Business

Balancing People: Managing Work Relationships As A Leader

What happens inside an organization is a direct reflection of the opportunities and success attained on the outside. As a leader, your ability to build trusted connections among co-workers is pivotal. However, there is a balance that must be found in developing these connections. Leaders don’t want to cross the line into making a relationship too personal with subordinates or fellow executives. On the other hand, leaders also need to establish credibility and develop a line of communication that members of the organization know they can rely on. 

The importance of finding a balance between these factors of a working relationship is to avoid the risk of not being able to effectively delegate. If a leader has a connection too personal with team members, they won't feel comfortable giving them work or negative feedback. Additionally, a leader may not be willing to make hard decisions that will benefit the team overall if it risks the satisfaction of others.

On the other end, a leader who makes too little effort will lack cohesion between and within their team, weakening communication. Ultimately, leaders want to achieve a level where they can be friendly and open with others but not attach them to any area of their life outside the organization.

The first step to effectively implementing this approach as a leader is taking accountability for everything that goes on under your control. Not only does this keep you in a spot where you’re able to see things logically, but it also sets an example for the rest of the team. A leader who can communicate effectively and remain highly disciplined will be productive and inspire others. Maintaining discipline with an attitude of optimism and general kindness will construct a highly balanced leader whom people will feel comfortable receiving tasks and bringing questions. 

Maintaining emotional and analytical control over your decision-making is the foundation for having effective working relationships with others. This can translate into long-term satisfaction and success in the organization as you are proving to be an effective leader capable of managing yourself and others in a business setting.

Of course, being part of a team means you will be spending plenty of time with members, which may make it hard to keep some relationships strictly business. Yet, it is important to be able to do so to be able to handle anything the organization may face. 

Here’s what to consider:

Limit Sharing Personal Information

It’s great to talk with others and share what you’ve got going on, but there is a limit to how much you should let others in on. What that limit is remains up to you, you don’t want anyone to have the information they could later share with others which will alter your image of professionalism. Your team is not your emotional support group, any personal opinions about others within the organization must not be shared. 

This method works up and down the chain, all members of the team should strive to maintain a level of professionalism as a baseline. Additionally, tailoring communication to a level of what’s appropriate and necessary is a good start to finding this balance.

Remain Focused On Goals

At the end of the day, everyone is likely to form some level of bond within the workplace, and while these bonds are necessary, they can’t be distracting. Being part of a team means everyone is after a collective objective. To meet the objective, there needs to be cohesion but at a capacity necessary to reach an optimal outcome as a team. Getting too caught up in personal opinions can lead to the formation of out-groups. This divides the team and presents speed bumps to progress or even halts it. 

Instead, keep discussions positive when speaking about others, actively seek out opportunities to take action, and detach emotion from the process. 

Follow Your Directions

In a position of power, giving out tasks to others can get the best of a leader and cause them to sit back a little. One of the most defining characteristics a leader can have is humility, and occasionally taking action that you could easily ask others to do is necessary to gain respect. 

An example of this would be a store manager letting their employees go home early while they stay and clean up. This shows appreciation and actively demonstrates that the leader doesn’t see themselves as “above that”. Additionally, likely, the employees would voluntarily stay and help. Now the team is forming a meaningful work bond that will carry over to accepting tasks and helping each other further in the future.  

Find A Best Friend At Work

A peer at work is different from a direct report, they may work in a completely different department or report to someone else. So long as they are not under your leadership they become neutral. Studies show having a best friend at work is good for overall mental health. They take a layer of stress off and reduce feeling isolated at work which is beneficial for creativity.  

Now your best friend at work remains under the umbrella of a working relationship, not letting personal matters get involved. Additionally, you come to each other to share what’s going on with both of your jobs. They become a safe space, you bounce ideas off them and may even come to each other for advice or share frustrations. 

Conclusion

Investing in meaningful relationships with subordinates is a pillar of effective leadership, to attain this, mutual respect between the team must be established. By not getting caught up in rank, and personal opinions, and avoiding the formation of out-groups, the team can be effective. It’s important to know that there are no poor-performing teams, only poor-performing leaders. Be a leader that is selfless and open, the needs of the team always outweigh the wants of the leader.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

 
 
 

The Importance of Detachment: Business Essential

Imagine the feeling of walking away from a situation knowing you could’ve handled it better, the anxiousness and disappointment knowing there was more you could’ve done. Now imagine the sense of fulfillment knowing you did your best to handle a situation or conflict. Each scenario is on an entirely different end of the spectrum. Yet both results are born out of your ability to analyze what response a situation calls for.

Oftentimes when a negative result or situation presents itself, it is because the people involved are too emotionally invested. For this reason, a leader needs to be able to remove their emotions or feelings from the situation allowing them to detach and think critically. This concept can be confusing, of course, you want to be passionate about what you’re doing. Being overly invested however takes away from the ability to read a situation logically. For this reason, we must have the ability to detach and look at it from a neutral position. 

An overly attached leader for example will have a tendency to micromanage, possibly lash out, and want control of everything and everyone. On the other hand, a detached leader will be able to respond to situations calmly, with the most beneficial outcome for the team in mind. The same concept applies at every level of an organization. Teams must be clear and concise in their communication, knowing what the goal is while also operating in the present.

Detachment does not mean uninterested, in this context it means living in the now and seeing a situation for what it truly is. If you are too attached to something, the end goal may cloud the opportunity for valuable input. It’s very common to be attached to an outcome, especially considering how fast-paced a business environment is. However, to get ahead, you have to plant your feet where you are. It is best to designate time where you can put aside planning for what's to come and focus on what you have to do. 

Ultimately there can be long-term benefits and success to mastering the ability of detachment, this article shows how detachment from outcome can lead to stronger outcomes. 

Here are some areas to focus on while you do this: 

What Could Be Forgotten?

Sometimes focusing on the details of what’s to come or what could happen diverts attention away from what’s going on right now. This risks the proficiency of how something is done and wastes attention that should be spent doing it. 

If you find yourself not able to focus on what’s in front of you because you are too attached to the outcome, take the time to make a list of what needs to be done right now. This method is actively detaching, it will outline the consequences of being too emotionally invested.

Situational Context

Particularly in a scenario where a conflict can arise between you and someone else, the natural response is to match the emotions expressed by the other person, or even overpower them. However, this will not solve anything and just make communication more difficult with this person in the future. 

Instead, realize what’s going on with them, maybe they have a pressing situation they are not detached from. Here, it is useful to recognize their situation and remain calm, provide a rationale, and bring them back to a neutral headspace. Additionally, this will keep you level headed, prepared for further contingencies that could arise. 

Remain Open-Minded About The Outcome

Having a fixed idea of the ideal outcome will narrow down your view if things don’t go exactly as planned. This is when you become too attached to the outcome and anything different feels like a failure.

Now it’s, by all means, good to have a vision for what you want, but being fixated on it may make you fail to see the benefits that come with different outcomes. For this reason, detaching from perfectionism will allow you and your team to work in a supportive and flexible environment. 

Acknowledge Feedback Not Feelings

It is not unheard of to have to work with someone you don’t get along with or like, individuals can have differences that inhibit their ability to take feedback from each other. However, in a situation involving decision-making, a leader must detach from these feelings. 

Your personal view of someone can hinder their credibility in your eyes. When this happens, we tend to write off their opinions. This can lead to leaving great ideas or insight on the table and hurt the efficiency of task completion. Detaching is important here, it allows you to stay neutral and commit to serving the needs of the team.

Conclusion

The hardest thing anyone can do is manage their emotions at all times, yet it is one of the most useful skills anyone can have. Detaching is exactly that, keeping your emotions under control and remaining neutral while finding optimal outcomes for everyone involved. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

 
 
 

Importance of Environment: 2022 Hybrid Work Analysis

We are creatures of habit, the world endlessly encounters change that challenges the habits we’ve come to know. The most important characteristic we can demonstrate in situations like this is adaptability. Being able to adapt is what allows us to succeed, seeing as success does not come untested. The recent shift to remote work has shaken up the way companies operate and tested their efficiency without being physically connected. 

This has resulted in dramatic boosts in productivity and effective task completion. It was found that remote work is completed with 40% fewer mistakes. Additionally, the ability to work remotely has had its benefits on employee satisfaction. One company surveyed in 2019 found that 71% of their employees working remotely were happy with their job compared to 55% who were in person.

In the case of today’s workforce, upwards of 56% of companies are transitioning to remote work in the United States alone. The popular opinion here is that workers are much more effective when they’re able to work from home. Why is that? If there’s been this standard procedure of going into an office for years, why is the at-home model being favored? 

If we consider all the elements eliminated from the workday (commute, wardrobe, coffee, lunch) there is a lot of time and money being saved over time. Employees can now allocate this additional time and money to areas most beneficial to them and not just for “fueling” or “getting through” the day. 

The big dilemma being faced by organizations is that now the world is shifting back to how things were before. With this, a return to in-person work is included yet employees have become accustomed to this new lifestyle of working from home. The reason there is a conflict is that remote working was supposed to be temporary. Yet because of the duration that remote work has been in effect, we have adapted to it and used it to our benefit. This has created tension in organizations and even led to employees leaving their jobs for being required to come back in person

The ultimate goal of any organization is to have a team that performs at its maximum capability. Leaders are constantly looking for ways to allow this to happen but they may be missing one of the biggest opportunities to do so. The shift to remote work has seemingly broken barriers to new levels of effectiveness. A remote shift does not mean that the organization never has to meet in person, there should be designated times for this. However, allowing employees to work in their preferred environment makes their creativity flow freely. 

Here are some reasons why:

Everyone Is Different

A one size fits all approach to work is never going to be optimal seeing as everybody has different needs for their productivity and creativity. A cubical can never represent or be turned into someone's ideal space. Some may need more natural light, certain scents, be able to dress their preferred way, be able to think/talk out loud, the list is endless. Essentially, gathering a team in one collective spot to do their work will not yield optimal results for every member. 

Mental Well-Being

Just as the space someone works in enhances their creative process, it allows them to feel in control of what they are doing. In some cases, it may even make them feel more in control of their lives. We can become so detached from our personal lives spending over 40 hours a week in the office. Remote work allows people to bring the workplace closer to their personal life, which some may see as an issue but anyone who loves working from home will tell you it’s not. It’s about finding the balance, and the balance is a lot easier to find when you’re in touch with your reality. 

Increased Recruitment Pool

With the alleviated stress of someone having to relocate, organizations can bring in talent from just about anywhere. This brings in new perspectives and even allows people who may not have had the opportunity to work at the location, a chance to grow in the organization. This puts leaders in a position where they can evaluate the talent they wouldn’t have had access to and apply it to roles in their teams. 

Conclusion

Change is inevitable and can be unexpected, however, change also goes one of two ways. Which way it goes is up to those experiencing the change, you can look at it as happening to you or happening for you. Using any circumstance in your life to your advantage comes from identifying the big picture and not settling for anything less than the desired outcome.

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!