Leading anno 2024; beautiful and complex

Help…It seems overstated, but it regularly comes up when an executive contacts a coach. And we can well imagine that. It is quite complex to get a team to perform in such a way that the agreed results are achieved and that everyone enjoys it.

As a contemporary executive, you have to deal with a different view of work, a different set of employee needs, and thus a different skillset needed to lead a team effectively. So what exactly changed and what that requires of an executive you will read in this article.

Man as means

Achieving the results is, in fact, not so difficult yet. It can be done in a directive way, as it was in the middle of the last century. In the industrial era. It was fairly easy, an employee was told what to do and at the end of the work week received a paycheck with the salary earned. People were seen as “means” (human resource) and used as cogs in the production process. All focus went to the end result and production volume, nothing else was important. Paternalism as an “HR policy” reigned supreme. The employer determined what the employees needed and what was good for them.

View of work has changed

The general human and world view was that one was “happy” when the first two phases of Maslow’s pyramid were met. The foundation of “physical needs” such as food and physical care and the second stage of “security and safety. This second stage was quickly found with a roof over one’s head and a job. Often it did not matter what kind of job it was, as long as money was earned. The most happiness-making work was a steady job for life. The prospect of being awarded a gold watch upon 40 years of service with the same employer was the ultimate.

Let’s take a quick bird’s eye view from the middle of last century, the industrial age, to today, the information age. Not only has the view of people changed and become embedded in modern HR policies, the view of how we look at work and lead has changed significantly.

Space for self-actualization

Employers see people as capital of the company rather than a resource. Not only has the labor market changed (NL from manufacturing country to service providers), the recruitment process of entrepreneurs has also changed. It is no longer a matter of binding (giving people a job), but more a matter of engaging (how do I keep them tied to me). The employee, in turn, is no longer looking for a job with the prospect of the gold watch. No, an employee is looking for a job that is challenging, where there are opportunities for personal development above all else. Or as Maslow would say, “room for self-actualization.

We now see this need for self-actualization in general among employees and in particular among the so-called millenials. A group of young people who want to identify with a company’s mission and if it fits then it contributes to the feeling of “job satisfaction. A gold watch does not fit this. Once the identification with the mission is no longer felt or the space for personal development has become tight, then they start looking for a new job. And gone is your capital!

What does that require of a contemporary team leader during leadership?

As a manager, that is precisely not what you want, for capital to leave your team. In short, leading a team has become complex. Complex because the view of people in the work process has changed greatly in recent years and the need for self-actualization is great.

As a team leader, you not only inspire and motivate to achieve team results (production), you are also an inspiring leader who knows how to establish a climate of (psychological) safety and trust. You know better than anyone how to captivate fellow team members for work and that they can continue to identify with the company’s mission. You can delegate, so that employees experience space to make their own choices within the given frameworks. The atmosphere within the team is such that everyone feels connected to each other. Everyone is proficient in what is expected of them; there is self-confidence and self-assurance. All of us know that in that ideal dynamic of a team, there is always a rain shower or perhaps a storm. And to stay in this metaphor for a moment, there is always a little fog, daily perhaps.

Leading; taking distance and staying connected

So a lot is expected of you as a team leader in your leadership. First, that you achieve production, increase profits, innovate and bring employees to the highest point of Maslow’s pyramid, self-actualization. That requires of you as a team leader not only on skills and leadership qualities. Among other things, it requires you to be able to distance yourself and still stay connected. It requires you to be able to allow an employee and your team, to be autonomous and yet remain in control. It requires being able to “actively listen” and ask “effective questions” and that you can make interventions. Interventions that ensure the team stays ‘on track’. A beautiful and at the same time difficult process, because it requires something different from you as a (team) leader: seeing, feeling and influencing the complex dynamics of a team! That starts with you, as a person, as a leader with a coaching leadership style.

What do you recognize in the above? In all the years we have been coaching executives and teams, we notice an increasing need to deal with this better and more effectively.

Would you like to learn how to better support your team and yourself with basic coaching skills that can be directly applied practically in your position of manager, supervisor or project leader? Then you are most welcome. You can find more information about the training here. If you have any questions about the training, please feel free to contact us.

This training is accredited as ASCTH by the International Coaching Federation.