This post is a kind of book review. To be honest I'm not a great reader but when I heard about this book I absolutely had to read it. If I had written a book, it probably looked like this one : "La comédie (in)humaine" from Nicolas Bouzou and Julia De Funes. I have mostly the same vision about companies like them and that's why I'm writing this post.
Many people (maybe you too) observed some changes in our organizations. Bad changes. They affect everyone in the companies, employees with seniority and even the new graduate employees. Seniors have the feeling to have lost something, the youngest has the feeling not to find what they expected.
I work in the same company for 10 years, so I can tell you I've really seen evolution. When I started this job, I was in a small team : it was nice, we were somewhat close and supportive. We had work to do, some rush times, but we had time to live, time to laugh, time to take a break. It was comfortable and I liked my job.
Then the years have passed and a wave of industrialization came up. The department where we were maybe 4 became a big department where we were like 50 (centralization, cost rationalization, optimization). They regrouped every person in all business units, to build one unique department. Our functions changed like we were in some old Ford chain : more control, more validation, more work, more meetings, more emails (so many), more responsibilities for fewer tasks (weird), some management decisions we didn't understand. Our job had a meaning for us and in some years we completely lost it. Sometimes I think, "am I too jaded to be objective ?".
Now I work with freshly graduate employees and when I talk to them they don't understand either the management decisions or the organization. In a way I felt reassured, I'm not an old bitter lady, yet. But I'm sad to see more and more fresh employees making burnout, leaving totally their carrier for a new path while they spent so many years studying. So much demotivating.
Where companies are so wrong ? What are they missing ?
I'll try to translate you the introduction of the book, it was so meaningful for me : "Lots of companies are governed by fear, process, useless meetings, endless PowerPoint and managers not able to lead".
Control, process and fear
If I had to make my own burnout recipe, I'll say : mails, meetings, process. Have you ever counted the hours you spend in meetings by months or weeks ? How many times you heard someone telling you that he can't do his job because he has too many meetings ? How many times have you joined a meeting without understand why you were invited and it was a total waste of time ? Sometimes you have the feeling to start your work at 5 PM because you had absolutely no second in all the rest of the day. Every meeting is under surveillance, you note who is here, who is not here, who is in charge of what action and the email is sent to everybody in the universe. We are so stressed that we need to put names behind every move just in case we have to hit someone. There is no more support, no more trust.
And how companies solve this lack of confidence ?
By setting up a team-building every year to remind us that we have to be kind to each other. Honestly, in my head I just think : "I love you so much guys, tons of fun when you never replied to my emails. I'm so happy to be with you today". Yeah... Do you really think I'll love my job more because I have free food and booze for one day ?
Give me a break.
Difference between chief-manager and leader-manager
In the book they really put on light a major fact : companies see the role of manager as a promotion. And that's a big mistake. People can be excellent in their job and also terrible managers. All people who are looking for awards or glory, all people who think that becoming a manager is an achievement or a victory. They can't be good managers. A manager has to be a leader and a leader is someone who defends his team and helps them grow. He's not worried only about himself and his podium, he's also worried about you. Most managers act more like they absolutely don't know what you are doing in your job they don't care but they take decisions for you, and if your reports are bad they'll call you to justify your actions because it's obviously your fault (who else ?). I lived in that type of situation, you feel so lonely. That can't be good for the company when people always looking for someone to blame.
This video of Simon Sinek gives some very relevant examples if you're curious about it : Why good leaders make you feel safe
So, how companies solve this management promotion problem ?
Honestly, I don't know. Do they try ? I think they make progress on this point but God there are still so many toxic managers : one of them was so good in harassment that he convinced me to change my job. Finally, that was a good decision for me, but I'll not thank him. I lost all my self-confidence, thinking I was not doing a good job... That broke me. And I'll never want to go back to that job.
Ubiquity doesn't make happy
Companies offer more and more services to the employees : creche, pressing, sports, hairdressers, etc.
My first impression was optimistic because you can do this activity easier at work. But when you look closer, you realize that you spend all your time at work even your personal time which is supposed to be private. Your company is supposed to give you a personal lifetime not encouraging you to stay more at work. They totally kidnap your life in the company.
With the covid crisis I worked in full remote, it was so hard for me the first weeks, it was like my house was smelling work everywhere, every day, even the weekend. I had real difficulties to think about something else, to fall asleep. And I felt so lonely without my colleagues to make some jokes and slow down the pressure.
When your company makes you suffocate like that, that's not a good point. You live for you, not for them.
Giving meaning back in our companies
Regarding all those incredibly optimistic facts, the authors let to the companies some advice to save the great Ryan soldiers that we are. I'm going to illustrate some of them, the most relevant to me.
- Reduce meetings by 50%. Invite only the absolute necessary people and ask them to prepare the meeting before coming. Start with a goal and don't close the meeting until you achieve it. Don't suggest planning another meeting or it'll never end, that's not a psychotherapy session.
- Give autonomy to your employee. You have recruited them, you have to trust them. Stop monitoring them and don't restrict them behind tons of processes. Let them organize themselves. We all make mistakes and that's worse under pressure and permanence surveillance.
- Define understandable jobs. Job titles are more and more complicated, we don't understand what they mean. Don't hide job behind some weird or vague words. In a company you need to understand the role of everyone, you need to know who is who and how to contact them and why. If no one knows what you do, you'll be a nobody. For example, today we put "consultant" behind everything, everybody is a consultant. Consultant of what ? Sometimes I don't know. Be more specific, give us a purpose, something meaningful.
- Identify true leaders. Why are you promoting people who don't even know what their team is doing day after day ? They can't defend the team, they can't help them grow. An illegitimate authority is useless. Take someone known by the team and recognized by them. We need to feel that our manager is with us and not against us.
Well that'll be a good start with that.
Thanks Kevin.
Don't forget the cookies for Kevin.
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