can have significant impact and begin to repair a tech culture by taking these straightforward actions. But it doesn’t stop there.

As a leader, you are the guardian of the culture you want to have. You will have to make occasional adjustments to process, technology, and, yes, people.

Sometimes they will be painful decisions. But make them anyway and learn as you go.

And when you’re wrong, tell the team, adjust, and keep moving. I promise you, it will be worth it.

[This post originally appeared on TheFractionalCTO.blog]

Filed Under: Human Capital Tagged With: Building Culture, CHRO

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