photo by mrpattersonsir
Work is draining. For many, rare are the days when we leave the office feeling energized.
As a manager you have to recognize that people are going through this. Chances are you are too. But change has to start somewhere.
Sure, technically your job is to make sure the ball is being advanced down the field. But if your team is too exhausted (or detached) to run the plays how far is the ball going to move?
Your real job is to make deposits into the emotional bank so that when the inevitable time comes when the team needs to hunker down and everything has gone sideways that people are present, engaged and have the persistence to get through the rough patches.
From the employees perspective, they have gone out of their way to make the relationship work. They started in their role excited and ready to roll up their sleeves and make a real difference. But every slight along the way has made a withdrawal on their emotional involvement with you, the team and with the company.
It all adds up and you may be responsible for making many of those emotional withdrawals. If you expect them to dig in then you need to exert the energy to refill that account.
Focus on your people. Feed them the projects that keep them energized. Recognize they’re all different and build those relationships accordingly. People do want to be treated differently. They’re not all the same and not universally motivated by the same things.
Start today. Hold one on ones that don’t focus on tasks but rather the individual. The work will still get done.
Related posts:
Copyright ©2008-2009 RoundPegg Inc.