Educational articles

Stress, tension and burnout are clearly the talk of the day. Gallup has explored these feelings. If you look at their study and compare 2020 and 2021, you can see that the readings for individual employees hasn‘t changed, but there is one curve that is going up - the data on managers. Not even at the top, but those who manage teams. The figures show that one in three managers feel burnt out. The situation is similar for HR people, with more than 40% saying they feel burnt out.

It is said that this is the way of the world today. So what do we do about it? How are we going to interpret this data? What if we look at it as a symptom that tells us that a fundamental change is needed somewhere? One of the elements that I think would like to be rewritten at the moment is the expectations of managers. What do we expect of them in this era?

There is a perception that, unconsciously, employees do not expect a lot of things from managers. And when they get it, they pay with trust. Sometimes it is called a social contract, but it is something that we bring with us from quite a young age, often from our childhood, from our relationship with the authority figures that we had, from our relationship with our parents.

So there are 3 things that are expected of leaders: that they will know the direction (have a vision), that they will be able to ensure the safety of the people (take care of them) and that they will help to keep order, resolve conflicts. Then people say: "I trust you, you are a good leader".

It seems to me that this contract is now being rewritten. And it is being changed into very interesting things.

In January 2023, there was a big Global Culture Study that came out, which was conducted in 19 countries (19 different cultures). So here are the expectations for the modern manager:

- The leader will help employees to find meaning in their work, help them to align their personal needs with the needs of the organisation (it's not about direction and wanting managers to have it, it's about helping the employee to connect with the organisation);

- the leader will encourage the growth of the employee, celebrate his/her victories, and show recognition and appreciation (the leader is expected to have a "I care about you" attitude);

- the leader will help employees to build relationships with colleagues and other leaders, tell them who to meet, who to know, and create the right opportunities.

What is leadership then? And how should those managers feel who, in addition to human relations, also have to make the hard stuff happen too? How do they deal with that? It is perfectly normal for burnout to occur.

In the same study, managers were asked what challenges they face. The answers reveal that these challenges are related to the leaders' internal pressure, their internal need to treat their employees differently. So it seems that today's "epidemic" of tension, which affects so many managers today, comes from the need to reconcile differing expectations. (...) The figures show that the higher up the management ladder you go, the more work there is. Managers need to learn how to do this.

And then the question is again: how do we rethink what the tensions are so that we can start looking for a solution?

Personally, I have been helped to change my attitude by very unexpected people. One of them is a doula, a woman who takes care of mothers. She said one very simple but powerful phrase: "It takes tension to have a child. It is important for me to help a woman to turn this tension into a process where the baby will come". Someone who is very close to the process is saying that the tension is there, let's not shy away from it, we just need to find a way to help.

Another very interesting person is a Lithuanian-American, an artist, a visionary, who said a very important phrase: 'What if tension is what used to be steam? That steam just existed until we learnt how to employ it."

So, if tension is energy that just happens to be at a certain point and flows through us, then the question is, where do we direct it - towards ourselves, by shutting it down, or towards life, towards creation, towards what can re-emerge? (...)

When we talk about management and leadership, they seem to be two different jobs. One job is to take care of people, but when we take on leadership, we need to create something that has not existed before. (...) And in order to take on leadership, we need to learn how to deal not only with our own pressures, but also with the pressures on our staff caused by the changes of the times.

In fact, I would like to remind you that there are tools and knowledge to deal with these tensions - psychologists and awareness-raisers have them. If you look at the training of military officers or policemen, you will see that they are trained to be in stressful situations. Medics are also trained to deal with tension. It is part of their profession.

It seems to me that it is time to start suggesting the same thing to managers: how to learn how to change their relationship to tension, how to move from tension to a state of curiosity (because without curiosity, there can be no creativity). And then you can think: if I am curious and interested, how can I try it? (...)

Leadership is hard, risky work. And it needs internal preparation. It seems to me that the time for that preparation is now.

Excerpt from the HR Hint Online conference "A new era is coming, are you joining?", 2023