Samantha

Early in the week, I met up with two ex-colleagues. Both are heads of their departments and veterans in the real estate industry. They are often quoted in the newspapers and real estate publications for their opinions and thought leadership. Not long into the evening, Samantha (not her real name) began to share that she was deeply discouraged at work because there was an important change that impacted her but more so on her team. She was deeply disappointed that she was not consulted prior to her boss’ decision, making her feel like her opinion didn’t count. Given the financial impact on her team, Samantha is now very concerned that her team will be unduly demoralised. It also didn’t help that her boss suggested that she needs to “suck it up” because times are tough and the change was necessary. 

Guess what? Samatha is now wondering if it is still worthwhile to continue working for this company. It’s important to know that Samantha is not one of those disgruntled employees. On the contrary, she loves her work and is great at it, she enjoys building relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and above all, she’s loyal to the company. However, her career wellbeing is rattled now and she is starting to question if her work still fits her purpose. 

Phoebe

In another story that I heard this week, a valued employee, Phoebe (not her real name), decided to resign without another job lined up for her. This caught her direct manager off guard and when news got to the CEO, he was saddened because he hired Phoebe and knew what a great talent she is. He said, “This piece of news came at a shock … she’s the best in the market for what she does. I couldn’t have done [the project] without her … I feel so sad that it has come at her sacrifice … she has been very supportive and helpful … something in the ‘system’ must be broken.” 

Phoebe’s greatest strength is that she is a deep and thorough thinker. Her team can always count on her to examine options from all perspectives and see roadblocks that others tend to miss. For someone with such strategic thinking talents, they must have space and time to think. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Work has been intense in the past year and she spent much of her time executing one deliverable after another, leaving no time to take a step back to think about how she can strategically manage her work. So by the time she decided to resign, you can safely bet that she has pretty much made up her mind and any counteroffers from her big boss just don’t cut it anymore. 

So What Happened?

Do the stories ring a bell? Did some of the bits and pieces remind you of your personal experience as an employee or as a people manager?

I believe that everyone who joins a company has every intention to do good work and that includes delivering what is expected of them and working well with bosses, teammates, cross-functional teams, and their stakeholders to achieve the business outcome. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule but one can assume that this truth largely applies. 

So what changed along the way that got employees disengaged and even burnout? There are many reasons one can think of and here are some that come to mind:

1. Company politics

2. Lack of regular communication from leaders and people managers

3. Lack of support from leaders and people managers

4. Unmanageable workload

5. Unreasonable time pressure

6. A dysfunctional team

7. Poor job fit

8. Personal circumstances

When your employees are disengaged and burnout, there is a profound impact on the organisation. What you’ll see is a downward spiral, ripple effect on the individual and company performance. The worst scenario is when your top talents are leaving and it affects the company’s succession planning. 

What Can be Done?

When I was in school, I was in the National Police Cadet Corps and was made the squad leader. As a teenager, I felt it was a huge cross to bear because I had to be exemplary in my performance, I had to ensure that each team member knows the drills, and collectively, we have to strive to win the annual best platoon award. I confided my challenge to the Head of Uniform Group and he said something that I’ll never forget, “Fortunately or unfortunately, you are the leader.” 

When you are a people manager or a leader, you can make a difference — to be a great or a poor one. You are in a position to impact not just the wellbeing of the person that you are managing but also the wellbeing of others in their lives. There are five essential elements of wellbeing — career, social, financial, physical, and community. However, our career wellbeing has the highest impact on our lives and there is a tremendous spillover effect on other areas of our wellbeing. 

Fortunately, there are three things you can do to help you become a great people manager or leader:

1. Help yourself first. 

Do you recall that when you fly on an airplane, the flight attendant or broadcast message always instructs us to put on the oxygen mask on ourselves first before helping others? If you are struggling to lead your team or you want to go from being a good to great people manager, you want to invest in yourself first. Having a coach to help you process your thoughts and challenges is a good starting point. A well-trained coach knows how to leave their judgement at the door, listens actively to you so that he/she can ask powerful questions to evoke your awareness and instil clarity, and is there to support you and help you work towards your goals. 

Some may say, “I simply don’t have the time.” Given how work is changing, this is understandable but here’s an important question, “What are the consequences of you not dealing with this right now?” 

Remember, when your mind is clear, you can then have the perspective to make good decisions.

2. Be human to your team. Go from being a boss to being a coach. 

In one of the lunches I had with a top real estate agent who consistently brings in one to two million dollars of personal commissions every year, I asked the question, “What is the formula of your success?”. He smiled and replied, “I treat my clients as human, not transactions.” 

Your team is made up of humans who have aspirations and purposes. They want to feel that they are part of a great team and a great company. They have opinions and want to be heard. They want regular conversations, feedback, and resources to help them do their jobs well and they want recognition. 

In a study done by Gallup, they found that 55% of Millennials (born 1980 to 1996 and who made up 38% of the workforce) are not engaged at work and they want now different things. Today, people managers have to shift from the old school model of command-and-control (i.e. being a boss) to becoming a coach. Your employees today are seeking purpose, development, ongoing conversations, being strengths-based, and having wellbeing in their lives.

3. Bring Your Team Together (this has become more important than before).

In Singapore, the government has allowed up to 75% of the workforce to go back to the office. However, some companies are still choosing to work remotely or having teams go back on alternate weeks basis. In some countries, work is completely remote. While we can say that this pandemic is a global remote working experience, it has created disengagement between teams, burnout, and blurring of hours between working and resting. Corridor conversations, chats at the water cooler are very much appreciated and so are downtime where the team comes together for a common purpose, e.g. team dinners and drinks or any team engagement events (in-person or virtual). As leaders and people managers, when you bring your team together, remember to create opportunities to adopt the "5 Cs" of team performance: 

• Common purpose

• Connection

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Celebration

I hope this article has helped get you to think about how you can keep your talented employees by first helping yourself, by being human to your team, and be a coach, not a boss. Above all, be that shepherd that brings the team together because if there’s one thing we learned in the pandemic, we are simply humans that want to have a purpose, sense of belonging, be heard, and feel safe. 

Together we achieve,