We are now Soft Bossing but what does this mean?
It all comes back to the line we hated hearing most throughout our career “It’s not personal, it’s business”. For us, it’s a phrase to justify cold, impersonal behavior in toxic environments, completely dismissing real people with emotions, values and relationships involved.
At Leading Her Way, we say: It’s not business, it’s personal.
Because for women – especially those navigating leadership, careers, motherhood and wellbeing – guess what?! It’s always personal. Our energy, our cycles, our nervous system, our values… they don’t clock out when we start work.
This is why our focus is on empathy and emotional intelligence. As leaders, we fully prioritize understanding and empathizing with our team’s perspectives and place tremendous importance on building positive relationships and trust within our team.
Rather than making unilateral decisions, we involve our team members in the decision-making process and truly value any input we receive.
In our Soft Boss Era, we put importance on acting as mentor and coach, guiding our team towards personal and professional growth. Soft Bosses really give constructive feedback and with that foster opportunities for development rather than focusing solely on critique.
For us, Soft Bosses are highly self-aware and flexible in their management style, with that we are adapting to the needs and preferences of individual team members, not letting our ego get the best of us. We understand the importance of work-life balance and accommodate requests for flexibility and truly recognize the significance of wellbeing of the overall team. Soft Bosses don’t only support with stress management but also make sure their teams take breaks when needed and encourage to be truly offline when being out of office.
“When you are in your Soft Bosses Era, you emphasize on using positive reinforcement to motivate and recognize your team’s achievements and efforts.”
We truly love celebrating the success of our team and boost a supportive environment where everyone feels valued. Open communication and transparency are key here. Promoting open communication channels where the team feels comfortable expressing new ideas but also concerns and feedback.
Overall, LHWs Soft Boss Era represents a shift towards leadership styles that prioritize employee wellbeing, aiming to create supportive and productive work environments for everyone, which are sustainable on the long-run and hopefully lead to the end of hustle culture and burn-out. It truly is a collective effort for all of us!!
Does this resonate with you? What is your experience with leadership so far? We would love to hear from you!
LHW x
