Empowering Leadership: Overcoming Team Frustrations and Building Confidence

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The productivity of our team members is directly affected by a variety of frustrations that they may be experiencing.

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It is our job as leaders to eliminate frustration wherever we can.

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Some may be organizational or some related to your leadership style.

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These frustrations could include poor communication, a lack of proper resources or training, no promotions or development opportunities, unfair treatment or favoritism and not holding everyone accountable, and the biggest is micromanagement.

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What are you doing to set up your team for success?

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Please enjoy the episode.

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Welcome to the Finance Leader Podcast, where leadership is bigger than the numbers.

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I am your host, stephen McLean.

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This is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting.

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Please consider following me on Twitter, facebook, instagram and LinkedIn.

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My usernames and the links are in this episode's show notes.

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Thank you.

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This is episode number 127, and I'll be talking about helping our team members overcome frustration, and I will highlight the following topics Number one poor communication.

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Number two, a lack of resources and training.

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Number three holding everyone accountable and treating all fairly.

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And four, developmental opportunities for career advancement.

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The former president of Poland, lech Wałęsa, said it is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.

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This week, I want to talk about frustrated employees in the context that there may be a huge obstacle that is preventing them from accomplishing their jobs even to a satisfactory level.

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Have you ever been frustrated at your boss or your organization because of a lack of, or poor communication, or that you lack a critical resource or training?

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I have been frustrated, trying to remedy the issue myself many times and even sought out leadership to make a difference.

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Now.

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Previously, I have been frustrated, trying to remedy the issue myself many times and even sought out leadership to make a difference Now.

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Previously, I shared an interview with Mike Manilak, who is an accounting manager with Google.

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If you missed that episode, please go back and listen.

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You won't regret it.

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We talked about leadership, career opportunities at the big four and transition to industry, plus artificial intelligence, and how to set yourself apart.

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Now, don't miss out on what Mike had to say.

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It will definitely help you out.

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Our leadership goal every day is to ensure our team is properly resourced and trained.

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They know their work priorities, deadlines and task completion expectations, and also that you have clearly communicated to them, which includes sharing relevant information that they need.

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You want them working efficiently and effectively on their own so the work gets done on time and to a high standard.

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A frustrated employee gets little done, and I'm not talking about frustrations that they cause themselves, which does happen.

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That situation might require some great coaching to help them overcome whatever it is that is keeping them from getting their work done.

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I will talk about the usual topics that frustrate our team, which is a lack of communication or poor communication.

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Do the systems work?

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Are their workstations working properly?

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Do they have office supplies?

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Are they properly trained on the system or application they are using?

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And listen closely.

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Is there upward mobility or are there no promotions available?

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Do you provide opportunities to develop across your team or is it always the same person who gets the high visibility projects?

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Are there rumors about layoffs happening and no one has addressed it?

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Continued frustration leads to a falling in trust for you and the organization.

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Trust is the glue that holds teams and organizations together.

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It always has.

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Without trust, there can be no high level of goal accomplishment.

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Frustration can often lead to eroded trust.

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What can you do to build trust through removing employee frustrations?

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When there are disconnects between leadership and team members, you will not see excellence nor team goals being achieved.

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It will be difficult, for sure.

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Leaders must be improving or clearing up any disconnect in communication or expectations.

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Try to find the root of the problem.

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Talk with your team members to determine how to move forward.

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It may be a number of issues, so be sure to look at root causes and not to assign blame.

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You may need to lead a collaboration session to strengthen communication and teamwork.

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I love collaborating in order to solve a problem.

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People around the team usually have a critical piece of information that can help solve whatever the issue is.

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Use collaboration wisely to help eliminate some frustrations.

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Well, did you realize that we're in the fourth quarter of 2024?

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So it is time to review our goals and our CPE completion rate.

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Are you happy so far with your goal accomplishment for this year?

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What else can you accomplish, or are you on the right track?

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Also, how many more remaining CPEs do you need to earn for this year?

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I put this reminder out all the time during this time of year.

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If you need to complete all of your CPEs by the end of the year, don't wait until December 1st to start.

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You'll need time to submit and then get them approved.

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Now.

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Let's review the goals and your CPE plan for this year and let's get them done sooner than later, and let's start thinking about our goals for 2025.

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Team member frustration can come from numerous sources and for several reasons.

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It's our job to minimize frustration so that our team can better perform.

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We should be creating an environment of winning and achievement Balance the equation for learning, collaboration, excellence and providing the best finance and accounting products to the organization.

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Now let's talk about helping our team members overcome frustration in providing the best finance and accounting products to the organization.

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Now let's talk about helping our team members overcome frustration.

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Number one poor communication.

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This is probably the number one grievance by all employees.

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My boss does not tell me what is going on, and when they do talk, I can't make any sense of it.

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Why do we do this?

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Companies often keep secrets from their employees.

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They have to sometimes, but when this continues to happen, trust will be lost.

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Employees will be guarded in what they will share and how much extra they put into their effort.

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Companies, teams and supervisors who go the extra mile to share real and relevant information pertaining to the future of the company will get more loyalty and more trust.

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Now, please share relevant information pertaining to the future of the company will get more loyalty and more trust.

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Now, please share relevant information quickly.

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I always believe in getting information out to my team quickly.

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This may be information or assumptions that can help with task completion, like factors and variables used in projections.

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Why do you want to frustrate your team by withholding key information that could help make their job easier?

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The key to effective communication is holding a consistent weekly team meeting that is constructed to be truly helpful in sharing critical information.

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Number two a lack of resources and training.

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Do your team members know how to do their jobs effectively?

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Is there a training gap with a system or a process?

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Do they know the business assumptions built into the strategy, because they may need this when they perform projections?

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Are your systems, files or processes clunky, outdated, broken or unusable in any way?

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You may need to oversee an update across the board.

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Do your team members have everything they need to do their jobs and succeed?

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How is your organization's monthly close process?

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That may have got you thinking.

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I recorded an episode on this topic back in September of 2020, and it's still relevant.

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The title is called Improving the Monthly Close Process.

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Please go back to listen on this again and I may be sharing more monthly close episodes in the future.

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Number three holding everyone accountable and treating all fairly.

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Is there favoritism on your team?

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When we don't equally hold everyone accountable for the same standards, there will be tension, I guarantee it.

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You will lose credibility.

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You may also be subject to gossip if you let the standards slip for some and not for others.

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Ensure you hold everyone accountable.

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Accountability begins with your own behavior, standards, character, ethics and much more.

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Explain to your team when there is any deviation.

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Ensure you take the liberties that you are allowed to do so and do not take advantage of your role.

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Use the perks you are allowed, but don't abuse your position.

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And number four developmental opportunities for career advancement.

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Do your team members have a path to promotion in the company?

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Do they have opportunities to get better at their jobs or are they doing the same tasks every day and every week, without recognition and without opportunities?

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Are there opportunities to grow and develop?

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Career advancement requires skills development and experience so you can show your potential for greater responsibility as leaders.

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We need to find ways for our team to grow their skills, to improve and to help get them out of their comfort zone.

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Your team members can get frustrated and even complacent.

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With no opportunities to grow or even to be promoted, your best people will leave you for another organization who can provide those same opportunities.

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Now, another key component of eliminating frustration is micromanagement.

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I have talked about micromanagement many times.

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I don't like to be micromanaged.

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Most people don't.

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Your team does not want you looking over their shoulders, managing every step in the process for those tasks they are performing.

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I want you to hold people accountable, but ensure they are properly trained and resourced.

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You have communicated your expectations.

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They know what is required and when the task is due.

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Please avoid micromanaging your team unless you find yourself in a crisis situation that requires more direct action and leadership.

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Now for action today.

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Are your team members frustrated?

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Have you ever done an assessment to determine the answer to that very important question?

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At a certain point, your team won't try anymore if you are not trying to minimize the typical frustration points.

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How is your team frustrated and what is your plan to fix it?

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If you need additional resources, please visit financeleaderacademycom.

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Today I talked briefly about helping our team members overcome frustration, and I highlighted the following points Number one poor communication.

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Number two a lack of resources and training.

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Number three holding everyone accountable and treating all fairly.

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And four developmental opportunities for career advancement.

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We often don't realize how much our team members are frustrated because we are not paying attention as leaders and we overlook their needs.

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That frustration can lead to lower productivity.

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It is easier to get ahead of these issues quickly, communicate often and ensure you outpace any rumors.

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Additionally, ensure your team is properly resourced and trained.

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It could be as simple as office supplies or having access to the tools they need.

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Leaders, we need to be listening and addressing issues early so our teams can focus on their tasks rather than a frustration that we could probably easily fix.

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I hope you enjoyed the Finance Leader Podcast.

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I am focused on helping this community to become more confident finance leaders capable of transforming organizations.

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You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts.

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If this episode helped you today, please share it with a colleague.

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Until next time, you can check out more resources at financeleaderacademycom and sign up for my weekly updates so you don't miss an episode of the podcast.

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And now go lead your team and I'll see you next time.

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Thank you.

Empowering Leadership: Overcoming Team Frustrations and Building Confidence

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