Managerial Indulgence: a lever for commitment?

 

We are living in a time that has not been seen in 500 years: Lost in transition

Restructuring ; changes in strategies; mergers ; absorptions; downsizing; etc…. are the daily life of companies. All sectors are concerned: Industry, Service, Distribution, Logistics, etc.

Advances in science and technology are driving innovation and opening up new opportunities for businesses.
Entire sectors of the economy are seeing the arrival of “news players” who are shaking up the traditional economy.
We obviously spontaneously think of Amazon, Alibaba, Uber, etc… but not so far from us, there are Doctolib, Lafourchette, Privateaser, ManoMano, Ouihelp who invent or reinvent ways to address a need that often already exists.

Bricks & mortars are reacting and need to “rethink” themselves. These changes shake up the habits, convictions and beliefs of employees who understand without understanding.

Jean Staune in “The Keys to the Future” (Plon – 2015) demonstrated that we are living in a period without equivalent in 500 years: a change of civilization linked to the combined effect of 5 revolutions that reinforce each other:

• technological,
• conceptual,
• economical,
• societal
• managerial management.

We would therefore be in a singular moment, in a phase of transition that is likely to last for more and more.

Management: the keystone of the transition?

The consequences for many employees are multiple: Fear, inertia, withdrawal, stress, and the farandole of B-outs.
And what about absenteeism, which reached record levels of 17.2 days per year and per employee in 2017 in France?

Managers have to deal with uncertainty. Theirs and that of their collaborators.
With the help of training in Agility, Design Thinking, etc… We are trying to change practices and mindsets.
And yet in our dinners, in the café, on public transport, in our families, everyone complains about the working conditions. With more or less intensity and frequency, but still.

Companies have never communicated so much and invested in well-being at work.
It’s a bit like the paradox of the cold felt and the real cold.
In terms of day-to-day team management, there is also an abysmal gap between intentions and the reality of practices. And even if we can question the ability of managers to always give meaning, it would be illusory to think that they do not do so.

Managers must manage the day-to-day business and engage their teams in numerous projects of transformation, restructuring, and re-evaluation of the existing system.
The pressure exerted on them sometimes encourages them to lose patience, to judge too quickly whether the subjects are not moving fast enough or not as “they should”.
Even for those who hide their annoyances and frustrations, it is rare that the teams do not feel them.

For more than 15 years I have worked in the field of Learning in Leadership and Management. Almost all, if not all, of the managers I met are men and women who are respectful of the individuals who make up their team, aware of each other’s contribution, and of the right to make mistakes.

Putting the weight of events into perspective

Like forgotten vegetables, there are forgotten attitudes and behaviors.
Indulgence , it seems to me, has become a rare commodity?
Indulgence: “Ability to excuse, to forgive faults, not to punish them severely”

The reactions of many managers to a typo in an email intended for a customer, a deadline exceeded on a non-strategic subject, a delay at the beginning of a meeting, etc. are sometimes expressed as forcefully as an important subject that would in fact require a real exchange.

It is therefore often the weight put on events that is too strong. And when the intensity of a message is the same regardless of the subject, we lose credibility.

For our teams, as for us, change is often difficult and energy-consuming.
And in times when getting out of our comfort zones and beliefs is more important than ever, this energy is fundamental to set in motion and engage.
Without falling into blind naivety, the fact of not judging, not reacting in the moment, of “not losing face” very often makes it possible to make people aware of a gap and not to “empty” the batteries of our employees.

Asking yourself these few questions before acting/intervening often helps to avoid these consequences:

• Does it matter?
• Should I act now?
• And what happens if I don’t say anything?
• Is it serious?

So let’s be indulgent… and observe

Jean-Marc LOUIS

Associate Director