There are many today in a leadership role that bring technical and business backgrounds to their role. Organizations have managers, directors, VPs, and CEOs who are doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers, accountants, business owners, educators, marketing professionals, and many other professions by training. Many of these have taken psychology, sociology, or anthropology courses along the way. What many may not have realized at the time was how those classes would one day become invaluable for them.
I would like to suggest that today’s leaders play a celebrity role, a quasi-psychologist, a quasi-sociologist, and a quasi-anthropologist. Let me explain how. I say celebrity because the spotlight is always on them, irrespective of the level of management. This will be from the first-line supervisors, up through executive level ranks. At one time, I thought that executives carried extra weight in this category since everyone knows who the VP or CEO is. But I’ve come to rethink this and believe the first-line supervisor is since they are usually engaging with their workforce on a daily basis.
I believe a person in a management role, irrespective of level plays a quasi-psychologist role. They perform this role on a daily basis. When they interact with someone on their team they bring their psychology to the exchange. They show up with their own personal issues, whether this be their insecurities (for example imposter syndrome), their thoughts on the topic at hand, their opinions or beliefs about who they will be interacting with, or whatever family issues they may be working through, etc.
The person who is interacting with them also shows up with their psychological state. They show up with things such as how they feel about the topic they will be discussing, how they perceive their leader, what they believe about them, their own insecurities, strengths, their beliefs about their role and value within the department, etc. It has been written that a manager has a bigger impact on their employee’s health than their doctor.
Today’s workforce has different expectations from their leaders. And their leaders need to adapt to these changing expectations.
This person in a managerial role also plays a quasi-sociologist. I say this because this individual has an impact on team dynamics. These team dynamics will vary from department to department. This is due to a variety of reasons. Some of these include the individual’s understanding of their role as someone in a managerial capacity. It also has to do with the members of the team, their personalities, their experience with team dynamics, and the type of work they are engaged in. For example, it is different working in an emergency room vs an accounting, engineering, marketing, or Human Resources department. It has been written that a leader has a 70% variance potential impact on their teams.
Last, those in a managerial role also play a quasi-anthropologist role. This is because leaders drive, enable, create, and are ultimately responsible for their organization’s culture. Leaders have an opportunity to create an engaged or disengaged workforce environment. They have the opportunity to create a psychologically safe environment, where people feel safe to be themselves and to bring up any sensitive issues. Depending on the organizational culture they create will help their organization differentiate itself from its competitors.
Today’s workforce has different expectations from their leaders. And their leaders need to adapt to these changing expectations. Today’s workforce wants their leaders to care about them, to listen to them, to be empathetic, compassionate, and to create a great place to work experience. Are you up for it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edwin Mourin᷁o – Ruiz, Ph.D.
Dr. Edwin Mouriño is an Air Force veteran, author, Human Capital, and DEI practitioner and speaker. As a human capital practitioner, Dr. Mouriño’s focus has been on helping leaders and organizations help themselves. He is an experienced professional with many years of leading and/or supporting key elements of organizational change projects. Dr. Mouriño is an Air Force veteran who began his career in Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as a graduate of the DOD-Defense Equal Opportunity & Management Institute (DEOMI) and has also been a speaker.
He brings broad industry experience that includes Fortune 100 companies. He is the founder and president of Human Intelligent (HI) Workplace, an organization focused on helping leaders help themselves through leadership, team development, and executive coaching. He has been and continues to serve as a college professor. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Conference Board on the DEI and Leadership Steering Committees.
He has extensive experience and thought leadership on Human Capital issues and supported organizational change efforts through Leadership Development, DEI, Executive Coaching, Team Development, Executive Retreats, Personality Assessments, and Organizational Change. He has spoken at numerous professional venues and written numerous articles on human capital trends impacting organizations, specifically addressing DE, and is the author and co-editor of several books.
0 Comments