The world has changed and so has the role of managers…
The years 2020 and 2021 have been tumultuous years which will remain etched in our collective memory. They will have marked each one of us in different ways. The pandemic has forced us to adopt different behaviours. Our businesses have had to demonstrate phenomenal agility to continue to function, radically re-thinking ways of working and of doing business. We have had to cope with the digital transformation of our work practices overnight. We have proved our incredible human capacity to adapt and survive and it’s largely our leaders and managers who have risen to this challenge and led the successful response. But at what cost?
We’ve now got vaccinations and better treatments and we’re hoping to see the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but its passage will leave an indelible mark on our society. This is particularly true of our ways of working. Virtual working has proved its worth and earned its place in our organizational culture. Despite fears of loss of control, drop in productivity and loss of team cohesion, our businesses and organisations have continued to function. Employees have stayed engaged and continued to perform, (the exceptions being already poor performers). Necessity forced our hand, but now that we have experimented with remote working, we are able to see the benefits: less commuting time (saving not only time but money too), more flexibility, savings in office overheads, better work/life balance in increased time to spend at home or on other activities. Greater autonomy is closely linked to employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity.
All this means that organisations cannot reasonably envisage a total reversal of working practices back to the ‘Before‘ times of 100% office presence: teams have begun to enjoy the benefits of remote working, even if this is not the case for everyone. Remote working is less attractive for those whose homes lack the necessary space and equipment which make for comfortable working conditions. Others, especially young people who live alone, crave the social connections of office life. It seems therefore intelligent to face the challenges of the future with a blend of remote and office-based working, maintaining both options to create a “best of both worlds”.
But who is responsible for the establishing of new guidelines and for creating frameworks to assure the smooth and successful functioning of this new blended way of working? Who is responsible for the ongoing management of team performance, even when teams are not physically present all the time? It’s our managers. The success of remote or blended working depends on the ability of our managers to sustainably maintain cohesion and motivation. To do this, they have to let go of the old ‘command and control’ style of leadership and adopt a management style based on dialogue and deep listening, a style which encourages and develops the autonomy and self-management of team members. They need to learn how to support their teams to continue to produce high quality results despite reduced opportunities for spontaneous, informal conversations. They also have to manage their own emotions and the stress of these challenges. They need to demonstrate resilience, agility and creativity in order to find solutions to all the inherent difficulties associated with these changes.
- How can we best support our managers and team leaders to help them integrate this more complex management style?
- How can we prepare them for this challenge and equip them to navigate the potential pitfalls?
- How can we help them deal with their own fears and residual resistance to this change?
- How can we help them manage the accumulated stresses of these past two years?
One effective response to these questions is to support managers, both individually through coaching, or collectively via training workshops, to help them adjust to their new roles, give them confidence, and equip them with the tools they need.
Coaching, not always clearly defined or well understood, is a valuable tool to help managers cope with the challenges inherent in their changing role. It is a management style which encourages autonomy and creativity and which decreases an individual’s dependency on their manager. At the same time, the coaching approach reinforces trust and ensures regular dialogue, which are both essential for team cohesion and collective success.
Coaching is built on a foundation of listening, but “true” listening. It has never been so critical to listen to each other and in so doing create the mutual trust necessary to engage the team for optimum performance. Real listening skills require awareness, hard work and practise. It is time, particularly for those in positions of leadership, to acquire this critical competence and to develop it. Becoming a ‘manager coach‘ means getting closer to your team, even via a screen, and is a means of gaining and maintaining trust in this new post pandemic world.
We have always relied on our managers, but our expectations of them today are as high as are the economic stakes as we emerge from the pandemic. It is more important than ever to truly listen to our managers, to show that we have heard them, have understood their needs and to offer them appropriate and effective solutions to help them face the challenges of the future.
About the author – ICF accredited executive coach, consultant & trainer Helen Emanuel, PCC ICF is Senior Consultant at Centre 4 Learning. Helen has been supporting, training and coaching leaders and managers at all levels and in various sectors, both private and public, for over 25 years. For more information – contact Centre 4 Learning – www.centre4learning.co.uk