How To Master Managing Virtual Teams Effectively

Have you always managed a virtual business? Or do you manage a team at a company that finally switched to fully remote work operations?

Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: managing virtual teams is very different from leading team members in an in-office environment. It goes well beyond losing the ability to pop by your team member’s cubicles each day to say “hi” and ask them to go to lunch.

Are you wondering how you can manage your virtual team to the best of your ability? Do you want to ensure that your virtual team members feel supported and can maximize their collaboration capabilities?

Well, there’s no need to start Googling! In my experience of managing a fully remote team for the Live Lingua online language school for many years, I have discovered the below tried-and-true tips to effectively manage virtual team members.

5 Tips On Managing Virtual Teams

From surefire ways to creating a positive remote work culture to optimizing workflows, try out these hacks to master managing your virtual team effectively.

1. Create Positive Remote Work Culture With “Virtual Water Coolers”

We all know how important the good ole water cooler has for in-office work environments. The water cooler is where employees bump into each other throughout the day and tell each other stories, laugh about happenings in the business, plan post-work events, and bond. The water cooler plays a key role in creating a positive work environment where coworkers feel connected to each other.

That said, a “virtual water cooler” plays the same role as a physical water cooler—it is an internal communication channel that allows remote employees to connect and talk about subjects other than work.

For example, it can be a designated #FUN Slack channel that is dedicated to chats about hobbies outside of work. Or, it can be an online forum or a private Facebook group for just your team members to talk about hobbies.

You may think that a virtual water cooler would just distract your team members from the projects at hand and impede their productivity and work output.

However, we have found that implementing these internal communication channels helped create a positive work culture in our virtual business, amplifying employee morale and motivation.

Why? Well, it’s because these virtual water coolers gave our team members the chance to have non-work-related discussions. This helped them get to know each other more personally and bond (which can sometimes be hard to do in a fully remote business environment).

Creating these connections ultimately helped our team members become friends who provide support and encouragement during challenging times. Also, it helped improve communication and collaboration throughout our entire company.

Tips for Your Virtual Water Cooler

If you want your business’s virtual water cooler to be successful, there are several rules to follow. First, ask a fun question in the virtual water cooler every morning to get the conversation started.

For example, ask something like “Where do you hope to travel next and why?” This is a great way to help your employees get to know each other better.

Also, don’t force anyone to participate in the virtual water cooler, as that would just cause stress. If one of your employees hasn’t shared any insight for the day, don’t ask them to contribute. They may just be busy with projects and can reply when they have time.

If people feel forced to contribute their thoughts each day, it can lower their overall morale.

Lastly, try to always acknowledge what others say in the virtual water coolers—no one wants to feel ignored. Social recognition can be key to increasing morale.

According to Psych Central, “Social recognition is essential to psychological safety and business success. It lets everyone know they’re noticed and valued, boosts productivity, and strengthens work relationships.”^[1]

2. Maximize Productivity with “Open Communication” Timeframes

One big challenge in a virtual work environment is that team members may not know if their coworkers are busy working on important projects and can’t be distracted.

They may sometimes email their busy coworkers or bombard them with Slack messages, which distracts and prevents them from focusing on the deep work they need to complete. This, in turn, can cause a lot of stress for the coworkers who are distracted and lower their productivity and work output.

According to Harvard Business Review, “Organizations that build a culture around minimizing distractions will enjoy the compounding benefit of a focused workforce and will leave their people feeling less stressed and ultimately more fulfilled.”^[2]

Therefore, as the team leader, it would be in your best interest to designate certain “open communication” timeframes for your team members.

You can let your entire team know that unless there is an urgent project or crisis that needs to be discussed, they should keep all communication between certain hours, such as in the morning from 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. and later in the day from 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

During these “open communication” timeframes, your team members will know that they can email coworkers or send messages in the virtual water cooler without distracting anyone from major projects that need to be completed before a deadline.

3. Encourage Your Team Members to Practice Time Blocking

Because they are working remotely, your team members will have so much autonomy and freedom in how they structure each workday. However, this can be a recipe for disaster if any of your team members lack discipline and don’t plan their days well.

So, help them be as productive as possible each day by encouraging them to schedule out each workday using time blocking.

Let them know that blocking out time for the three most crucial projects they need to finish each day—and also scheduling time blocks for miscellaneous tasks like responding to emails—will help them increase their productivity and work output each day.

They won’t waste a single minute trying to figure out the next task to focus on, as each day will be fully scheduled out.

4. Hold Your Virtual Team Members Accountable and Show Gratitude

One of the top ways to motivate remote team members is to hold them accountable for their work projects and ensure that they know how much you value their hard work. This is because if they know you are pleased with their work performance, they will want to continue excelling.

That said, one surefire way to hold your virtual team members accountable is by setting up a weekly video call with each of them to ask about where things are at in projects, any issues they are struggling with, and future tasks they will focus on.

You can also hold your virtual team members accountable by using project management software (like Basecamp) and asking all of them to share ongoing updates on what they’ve finished or are in the process of completing.

Another way to hold your team members accountable is by setting designated start and stop times for each of their workdays, then asking them to email you right when they sign on to work.

Even better, ask them to provide a quick outline of the projects they plan to tackle for the day in each of these emails. Your team members will then know they need to hold themselves accountable for completing or making great progress on the projects outlined in each morning email.

Finally, if your virtual team members hold themselves accountable for their projects, show your gratitude for all their hard work!

According to Psychology Today,^[3]

“Most powerfully, expressions of gratitude lead employees to feel socially valued and to believe that their actions make a difference in others’ lives, which motivates them to be helpful, cooperative, and go the extra mile for the organization and those around them. These kinds of prosocial behaviors at work make organizations more adaptable and more attractive to current and prospective employees, thereby contributing to organizational effectiveness.”

That said, you can show your gratitude by sending your team members an e-gift card for a popular coffee shop chain or a day spa in their area. This simple-yet-impactful gesture will amplify their morale and show them how much you value their efforts, which will motivate them to continue working hard and excelling.

5. Online Collaboration Tools Are Key

Project management software will help keep your remote team members accountable and everyone updated on which project milestones have been completed, what’s next on the agenda, and who is responsible for various tasks.

My favorite project management software is Notion. It offers various functions that have helped me stay on top of completing all of the projects I continually have for Live Lingua. Notion has been key in helping me bring my company to new levels of success.

Also, other online collaboration tools that I recommend using are the Google Documents and Google Sheets apps for remote collaboration and editing important business files while on the go.

You can share the Google Sheets and Google Documents with your virtual team members and select whether they can only view the files or have the ability to make comments or directly edit them. You can ask them to make edit suggestions, which you can approve once you look them over.

Even better, if you realize you don’t like a recent draft of a document, it is so easy to revert to an older version of it.

To Wrap It All Up

If you’re looking for ways to manage your virtual team much more effectively, consider following the above tips. Implement virtual water coolers to create a positive work culture, designate open communication timeframes to maximize productivity, and encourage your team members to practice scheduling out each workday with time blocking.

Help your team members hold themselves accountable for their tasks and then show them your gratitude for their hard work. And don’t forget that online collaboration tools like project management software will help streamline workflows.

Following all of these tips should help you manage your virtual team members better than ever.

Featured photo credit: charlesdeluvio via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]	^	Psych Central: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work and Why It Makes a Difference
[2]	^	Harvard Business Review: 10 Quick Tips for Avoiding Distractions at Work
[3]	^	Psychology Today: The Importance of Gratitude in Organizations

The post How To Master Managing Virtual Teams Effectively appeared first on Lifehack.

9 Servant Leadership Characteristics To Have As A Leader

Have you ever wondered how some leaders just have that incredible ability to captivate a room and gain unanimous buy-in from their team?

At first glance, it’s easy to attribute their success to their charismatic personality or their incredible ability to articulate a clear and concise vision. But if you look closer, you’ll realize that the only thing that sets them apart from the rest is their servant leadership.

These leaders have a deep understanding of what it means to serve their team, and they use that knowledge to build a community that’s dedicated to achieving greatness, inclusion, and respect. What makes them great is their willingness to put their team’s needs above their own.

Now, you might be thinking that servant leadership is simple, but it’s actually quite complex. And it’s a lot more than just being a nice person.

What Exactly Is Servant Leadership?

Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that are based on the belief that the most effective way to lead is by serving others. That means taking the time to learn about and understand the needs of all your team members—and that takes time and intention.

It’s hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it can profoundly impact your team’s morale, performance, and overall success.

To help you get started on your journey to becoming a servant leader, here are nine servant leadership characteristics that all great leaders have.

1. They Are Self-Aware

Servant leaders know who they are—their strengths, their weaknesses, and how their actions impact those around them.^[1] When leaders take time to understand themselves and look at their own behavior, they’re able to spot their blindspots and pivot when necessary.

Self-awareness is a gift, but it’s not something that comes naturally to everyone. It’s not easy to look at yourself in the mirror and purposefully look for your strengths and weaknesses. But it’s a crucial part of servant leadership.

One of the best tools to help you become more self-aware is the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This personality test will help you understand how you see the world and make decisions and show you how your personality is a hindrance and help in your leadership role.

2. They Are Good Communicators

Servant leaders know the importance of communication. They understand that it’s not just about giving orders or broadcasting information. It’s about listening, too.

This is why if you want to build a strong relationship with your team, you must carve out time to listen and learn about their needs and goals. Communication is a conversation, which means that people need to feel heard before they’re willing to listen to your ideas.

If you’re willing to check in with your team daily, or even weekly, and purposefully engage, you’ll find that your company becomes a strong community. And one of the first steps toward building a solid community is communication.

3. They Are Humble

Servant leaders are humble. They understand that putting others first is foundational to their company’s success. This is why some of the top-level CEOs of Fortune 500 companies make it a point to have an open-door policy.

An open-door policy shows your team that you’re approachable and that you value their input. It’s also a way of building trust—something essential to any strong relationship.^[2]

While an open-door policy is one way to show your team that you’re humble, it’s not the only way.

You can also model humility by being vulnerable and creating an environment where it’s okay to make mistakes. After all, when your team sees your fail-forward, they’ll be more likely to take risks and innovate.

4. They Are Visionaries

Servant leaders always look toward the future. They see the potential in their team and their company, and they’re always trying to find ways to help their team members grow and develop.

Much like being humble, these leaders allow themselves and their team to grow.^[3] And they understand that growth can only happen when people feel like they have permission to progress without the burden of perfection.

One of the best ways to foster a growth mindset in your team is to give them opportunities to stretch themselves. This can be done through cross-training or letting them lead a project on their own.

People need space to dream of “what if” and “what could be.”

So, if you want your company to progress forward, try giving them the reigns and allow them to explore—even if they make a few mistakes along the way.

5. They Appreciate Feedback

Servant leaders embrace feedback. They don’t squirm or avoid confrontation. If anything, they crave divergence. This is because they know that feedback, whether positive or negative, is essential to growth.

To be truthful, it’s not easy to always hear what people think of you and your leadership. But it’s important to remember that hearing your team’s thoughts and ideas is a gift. It’s a tool that gives you the chance to improve and build your leadership skills.

One of the best ways to get started with feedback is to simply ask your team to share some ideas with you. You can create an anonymous Google Form, set up a suggestion box somewhere in the office, or even send out your Calendly link and encourage people to book one-on-one time with you.

There are numerous ways to collect feedback, but the most crucial part is that you take the time to listen and then act on what you hear. After all, it’s not just about being a good listener.

Your team wants to feel heard, and that means putting their suggestions into action.

6. They Lead by Example

Servant leaders lead by example. They walk the talk, and they don’t ask their team to do anything they wouldn’t be willing to do themselves.

Remember: The best leaders aren’t perfect—they’re just authentic.

If you want your team to respect you, be transparent and honest with them and show them what it looks like to reach the mountain top even when the journey is arduous.

This doesn’t mean that you need to share all of your personal details with your team or be an open book at all times. But it does mean that you should be authentic and vulnerable when appropriate. Doing so will help build trust and respect between you and your team.

7. They Don’t Micromanage

Servant leaders are great at delegating. They know that they can’t do everything on their own, and they’re not afraid to ask for help.

When they’re faced with a problem that isn’t in their wheelhouse, they’re quick to delegate it to someone on their team who is better equipped to handle it. This is why servant leadership isn’t about getting the praise. If anything, it’s about giving your team the opportunity to shine.

So, if you’re a leader who is used to micromanaging, it’s time to let go and give your team the chance to step up and show you what they’re made of. Not only will they appreciate the freedom to try new things and figure things out independently, but they’ll also bring that confidence to the office when they tackle the next project.

8. They Are Always Learning

Servant leaders don’t have all the answers. And in many ways, they don’t even try.

Great leaders understand that it’s not about knowing everything. It’s about being curious and having a willingness to learn.

One of the best ways to foster a love of learning in your team is to create an environment where it’s encouraged. This can be done by sending out articles, books, or podcasts that you think would interest them.

Another idea is giving everyone an annual membership to Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or Skillshare.

When you prioritize learning, your team will feel comfortable asking more questions and facing the workday with a teachable attitude.

However, a culture of learning has to start with you. Once employees see you investing in your education, they’ll be more likely to follow your lead.

9. They Focus on the Long Game.

Servant leaders are focused on the long game.^[4] They know that greatness doesn’t happen overnight and that success is a marathon, not a sprint.

This means that they’re always looking for ways to improve their team’s skillset and help them grow in their careers. Whether it’s investing in their education, sending them to conferences, or connecting them with a mentor, they are always thinking about how they can help their team reach their full potential.

Servant leaders understand that when their team succeeds, the company succeeds.

Final Thoughts

Servant leadership is so much more than giving orders and being the boss. It’s about putting your team first, listening to their needs, and helping them grow.

By embodying these nine servant leadership characteristics, you can become a better leader for your team and help your business reach new heights.

Featured photo credit: Mapbox via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]	^	Inc.: How to Become a Servant Leader
[2]	^	Chron: Open Door Policy in Business
[3]	^	Fast Company: 7 reasons humility is a highly desired leadership trait
[4]	^	Entrepreneur: Why Being a Servant Leader Is Essential for Your Business’s Long-Term Growth

The post 9 Servant Leadership Characteristics To Have As A Leader appeared first on Lifehack.

11 Ways To Boost Workplace Morale As A Leader

Maintaining workplace morale has always been a challenge. With the recent remote-friendly decentralization of the workplace, the task of keeping morale high has become more difficult than ever.

As the world is constantly navigating new changes daily, leadership also means being attentive and aware of your team’s needs. While there are new tools on the market for more effective communication and productivity, sometimes team morale can take a dip.

If you’re leading a struggling team—either in person or in a virtual workspace—here are some ways to boost workplace morale as a leader on a daily basis.

1. Measure Workplace Morale

It’s difficult to know how to boost morale in a workplace if you don’t know what is holding your team back. The good news is that you can keep your finger on the pulse of your team’s needs in multiple ways.

For instance, you can:

• Request open-ended employee feedback (either directly or by offering an anonymous option) regularly.
• Create questionnaires that ask pointed and direct questions about the current morale of your team.
• Utilize exit interviews to gain valuable, unfiltered insight into your team’s workplace deficiencies.

Use these tools and your general observations as a leader to identify what it is that is hurting your team’s ability to stay positive and productive.

2. Improve Communication

Communication is critical in the workplace. It doesn’t just boost productivity and keep remote teams, in particular, closely connected. It can also keep everyone on the same page—something that is critical for good workplace morale.

If you have team members that are working remotely, they can become isolated in their own workplace silos. Gallup reports that even in offices, as much as 20% of workers report feeling lonely.^[1]

An isolated and lonely team cannot thrive together. Make sure to keep open lines of communication available, no matter what work environment you’re operating within.

3. Empower Your Employees

If your employees feel insignificant, it’s hard for them to feel positive about their work. Evaluate how your team functions and consider if, as a leader, you’re truly entrusting your employees with the responsibility to do things on their own.

This impacts every area of work. The obvious one is actually assigning responsibilities to employees and then trusting them to come through on deadlines and other expectations. But the trust should go further.

When you need to come up with an idea, be purposeful about inviting others into brainstorming sessions. If you know someone on your team who has knowledge of a certain subject, ask for their input. Always look for ways to make your team feel included, valued, and empowered.

4. Recognize Good Work

As you trust your employees to come through on their tasks more often, it can lead to another powerful morale-boosting tool: recognition.

Analyze your own interactions with your teams and consider where you’re recognizing good work. Consider a few key points:

• How frequent is your praise?
• Is your praise unconditional or does it always come with a counterpoint or correction?
• Do you try to praise everyone on your team?

You can recognize good work in a variety of ways. Anything from a kind word all the way to a juicy promotion can send the message that you see your employees are contributing.

5. Work on Transparency

There are proactive activities that can help you cultivate positive work morale, and then there are the workplace morale boosters that come from simply running an ethical business.

One of these is being transparent, both as a leader and as an organization. When you’re hesitant to give your employees important information, it can undermine their trust in you. If you want to increase work morale naturally, try trusting your employees with more information.

You don’t have to tell them every piece of sensitive data. All it takes is putting some effort into showing them that you want them to feel included and aware of what’s going on with the business that you all invest in together.

6. Incorporate Team Building Activities

Sometimes, all a struggling team needs is to spend some time bonding together. Team building activities are a great way to do this, and this includes a wide variety of options, such as:

• Asking icebreaker questions^[2]
• Playing a fun round of trivia
• Having your team share work hacks with one another
• Doing an escape room together

There are many team-building activities out there. Pick one that suits your needs, and use it to bring your team together in the name of better workplace morale.

7. Choose a Group Community Project

Volunteering as a group is a great way to bring your team together outside of the workplace. If your team is local, you can offer your services to a nearby charity. If it’s remote, there are many remote-friendly volunteer options out there, too.^[3]

If your company is focused on corporate giving, consider letting your employees choose where that money goes. Platforms like Groundswell allow you to set up personal foundations for each of your employees, turning donor-advised funds (DAFs) into an employee benefit.^[4]

Working together toward charitable goals that matter to your employees is a great way to boost morale in the workplace. It brings your team together as they share positive, fulfilling experiences.

8. Avoid Micromanaging

This one goes hand-in-hand with empowering employees. While empowerment requires trusting your employees, micromanaging is more of a self-evaluating workplace morale activity.

As a leader, do you trust your team to get their work done? Even if you do, do you let them do so without excessive input or monitoring on your part?

A leader’s ability to let go and trust their employees to do their work well can be a critical factor in addressing flagging workplace morale.

9. Look for Incentives

Sometimes, all an apathetic employee needs is a little motivation to work harder. That’s when a good incentive can make a difference. This could be something as small as a word of praise. It could also be something with more tangible value, such as a coveted parking spot or a financial bonus.

Regardless of the specifics, try to always have a list of incentives on tap to pull out and spice things up whenever your team is feeling sluggish.

10. Build in Quality Breaks

Employees know that they need breaks. Often, the problem is concern over what the boss will think if they stop for a few minutes. As a leader, you need to communicate (see tip #2) that breaks are okay. In fact, when taken within reason, they’re a powerful productivity tool.

Even a break as short as 30 seconds long can improve productivity by up to 13%. Encourage your employees to give themselves chances to rest throughout the day. That is a great way to make them feel seen and supported—something that will naturally boost your workplace morale.

11. Facilitate Employee Development

Finally, make sure that your employees feel they are getting chances to learn and grow while on the job. The modern work world is always changing. Tech is in an ever-evolving cycle.

Employment standards are changing thanks to the Great Resignation. Remote work is creating a new kind of workplace environment.

If you want to foster good workplace morale, make sure you’re enabling your team to keep up with the change. This can come through offering ongoing training. It can also involve helping employees create growth plans and chart career development roadmaps.

Showing that you’re willing to invest your own time and interest in your employees’ collective well-being will lead to a reciprocating attitude in most situations.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways that employers and leaders can boost workplace morale. This all starts with the first suggestion on this list.

Gauge the morale of your team and consider what steps you need to take. Then, use this list to address the issue and keep your employees happy and productive each and every day as you work together.

Featured photo credit: Brooke Cagle via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]	^	Gallup: The Loneliest Employees
[2]	^	Museum Hack: The Only List of Icebreaker Questions You’ll Ever Need
[3]	^	Let’s Roam: 15 Virtual Volunteer Opportunities to Help Your Team Give Back
[4]	^	Groundswell: What is a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)?

The post 11 Ways To Boost Workplace Morale As A Leader appeared first on Lifehack.

What Is A Micromanager And How To Deal With One

A micromanager has a hard time letting go of control and entrusting team members to carry out projects on their own. It’s like the workplace version of the helicopter parent, only the ones experiencing stifled independence are adult employees, not children.

By contrast, the most effective managers strike the right balance between employee oversight and autonomy. They believe in the abilities of their employees and give them a long leash to make decisions on their own. The oversight and feedback that they provide are intended to create a business environment in which work gets done efficiently and effectively.

What Is a Micromanager?

Giving regular feedback doesn’t make someone a micromanager. The job of a leader, after all, is to ensure all team members are aligned on outcomes. But when the manager feels compelled to express an opinion at every stage and wishes to maintain excessive control over the most minuscule detail, this person has a micromanagement issue.

Micromanagers may have good intentions. They wish to succeed and finish a project well. Yet, their nit-picky or over-bearing management style often drives their employees crazy and causes high-stress levels. Micromanaging is an ineffective leadership style.

If this is the case and you must work under a micromanager, here are 8 situations and ways to take control of the situation:

1. When the Manager Insists on Making All the Decisions

A manager who feels compelled to exercise complete control over a team asserts that power by taking on the role of the sole decision-maker. But this means that the person making decisions is one step removed from those involved in amassing the information needed.

Having to retrace all the background steps and details to allow the boss to arrive at a decision takes up valuable time.

What to Do

Increase communication so that the manager feels kept in the loop. Offer up the arguments that back up any choice that the team agrees on as the best decision while downplaying a not-so-desirable choice. Then, let the manager believe that they provided input when they select the more reasonable of the two choices.

2. When the Manager Becomes Overly Involved in Team Members’ Work

Here, the problem lies in a focus on inconsequential details instead of the big picture, which is where effective company leadership puts its attention.

This could be a sign that the position and the manager are a mismatch. Or, it’s possible that the manager is new to the supervisory role and is unsure how to shift from the responsibilities of a team member to those of a manager.

What to Do

Model the organizational style that the manager should adopt. Suggest an assignment chart that delineates who will be responsible for each task.

Purposely include the manager’s roles associated with facilitating the project’s completion, such as providing the necessary resources to make the work go smoothly, paving the way for the work to be given priority with upper management, and bringing in a consultant to fill any skills gaps, etc. Be sure to include who approves what along with a timeline.

3. When the Founder Won’t Turn Over the Reins

Micromanaging is a trait often displayed in founders of startup organizations. This arises from the company’s evolution, beginning with the founder as the sole employee and progressing into bringing in specialized staff to take the company to the next level.

But if the founder can’t give up control, it presents a barrier to scaling the business. Placing this burden on the company’s growth may be one of the reasons that 90 percent of startups fail.^[1]

What to Do

To counteract the founder’s need for control, show your worth by solving a problem that showcases your expertise.

For example, if you’ve been hired as the comptroller, share an intuitive, interactive software program that will keep all the financial information up-to-date and accessible, freeing up the founder to take on leadership tasks.

4. When the Boss Avoids Delegating Tasks

When the manager avoids delegating tasks, it could be a sign that they are under intense stress to perform from their higher-ups. They could be acting out of fear of failure or not delivering a project on time. Research has shown that “when leaders buckle under pressure, it doesn’t just hurt their influence, it also hurts their teams.”^[2]

What to Do

Read their body language for signs of escalating stress. Explore ways to calm their anxiety. Break down a process for improving the team’s efficiency, and share it with them.

Without pointing fingers, use a “from-to” chart to display the difference between the current micromanaged practice and the more streamlined way to do work with less manager involvement.

5. When Employees Aren’t Allowed to Fix Their Own Mistakes

Allowing mistakes and providing opportunities to learn from them make for a trusting environment where innovation can happen. But managers who lack confidence tend to raise their own self-esteem when they’re able to step in and fix an issue themselves.

Unfortunately, this only makes things worse for the team members in the long run, as they won’t be able to learn from their mistakes to allow themselves to grow. Making mistakes and having the opportunity to fix them allow us to learn from our failures and reflect on ourselves and our actions.

What to Do

Bring the issue of learning to the forefront by asking the manager what you can do differently in the future to avoid making similar mistakes. Display that you don’t fear mistakes but intend to turn them into occasions for growth and discovery.

6. When Employees Are Given Little to No Autonomy

Bosses who watch over every employee’s arrival and departure time each day, dictate every task, look over shoulders, and want to review every draft have crossed the line in exerting authority. No one works well when the manager is always there, monitoring every move.

What to Do

Demonstrate your integrity by not using work time to make personal phone calls, engage in internet searches, or socialize with coworkers.

Show up to meetings on time and prepared. Put in 100 percent effort. When you show yourself as a model employee—always delivering on what you promise on time—your boss will trust that you don’t need to be watched over.

7. When Employees Are Required to Give Constant Updates

Managers who demand to be kept constantly in the loop suffer from FOMO—fear of missing out. This mindset will alienate them from their teams who find little value in the frequent requests to share progress.

What to Do

Try to be forthcoming in sharing updates while, at the same time, not elaborating or giving the manager cause for further probing.

If you’re engaged in a task that an interruption would compromise, let your manager know that you’re on top of things, that you can’t step away at the moment, and that you’ll check in once time allows. At that point, ask forthright how often the manager wishes you to share updates and try to find a workable compromise.

8. When Employees Must Conform to Perfectionism

Alongside perfectionism is the expectation to do things only in the way that the manager prefers. This could be the assertive style that allowed them to arrive at this position, but it can make team members miserable.

Moreover, perfectionism can make the manager miserable as well, which negatively affects the team as a whole. Research has shown that “high rates of perfectionism, especially self-oriented perfectionism can lead to significant mental health consequences, such as depression, general anxiety, socially-specific anxiety, lower life satisfaction, and feelings of low self-worth.”^[3]

What to Do

Have a one-on-one meeting with your manager to clarify and align with their expectations. Don’t be afraid to share what will allow you to succeed, including creating opportunities that allow for others’ input and the sharing of new ideas.

Managing the Micromanager

The key to handling a micromanager is to avoid feeling mistrusted, undermined, or resentful, and focus instead on alleviating your supervisor’s stress, lack of self-esteem, or control issues. Realize that the problem lies with them and not you. It’s their psychological issue and not a reflection of your work output.

Focus on open communication to diffuse lack of trust or fears of failure. Remain positive and non-confrontational. Ask for guidance pre-emptively. Help your manager to understand that you both are working toward the same goals and outcome—to deliver your best work as a team.

Featured photo credit: Campaign Creators via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]	^	Forbes: 90% Of Startups Fail: Here’s What You Need To Know About The 10%
[2]	^	Harvard Business Review: When Managers Break Down Under Pressure, So Do Their Teams
[3]	^	Lewis University Experts Blog: The Problem with Perfectionism

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5 Ways Essential For Leading Change

Change is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it will always be easy. Humans are resilient, but we’re also resistant to change. We’re wired that way, which is why change can be so intimidating, scary, and challenging.

Our brains are plastic, malleable, and fertile for quickly learning vast amounts of information when we’re young. But as we learn right from wrong, good from evil, and safety from fear, our brains start to lay down pathways that reinforce these changes for quicker decision-making and cognitive efficiency. The subconscious mind memorizes these environmental and societal triggers and hardwires these pathways into the foundational layers of our software.

In these early stages of development, the brain can rapidly change, grow, and adapt to any environment. But that’s for better and for worse.

Growing up in a stressful or troubled home may teach you to have certain beliefs about parents, society, relationships, and money that may not be rooted in reality. Laying down these early experiences can shape our perspectives and habits later in life, causing a host of potential troubles and outcomes that can shape the trajectory of an individual’s ability to make money, create healthy relationships, or accomplish goals.

Leading Change Is Possible

But not all is lost. Change can be one of the most fulfilling things to happen to a person, especially when that change is intentional, guided, and directed towards a goal or achievement. It can be even more transformational when provided by a respected peer intentionally leading change through team-building exercises, experimentation, and servant leadership.

Tomorrow’s leaders must be able to facilitate change with their teams and colleagues because of the rapidly changing world around us.

Regardless of your childhood experiences, we’re all fighting an uphill battle because our brains weren’t designed to be open to change—they were designed for safety. The human brain is wired to keep us safe and secure, with hopes of giving us a higher chance to stay alive, propagate our genetic lineage, and allow us to raise our offspring.

While this may be a simplistic approach, it’s the hard truth. Change hasn’t always been a part of this equation, which is why it can cause us significant angst and tension when we’re actively pursuing or going through it.

5 Ways Essential for Leading Change

If we genuinely want to lead change, we must look into changing the brain. And to change the brain, there are a few guiding principles that we need to utilize. Below are five ways essential for leading change.

1. Lead by Example

Actions will always speak louder than words, and this is the ultimate way of facilitating change because it empowers others to join in. Humans are social creatures—we always have been and always will be.

When someone on your team goes through a transition, makes a positive change in their life, or acquires a newfound passion for something, it’s infectious. People become consumed with the change and start to initiate change themselves. This helps to facilitate leading change because it shows others that if you can do it, they can do it, too.

In many ways, we need to see others do something before we get enough confidence to do it ourselves. Take the four-minute mile as an example.

Before May 6th, 1954, no human had ever broken the four-minute mile time, and during this time, it was thought that it was physically and physiologically impossible to do.

Yet, Roger Bannister, a university track and field star and student at Oxford, broke the four-minute mile in poor weather conditions and considerable crosswinds.^[1] And while this was an amazing feat within itself, the following is even more remarkable.

Within two years, nine other people had broken the four-minute barrier. So, what changed, you may ask?

Their psychology and expectations of what they were capable of accomplishing.

Seeing is believing. And when you lead by example, you end up leading change. You provide belief in others that they can do the same thing. That’s authentic leadership.

2. Meet Your People Where They’re At

It’s challenging to meet someone where they aren’t. In fact, it’s impossible. This is one of the most commonly overlooked components for leading change because it’s so simple.

Meeting your people where they’re at is imperative for change because it creates a solid foundation to work from.

Asking a colleague or friend to change or behave in a foreign way will feel negligent and distant, causing them to feel stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed by the gap separating where they are versus where they’re being asked to meet.

This dissonance can present in many different ways in the boardroom and at home, ranging from anxiety to depression and disconnect, eventually leading to changes in communication, eye contact, and even work habits.^[2]

When you can meet someone where they’re at, you meet them where they’re comfortable. Since change is uncomfortable, starting in a place of safety can create a trajectory of significant improvement in a short period because one feels secure to take risks and make a change. This psychological safety is imperative for creating change and adopting new habits.

The next time you find yourself leading change, make sure you first follow in someone else’s footsteps to make sure you’re meeting them where they’re at.

3. Provide Psychological and Emotional Safety

If actions speak louder than words and meeting people where they’re at is the foundation of change, then providing security and a safe place for change is the roadmap to successful change. Our brains are hard-wired to respond negatively to change because it takes us out of our comfort zone and challenges our brain’s ability to predict what will happen next.

In moments of uncertainty, our brains trigger stress responses that decrease our cognitive processing capacity to allow us to prepare for a “fight, flight, or freeze” outcome.^[3] Unfortunately, neither one of these options is beneficial because it takes away from our critical thinking bandwidth and leads to poor decisions, which can compound over time and significantly affect the bottom line.

By creating an environment that facilitates and encourages making mistakes and being open to change, people can start to engage in behaviors that will change their outcomes.

This is a big problem with leaders who micromanage their team members and colleagues. They create an environment of fear and stress, which changes the company culture and changes the company’s brainpower. As a result, a company’s end outcomes are determined by the daily decisions and the ability of its employees to be open to change.

Give your team the freedom to make mistakes and learn through the process. Leading change doesn’t have to be difficult.

4. Facilitate “Flow” States of Productivity

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work on flow states of consciousness found that those who engaged in a flow state could increase an individual’s perceptions of feeling greater enjoyment, energy, and involvement with their work.^[4] This is the ideal state of mind that we should all strive for in our personal and professional lives.

Achieving a group flow state of mind is the ultimate way of leading change because it creates an environment of productivity, fulfillment, and maximum achievement. And the best part about it is that people feel good while they’re in the process of doing it, too!

When individuals find these flow states of productivity, they’re actively immersed in their work and facilitating change right before your eyes.

And the benefits of being in a flow state are staggering:^[5]

• Increased emotional regulation
• Heightened enjoyment and fulfillment
• Greater happiness and engagement
• Higher levels of learning and skill development

As someone focused on leading change, this is the mecca of optimal growth and productivity.

When leaders cultivate environments that facilitate flow, hard work becomes easy, complex tasks turn into doable projects, and satisfaction rates skyrocket. Flow states are the ultimate factor for leading change because they provide immediate feedback, a sense of fulfillment, and greater outcomes.

5. Be Patient and Open to Giving/Receiving Advice

Change doesn’t happen in an instant, and it can take time to find the correct dose of change to see the results we’re looking for, but that doesn’t mean the process can be rushed or expedited.

Change can be scary, but it can also be addicting. For example, finding the correct rate, rhythm, and feel for leading change is an art form within itself, which is why there are so many opinions on the topic.

When leaders exercise patience with their colleagues, they provide additional support and show them that it’s okay to go at their own pace. Unfortunately, the process of leading change isn’t linear, so leaders need to set realistic expectations for their teammates and be open to feedback.

Leaders who ask for advice, not feedback, reinforce psychological safety, allowing colleagues and peers to feel safe to make mistakes, ask questions, and challenge themselves without being worried about the repercussions of failing.^[6] When individuals are provided the opportunity to provide input, they feel more aligned with the team and company goals, enhancing their willingness to put more effort and energy into projects and finishing tasks.

But this cycle is a two-way street. Your team members need your advice to improve their efforts and stay aligned with overall goals. The advice doesn’t need to be harsh criticisms, but it must reinforce short-term and long-term goals so your people can keep their eye on the prize without losing the forest through the trees.

With the current state of uncertainty within companies and businesses, efforts should be aligned on eliminating as much uncertainty and stress as possible to keep people out of a “fight, flight, or freeze” state of mind.

We’re All in This Together

Leaders create future leaders. And when you’re leading change, you will be surprised to see who steps up to the plate to help you facilitate that change.

Great leaders have ripple effects across their company that create shifts in momentum and company culture, which is why metrics and data points can’t always track their outcomes.

Community is at the heart of leading change because a business is the sum of its people. Whoever said “business isn’t personal” clearly didn’t understand business because it is personal. It involves building relationships and trust and facilitating growth throughout multiple aspects of a company.

Leading change doesn’t have to be difficult when you’re focused on using the right tools and tactics to create it. It can be one of the most rewarding things a leader can do, which is why we need more people actively pursuing it!

Change is inevitable, and when you understand how to facilitate it by changing the brain, it can be easy.

Featured photo credit: Hannah Busing via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]	^	History: Roger Bannister runs first four-minute mile
[2]	^	Sage Journals: Person Perception, Meet People Perception: Exploring the Social Vision of Groups
[3]	^	Laserfiche: What Neuroscience Teaches Us About Change Management
[4]	^	verywellmind: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Biography
[5]	^	verywellmind: What is a Flow State?
[6]	^	Inc.: Harvard Research Says If You Want to Improve Your Performance, Don’t Ask for Feedback–Ask for Advice

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