As a Manager, What Values Do You Convey?
20 October 2009
Read by 2365 persons
The Delicate Position of a Manager
Organizations face many challenges in productivity, efficiency, and profitability, challenges that have become more complex due to a constantly changing environment and limited resources. In these conditions, managers have an increasingly demanding role to play. They must constantly adapt and try to manage the many pressures, both external and internal, that weigh upon them.
On the one hand, they are asked to be effective leaders and generators of high-performing teams. They must meet the demands of both clients and shareholders without neglecting their employees, who also have high expectations. Employees want to be consulted, advised, supported, and recognized.
On the other hand, managers also face internal pressures. With increasing responsibilities, some find it difficult to balance work, family, and personal life. Lack of time for oneself and others can become a source of stress, dissatisfaction, and frustration. They therefore feel they are not doing enough, not doing well enough, or simply not doing the real activities related to their role as a manager.
In addition to all these pressures, the job market also complicates the role of the manager. Indeed, in a context of labor shortages, skilled employees are in a position of power. They do not hesitate to evaluate their superiors and leave the organization if the latter does not meet their expectations. From now on, organizations will be evaluated, among other things, on the quality of the supervision they offer to their employees.
So, being a manager today is a challenge in itself! How can one succeed in keeping the flame alive and passing it on to others?
Management Assets
To cope with this demanding context, the manager must possess certain attributes. Let's say it, some people find it easier to navigate the current organizational world. Indeed, what are the assets that some managers possess? In the first place, the manager's personality influences their functioning. More specifically, openness, adaptability, work pace, and trust in others are personal characteristics that support the manager working in this turbulent context.
The type of commitment of the manager to their organization, their work, and their team influences their energy level and functioning. The deeply committed manager, who feels passion and professional attachment, will be better able to meet the management challenges that arise. In fact, affective commitment contributes to meaning by strengthening affiliation and a sense of belonging, unlike rational commitment which leads the person to calculate their work efforts. Another element that contributes to meaning is the coherence of the manager's values with the organizational values. Do they lose a lot of energy ensuring consistency between their words, actions, and the values conveyed by the organization, or does this alignment happen naturally?
Finally, the manager's leadership style affects their performance in managing their team. A participative leadership style will be more likely to guarantee a mobilized, involved, and attached team to their immediate superior. The manager, through their leadership, can create the conditions necessary for performance, while ensuring the well-being of their employees. One of the assets of the participative manager is that they focus as much on results as on people.
Management Values: A Source of Inspiration
We already know that, in the context of the current job market, organizations are concerned with employee motivation and retention. In this sense, the values conveyed by the manager can be a source of inspiration for the members of their team. Whether it is integrity, respect, or openness, these human values color the way the manager makes decisions, considers others in communication, and handles difficult cases.
These values, which are a source of inspiration and which positively influence the stability and functioning of a team, should be known, conveyed, and alive! When we say known and conveyed, we mean presented in the organizational message. And by alive, we mean that they are translated into concrete actions.
The manager who wants to inspire their team through sound management values must first become aware of their own values and the influence they have on their management style. Thus, personal reflection allows one to identify the predominant values by answering the following question: what are the values that dictate my decisions and guide my actions? It is understood that the more the targeted values are consistent with organizational reality, the more they are accepted by employees.
Awareness of one's own values is certainly important, but if these values are not disseminated, they have no impact on individuals. This is why the manager must first put into practice, on a daily basis, the values they advocate. In addition to leading by example, they must communicate their management values officially in order to affirm their commitment to respecting them.
Finally, if we consider the context in which the manager has to lead their team, it is easy to see that management values can become an important asset for both the organization and its practices and for the employees. On the one hand, the manager's values can define rules regarding ways of doing things and prioritize behaviors and attitudes. On the other hand, the manager's values can help them in managing their team, which is now composed of baby boomers who seek consistency, members of Generation X who seek competence, and representatives of Generation Y who seek truth!
Now it's your turn to answer! As a manager, what values do you convey?
Posted on May 26, 2008
orhri.org
Organizations face many challenges in productivity, efficiency, and profitability, challenges that have become more complex due to a constantly changing environment and limited resources. In these conditions, managers have an increasingly demanding role to play. They must constantly adapt and try to manage the many pressures, both external and internal, that weigh upon them.
On the one hand, they are asked to be effective leaders and generators of high-performing teams. They must meet the demands of both clients and shareholders without neglecting their employees, who also have high expectations. Employees want to be consulted, advised, supported, and recognized.
On the other hand, managers also face internal pressures. With increasing responsibilities, some find it difficult to balance work, family, and personal life. Lack of time for oneself and others can become a source of stress, dissatisfaction, and frustration. They therefore feel they are not doing enough, not doing well enough, or simply not doing the real activities related to their role as a manager.
In addition to all these pressures, the job market also complicates the role of the manager. Indeed, in a context of labor shortages, skilled employees are in a position of power. They do not hesitate to evaluate their superiors and leave the organization if the latter does not meet their expectations. From now on, organizations will be evaluated, among other things, on the quality of the supervision they offer to their employees.
So, being a manager today is a challenge in itself! How can one succeed in keeping the flame alive and passing it on to others?
Management Assets
To cope with this demanding context, the manager must possess certain attributes. Let's say it, some people find it easier to navigate the current organizational world. Indeed, what are the assets that some managers possess? In the first place, the manager's personality influences their functioning. More specifically, openness, adaptability, work pace, and trust in others are personal characteristics that support the manager working in this turbulent context.
The type of commitment of the manager to their organization, their work, and their team influences their energy level and functioning. The deeply committed manager, who feels passion and professional attachment, will be better able to meet the management challenges that arise. In fact, affective commitment contributes to meaning by strengthening affiliation and a sense of belonging, unlike rational commitment which leads the person to calculate their work efforts. Another element that contributes to meaning is the coherence of the manager's values with the organizational values. Do they lose a lot of energy ensuring consistency between their words, actions, and the values conveyed by the organization, or does this alignment happen naturally?
Finally, the manager's leadership style affects their performance in managing their team. A participative leadership style will be more likely to guarantee a mobilized, involved, and attached team to their immediate superior. The manager, through their leadership, can create the conditions necessary for performance, while ensuring the well-being of their employees. One of the assets of the participative manager is that they focus as much on results as on people.
Management Values: A Source of Inspiration
We already know that, in the context of the current job market, organizations are concerned with employee motivation and retention. In this sense, the values conveyed by the manager can be a source of inspiration for the members of their team. Whether it is integrity, respect, or openness, these human values color the way the manager makes decisions, considers others in communication, and handles difficult cases.
These values, which are a source of inspiration and which positively influence the stability and functioning of a team, should be known, conveyed, and alive! When we say known and conveyed, we mean presented in the organizational message. And by alive, we mean that they are translated into concrete actions.
The manager who wants to inspire their team through sound management values must first become aware of their own values and the influence they have on their management style. Thus, personal reflection allows one to identify the predominant values by answering the following question: what are the values that dictate my decisions and guide my actions? It is understood that the more the targeted values are consistent with organizational reality, the more they are accepted by employees.
Awareness of one's own values is certainly important, but if these values are not disseminated, they have no impact on individuals. This is why the manager must first put into practice, on a daily basis, the values they advocate. In addition to leading by example, they must communicate their management values officially in order to affirm their commitment to respecting them.
Finally, if we consider the context in which the manager has to lead their team, it is easy to see that management values can become an important asset for both the organization and its practices and for the employees. On the one hand, the manager's values can define rules regarding ways of doing things and prioritize behaviors and attitudes. On the other hand, the manager's values can help them in managing their team, which is now composed of baby boomers who seek consistency, members of Generation X who seek competence, and representatives of Generation Y who seek truth!
Now it's your turn to answer! As a manager, what values do you convey?
Posted on May 26, 2008
orhri.org
