Five Ways of Supporting Managers Through Tough Times: High Turnover, Fast Changes, and Heavy Workloads
Are you treading water trying to stay afloat in today’s fast-paced world? You may not know that H S A provides team level training, coaching, and facilitation to support managers and teams in navigating these challenges. I’ve experienced an increase in requests for individual and team coaching to support people to transition to new ways of working in a post-2020 environment.
In the current day workplace, things can get challenging for managers and team leaders. They have to juggle employees leaving, lots of changes happening quickly, and teams facing more work than ever. We are excited to invite you to participate in a series of free one-hour webinars designed for managers and those who care about them! In these practical, interactive webinars we’ll explore ways to help managers learn new skills to adapt to new ways of working.
- Understanding High Turnover
When many employees leave their jobs, it can be really hard for everyone. Imagine if your friends kept leaving your group, and new people kept joining all the time. It can make you feel uncertain, overwhelmed, and exhausted. It can also shake your confidence and provide an opportunity to reflect on how this affects your teams and how you might take proactive measures to help.
What to try: In my experience as a manager and as a human resources practitioner, I always found “exit interviews” to offer “too little, too late.” Rather than waiting until employees leave to reflect on what was working and not working, you can supplement exit interviews with “Stay Interviews” to learn about what matters to employees, and how to keep your team members happy and motivated so they won’t want to leave. I have started using this approach in our self-managing team and find the conversations to be rich, insightful, and focused on co-creating our team’s future. Of course, there are things we wish for that are beyond our control, but Stay Interviews, or Employee Engagement Check-ins, as I call them, generate ideas of what more is possible within existing resources.
- Adapting to Fast Changes
The world changes a lot, and organizations need to change too. Managers have to guide their teams through these changes, like learning new ways of doing things or working with new tools. It’s a big job to make sure everyone is okay during times of rapid changes.
What to try: Managers can learn how to talk about changes in a way that makes people feel safe and supported. They can also learn how to help their team members when they’re feeling worried or confused. As a Prosci certified change practitioner, one of my ‘go to’ resources is the ADKAR framework for change. When contemplating a change initiative, ADKAR can help you anticipate what conversations and preparations are needed to implement lasting change.
- Handling Lots of Work Through Effective Decision-Making
Let’s face it, teams have a lot of work to do, and it can be exhausting. Especially when other team processes may be inefficient and ineffective. Managers need to help their teams handle all this work without getting too tired or stressed. This can be accomplished with clarity and kindness.
What to try: Managers can help their teams be more efficient and effective by being really clear about how good is good enough and by introducing new ways of decision-making that encourage team members to share responsibility, have greater autonomy and ask for what they need.
- Improving Communication
Talking to each other is super important when things are tough. Managers need to be good at talking and listening to their teams, so everyone knows what’s going on and feels heard.
What to try: Managers can take classes on how to talk to people kindly and listen well. One such example is the Compassion@Work program. They can also learn how to be friendly and understanding, making it easier for their teams to talk to them.
Northeast Kingdom Human Services in Vermont supports the wellbeing of their employees by making compassion training available within their organization. Research tells us that in-house compassion training holds many benefits to employees, to the organization, and to the people they support.
- Building Resilience with Mindfulness for Managers
Managers also face tough times and need to stay strong. They should be able to handle stress and not get too upset when things go wrong.
What to try: Managers can learn how to stay calm when things are hard, find ways to relax, and help their teams feel safe and supported.
Helping managers when things are tough is really important. Helping managers to evolve, just as organizations do, with upskill training and new approaches, shows that you care about your managers and their teams. By supporting managers, you make sure they can support their teams through hard times, making the whole organization better and happier.
