Reassurance vs. Resilience
Over the course of 2022 there seemed to be much more emphasis on dissatisfaction of people with their work environments and in general. The issue covered in both business and mainstream news media.
There seems to be a variety of reasons:
Gallup continually surveys employee engagement and the trend in the United States has shifted to more disengaged employees since Covid hit. I will also note the chart shows the most extremes, so there is a solid 50% of those employed who are not strongly engaged. Thus, a lot of talent is being underutilized.
Managers and leaders in companies certainly need to lead overall and help work through issues with direct staff given their responsibilities. Leaders have to understand subjective and emotional losses employees are dealing with are as real as any other kind of loss and act on that basis.
They also need to be cognizant of their own needs as they deal with the pressure of maintaining performance. This is addressed in the book "Managing Transitions", by the late William Bridges and Susan Bridges, which is summarized below.
Marketing leader and author Seth Godin made some good observations about distinguishing between being reassuring vs. emphasizing resilience in working through challenges. His comments below are from an interview about leadership, sourcing from his book Tribes-(We Need You to Lead Us), in April, 2020 in the middle of the stalled economy.
While he responded in context more specific to Covid, his comments are applicable for any issues a company may be facing and how leaders and staff need to re-frame their outlook:
"In organizations of scale, people want reassurance. Investors want reassurance, employees want reassurance. [But] uncomfortable as it may be: Reassurance is futile. There is never enough reassurance. You can't keep telling people everything is going to be okay because, by their definition, it's already not okay.
What you can do is say, "We have a plan for right now, and we're going to replace it with an even better plan as we get smarter." And: "Resilience is what we're going to focus on, and there's going to be shared sacrifice, and we have a chance to make things better."
Because that's all true, and leading with truth is really powerful because you don't have to keep checking your story. You can simply describe where you are and where you're going, and use that to help others help you move it forward."
The ultimate outlook is at the individual level.
The infographic below highlights many personal attitudes that will help with a more positive approach in managing issues, which will always exist professionally and personally, sometimes more heightened than other times. The goal is not to eliminate them, but minimize and work through them.
领英推荐
Hopefully all of us will have a happier and more productive 2023.
Other resources
From Seth Godin
About me
I have been a career sales professional in B2B sales. This has included managing my own territories, selling jointly with others and managing sales teams.
My sales career started in Seattle with the Puget Sound Business Journal, but a significant portion of my professional time was in California split between Los Angeles and Orange County, before a return to Seattle.
You can also reach me via InMail or [email protected]
714-876-7062, cell
Also
I am community manager for the LinkedIn group?Seattle Sales, Marketing and Advertising Professionals, which has 4900+ members, and I am one of the first million members of LinkedIn (2004).
Also a volunteer and previously served as a board member (2013-2019) for the?Friends of the Seattle Public Library. I am community manager of the company page on LinkedIn.
When I lived in Orange County I was a volunteer for the City of Orange Library.