Why Your Managers Need Purpose | Issue #243
Why managers need a sense of purpose to get them through the bad days
Managing people is hard. Everyone has differing levels of expectations. The pace of work is increasing all the time. People are emotional creatures, prone to unpredictable behaviour. It’s not surprising that managers have bad days.
I was recently chatting with a client who was complaining his team wouldn’t do what he asked. He had to chase them repeatedly. As we talked, he told me he ‘f**king hated people.’ He was speaking flippantly, but I understood his point. Another client visited our Management Lab recently to review the results of his staff survey. Some feedback felt so personal that he took it as an insult. He was hurt by the observations he’d read.
This makes me think there will always be times when you don’t like your job – particularly if it involves managing people. So there must be something that keeps you focused on why you’re doing what you’re doing. And that thing is purpose.
E248 | Fixing Fractured Relationships To Build Trust Within Teams with Doug Bouey
Is there any fractured relationship in your team? Many teams have people with dysfunctional relationships that show up in different ways. Often people find it difficult to solve problems. Somehow we find ourselves with a breach of trust, breach of contract or competence. We believe one of our colleagues isn’t competent, and it grows like an inverted pearl in an oyster or stone in your shoe. When this happens, people move away from those relationships or change companies. But if business is a team sport, it’s like taking the field to play football with only nine players against the opposition because some people on your team have a dysfunctional relationship.
This week we talked with and learned from Doug Bouey, a coaching and facilitation veteran, recognised by Vistage/ TEC. His newest book, Fixing Fractures, creates a sure path to peace of mind and a quiet heart. Like Dominic, Doug holds a Gazelle’s (now Scaling Up) International qualification. He’s a master coach and, as part of his Vistage Chair life, Doug came across a facilitation technique to fix fractured relationships in business and life. So, he wrote his book Fixing Fractures, to help teams or individuals overcome these breaches of trust and help them build a high-performing team.
In this episode, Doug guides us through his technique to help teams have these types of conversations and overcome this issue in their relationship. He explains the different levels or ‘gates’ of trust and how he helps individuals in businesses get to the bottom of their problems and what are the ‘Magic Five’ that need to be present during these ‘healing’ conversations.
Download and listen to learn more.
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Teams under pressure often fall back on dysfunctional coping mechanisms that are deeply rooted in human evolutionary psychology. The group works like a pack, instinctively looking for ways to alleviate its members’ collective anxiety. It might unconsciously ascribe an unwanted role, such as scapegoat or savior, to one or more members and lapse into skewed interactions—for example, directing its energy toward fighting a common enemy, whether real or perceived, rather than advancing its actual mission. The authors discuss how to spot these harmful patterns and break their hold.
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Quote of the week
“The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people.”
Reed Hastings
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Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.