Some management skills I learnt from the Jewish calendar

In a few days, we Jews will celebrate the Holly Days of Rosh Hashana, the New Year. Beside its religious meaning and importance, it is an opportunity to question ourselves, a subject that is too often overlooked in our everyday lives, in our homes and in our projects. But Rosh Hashana is not exactly a standalone feast. It is the beginning of the Holly chained days of Kippur and Sukkhot, the three of them oftenly named "the feast of Tishri" as they happen during the Jewish month of Tishri. How can these can help us improve our #management skills and our #leadership?

Rosh Hashana marks the beginning of the 10 days of the Yamim Hanoraim, the Days of Awe, a period of repentance that leads ultimately to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We talk here about our relationship to God. Or do we?

Lesson 1 : bring a beneficial change at the individual level

God if often called "Makom", "the place". A place that is inside us. The Thorah, the Jewish book, does not incite us to pray and act towards an anonymous divinity, but rather to behave the way we can live in society. So repairing our relationship to God is intimately linked to repairing our relationship with ourselves. How ? Through repentance. Through introspection. Through the understanding that we were not perfect - we are human after all - and that we take upon us to do better next year, by fixing to ourselves realistic (or should I say SMART) objectives. And I think this is the first lesson: towards our immediate surrounding, at home and at work, we do not always behave admirably. And too often, usually for bad reasons, we keep on doing so, and we hurt this surrounding. But if we stop acting for a while and start thinking, introspecting instead, we can "forgive" ourselves and bring a beneficial change. And this is done at the individual level.

The interesting thing that is constantly reminded in the synagogues is that the Yamim Hanoraim is a guided process to improve ourselves, yet we said earlier that the Thorah was a basis for a harmonious living in a community. So how does that help? Well that does not!

Lesson 2 : you need to learn how to behave like a human being

Neither Kippur - a day where all our misbehaviours are pardoned - nor any other day in the year can forgive our bad deeds towards other human beings. This is a path you need to walk separately. At least, once you have done it with yourself, you know how to do it with another person... Point is, you do not know what will happen in the future, so you do not know how much time you will have the opportunity to do it, neither. This, I believe, is the second lesson. You need to learn how to behave like a human being, always. Stick to it. Help the other persons. Do not wait to do so, because you do not know when the opportunity window will close. All this leads us to Sukkhot, a week during which we live in nature.

Lesson 3 : do not take anything for granted

During Sukkhot, we are invited to live in huts. To reconnect with the Nature. With our nature. Possibly under the rain. And we do it with family and friends. Actually, you also do it with strangers. As it is considered as important to live and eat in these huts, some open their huts' doors to everyone, the same way some succeed in opening their hearts to anyone all year long. You can see sukkhot - huts in Hebrew - all over Israel, in private spaces of course, but also in the streets, on restaurant terraces etc. When does that happen? A few days after Kippur. After you pardoned yourself, you committed to improvement and you began making efforts towards the others. I take it as a third lesson: do not take anything for granted, especially from the people surrounding you. We are all human beings, and if you want to sit together, at the same table, as humans, you need to clean first in front of all of your doors.

There are obviously a sea of other lessons to learn from this so special period but I would like to make a bridge between these first ones and what you need to do to improve your management skills. We spend a lot of time of our lives with other humans, especially at work. Our behaviour has an influence on our communication, on our trust, hence on our performance. I know all too well that in western countries especially, it is common place to show a different face inside and outside work, to appear, to seem - strong, knowledgeable, full of energy, ready to work - and speaking family, worries, problems is a symbol of weakness.

We see our countries as "civilized" while they are actually organized so that they continue to perform the way they used to be

I saw people being sacked because they wanted to enjoy their marriage and/or newborn children but have signed years before a mobility clause that had not been removed, because they did not want to participate to meetings that were organized (very) late for no reason, or who simply wanted to keep the right balance between their personal and professional life, a thing that was supposed to be protected by Law, by the policies of most company and supported by HR, who actually supported the hierarchy misconduct. You probably witnessed that too. We see our countries as "civilized" while they are actually organized so that they continue to perform the way they used to be.

When I was looking for work in Israel, at some point, I had a work interview that I had to postpone for family reasons. Spoiler: I did not have to justify myself beyond the "family reason", to explain that I was serious, or to beg for another appointment. Directly on the phone, we arranged a new meeting. Just. Like. That. I was in shock. Honestly. After years of living in an opposite system. Does that mean that the israeli system is perfect? Far from it! But because its values are sometimes different (from France's, for example), you can come to see things another manner. And this is the key.

Sometimes, it is easy to misbehave because this is common practice where you live. You follow. It is called "cultural", you know? And because you are immersed, you cannot even see that you misbehave. So you have lesson one: you are triggered once a year to check your values and the adequacy of your behaviour toward these values. And sometimes, your values differ, both from your surrounding, and from your own behaviour. Do you like people to bother you? To throw their trash in the streets? To park on the walkway such a way that prevents people of passing - by the way, you need to leave at least 1.2m wide for a wheelchair of a baby stroller to pass without problem, if you cannot do that, do not park. Would you like people to help you when you are helpless? So think about the consequences of your actions, remember that streets belong to everyone, meaning to you also and you would not want to throw trash in your living room, and if you see something that is not OK, speak up! Even if it seems dangerous for you on the moment. Show example. This means that you may go counter-flow from your community, this is why the process happens at the individual level.

You think you have time, but you don't. Make things right, now

During this process, you will notice that sometimes you may misbehave with others. Then you need to make amends. This parallel process is not triggered, because it comes naturally at that time, and because you need to make it real time, all the time. It has been discribed from many domains in many ways - Hofstadter's law, homeostasis risk theory, Parkinson's law etc. - you think you have time, but you don't. Not only you do not know exactly the time you have, but even if you do, you postpone to the last moment. So we understand why this is linked to the first lesson, because it goes along with it, but what about management? Are not people simply able to do what they are asked to do, no matter what the relationship with the others is?

Well they are not. Just like you are not. There is a very close relationship between how people feel and how well they perform. The first direct consequence of treating badly your coworkers - and worse, your employees - is that you will loose the trust they have in you. The second consequence is that they will perform poorly, and your project or your company IS your employees. All is supported by their work, as a team. They litterally are the project and the company. So the way you manage them, the connection you have, has a direct influence on the results you obtain. Especially in these difficult times, a time a global crisis. Without mutual trust, your word will have no meaning and no weight, thus you will not be able to motivate them, or to begin an exciting new project properly. Fundamentally you will have machines in from of you, machines that will do what you ask in the best case, but nothing more. Those who think that this situation is OK clearly never managed brainstorking groups or participated to the organization of an event, where so many ideas are expressed, so mush energy is conveyed, so many ways of thinking differently emerge! This richness simply cannot come from a single brain. This is why you need a team! When you hire and work with someone, it is crucial to utilize their ability, without taking advantage of them.

Speak up!

In the first post I wrote in this series, I wanted to discuss communication in general, and to show how it is to improve it. But without the proper respect and behaviour, any attempt to improve communication is doomed. To solve that, you have a few, very simple, steps:

1/ define yourself, be yourself, and regularly check up on yourself and on the path you took. If you think something is not OK, speak up. Bring the problems on the table. My advice: fix one time in the week, each week, to seriously, without filter, review your actions. If you think you misbehaved, find the way to correct it so that in the same situation, you will make things right. If you think you did not, find ways to improve.

2/ respect the others, value their opinion, give them opportunity to express, and accept that both you and them are human beings. All the time. My advice: when possible, fix time for one-on-one meetings to discuss the difficulties of each one, and their ideas for improvement, in any domain. In any case, find a way to empower coworkers and employees to express their issues, doubts and problematic situations they witness, incognito or not. By the way, this is already mandatory on French sites to have an "observation notebook" that does exactly this job.

3/ once you have built this relation of trust, you have understood your employees enough to know where they are strong and where they are weak, and you know what their aspirations are, empower them. Allow them to develop. To learn. To share. Some people are natural leaders, some prefer to work alone. There is nothing bad with that, but you need to mix your teams to have different skills and preferences, a project cannot be performed if each one works alone, but it cannot be carried out if there are only managers neither. Find the right place - a place that is expected to evolve in time - for each one.

4/ Never forget that there is a highway to hell, but only a stairway to heaven... Shana tova Umetuka - have a good and sweet new year!

Shana tova Umetuka - have a good and sweet new year!