Tag: empowerment

Two myths

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There are two myths that new managers often fall for, and that have the potential to create immense damage to their teams and themselves.

Myth #1 – The manager knows everything. Of course, it is false. The easier it is for a manager to say that they do not know, even large chunks of what is considered their responsibility, the more their team will thrive (looking for answers) and the more they will enrich their experience (being exposed to things they had not done in the past). It is a myth that can be dispelled by asking and listening.

Myth #2 – The manager needs to protect the team from everything. Change, challenges, and crisis will be upon your team in no time. It is only by putting them on the front line that they will be able to learn (also to be a manager in the future) and that you will have the time to dedicate to what matters most (supporting them as they are out there). It is a myth that can be dispelled by opening doors and letting people roll.

The road to change

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People might do what you ask them to do for a number of reasons. It might be your charisma, or the position you hold, or fear, or compliance, or perhaps a new rule you just came up with. It is possible to get people to do things they don’t want to do. In fact, it is not even that difficult. But that is not change.

For change to happen, for it to bring a positive impact on the people around you and your environment, there needs to be a conversation. To build rapport, to draft a common way to view the world, to list a series of actions that might make sense in that world, and to eventually agree on which ones we will pursue that will make that world better.

It is extremely difficult, and that’s why many take the shortcut and jump right into the actions that will make the world better – essentially a list of tasks that they think might be the right thing to do.

It never has a lasting impact.

Stressor

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Whatever your stressor is, make the effort to confine it.

If it is work, shut it down with your laptop.

If it is family, leave it at home when you go for a walk.

If it is the news, gift yourself time when you are free of them.

One way or the other, don’t let the stressor creep into your spaces of restoration and regeneration. Little by little, the stressor will shrink and often, eventually, even go away.

Building solid boundaries is a responsibility.

Influencing others

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There is no behavior that you can promote without embracing it fully.

Telling your team that they should not work the weekends while you are working all weekends is not going to be effective.

Telling friends that they should call you more often while you never call is not going to be effective.

Telling your kids that they should not lie while they see you lying every day is not going to be effective.

We have a lot of power to influence others’ actions, we are just not confident enough to acknowledge that.

Appearance and substance

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The way you behave with people is at least as important as the words you speak.

The story you tell is at least as important as the subject you are narrating.

The marketing you deliver is at least as important as the product you have come up with.

The point is, there is appearance and there is substance. Pretending one does not exist just because it makes you uncomfortable is heavily limiting your own possibilities to succeed.

Make the effort to align them instead. Make behavior and words, story and subject, marketing and product go hand in hand. Bring one at the same level of the other. Make them support each other and be in harmony.

That’s when the feeling of uneasiness will just go away.