When the CEO walks out of his corner office and stares into the abyss on a sparse floor, only the abyss stares back. A puzzling question arises. what kind of place is this? What kind of leader am I if few people want to participate? what happened to my authority?
Hierarchy effects, already weakened before the pandemic, were further weakened by the living (and successful) experiment of hybrid work. Duty doesn’t seem to work. And the new leadership methods that management developed while dealing with the crisis during the pandemic will need to be re-adapted. His Zoom meetings from home offer a glimpse into his private life, and all of that openness and vulnerability may have made employees endeared by leaders, but it doesn’t necessarily work now. There is no limit.
Leaders face more than battles in the office, they struggle with their new post-pandemic identities.
The Old Approach Is Not Enough
In response, some seek to reaffirm the traditional degree of control. JPMorgan Chase, for example, made it even clearer in a recent staff memo that it has instructed its managing directors to come to the office five days a week “to set an example.” The memo says employees are failing to meet the mandated goal of being in the office three days a week, “and that must change.” The memo said managers could consider “corrective action” if the team’s attendance did not improve.
Officials at the bank blazed an internal message forum with their criticism, which ultimately led to the blocking of comments, according to reports. Reuters.
“Colleagues have enjoyed a taste of independence, if not freedom,” says Laura Empson, a professor specializing in the management of professional services firms at the Bayes School of Business, City University of London. “We’ve been effective in isolated situations. We’re not going to automatically accept authority like we used to.”
Writer and leadership expert Eve Pool compares this moment of return to power to the paradigm shift that occurred after World War II.
And also, leaders have had to adapt to a world where respect and submission can no longer be assumed given the shattering (and egalitarian) experience of war.
In the current environment, nervous leaders who demand attendance risk creating greater presenteeism instead of better outcomes. “There’s the potential for flatterers to haunt the office and jump over people who aren’t,” says Poole.
“Leaders who want to maintain authority need to have a good grasp of the situation,” she added. “They need to excel as side coaches rather than on-pitch players and in the ability to enable and expect great storytellers to create culture and loyalty.” she suggests. “We’ve proven that we can be trusted, even in extreme situations, so why don’t you trust us now?”
find the right tone
Some coaches continue to believe that they will do better with their bodies. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote: 2022 letter to shareholders: “Many of Amazon’s best inventions breakthrough when they stay after a meeting to work out ideas on the whiteboard, continue the conversation on the way home from a meeting, or stop by a teammate’s office later in the day.” It gave me a really good moment. Think differently.”
To bring employees back to the office, leaders must get their tone and message right. “It can spoil the atmosphere if it’s too informal,” Empson said. “People may like you more, but will they work for you?”
But even in a world with greater employee autonomy and flexibility, people still want leaders to create “guardrails,” said Kevin Ellis, PWC chairman and senior partner in London. said. And guardrails “also help leaders act with consistency and confidence,” he said.
Business executive adviser Roger Steer warns that the desire to establish authority misses the point. The best jobs come when there are strong relationships in the workplace.
“It’s a bit narcissistic and self-important to believe that a CEO should have militaristic authority,” he says. “Great work is a team effort. If someone wants to have authority, they have a problem. You can’t impose it.People choose to follow you or not. People will vote with their feet and walk away.”
His comments reflect Peter Drucker’s management principle that managers should manage people as “volunteers” rather than “conscripts.”
Steven Carter, chief executive of multinational events group Informa, said the company “rarely” mandates a return to the office. “When people ask about this in the office, the only instruction I give is, ‘Be more proactive than you aren’t,'” he said. “Not every week, but over a period of time. You make decisions for yourself and your team. We’re not an ‘existence’ culture,” he added.
Ultimately, leadership authority is given by willing followers. Terry Kelly, who ran textile and tech company WL Gore for 13 years until 2018, puts it this way: discussion In 2010, he said to management guru Gary Hummel: “One of my colleagues said, ‘If you call a meeting and nobody comes, you probably aren’t a leader because nobody wants to follow you.'”
Stephen Stern is a journalist and author. His next book, The Lady Macbeth Guide to Ambition, will be published next year.
