For so long we have lived in a world where we were simply passive participants in our work environment, unable to change course or think differently about how we experienced work. Yet, over the last 5 years, we have seen more and more people speak out about where work is broken, and where the narrative needs to change.
I had the privilege of sharing the virtual stage with Rocki Howard as we discussed what it means to think about work differently, how to humanize our teams and move the future of work forward. In this conversation we talked about the role politics play, the role our mental health plays and how managers can take human experiences into account when they are thinking of performance reviews and feedback conversations.
It’s no secret that balancing humanity and metrics isn’t easy. The human experience is messy and the hardest part of a manager’s job. We employ humans, not robots so it benefits to do the work to understand their experiences and how they navigate the world.
Humanize Your Teams:
The people on your teams are just like you. They experience the world in multitudes and their day to day changes as often as yours does. Humans experience an array of emotions and experiences over the course of their lifetime, and all of this impacts how they show up to work. Give them grace and space to experience life as it happens. We may never know the entirety of the inner workings of someone’s life but we can have empathy for the mess of the human experience. No one will be able to be on 100% every day and we must be willing to honor that.
Humanize Yourself:
You are not invincible. If you expect vulnerability from your teams, you must be willing to be vulnerable yourself. As managers it’s easy to talk ourselves into believing that we must be strong, perfect and solemn at all times. That is not reality, if we want our teams to be open with their experiences then we must be willing to be vulnerable with our own. First we must be willing to be vulnerable with ourselves before we are able to be vulnerable with anyone else. That is the hardest part. You do not owe the world perfection. You do not owe the world emotionless leadership. Your emotions, your experiences and your voice is what makes you a strong leader, do not shrink yourself to appear stronger.
You Don’t Know Everything- And That’s Okay!
There is a primal urge as a manager to feel like you must be smarter, more powerful and better equipped than everyone on your team. It’s a lie you’re sold to continue to promote fear based leadership. You do not have to know everything, it’s actually impossible for you to know everything- anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. As a leader it is your job to lead, and the first rule of leadership is honesty. Be willing to admit when you don’t know an answer. Be willing to admit when someone on your team knows more than you. Most importantly, be willing to say sorry when you mess up or get something wrong. There is power in showing your faults- no one is perfect and that is okay.
- Madison Butler
