11 years ago I acquired my first managerial position and I was very excited about that. I had a vision, I had a plan, I was sure I can make my team thrive. I wasn’t sure yet about my communication approach to the team and honestly I was not confident either, due to the fact that I was the youngest manager, not only in my team but also in the whole company. I chose to be straight forward in what I wanted and rather distant. It was easier for me to concentrate in controlling everything, without much discussions and emotions. Although I truly cared about their accommodation, their alimentation, their breaks, their working hours – I didn’t want anyone to stay longer than agreed. I would rather continue their job than having them work extra hours and if they needed to work extra hours, I was the first to claim their payment from the Senior Management.
However, I never entered in any deeper conversation with them, I never asked how they handled their daily stress – I had mine to deal with at that time – I never asked their opinion in whatever I was just “commanding” to be done. I was cross checking daily, every single task they were doing in order to be sure that they have done it correctly – and by correctly I meant “my way”. And guess what? I was always finding mistakes to point out. To make the long story short, I ended up working almost 16 hours per day, 3 out of 12 members of my team quitted, but in my point of view, that was ok because they were just lazy and incompetent and I guess everyone (including me) had burn out symptoms. On the other hand, guest reviews were excellent, the SOPs were followed, the hotel gained multiple certifications and awards and I was on budget. So, after all, everything was great! Wasn’t it? In fact, the senior management proposed me to renew our contract for next season.
I was over the moon (despite my burn out symptoms), till I had the fabulous idea to conduct an internal anonymous Employee Satisfaction Survey. Why not? I didn’t have anything to hide. I was sure my team would recognize the great results we had and the fact that I always cared about their benefits, payment, working and leaving conditions.
I was standing when I opened the first envelop and by reaching the second, third … fifth envelop, I had progressively immersed down in my office’s chair with a severe headache. It was a real slap in the face to read their honest opinion about my lack of Leadership. It was not easy at all to digest. It hurt. My first thoughts were: it is unfair and tough and unjustifiable. I felt anger and then I felt sad. It needed courage to read behind the words. It needed courage to accept the reality. It needed courage to start working with myself. It needed courage to leave my ego behind. It needed courage to thank them for making me a better manager. It needed courage to thank them for making me a better leader.
Do you have the courage to listen, to accept, to work with yourself, to offer, to support, to follow up, to prioritize, to give clear goals and directions, to understand, to open up, to share, to believe, to trust, to empower, to inspire, to change, to grow? Not once. Every day. And multiple that by the number of people you have in your team.
Do you have the courage?