Along with the stories of upheaval and even chaos during the last two years, we’ve heard of managers leading their teams with courage, humanity, humility, and compassion. We call them “people leaders.” The pandemic offered many people leaders their first glimpse into the lives of employees outside of the office, and their first opportunity to see their teams as real live humans.
The effect?
These people leaders showed authentic empathy and compassion to their employees and actively worked to ensure that they were providing their workforce with a psychologically safe work environment. Transparency became a key ingredient for success; timely and relevant communication on the matters that affected people’s lives created a foundation of reciprocal trust. Good communication strategies were designed to create a sense of community, connection, and belonging. Listening became more important than giving direction.
People leaders seek to understand
True people leaders seek to understand the viewpoints and opinions of others and allow for the safe expression of feelings in the workforce. As strategies and priorities continue to change day-to-day, people leaders focus on developing talent that could adapt quickly and address evolving business needs. With a greater range of skills needed in the ever-changing landscape, people leaders have learned to see and develop individuals. While breaking down silos to share learning and best practices at scale, top talent was cultivated on an individual level.
Breakout Exercise #3
Come ready to share and discuss these questions in small groups:
- What resonates with the people leader role?
- What is your talent development organization doing to make progress in DE&I pledges?
- Can we measure and recognize managers who are also people leaders? How?