We have seen how employees have responded to the Covid-19 business challenge. Some have struggled; some have been hopeless not taking any risks or accountability but some have responded above and beyond expectations.
It would be good for you to make structural and management changes to get the best out of those who rose effectively to the challenge. You need them to continue to lead the pack as Covid-19 continues for an indefinite time as we read the situation today. If you do not use your people assessment in the given environment, your business will be unable to sustain and grow.
As leaders, you need to make the right move now. However, given the inherent culture, laid back practices and habits of Sri Lankan leaders across different fields, it’s fair to say that most Sri Lankan leaders are at the two extreme ends; either too nice or too bossy.
Both have their specific pros and cons. You would agree that there are more cons than pros. It doesn’t work in today’s environment especially when the markets are very volatile and need people to take risks and work under tough conditions.
The varying performance environment and the mindset of people demand that you keep moving on the axis to improve organisational performance by ‘’ mix and match’’ theory. This is both an art and science that need to be developed in leaders across all levels.
Recognise exceptional behaviour
Employees may have made numerous sacrifices during the Covid-19 stricken period. Have you formally appreciated it? Appreciation does not mean that one should accept everything and everybody and be inauthentic about it due to your hesitance to differentiate performance.
Be bold. Inauthentic and misaligned appreciation is picked up very quickly by the employees and it damages relationships instead of building a new team for the future. Authentic appreciation, on the other hand, motivates people to go beyond their own limits – do the impossible with or without Covid.
It’s about taking a genuine interest and recognising people and the business for well balanced and sustainable accountability. Those who made sacrifices – took risks and continued to perform under uncertain parameters would expect respect in return.
You look around; we have some leaders in every field who get fun out of finding fault and fault only. This has to change. Appreciating a person boosts their morale and makes them feel good that somebody is paying attention to them and hence they continue to do what brought them appreciation in the first place.
Unfortunately, most often, we grow up discovering our limits by being told what not to do and what doesn’t work more than being encouraged to explore what is possible. We have to ‘unlearn’ our patterns of identifying what does not work and intentionally concentrate on appreciating what works however small that may be.
I can only appreciate others to the extent that I appreciate myself. So appreciation is also about self acceptance.
We rarely appreciate who we are and what we receive because of our conditioned expectations. It is possible for us to come from an attitude of ‘never enough’ and such an attitude is quite transparent to others even though we might be blind to it ourselves.
Stretch beyond your limits
Most people are quite comfortable with who they are and what they got and never explore beyond their own comfort zones. In such cases, they may never discover their real capacity and depend on others to tell what their boundaries are and do not participate in anything that makes them uncomfortable.
We can operate as catalysts with each other to identify our self-imposed limits and examine the appropriateness of those limits in the current context. Curiosity, collaboration, empathy, and appreciation provide the impetus for people to engage in an activity that is personally challenging and, hopefully, discover their own untapped potential. Such exploration can only be done in supportive environments and appreciative relationships. While nobody can change anybody else, an empathetic, appreciative person who is aware of his circumstances will definitely make him think again about his mindset and he would be willing to stretch a bit beyond his own comfort zone to explore what is out there. You know the outcome that can be achieved; so go for it.
Future is not going to be any easier. You need the best people leading the pack. So make changes now and allow those who can perform under tough conditions internally and externally to take the business forward. So others would emulate that would create a tougher team for tougher conditions for more sweeter results.