“Getting Inside the Hearts of Your Next Generation of Leaders”. I recently was invited to speak at the Magnet global conference in Barcelona Spain and this was the title of my presentation. Magnet is a worldwide community of independent agency CEO and Principals. It was quite an honor and opportunity to share insights related to an incredibly important topic – how to best understand the next generation of agency leaders….
If you lead an agency or a team within an agency, you know that your people are truly one of your greatest assets. One of the biggest challenges companies face today relates to their talent…the cost of losing talent and the cost of replacing this talent.
I’ve worked with close to 100 aspiring and senior leaders from over 25 agencies across the country over the past few years. This has given me the opportunity to hear what is important to this group — what they’re struggling with and what they are looking to create in their agency careers.
It’s amazing how people in very different environments, from different agencies to different ways of working (e.g., remote, hybrid, distributed or even back in the office) are actually facing many of the same challenges and opportunities. One of the most consistent things I hear day-in and day-out from clients, backed up by research, is that the number one reason people stay committed and engaged in their job is driven by the relationship that they have with their managers.
Key to building any relationship is seeking to understand each other. To do this, it’s important to connect with people on a heart level, not just on a ‘head’ or intellectual level. If you’re a leader or manager, this can mean you may need to show up in different ways — be more empathetic, more open to having more emotionally-driven conversations around things like goals and values, and even be more open to input and feedback from those who report to you. Why is this so important? Well, our world is different than it was pre-Covid. This pandemic, where the world turned upside down, coupled with current economic and social challenges, calls for different kinds of leadership.
I read recently on CHIEF.com, “Employers often think they have a good grasp on the happiness of their employees, but they’re missing huge gaps. Jon Clifton, Gallop CEO, recalls having a conversation with one CEO who was confident they didn’t need to do more research because they already conducted employment engagement surveys. But when he asked about the percentage of workers who were thriving, the CEO didn’t have an answer.”
This same article stated: “Business leaders sit in the prime position to understand the current mindset of their own workforce, train more empathetic and growth-focused managers, and push for a focus on wellbeing over wealth, in order to grow more sustainably.”
It’s often difficult to tell leaders that they need to be more mindful of the emotions of their people – the often, immediate response is defensive. “I need my people to work harder, bill more hours, not less.” Being empathetic and open to your team’s state of mind and heart is not about being “soft”. It’s about helping them show up as their best selves. When this happens, you will create more engagement. And greater individual engagement creates greater team engagement which ultimately results in more and better outcomes overall…for the people and for the agency.
If you want to learn more about what your talent today may be feeling and facing and how to better connect with them, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]