Though there are a lot of external pieces — such as company culture, business changes, supply chain disruptions — that can affect management, there’s a lot of internal pieces that can help as well. While there’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all approach to a management style, there are some characteristics that can help you build resilience.
“Resilience is the ability to adapt to those challenging situations through our emotional and behavioral flexibility,” Jonathan Shaver, owner of Envision Partners LLC, says. “It’s adapting to challenging situations and facing demands and challenges ourselves — then guiding other people through it. That’s why resilience is such an important piece for managers.”
Though Shaver would add resilience isn’t necessarily a skill, it’s more of a way of being. To him, it’s what he would call positive energy when you hit stressful situations.
“It’s something we can tap into,” he adds. “It’s something you have to build up by going through mindfulness.”
In addition, resilience is a hard thing to build up without proper mental health. Shaver encourages all managers to engage in good eating habits, good sleep, exercise as well as other helpful, stress-beating habits to help cope with the difficulty of battling new challenges.
There are a few other helpful characteristics that can help build up yourself, your team and your resilience:
Listening and adaptability. For Rhonda Werner, director of people & culture of Ag1 Source, especially as businesses move through these new generational changes in management and employees, if you can’t be adaptable, it’s going to be a struggle.
“Be adaptable and really listen to what your employees are saying,” she says. “That communication style is going to be key along with that (I’m not sure what “that” is? Maybe be I should have been more clear! Maybe say “Having and open communication style, taking time to listen to your employees and then adapting is going to be key.. Nobody wants a dictator or a micromanager to tell them what to do.”
Empathy. Keeping empathy top-of-mind makes you more relatable to your team as well, Jake Ware, business manager for HM.Clause and chair of the American Seed Trade Association’s LEAD committee, says. Not only that, but it helps find better solutions for problems without getting caught up in your personal emotions.
“Try and put yourself in your team’s seat and understand them as well as the problems they may have,” he says. “Separate the person from the problem and understanding. There’s a need to be the calm in the storm, and it’s really critical.”
Self-awareness and intentionality. It’s also important for leaders and managers to pay attention to themselves in every situation, Shaver says. To him, that means being intentional about every situation.
“If we’re being intentional, we’re saying: ‘Okay, what am I learning in this situation?'” Shaver says. “Using some reflection — that intentional, self-awareness of how you responded to a situation — is how we learn and change the trajectory of our development.”
Keep These Three Things in Mind While Managing
When it comes down to it, what do our experts think is the one, most important thing managers should keep in mind in today’s business world?
Jonathan Shaver: “Keep your head up — and that has two meanings. Keep your confidence up by building your resilience and pay attention to what’s going on around you. Learn about the conditions and the context of the decisions being made in your organization.”
Jake Ware: “The biggest challenges are also the most rewarding solutions. When we think back to the times we’re most proud of, it wasn’t when times were easy — it’s when times were challenging and we stood up to that challenge.”
Rhonda Werner: “Understand your culture. Make sure you’re hiring to it and make sure you’re managing to it. Don’t sell people on a culture that’s on paper, and it never actually adheres to those values. All that goes into being a successful manager.”
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