Managing People -
Managers: Compassion and Accountability Aren’t Mutually Exclusive - Sun and Planets Spirituality AYINRIN
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Summary.
Let’s
be honest: It’s been a terrible year for most people, though not
everyone experienced the trauma of the pandemic, the ongoing reckoning
around racial inequalities, and the contentious U.S. election in the
same way. Since the pandemic began, there’s been a call for managers to
be understanding and lenient with employees as they navigate the
stressors the global crisis has brought on. Now that restrictions are
lifting in many parts of the world, some managers are wondering how to
continue to balance compassion for the people on their team and
accountability for getting work done. The good news is, experts say that
it’s possible to have both. Rather than thinking of it as a trade-off
between compassion and accountability, think about how you can combine
the two. Here are eight steps managers can take to meet goals while also
being caring.
Since
the pandemic began, there’s been a call for managers to be
understanding and lenient with employees as they navigate the stressors
the global crisis has brought on. Now that restrictions are lifting in
many parts of the world, some managers are wondering how to continue to
balance compassion for the people on their team and accountability for
getting work done. Should you offer flexibility around deadlines and
performance expectations even if it means missing team targets? How can
you be understanding about what people have been through — and continue
to go through — while holding them accountable? And should you worry
about being taken advantage of?
I
posed these questions to several experts who study motivation and
compassion at work to see what advice they have to offer managers at
this time, and across the board, they said now is not
a time to let up on the care and consideration you’ve shown your
employees over the past year. Nor should you push people without also
considering what they need emotionally. As Jane Dutton, a professor at
the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and coauthor of Awakening Compassion at Work,
puts it, “Being compassionate doesn’t mean you have to lower your
standards.” Rather than thinking of it as a trade-off between compassion
and accountability, think about how you can combine the two.
Here’s
some advice for how to navigate the seeming tension between being
caring and thoughtful and holding people to high standards.
Reframe how you think about the last year
Let’s
be honest: It’s been a terrible year for most people, though not
everyone experienced the trauma of the pandemic, the ongoing reckoning
around racial inequalities, and the contentious U.S. election in the
same way. It can be easy to frame the past year as a wash — a time when
none of us were at our most productive. But that wouldn’t be entirely
fair. Rather than thinking, “We lowered our expectations,” focus on
everything you and your team did get done, suggests Linda Hill, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of Being the Boss.
Chances are that it was a lot, accomplished in not particularly easy
circumstances. And instead of seeing the way you interacted with your
employees as “being lenient,” Hill says to think of it as “being
flexible, which is the right thing to do.”
And reframe how you think about motivating employees
You
may also need to rethink your assumptions about what motivates
employees. If you see compassion and accountability as opposite sides of
a coin, says Dutton, you’re thinking about it wrong. Many managers
believe they need to be tough to get people to produce, but the research
doesn’t support that. In fact, adding stress to an employee’s workday
can result in what’s called a “threat rigidity effect,” where people who feel they’re under threat focus on what they already know how to do and fail to be creative or innovative.
You
may be able to “extract labor” from people in the short term, says
Dutton, but over the long term, it has the opposite effect. In other
words, coming down hard on people rarely works, especially if they’re
already suffering. “At a purely instrumental strategic level, you’re not
going to get the results you want if you add stress to people’s lives,”
says Jacob Hirsh, an associate professor at the University of Toronto.
He says that part of a manager’s job is to create a psychologically safe workplace
— and if you do that for your team members, it will be far easier to
then ask them to do their part. According to Dutton’s research,
“People’s response to compassion is often to invest more in the
organization.” So being compassionate and caring is not just a nice
thing to do — it’s critical to performance.
Don’t ignore the reality
Now
that we’re 18 months into this crisis, and many people are trying to
return to some semblance of normalcy in their lives, you might assume
that you can go back to a pre-pandemic level of productivity. But don’t
ignore the fact that most people are still feeling burned out.
“We are all depleted,” says Dutton, and reopening offices isn’t going
to make that go away. “It’s not going to be a stress-free world,” says
Hirsh. “There’s always going to be something going on in people’s
lives.” He also cautions that the “old style” of dealing with mental
health at work — essentially keeping it hidden and pretending it doesn’t
exist — just doesn’t work. We know now that people want to be able to talk openly about mental health issues in their workplaces.
What if you feel taken advantage of?
If
some of your team members have been requesting accommodations over the
past year, such as extensions on deadlines, reduced workload, or time
off to take care of their mental health, it’s possible that you might
feel taken advantage of, especially if you’ve been giving your job your
all and getting your work done without such accommodations. There’s a
temptation, says Hirsh, for managers to think, “If I can endure this,
why can’t you?” But that line of thinking — and any attempt to compare suffering and resilience
— isn’t helpful. Everyone’s situation is unique, of course. So don’t go
down the rabbit hole wondering if particular employees are using the
situation to their advantage. As Hill says, “You’re better off helping
them with their burnout rather than focusing on whether that person is
making inappropriate use of your leniency.”
Instead, deal with underperformance directly.
If someone isn’t able to do their job according to expectations,
understand why and talk through, together, how you can address the root
causes. Hirsh suggests you consider: “Is it their motivation? Is it
stress? Is it the workflow? Is it a lack of training? Where are things
actually hurting here? And then focus in on that.” Hill suggests that
you consider the team as a whole. If the entire team is struggling to be
productive, then you’ve got to address these issues at the group level,
not just the individual one.
Focus on resilience
Resilience
plays an important role. “The limiting factor for many employees is
going to be how they handle stress and everything going on in their
lives. Some people handle it fine — it’s part of their disposition to be
able to manage the stress. Others will need more support,” says Hirsh.
This is especially true for anyone who bore the brunt of the trauma and
grief over the past year.
Hirsh
adds that rather than wondering when you can stop asking people how
they’re doing, you should be thinking, “How can we help you manage your
life and perform better?” While it doesn’t fall solely on you, as their
manager, to help a struggling employee to build their resilience,
you can play a role. As Dutton says, “It requires extra imagination and
diligence to strengthen people.” But it pays dividends in terms of
performance and commitment when you do.
One way to motivate your team, especially when they’re under ongoing stress, is to show them the progress they’ve made.
“Help people see how they’ve grown over the past year to sustain
positive momentum,” says Dutton. You might ask people to share whether
they’ve honed or discovered new skills or abilities during the pandemic
(making it clear that it’s OK if they didn’t). You also want to connect
them to the purpose behind their work. “Bathe people with the positive
impact of their work. It’s like a booster shot — physiologically and
psychologically,” she says.
Have individual conversations — and plans
This
all requires that you talk with your team members one on one so you
understand their unique circumstances. Don’t assume you know what those
are, even if you’ve been in close contact. Things shift. Hill says,
“Make it safe for them to tell you about what’s happening in their lives
and how that’s impacting their work so you can figure out the best way
to move forward.” At the same time, she suggests you make clear what the
job requires. You might say, “This is the work you need to get done. Is
that possible?” And then listen to what they think is feasible. Taking
into account the circumstances, you can then decide together what makes
sense going forward. Don’t feel like you need to tolerate sustained
underperformance, though. “If they’re not being productive and you’ve
made it clear what’s required for the job, and they can’t do that, then
you have a decision to make,” explains Hill. After all, you do need
someone to do that work.
Take it to the group
One
of the best ways to encourage accountability is to do it at the group
level. Rather than pushing individuals, find ways to have team members
keep each other accountable. As Hirsh says, “Accountability is a
collective goal, and it works best if the team can find a way that we
are all achieving.” So sit down as a group and problem solve together.
Hill suggests you say something like, “OK, let’s assume these are the
conditions we have to work under for another six months. How can we best
do our work? And how can we improve our work together?”
Take care of yourself
While taking care of your employees, don’t lose sight of yourself. You’re likely feeling the same stress as your team members and the pressure to produce results. “Managers are caught in the middle,
as they often are,” says Hirsh. It’s a tall order to be “meeting
targets set by upper management and caring for the well-being of
employees at the same time,” he says. “There’s additional pressure of
trying to navigate through uncertainty and heightened conflict.” So be
sure to take the time to take care of yourself. That includes getting a
good night’s sleep, eating well, exercising, and making sure you have
the support you need.
Given
how tiring it is to be constantly worrying about your team while also
trying to meet goals, it’s tempting to try to pull back on compassion.
But it’s important to stick with it. Of course you need to be realistic
about what you can and can’t do for people, but Dutton urges managers to
think of compassion as “an investment in your people.” She adds, “it’s
an investment that has a huge payoff.”
Summary.
Let’s be honest: It’s been a terrible year for most people, though not everyone experienced the trauma of the pandemic, the ongoing reckoning around racial inequalities, and the contentious U.S. election in the same way. Since the pandemic began, there’s been a call for managers to be understanding and lenient with employees as they navigate the stressors the global crisis has brought on. Now that restrictions are lifting in many parts of the world, some managers are wondering how to continue to balance compassion for the people on their team and accountability for getting work done. The good news is, experts say that it’s possible to have both. Rather than thinking of it as a trade-off between compassion and accountability, think about how you can combine the two. Here are eight steps managers can take to meet goals while also being caring.
Since the pandemic began, there’s been a call for managers to be understanding and lenient with employees as they navigate the stressors the global crisis has brought on. Now that restrictions are lifting in many parts of the world, some managers are wondering how to continue to balance compassion for the people on their team and accountability for getting work done. Should you offer flexibility around deadlines and performance expectations even if it means missing team targets? How can you be understanding about what people have been through — and continue to go through — while holding them accountable? And should you worry about being taken advantage of?
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