Mitigating Pain in the Workforce

By Anne Welsh – Founder and CEO Painless Universal
September 20^th, 2020.

CEO’s all have preferred styles when dealing with staff, investors and clients.  A possible style can include a keen theme of empathy and kindness, especially when focusing on qualities that are needed to lead a team.  Many CEO’s believe that exhibiting these traits reduces unnecessary pain that would otherwise be in the organisation and consequently,  leads to better worker loyalty and productivity. 

As a CEO one of the most difficult jobs is to make sure that people feel safe at work and that requires that empathy is exercised.  Here are some things that should be considered when leading a team.

1. GIVE TRUST BUT DON’T ASK PEOPLE TO “EARN YOUR TRUST”: A manager could empower his team to make their own decisions, allowing the team leader to own his own results and learn from his mistakes.   That does not mean I don’t give feedback, but I relish the growth of a person finding they are capable of executing complex work on their own.   This approach will also demonstrate to you how individuals perform naturally. Even though you may give trust, you must also take that trust away if merited.    
2. BUILD SPEED BY BUILDING A STRONG WORKFORCE CULTURE: Most companies have problems with this because playing a short term game often brings in better financial results early on but sacrifices longer term efficacies. It must be transparent to management and investors, that to build speed comes at a monetary cost to the organisation.  If implemented correctly then bickering goes away, strategic alignment is well known deep into the organisation and everyone is working to achieve those goals as quickly as possible.  A proper reward scheme can then be much more effective.
3. MANAGEMENT CANNOT BE AFRAID: Typically, management act like tyrannical bosses instead of mentors. Why? Because team leaders often feel threatened if underlying’s start performing at a high level. The manager must therefore become a listener and exhibit humility. Empowerment of staff will come naturally.  This trait should be visibly rewarded by executives in the organisation.

By accomplishing the implementation of these principles,  the pain of confrontation and fear will be diluted in the organisation.   The staff will likely treat a crisis with reciprocal empathy when it occurs.