Looking at the history of management and the evolution of the role of the manager, the posture of management is constantly changing. Formerly the credibility of the manager came from his expertise, later from his leadership and his approach in general. Today, the management posture sought must promote commitment and autonomy with the help of a motivational coach.
What evolves less well are the expectations we can have of the manager. Very often they are high and in addition to managing performance, they must ensure the well-being and with hybrid management modes there is the tendency to ask them to create events for team building … Demand is not likely to decrease, but you have control over how you handle demand!
Beyond the management role, which continues to change, the management posture must evolve.
For me, management posture is how I perform my role. The way I hold myself in my role. Am I taking it all on myself? Am I unloading on others? Do I seek to motivate and mobilize by involving others? Said in a simplified way, it could be linked to management style.
This article presents two management postures, inspired by Vincent Lenhardt’s stage of team development model. (Honestly, I’ve been using them for so long that I renamed them, and changed them a bit, but kept their graphical representation!).
Management posture #1: The centralized wheel
The leader is at the center of everything. The team is organized. People work in teams or not. Some team members may think more about their task than the common team goal, but not everyone necessarily does.
This management posture can be draining for the manager who likes to have control and/or take great care of the people on his team.
The main advantage is that the information is centralized by one person.
The main disadvantage is that since the manager is “central”, this can have a concrete impact on his time management (many follow-ups to be done), and productivity (we can wait for the manager to get approvals or validations), and stress! Stress on others because they may have to wait or don’t have the big picture, and stress on the manager because they have all the pressure!
In the centralized wheel, it is the manager who turns the team!
When an urgent situation arises, in this type of operation, the manager takes the situation under his responsibility, looks for solutions, and finds the people who will help. In short, it depends on him!
This team culture, which passes a lot through the manager, can lead to difficulties in managing conflicts between colleagues directly or can make people uncomfortable who want to take time to build relationships, because this is poorly perceived in the environment. of work.
Management posture #2: The high-performance team
The major difference in this posture is that the leader is not in the center! He’s with the team. What makes the team “turn” is meaning.
The leader here acts more like a discussion facilitator and ensures that everyone understands what they are doing (their role) and why they are doing it (the impacts they can have on the system for example)
Using the example above of an urgent situation that arises, the manager who adopts the management posture of the high-performing team will say to the team: “Here is what is happening. What do we do? How are we going to solve it all? ” etc. Compared to taking the burden on your shoulders
Here, the objective of the leader is to find a balance and to arouse the commitment and motivation of the teams. And he is aware of the challenges he shares with his team. This type of leader does not discharge, he delegates, mobilizes, and creates autonomy.
Wrongly, managers often think they are protecting their team by putting pressure on them. The truth is that it can be motivating and even engaging to feel that we are a team and that we can make it happen.
The main advantage of the successful team model is that the wheel can turn faster and harmoniously thanks to the whole team.
The main disadvantage is that it is more difficult to set up because it depends on the stage of development of the leader. A leader of this type delegates communicates, empowers, and brings together… as a priority!
It is focused as much on the task as on the well-being of the teams.
In summary
Posture #1 (the centralized wheel) is more related to a classic management model, or to the behaviors that we can have under stress because we need to regain control or protect people or assets.
Posture #2 (the high-performance team) comes from a more open, more agile, more of our time approach. Generally, more expected also from the “younger generations”.
How to choose the best management posture?
For me, ideally, it is about working to move towards the posture of the high-performing team (the #2). I also know that this is not constantly feasible.
Criterion #1: The composition of your team (experience and seniority)
If your team is experienced, you will have to supervise differently, that’s for sure. Besides, I don’t advise you to have only inexperienced people in your team, it lacks balance, but I know that the market is not easy.
In this situation, to start creating more autonomy, choose less risky files, and people with potential and take the opportunity to be more comfortable with mistakes 😉 So posture #1, and go to #2.
If your team is experienced and has experience in your organization, the most difficult for you will be to change habits. Otherwise, they should know enough about the organization. The challenge is change management. Posture #2 is more appropriate with appropriate support.
If your team is experienced and doesn’t have a lot of experience in your organization, the challenge is in communication and trusting it. Avoid micro-managing senior people and give them clear direction and resource people. Posture #2 is more appropriate depending on the risk of the files and the profile of the people.
Criterion #2: Your development as a leader
Pose #2 requires more emotional maturity, more self-confidence, and more courage and provides the most satisfaction!
Managers who undertake this transformation will save time by seeking support, whether internally or externally, in training or executive coaching.
A great start can be an online self-study, here’s one on Courage and Delegation.
In conclusion
For several years now, managers have been told that they need to develop a different kind of leadership. It’s not that easy, because it often requires personal motivation!
All the changes lately experienced and which will continue to occur will either have a positive impact on you or your team or a negative impact. The negative impacts are more stress and less balance. It is certain that transformation requires a certain effort but has a more positive impact on oneself and by extension on others in terms of balance, commitment, and well-being. In addition, it will have an impact on productivity and performance!
