BY Laura Ashley-Timms, below, COO of performance consultancy Notion and co-author of the new management bestseller The Answer is a Question
Rising stress is causing a rapid increase in incivility (or rude behaviour) at work, according to the latest Gallup State of the Workplace report. Worryingly, being on the receiving end of incivility can almost HALVE an employee’s effort. This is the last thing organisations need amid an engagement and productivity crisis, as only 23% of the global workforce is engaged.
What can SMEs do to tackle this pressing issue?
Why stress is so rampant at work – still
Stress at work is not a new phenomenon. Many see it as “part of the job” that you cannot avoid feeling some form of stress in the workplace. But left unchecked and unsupported, stress can easily snowball into overwhelm and burnout for employees and leaders alike. While the pandemic accelerated workplace wellbeing to the top of the priority list for most organisations, sustainable change still hasn’t been achieved. In fact, employee wellbeing declined globally in 2023.
People are more protective over their mental health and well-being at work than ever before. 81% of employees worldwide would even prioritise their mental health over a high-paying job. In a post-COVID workplace, if staff feel like those around them hinder their well-being, they’re more likely to lash out. And their wellbeing is being hindered, with many leaders still trying to navigate the unprecedented changes to the world of work caused by the pandemic. Organisations are struggling to adjust to remote and hybrid working models, the impact of colleagues not seeing each other as regularly, and changing ways of communication spurred on by technological innovation. This is inevitably creating tension in workplaces globally – staff have shorter fuses. They are growing more restless and frustrated with the lack of support, causing motivation to take a nosedive.
The elephant in the room and the key contributor to stress within the workplace is poor management. Indeed, those who work in companies with bad management practices are nearly 60% more likely to be stressed than those working in environments with good management practices. Seeing as managers have the same impact on employee mental health as their partner (both 69%), this is an urgent issue that SMEs need to tackle.
So, what are our managers doing wrong? Unfortunately, they just aren’t being equipped with the right training and skills to help their people thrive. Shockingly, 82% of all managers who enter a management position have received NO formal management and leadership training, according to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Labelled as “accidental managers”, these employees are typically promoted into management positions due to their exceptional technical skills, not their people management skills. Thrown into the deep end of managing a new team, these accidental managers haven’t had the opportunity to hone the necessary skills to handle the “people” side of leadership. Such uncertainty from managers over the best course of action leaves people feeling stressed, un-supported and unable to take action.
What SMEs – and their managers – can do differently
Equipping capable managers with the right skills to handle the people side of their jobs will reduce stress and the rise of workplace rudeness. But which skills? You might be surprised that the answer is the underutilised skill of purposeful enquiry – learning to ask intentional and more powerful questions of others. This means being less directive and instead learning to become an enabler of the thinking and capabilities of others by adopting more of an enquiry-led approach.
When managers learn to ask more powerful questions of their teams when problems arise, they invite the other person to contribute their own ideas in the moment rather than offering immediate solutions, which can marginalise them. A well-intentioned question can stimulate their thinking and engage their problem-solving abilities, which, in turn, could lead to a better outcome. The employee will feel a stronger sense of ownership over the solution – it’s theirs, not the manager’s – which naturally boosts their confidence and resilience to tackle day-to-day issues more independently. When staff feel more autonomy over their work in this way, they are more engaged, and stress is more easily kept at bay. Ultimately, managers create a psychologically safer working environment where collaboration, instead of friction, can thrive.
Operational Coaching® as the key to stamping out incivility
Using an enquiry-led approach is the critical component of a new style of management called Operational Coaching®. Described as “the missing superpower”, asking questions that engage the thinking of others has been proven to generate hugely positive outcomes for organisations and their workforce.
A UK-government-sponsored randomised-control trial conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) measured the impact of managers learning to adopt this fresh approach to managing others. Implemented simultaneously across 62 organisations in 14 sectors, managers learned how to apply a new model for changing their behaviour (the STAR® model), and LSE collected data for 49 separate measures to assess the impact that practitioners were having. The results proved (statistically significantly) that managers were spending 70% more time coaching team members in the flow of work than before. Their capabilities also improved across all nine management competencies measured, contributing to a six-fold improvement in employee retention.
These robust results pave the way for many more managers to learn how to adapt their management style for the benefit of their teams and themselves. If managers are better trained to handle the people side of their roles, EVERYONE would feel less stressed and less fraught with one another. Operational Coaching® leads to more engaging, productive, inclusive and collaborative workplaces where everyone’s contributions are valued. Managers who can cultivate these environments can stamp out incivility.
Laura Ashley-Timms is the COO of performance consultancy Notion, creator of the multi-award-winning and internationally certified STAR® Manager programme used by managers in over 40 countries. She is also the co-author of the new management bestseller The Answer is a Question.
