Who's The Cost Of Your Neglect?

Who's The Cost Of Your Neglect?
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The Bear - who’s watched it?

It’s incredible.

If you haven't, it's about a pretty grotty family run restaurant in Chicago, which, after the tragic death of the eldest brother, is taken over by the youngest brother of said family, who happens to be a very talented and respected chef.

I’ve spoken to many people about The Bear and a lot of them say they have given up after the first few episodes because it can be quite stressful to watch.

People shout at each other, a lot. Trying to suppress their own personal issues all whilst dealing with the pressures of service and incredibly high standards.

If any of you reading this have worked in a professional kitchen, you’ll see your past experiences in this show.

However, I can almost guarantee that anyone who has worked in a team, where standards are high and expectations higher will connect with it too.

Why do these characters argue so much?

Why can’t they see and hear each other?

And why can’t they have honest conversations?

The importance of Purpose

We talk, often, about the importance of purpose in your work, but purpose alone isn’t enough. Look at the example of ‘The Bear’ - purpose is easy: be the best restaurant in Chicago, exceptional food, exceptional experience for the customers.

Does this concept connect with you?

Look at your organisation’s - be the best (insert your profession) in the UK to make you clients (insert; happier, richer, more time with family, more secure, more consistent etc etc).

Although this is honourable - and in fact vital to the success of your business - it is not enough.

As I said, Purpose alone is not enough.

And here’s why:

Whether we like to admit it or not, we are all complicated human beings with stresses and strains in our lives. It is antiquated and unhelpful to pretend that external pressures don’t influence you at work, or that work pressures don’t influence you at home.

Now, resilience and high performance has 5 vital components. Without a recognition of and commitment to all 5 of them, standards will drop, people will leave, and a company will not reach its potential. Something or someone will be sacrificed.

I’d like to talk about 1 of the 5 vital components of high performance.

Care.

Care is just so important. Some of it is obvious:

For example, care for your work, to care about the standards and to sweat the small stuff.

But, also, care about your colleagues, personally and professionally. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends but it does mean you have to acknowledge and respect that they are whole human beings. They have stresses and strains just like you, be it the rising cost of living, tricky teenagers, remortgaging, relationship breakdown, loneliness, grief etc etc and you are equally responsible for contributing to the creation of an environment, at work, where they can thrive and belong.

And finally, you must feel cared for. If you don’t feel cared for you will not say that difficult thing, you will not speak up, you will not listen. If you are not cared for in the workplace you will burn out. Your mental health will be fragile and you will be the one who is sacrificed. And I am not simply talking about losing your job. I have seen it too many times!

Leaders, this is on you. Do not let this happen on your watch. Do not let someone be the cost of your neglect.

So how do you increase the level of care?

Well, it is something you have to work on everyday and must be intrinsic to your culture.

Here are some ideas to help:

>> Stop emailing unnecessarily - make time to go and talk to someone face to face. As David Richmond CBE said in our recent virtual workshop, ‘leave behind the notebook and go park your bum on someone’s desk’. Click here to catch the replay.

>> Take a lunch break - sounds simple, but so many don’t. Rest is as important to high performance as work is.

>> Go for a walk with a colleague and don’t talk about work. Get some sunlight on your faces. You’ll feel better, stimulated and re-energised.

>> Ask how someone’s weekend was and actually listen to the answer. You could challenge yourself to find out something new about each member of your team, every week.

>> Make sure that feedback is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of it, and that it is specific, detailed and generous. Check out our top tips for meaningful feedback.

This list could go on and on. I suggest writing a few more down for yourself.

Now back to my favourite Tuesday evening viewing: The Bear.

Ironically, in making a programme about a dysfunctional business with complicated people that don’t listen to each other, the team behind it had to be anything but.

For the actors to be able to perform so brilliantly, to a person, they have to be so generous; they have to be so present and listen completely; they have to be empowered to make decisions about their performance and know that they are trusted to do so; they have to be authentic and they have to know that they are contributing to something greater than themselves. And they have to want the best for each other. As they say, a rising tide lifts all ships.

They are living and breathing the 5 components to high performance discussed above:

  1. Authenticity

  2. Care

  3. Empowerment

  4. Presence

  5. Purpose


All of these intersect. They are all vital, And, they are all your responsibility.

Click the link here and take INTENT:  to see if you’ve set up the right environment for your people.

Any questions, you know where I am.

Jonny

By Jonny de Mallet Morgan 05.09.2024