Managing people is hard!
Managing people is hard!
Have you ever said that to someone? Or maybe you have heard that before?
I have a memory of talking with one of my managers who didn’t want to manage one of her team members anymore. Her head and her shoulders drooped low, and her downturned lips said it all – but she used the same words all the same. At the time, I could only acknowledge her difficulty and remind her of her responsibilities set out in her job description. She had no choice but to continue to try and manage this person. Not my shiniest moment. Luckily, she still talks to me!
Today, I feel better prepared to respond.
When we feel managing people is hard, it just might be because we are trying too hard. We are trying to force something on someone who doesn’t want to be forced. They need to be motivated.
How do people need to be motivated?
Daniel Pink and Frederic Laloux come to mind here as both articulate what motivates us. Pink identified three intrinsic elements of human motivation:
Autonomy: the feeling of being in control and working in a way that feels natural.
Mastery: the feeling of competence and continuous improvement, via continuous feedback.
Purpose: the knowledge that the work actually matters.
Laloux, on a similar hand, identified the following breakthrough themes in what he called evolutionary organizations:
Self-management: A system based on peer relationships, without the need for either hierarchy or consensus.
Striving for wholeness: A consistent set of practices which invite team members to reclaim our inner wholeness and bring all of who we are to work.
Listening to evolutionary purpose: Team members are invited to listen in and understand what the organization wants to become, what purpose it wants to serve.
Notice the similarities here?
No one wants to be micromanaged.
No one wants to be mismanaged.
Everyone wants to be managed just right.
(Did anyone else think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears just now? Sorry!)
But seriously, what does being managed “just right” look like?
Here’s where I’ve landed today.
As a leader, the things I primarily need to focus on are the following:
Ensure my team has a clear understanding of what the end result needs to be.
Ensure my team has the right equipment, tools, technology and data to be able to achieve those end results – and they know how to use it all.
Ensure my team knows how they fit into the mission and vision of the company, and how what they do fits with what others do.
Ensure I touch base with each team member on a regular basis to ensure their well-being and professional & personal development is being supported and if they need anything else.
Ensure my team is provided a salary and where possible, a benefits package.
Then I just need to get out of my team’s way and let them do their jobs, using their strengths and talents in the best way they know how. I will continue to be available if they need me – for support, for troubleshooting, or for removing any blockages under my control.
Of course, that doesn’t mean some challenges won’t occur outside of this. We can talk about that later. I’m just saying if you start with the above, then you will decrease your chances of challenges in the future.
That doesn’t seem too hard, does it?
Resources
Laloux, Frederic. 2014. Reinventing organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage in human consciousness. Brussels, Belgium: Nelson Parker.
Pink, Daniel H. 2009. Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Image by Tammy Brimner
