Encouraging sharing and trust
Mutual trust is essential to strengthen the cohesion of your team. It is built by going beyond discussions about work-related tasks. Your colleagues need to feel free to be themselves and to share part of their personal lives, which includes the possibility of revealing certain vulnerabilities when necessary. This is where the notion of skills development, linked to Management 3.0, comes in. Like any other skill, effective communication is a muscle that needs to be developed and practised as part of a team.
Practising communication on a daily basis
To improve communication within your team, you can start with simple gestures. At team meetings, take a moment for everyone to share a detail about their life outside the office. Talk about light subjects such as sports, hobbies, music, cooking, etc. ‘I've been walking the dog. I walked the dog last night’, “I'm watching this series”, “My daughter is playing soccer”. These exchanges provide an opportunity to get to know each other better, discover common ground and strengthen links within the team.
Communication in times of personal difficulty
What happens when everyday life gets complicated? How much do you need to share when you or a team member is going through a difficult period that impacts on the work? How much information needs to be disclosed? When these issues are raised, many leaders are reluctant to talk about them with their teams. They often find themselves remaining silent, not knowing what is appropriate to share, or afraid of saying too much.
However, this silence poses another problem: team members will sense that the dynamic is altered, that you are preoccupied or that you are less present at work. This can hinder communication and create a conversational debt within the team. So it's best not to ignore this reality.
In such cases, it's useful to distinguish between sharing personal information and sharing private information.
Sharing personal information
When we talk about personal information, we communicate at a high level to indicate that something is happening in our lives, without going into excessive detail, or even explicitly naming the situation.
Let's take an example: let's say you're preparing for major surgery. The many appointments you've already had have meant you've had to miss work and you're behind schedule. What's more, you'll have to be away for three months to recover. How can you broach this subject with your colleagues in an appropriate manner?
One way of informing the team while remaining general would be to explain that you have a health problem that is under control, but that you need to have an operation, and that the convalescence will last three months, after which you will be back.
This approach allows you to communicate enough information for the team to understand the situation without making it too emotional for you. Even though some leaders may be reticent about revealing a vulnerability, it gives team members a better understanding of the changes they are seeing.
Sharing private information
When you share private information, you are voluntarily providing more intimate details about a situation. Taking the example of a health problem, this could involve opening up about the results of tests, potential complications, the emotions it arouses in you, even the exact nature of the illness or interventions.
As a general rule, it's not necessary for your team to know this kind of detail, unless it becomes really crucial. Some people might feel uncomfortable, or have the impression that you're unpacking your emotional baggage. By not doing so, you are showing your respect for other people's boundaries and time.
Giving out this private information may also lead to an emotional outburst on your part. If someone insists on more information, you have the right to tell them that you don't want to go into more detail at the moment. Unless you're talking to someone you trust very much, it's generally best to avoid this type of sharing at work.
In conclusion
The importance of communication and authenticity at work should not be underestimated. Establishing a personal bond within the team, where everyone shares certain aspects of their personal lives, is perfectly healthy.
However, it's important to find the right balance when you're going through a difficult period. That's where a little vulnerability can make a big difference, especially when it comes to strengthening a high-performance team!
To find out more:
Management 3.0: The Agile Leadership Techniques
