If I asked you about your team, your job, and the business, what would you say? Would you say ‘Everything is fine’ and bury your head in the sand about anything that’s going wrong? Or would you be brave enough to face reality and really ask yourself what needs to change? The People Mentor can help you do the latter.
Hello, I’m Nicola from The People Mentor, and I want to talk to you today about the manager who buries their head in the sand.
Could this be you?
If I talked to you about your team, your job, the business, or any aspect of your work, what story would you tell me?
What would you say is going well? What would you say could be better, or is in fact downright awful right now?
What if I asked you what you would change if you could wave a magic wand?
Would you tell me everything was going just fine?
Or would you be prepared to admit that there are some things that are just not good right now, and in fact, they haven’t been for a while?
Avoidance of reality and the uncomfortable feelings that go with it is a very normal human behaviour.
The only problem is, that avoidance of issues is not a long-term strategy- it’s not really a strategy at all.
Not facing up to those nagging issues usually means that they just end up getting more serious and complicated which leads to more stress and anxiety.
The longer you try to bury your head in the sand, the worse things get.
Facing up to how things actually are is very brave, and it’s the first step towards positive change. You can’t change or improve something when you don’t acknowledge that something is going wrong.
After you have faced up to reality, the next step is thinking about what will happen if you don’t address the issues or the situation, and how your everyday choices might have contributed to things.
Have you chosen to avoid a difficult conversation with a challenging employee?
Have you refused to implement changes when others were telling you they were absolutely necessary?
Have you failed to listen to people and their concerns about something and now the worst-case scenario looks like it might be happening?
It may be uncomfortable to think about, but what consequences will not taking action have?
Will team conflict get worse? Will people just leave? Will the business get left behind? Will productivity and the bottom line suffer?
Sometimes, being faced with serious or painful consequences can be enough to motivate us to make changes.
Just ask yourself when you fall back into habits like avoiding conflict, or you put getting in some help from a business coach on the back burner yet again, is this moving you closer towards the happy, motivated, and productive workplace you envisaged, or is it moving you further back towards something that just doesn’t feel very good at all?
To help you think a bit more about what the differences could be between taking action to improve things and not taking action, I want you to imagine a kind of ‘Ghost of Business Future’ situation…okay, I did steal that from Scrooge.
But think of it like this.
On the one hand, is it you who doesn’t take any action to improve things and make changes?
Imagine that three years have gone by, and you haven’t made any changes.
Think about yourself.
How do you look?- tired, fed up, stressed?
What are you saying?- Are you still telling yourself the same stories?
How do you feel?- demotivated, despondent, like you’re failing and your team doesn’t respect or respond to you?
Now imagine the you who has made all of the changes you wanted and needed to make.
How do you look?- happy, positive, energetic?
What are you saying?- that you look forward to coming to work every day? That you’re excited about the future?
How do you feel?- are you less stressed, and more in synch with your team?
What impact have the changes had on your life?- Do you love your job again? Do you have a better work-life balance? Do you feel much more confident managing your people and do you have much better relationships with them?
This could be your reality, instead of the reality you find yourself in now.
You just need the courage to face up to how things are, and what could happen if you do nothing.
I can help you put it all into perspective.
I can work with you to get to the bottom of any issues, and help you see the benefits of making changes.
I can be your sounding board and we can talk about everything from how you got to where you are now to where you want to be.
No matter where you are at the moment, you’ll be surprised at what’s possible.
We just need to work together to look at what’s needed.
Maybe you need some mentoring on having difficult conversations or managing conflict.
Maybe your team need to be inspired by a renewed vision or they need to be reminded of their roles and responsibilities?
I can help with all of this and more.
My bespoke packages of training, workshops, and one-to-one support will help you build and develop well-supported, engaged, and energised teams that will supercharge your business performance and profitability.
Not only that, we’ll get to the bottom of anything that’s been holding you back.
As a manager, your influence on your team and the workplace culture is more far-reaching than you can probably imagine, for better or worse.
I know you’ll feel wary about investing in anything in these uncertain times, but think of my guidance and support as a way to help you reduce costs, improve employee engagement, help you fall in love with your job again, and take the business forward even quicker than you could imagine.
Get in touch for a chat about exactly what’s possible.
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast and I look forward to seeing you next time.
This is The People Mentor, signing off.
