I’m a history nerd. I know that may shock you since I’m such the cool kid on the block, (said with heavy sarcasm). But I have always especially loved hearing the back stories behind today’s success stories.
While watching shows like The Men Who Built America on the History Channel, you can clearly see how many of the great titans of industry work treated employees as a means to an end. They were a tool, if you will, that was needed to build a business. Since the industrial revolution, this mindset/perspective has stayed with us – albeit in a much more subtle and unconscious way.
Work has traditionally been a straight-up transactional interaction – a this-for-that kind of a relationship. There wasn’t a whole lot of emphasis placed on the individual. Heck, when I entered the workforce, (approximately a hundred years ago, or so it feels), I was expected to check my personal needs AND my personality at the door.
Sure, we’ve all become much more tuned in to the importance of employee engagement and employee satisfaction, but many people have still been feeling a sort of low-grade dissatisfaction in their work.
The pandemic and the resulting shutdown have caused people to reassess the way they’d been living and working. People realized they wanted MORE than just a transaction. They realized they wanted to be treated as a whole human being with a whole life, including a personal life and family and interests outside of their work.
Sadly, lots of people felt like the only way to get out of that transactional relationship was to leave the company.
Hence the Great Resignation/the Big Quit.
Great leadership is found at the intersection of concern for the company and interest in the individual.
If you want to stem the tide of the wave of resignations, my suggestion is that you and your leadership team lead with less quid pro quo and more quality relationships. Or put another way, lead with less of a transactional approach and more of a human approach.
And just in case you’re feeling skeptical as HAIL about all this soft, fluffy stuff and that it has no real business purpose, let me just tell you the soft stuff is often the hard stuff. The people issues – the interpersonal and relational issues – can make or break a team. These seemingly “soft” issues have sunk many an organization. The soft stuff is really hard-core business success principles.
Here are my 10 tips for leading like a human:
1 – Be more interested in other people than you are in trying to get people interested in you. (Paraphrased from Dale Carnegie – timeless!)
2 – Drop the pretense of perfection. You’re setting off people’s BS meters right and left. Nobody’s buying it. Or as my mama would say, “People can spot a phony bologna a mile away.” Even worse, when you try to act like you’ve got all your s*%t together when you clearly don’t, you’re undermining trust on your team. Don’t. Do. It.
3 – Strive to be less of a know-it-all leader and more of a learn-it-all leader.
4 – Stop blamestorming. We’d all be as thin as a runway model if making excuses burned calories. When something doesn’t go the way you’d planned, man-up (or ovary-up, as the case may be), and own it. Learn from the mistakes and move on with your life.
5 – Talk less and listen more.
6 – Make it a practice to ask for input and feedback. I encourage my coaching clients to ask, “Is there anything I’m doing that’s getting in the way of your success?” (Beware: Put on your big boy/big girl britches prior to asking this question!)
7 – Develop your EQ – or Emotional Intelligence, especially your empathy. Empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others, and being aware of their feelings and thoughts. Everybody’s going through something right now. Please don’t be tone deaf!
8 – Walk it before you talk it.
9 – Ask “How’s ya Mama ‘n ’em?” In South Louisiana this is a question that is often asked, and it’s really just a way of saying “How are you and all of your family members doing?” And don’t just say “Kay thanks!” after they’ve poured out their heart and soul. The kicker: be sincerely interested in their response. Allow time for team members to share what’s going on in their lives and what they might need from you or the team.
10 – And remember that everyone processes things differently. So, give lots of space and grace. I’m talking extra time, flexibility, humanness. Just do it.
Even if you’re tardy to this party, it’s never too late to become a more human, empathetic leader. Your team will appreciate it and your organization as a whole will benefit from you making the effort.
PS. If you’re a senior woman leader and you’re feeling the stress of trying to manage the demands of a high-pressure leadership role, please join me for my FREE virtual roundtable discussion, “Overwhelmed and Over It: Practical Strategies for Transforming Chaos into Calm.”
You might also like:
Women’s Leadership Collective: Flourish in the Face of Change
The Best-Kept Secret of High Performing Teams
Lead Yourself and Your Team Out of the Land of Stuck
Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication. In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.
