The world is bleeding. Let’s STOP, REWIND and START over. A message to Management

I keep hearing a lot of people complaining about working from home. Yes, there are pros and cons. Just like everything in our lives. Let’s get real. Don’t you love the time you are saving by avoiding all of the commuting to and from work? It is priceless. Unless you are a freak and love spending hours on traffic and crowded public transportations. I am not. Anyways, the additional time I have on hands, I am spending on reading. Either books or articles, or just posts and updates from my connections on LinkedIn.

I have no preferences in terms of my reading habits, but I always stop at anything related to leadership, employee engagement or relationships at work. It is related to my new passion, which is to work closely with companies and individuals to improve, and, sometimes, introduce engagement and relationship amongst employees and their direct Supervisors.

I am starting to see a sad tendency of people complaining about their leaders, their lack of emotions, or the way they are looking after their Teams. There are some frightening stories, some things I can’t even believe it is still happening in today’s environment.

For example: a leader who likes to yell at his/her Team; another situation about a leader who decided to fire an employee, because the person did not accept to return back to work, due to the pandemic. Every day, there is something new.

I was talking to my sister the other day and she said something I won’t forget for a long time: “The world is bleeding”. At first, I thought she was being a bit dramatic. Yes, we are living on a very different world, and human beings are more scared and skeptical than ever before. I do see people losing their temper and doing strange things. Should I give you an example? Here it goes. Near my place, there is a very nice park, and a ravine, in which dogs are allowed to be off leash. It is a great place to go for a walk and also for people to run. But the pathway is made for dogs to walk freely. The other day, as soon as we got into the off-leash area, there was a piece of paper (actually there were several) showing a picture of a “runner” and a brief story below. I don’t know what happened. I was not there. According to the description, the guy, who was running on the pet’s area, attacked a poor dog (a very dangerous Boston terrier), kicking the animal, almost killing the poor thing. And the reason was that the dog started to follow the runner. My point is, who does such an atrocity? Apparently, people are losing their patience and doing things out of ordinary.

It is happening exactly the same in some organizations. And my point is very clear. The “so called” leaders I’ve read on the post and articles I just mentioned, are doing crazy and unprecedent things to their employees.

You know why? These leaders are desperate for help and support. And the funny thing is that they don’t know about it. I go back to my sister’s comment. Yes, it looks like the world is bleeding and people are feeling the impact. Employees and their bosses are facing a new work environment. New conditions.

People are being asked to work from home. Every day. And they have to use webcams, WhatsApp’s, and any other kind of technology, to connect with their colleagues, their bosses, Clients, Suppliers, you name it.

 And for those going to offices and manufacturing plants, it is mandatory to wear masks and other types of protections. Your body language is different. Even your words and messages are not the same. The question is: How are we doing?

I am Ok about reading more and more complains about leadership and its unusual stories. It became a way for people to express their feelings and concerns. Perhaps, it is time to press the button STOP, then REWIND the situations, check what is going wrong, and START addressing the issues.

Leaders are also human beings. According to my own methodology, if their tendency is more inclined to the operational side, it is normal their struggles with the new events. It is a very emotional situation and not all leaders are ready to manage that. It is not their fault; it is on their DNA. Operational leaders, who are focused on getting results as their main goal, are having difficulties to adapt to the new reality. They are usually not very much attached to emotions, and, as a result, their employees are paying the prize. It is where engagement and relationships hits rock bottom.

It is time to stop everything and understand the situation. Is it possible to work with these operational leaders? Yes, it is. Perfect, that is a good start. What is next? Very simple. We need to convince them and their employers, about the need for help and guidance. It is not easy for people to recognize the need for help. Once they agree to talk, it is already a big step. As I like to mention: “BABY STEPS”.

The next big question is: “Are we expecting to see a major transformation in terms of behaviors and skills? And how long does it take for the transformation cycle to be completed?” Interesting questions, I must say, but I don’t know the answer. It depends on each individual. For some Managers, it is a wake-up call, and it will impact them instantly. For others, it takes more time, as they are still fighting the urge and need for a change. We can’t rush people to change their way of doing things. It is unnatural. And the consequence could be catastrophic. Each one of us are moved on a different pace. We are not machines. BABY STEPS.

At the end of the sessions, even if operational leader “A” only achieves 60% of emotional improvements, it is a big win, as we were able to introduce something new and powerful, in terms of management skills. I agree, we were not able to get 100% success, and, perhaps, for that person, it would be impossible to do so, but for his/her direct reports, a 60% improvement is already a major mark.

I am not pretending I will find the cure for all emotional issues for Management. What I have in mind is a “world that is bleeding” and a job that requires healing, Band-aids, and any other medication that will easy and, if possible, eliminate the pain and the suffering. Any kind of help makes a difference. Even if it only reaches 60% of successful improvements.