The Leader Who Never Says No
Meet “Sarah”
To the outside world, Sarah (not her real name) is seen as a charismatic leader who never met a challenge she didn’t like. She is well known because it appears Sarah can and will get anything done. The county and city officials have high regard for Sarah because all they have to do is place a call to her, and no matter how challenging or time consuming the problem, Sarah throws her agency’s hat in the ring to solve it.
Unfortunately, Sarah’s staff often doesn’t have the opportunity to weigh in before commitments are made. And the result is that I often heard grumblings about how people can’t last at the agency. They love the work, they love Sarah’s drive and commitment, but they didn’t feel heard when communicating how each new project impacts their ability to do what was already on their plates. Many people state the expectations are “impossible” and burnout is high.
Sarah is a workhorse. She’s dedicated her life to doing the work of the agency. She doesn’t tolerate excuses well. She cares deeply about her employees but may just have a blind spot when it comes to building an authentic community within her own agency.
The Building Blocks of Authentic Community
Building community within workplaces is something I deeply value. I see authentic community as one of the most effective tools for engagement, retention, innovation, and making sure goals are being hit. In an authentic community employees feel they are contributing to solving challenges. They feel valued, and experience intrinsic satisfaction from their work.
I’m not talking about performative community.
Performative community is when things like pizza parties or a short team building day is planned in order to reverse low morale. I’m not talking about oversharing personal issues or managers playing the role of counselor.
Authentic community is a place where:
All members know their value.
A reciprocity of trust exists between staff and leadership.
Diversity of ideas, skills, and work styles are encouraged, appreciated, and respected.
Transparency and fact-based communication are welcome.
Feedback is an expected and welcomed part of the culture at all levels.
Everyone is invited to the table when solving complex problems.
Priorities and goals are clear and are discussed openly.
Conflict is welcomed as long as it is done in healthy ways.
When these building blocks are prioritized and active, the focus turns to what is in the best interest of the good of the whole. New initiatives and priorities are viewed through the lens of the impact on people, the impact on the mission, and the impact on sustainability.
When the people in the workplace have the opportunity to be seen and heard, especially around priorities and initiatives, buy-in and alignment is easier.
It’s the opposite when there’s no authentic community.
When new initiatives are dropped onto staff without input and healthy debate, the leader either has to do a lot of inauthentic selling after the fact or become a dictator rather than a collaborator with their team. This results in morale problems, people choosing to leave, or worse, people choosing to stay but not being invested.
The Journey
Creating community in the workplace isn’t an overnight journey. There will be mistakes and mishaps along the way. But as the community is built, intentionally and authentically, people are forgiving. Mistakes turn into lessons helping the community become stronger.
I believe strongly that if workplaces (corporate, governmental, and nonprofit) put more focus and attention on building authentically healthy communities within the workplace, the heavy lifting of doing good work will become a bit lighter, more enjoyable, and people will want to invest their time and talents.
There is a lot more to this topic, and to this work. If you would like to explore beginning this journey with your team or staff, I’m here to help.
Please reach out, let’s do a quick assessment, and determine what steps you can take to begin: https://NCDsolution.com/beth
-Beth