3 Ways To Encourage Your Team To Be Their 'Authentic Self'

I don’t know about you, but I always find it concerning when I hear people encouraging someone to be their authentic self. It raises the question: why wouldn’t you be that anyway?

2021 was named the year of the Great Resignation, and 2022 is shaping up to be a year where Customer Success professionals are in higher demand than ever. This means the challenge of retaining and attracting quality people is only going to grow. Customer Success leaders need to ensure they take care of their teams more than ever.

So ask yourself this: “Am I allowing my team to be their authentic selves?”

Here are my top 3 tips to improve authenticity at work:

Tip 1 – Lead by example

" One of the biggest learning points of my career as a people manager was seeing the impact when I revealed that I had vulnerabilities too.

At the start of my career back in the 90’s I had some terrible examples of management. Lots of aggression and fear which made it difficult to know what you could or could not say without reprisal. As a result, it took me a while and lots of trial and error to work out how to get the best out of people. I now pride myself on building teams who really enjoy working together and stay loyal to the business.

Like most people in Customer Success, I’ve never had a particular challenge building trust and relationships, but I did have some old school ideas about what makes a good manager. Be strong and infallible, never show weakness, never share personal stories.

This all changed during a team offsite when I found myself talking about some mental health challenges I’d had in the past. I had sensed some team members were tired and overloaded and I was trying to explain that it is very common in Customer Success because it is a high-pressure role. I had not planned to discuss my own experience but it seemed natural to share at that moment. The next thing I knew other members of the team were sharing similar stories. Some of them had worked with me for over a year and I had no idea they were struggling! It made me wonder what else I didn’t know.

It was such a powerful moment where we all saw one another on a much more human level. After this, I found my team being more open with me and each other. Everyone seemed more willing to help each other out and it was clear to see friendships were being made and people felt happy to come to work."

I can’t say all of that was purely down to me sharing a personal story, but I do think as leaders we have a responsibility to light the way and make sure our people know it’s not just ok, but expected for them to be their authentic selves.

Tip 2 – Create a safe environment

In order to be authentic, the first thing that needs to happen is people need to feel safe to be so.

Encourage your people to voice their opinion, make suggestions and innovate and when they do, make sure they’re not shot down in flames or ignored.

I talked briefly yesterday about the oppressive style of management I experienced early in my career and how that had caused me to have a false outlook on what a manager should be. I didn’t talk much about the fear culture it caused. In today’s business world, I would be surprised if managers were still shouting and swearing at employees and living to tell the tale, but there are other ways we might be causing fear to speak out without even knowing it.

Some of the basics would be to ensure your reaction to contributions is welcoming. Even if you do not agree with what is being said, it’s important to allow the discussion because it may change your view. If you shoot someone down or frequently dismiss what they have to say, then they are unlikely to come back for more.

Give people different forums to raise their views, not everyone feels confident enough to speak up in a team meeting. You can always raise the ideas a shy team member has said in a 1:1, or agree in advance that they will talk about it in the team meet. I have coaxed team members like this and over time seen them become the most vocal in the room!

A word of caution, too much invitation of opinions, especially from those who have no difficulty putting their views forward can become disruptive and frustrating to others. Monitor the balance carefully and if you get that issue, have a chat in a 1:1 about it and explain what you have observed. Or you might want to put a pre agreed structure around a debate. E.g., at next week’s team meet I want every team member to present 2 ideas to improve admin workload. You could even go as far as asking them to pair off and ask the quieter person to be the presenter.

Thank goodness times have changed and leaders have learnt that without the open and honest contribution of their people, they cannot lead effectively. It’s a wonderful feeling as a leader to orchestrate authentic debates as they so often reveal the best way forward for all.

Tip 3 – Demonstrate you are listening

Once you’ve created that safe environment, it’s also important to show you are listening when ideas and contributions are made.

Before I launch a new initiative or major change, I always try to bring my ideas to the team for their feedback and encourage them to challenge.

Of course, it doesn’t mean you always change it and not everything can be a democracy. Sometimes we must just lead without inviting feedback. However, I found that if you listen to the opinions, it is sometimes the best way to develop a strategy and take the team members along with you.

If people are dictated to, they are far less likely to follow what is asked and you will probably send them to look for the door.

When people raise good points and ideas, be sure to praise them openly. I often forward emails up the chain of command to raise awareness of team member’s achievements and give them the kudos they deserve. Make sure you cue the senior person to respond appropriately. Incidentally, this is also useful when you’re trying to promote someone to achieve leadership buy in.

If you want to continue to receive authentic input from your team, the important thing is to act on the feedback and ideas you receive. You won’t use everything but so long as team members feel they are part of the bigger plan they will feel valued and believe their opinion matters to you and the business.

In summary

Tip1 - Lead by Example - Show vulnerability and you will be rewarded with trust

Tip 2 - Create a Safe Environment - Make it easy for people to speak up

Tip 3 - Demonstrate you are Listening - Act on the information shared with you

The pandemic has already had a huge impact on how we behave as professionals, some good, some bad. I think one of the best things to happen is that we have broken down so many of the formalities that made us feel more restricted.

We all remember the poor chap on live news with his child who came into shot in the background. The reaction to it at the time was one of sympathy and ‘Oh no! Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?’. Today, that is barely newsworthy because having children and pets interrupting our zoom meetings now is almost expected!

So, let’s take advantage of this new more relaxed era and allow our people to thrive and grow without restriction. They are far more likely to stay put if they can be themselves.

#customersuccess #ellacottconsulting #coaching