Balancing Performance Pressure with Compassion for Your Team

Many middle managers are feeling torn right now between performance demands from leadership and calls for compassion from their employees.

What can you do if you’re feeling stuck in the middle? To start, work with executives to change the dialogue around performance. Help them understand the needs of frontline employees, bringing data to the table about how many people are experiencing hardships. At the same time, empower your employees.

Remember that compassion doesn’t mean you have to fix all their problems for them. Help them see their challenges in a new light, and facilitate connections they need to build and broaden their networks of support.

Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself. No manager will be able to effectively help their employees if they’re also burned out.

This tip is adapted from?“Managers Are Trapped in a Performance-Compassion Dilemma,”?by Heidi K. Gardner and Mark Mortensen