The Inclusion Bites Podcast

Unleashing Individuality: Embracing the Unique in Management

Helen Joy unravels the complexities of middle management, spotlighting the significance of emotional intelligence, empathetic leadership, and nurturing a culture of active listening and genuine curiosity to encourage a thriving team environment.

In the fascinating Voices Unleashed episode of The Inclusion Bites Podcast, Joanne Lockwood welcomes Helen Joy to discuss the unique challenges surrounding management and the importance of fostering psychological safety within teams. Helen articulates the need for managers to tailor their approaches to bring out the best in individuals rather than treating everyone identically. They dive into the impact that corporate decisions and media portrayals have on the workforce and explore how these often stand in stark contrast to the positive interactions that occur on a day-to-day basis. Helen shares her journey towards finding balance in her enthusiastic approach, especially under pressure, while Joanne reflects on the power of self-awareness and the enlightening nature of constructive feedback.

Helen is a management development specialist recognised for her ability to connect and inspire transformative change in people. She has a proven track record in helping managers at all levels improve their listening skills and adapt their leadership styles to better manage teams, particularly in technical environments. Helen and Joanne discuss the often-overlooked role of middle managers, stressing the importance of providing them with the support and resources they need to create thriving teams, and they share insights on Daniel Pink's motivation model which involves autonomy, mastery, and purpose. With a wealth of experience in nurturing positive work cultures, Helen is well-versed in the art of leadership and the nuances of human behaviour in the workplace.

Throughout their conversation, Joanne and Helen examine how empathetic leadership, open communication, and a deep understanding of team dynamics can lead to more effective and humane management. They shed light on the pressures facing managers and the transformative power of listening without the urge to immediately offer solutions. The episode uncovers the surprising benefits of asynchronous communication and the potential pitfalls of technology-enabled micromanagement.

By the end of the discussion, listeners are left with a renewed perspective on leadership and an appreciation for the delicate balance between being a strategic visionary and an approachable, empathetic conduit for team development. Joanne reminds listeners to subscribe, share, and provide feedback to support the podcast's mission for a more inclusive society.

The key takeaway is the critical need for leaders to cultivate environments where psychological safety is paramount, in which employees are seen as unique individuals rather than just cogs in a machine. This episode will resonate with anyone interested in enhancing their leadership skills, understanding the complexities of human behaviour in the workplace, and striving towards creating a culture where every voice is heard and valued.

  Published: 25.04.2024 Recorded: 09.02.2024 Duration: 0:54:23 Downloads:   Shownotes:

• AI Extracts and Interpretations
• The Inclusion Bites Podcast #107: Voices Unleashed
• Other Links
• SEE Change Happen: The Inclusive Culture Experts — seechangehappen.co.uk
• Inclusion Bites Podcast on YouTube

Key Insights:

1. Individual Recognition: Leaders often fall into the trap of treating everyone identically. However, Helen drives home the point that recognising individual strengths leads to greater engagement and productivity. This means tailoring your leadership approach to coax out each person’s unique skills.
2. Psychological Safety: The importance of creating a work environment where every employee feels equally respected and valued can’t be overstated. It’s about instilling confidence in your team to voice opinions without fear of judgement – a cultural cornerstone for innovation and inclusion.
3. Embracing Feedback: Joanne emphasises self-awareness and the ability to receive and process constructive feedback. Actively seek out how others view your leadership style and use that information to adapt and improve.
4. Effective Communication: The episode underscores the art of listening. By refraining from immediate problem-solving and instead fostering open dialogue, you can deepen trust and inspire more nuanced, effective solutions.
5. Empathetic Leadership: Being in touch with the emotions of your team and understanding the stress and pressures they face is vital. This emotional intelligence is central to creating a supportive work environment, which, in turn, enhances performance and well-being.

“Aha Moments”:

• Middle managers, often accidental leaders, require dedicated support to transition effectively from individual contributors to motivators and team builders.
• Empowerment trumps micromanagement: Trusting team members to find their own solutions fosters a sense of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
• The stark difference between polarising media portrayals and the positive day-to-day human interactions is an eye-opener, urging leaders to foster more authentic, humane workplace relations.

Actions for Change:

• Personalise Your Approach: Move beyond one-size-fits-all management. Acknowledge your team’s diverse talents and motivate accordingly.
• Cultivate Safety: Work consciously on creating and maintaining psychological safety within your teams. Remember, this is a journey, not a destination.
• Deep Listening: Practice active listening, ensuring team members are fully heard before jumping in with solutions.
• Be Vulnerable: Show vulnerability as a leader by opening up conversations on feedback for continuous self-improvement.
• Invest in Middle Managers: Develop targeted training and support structures for middle management, recognizing their pivotal role in operational success and staff satisfaction.

Episode Clips

Challenges of Middle Management: “Well, in most organisations, there is this mid level of managers who so often have the hardest job in the business. They are filtering messages that come down from above. They don’t get to make the decisions. The decisions are made up there in those ivory towers of C suites, and they’re cascaded down through varying layers of management.”

— Helen Joy [00:02:16 → 00:02:39]

Investing in People Leadership: “Lots of technical organisations invest huge amounts of money in technical skills and abilities and inductions, but they completely forget that the biggest asset in their business is their people.”

— Helen Joy [00:06:39 → 00:06:49]

Leadership Challenges: “I don’t think that’s uncommon because again, like you say, the bit that’s difficult about managing people on a day to day basis is you are, to a degree, you’re carrying their problems in your head quite a lot.”

— Helen Joy [00:11:13 → 00:11:27]

The Challenge of Reading Wellbeing in Hybrid Work: “And I think for managers who had really good, strong relationships with their team, shifting to hybrid has been easier than people that didn’t. Because again, with people working at home, it’s easy to put a brave face on for 20 minutes while you’re on a call with your boss and then turn off and crumble in a way that you couldn’t do when you’re in the office.”

— Helen Joy [00:13:08 → 00:13:30]

The Future of Work and Motivation: “And I think know if you think about Daniel Pink’s model for motivation, where it’s autonomy, mastery and purpose.”

— Helen Joy [00:16:34 → 00:16:41]

Empathetic Leadership: “As a manager or a leader, the time that you invest in getting to know and understanding your people and having the awareness that go into those conversations without an agenda, just go in and sit down and get to know them as people, as individuals and not as their job title, but just sitting down and saying, right, I’m your new manager. Tell me about yourself, tell me about you, tell me about what you enjoy, tell me about what you don’t enjoy, tell me about what you want to do more of, tell me what your plans, what do you want?”

— Helen Joy [00:23:46 → 00:24:19]

Leadership and Fairness: “And how I treated people got great results from some people, didn’t get great results from others because they needed either more nurturing or more freedom, but because I’d been set this blinkered focus, it took me years to recognise that, oh, if I just give them that and give that.”

— Helen Joy [00:25:19 → 00:25:36]

Deescalation in Management: “But actually recognising how to deescalate things is such a powerful thing to do.”

— Helen Joy [00:35:47 → 00:35:54]

Career Realisations: “Probably six of them would have turned around and said, I absolutely never, ever want to go down that route in my life because I have not got the tolerance, the patience, the desire to be in that role.”

— Helen Joy [00:38:32 → 00:38:43]

The Art of Listening in Management: “When we talk about coaching and getting managers to ask questions and listen and to not think about generating the next question until that person stopped talking and allowing pauses.”

— Helen Joy [00:47:04 → 00:47:16] Please connect with our hosts and guests, why not make contact..?
Brought to you by your host Joanne Lockwood
SEE Change Happen
A huge thank you to our wonderful guest Helen Joy
People Spark

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