Consideration of the Whole Person in Leadership
As a Director, I know that my leadership skills are equally as important as my technical skills. When it comes to managing employees, I strive to take the whole person into consideration, which can mean different things to different people. I am humbled to share some of my experiences on this significant topic that motivates me every day as a leader.
Begin with intention – Begin with the intention that our employees matter – their “whole self” matters. Who we are as a person – personally and professionally – needs consideration in the workplace to balance wellbeing, performance, and sense of belonging.
Make time to get acquainted– Make time to get acquainted with our employees and listen to their cares and concerns. This foundation provides insights into the influence(s) of an employee’s engagement and performance at work. Simple actions to get acquainted include greetings, coffee breaks, walking meetings and the traditional recurring 1:1 meetings.
Celebrate Our Employees – Celebrate our employees with a broader lens. Commonly, acknowledgements are announced for project successes and work anniversaries. A broader lens may include acknowledging and celebrating familial events (i.e., new child, partner, graduation, finding a reliable day-care or elder care for parents), personal accomplishments (i.e., pursuit of new interest(s), hitting a new milestone), and especially overcoming a personal challenge. Depending on the nature of the matter, the acknowledgment may be at a 1:1 level or with others. Simple actions to celebrate employees may include a quick verbal acknowledgment, an email, a greeting card, an announcement at a team meeting or (if appropriate) inclusion in an annual performance review.
Build Trust – Build trust by affirming that our employees are hired with competencies to do their job and reiterate that we work together as a team. Build and demonstrate that trust. Simple actions to build trust may include saying, “I trust you will do your best. I believe in you. I trust you have good judgment and will ask for help when appropriate. You have my support. Thank you for trusting me.”
Build Empathy – Build empathy that is genuine and relevant, which requires more vulnerability and engagement. Leaders may demonstrate more empathy to aspiring employees by sharing our struggles, challenges, failures, judgment, and successes. During the monthly department meetings, I have a casual 5-minute “chat segment” about leadership and management where I share about my views or reflections to offer my staff a broader view of my perspective, values and empathy as their leader. Simple actions to build empathy may include effective listening, acknowledgement, and if appropriate, sharing of our own relevant experience.
Debrief Mistakes and Failures – Debrief mistakes and failures to understand the cause(s) and especially the mitigation(s) and resource(s) needed to support the whole person to succeed. While these conversations are difficult, they are tremendously insightful and essential in building a collaborative organizational culture. Simple action to debrief mistakes and failure may be to call the discussions “debrief” as that conveys an objective purpose. Create a safe space for conversation by inviting the employee to share from his/her perspective. It’s a listening session for the leader, and much later in the conversation, the leader provides their perspectives. Jointly discuss accountability and conclude with supportive ideas and re-assurance of mutual team support.
Incorporate Flexibility – Incorporate flexibility in consideration of the whole person to achieve greater outcomes. Jointly discern with employees the root cause(s) of their challenges and identify flexibility which may support both the employee and successful performance outcomes. Simple actions to leverage flexibility may include rebalancing telework schedule, reprioritizing projects, job-sharing, acting/interim roles, rethinking a project or how work is performed, advocating for relevant workplace policy, and piloting new ideas to discover their efficacy in helping the employees produce greater outcomes.
Leverage Innovative Resources – Leverage innovative resources to empower employees to augment their competencies, address their challenges, and achieve greater performance. Simple actions to leverage innovative resources may include creative staffing solutions, professional development, technology to aid various disabilities (for permanent staff and/or reasonable accommodations), technology to leverage team competencies, and partnerships with other departments, various agencies and/or third-party vendors.
Develop an Organizational Culture that Supports the Whole Person – Develop an organizational culture that supports the whole person because the multiplier effect of each employee yields greater outcomes. Simple actions to build the organizational culture is to talk this mission, being consistent in demonstrating it in action and mentoring team leaders to incorporate it into their managerial style.
Manage for Performance — Manage for performance is my closing remark as we’re all hired to perform our duties. Over the years, I’ve led high performing teams with empathy and support through dialogue about our values, mission, and performance standards. Simple actions to manage performance include performance metrics and workload measures, project management tools, staff schedulers, performance reviews and effective 1:1 meetings.
The journey of leading and managing staff is tremendously rewarding. Contributing to another person’s growth, victories, purpose, and belonging is a challenge and a gift. I hope this article provides a valuable reflection and actions that can be taken in “consideration of the whole person.”
Lauren Lai, CPA, MPA is currently the Finance Director for the City of Milpitas. She has twenty-five years of professional experience as Finance Director for four California municipalities including the cities of Milpitas, Monterey, Marina and Capitola. She has attained two decades of award-winning budgets and ACFRs. Lauren is an innovative and strategic leader in finance, policies and local government.
