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The emotional reckoning around work has arrived with full force
Couldn’t sleep for shit last night and am still somewhat tired, so I was browsing business journalism, as I sometimes do, and came across this article about managerial roles in return to work contexts. It’s an OK article. 55 million versions of this article have been written in the past three months. I actually just wrote a halfway-decent edition of this theme, on the importance of quality managerial conversations.
A lot of these articles focus on … well, they take a very heavy emotional focus, like some employees will be anti-vax, some employees will forget social skills, some people will have reconsidered their connection to work during COVID, etc. There are lots of different things to unpack here, and several interesting combinations of how things might go down in different offices as people grapple with “the return.” I’ve already written about one — which is the definition of “culture.” Execs hide behind “culture” as a synonym for “productivity,” which it’s not. In reality a lot of execs wanting a return is because they want to be worshipped in the cubicles, which they’re not at home (status, relevance) — and they are worried about real estate positions. They saw their 2020 returns. They know work, and money, is achievable with people at home. But they’re playing a game aimed at their ego.
At the front-line managerial level, what’s confusing is that yes, this is a very emotional time. Managers are supposed to be able to handle that, but we know from decades of observation and research that most managers are insanely task-focused, trains-running, managing-up types. They tend to not even care that much about their direct reports unless a problem flares up, which is also known as “absentee management.”
Are they really prepared for a moment where the emotional, conversational side of their role needs to become more important? The jury is still out.
You should be able to bring your whole self to work, but again, for the 10,783rd time, work is a transaction at most places. You get stuff done, they pay you. If “bringing your whole self” is preventing the stuff from getting done, then it’s a problem. We need to acknowledge that. The goal, or at least the supposed goal, is “productivity.” In reality the goal is…
