What to do to get my work mojo back?

[FlemCandango]

I have had to deal with a difficult situation recently at work involving people I manage/ supervise. I am being professional, rising above it, my line manager and colleagues are very supportive. But it has killed my joy in my work. I hope temporarily but it is much more difficult to motivate myself at the moment. I have been with this employer for around 18 m and got on really well, been promoted while working remotely and was really happy. Now that is draining away and I feel flat. I have to find away through that or find another job. But it is eating me that the catalyst for this feeling is in the behaviour of others it was out of my control, I can only control my response. I know this rationally but I don't feel it. Ugh. How have others dealt with that feeling in a job you were enjoying?

Being a people manager is I am afraid, a different experience and on any day, something can blow up that you need to manage and unfortunately, be accountable for. Even if you did nothing wrong. When you get that first 'really horrible people management' situation it can colour the job forever. We used to call it 'the wall'.

And the difficult situation can unfortunately linger even if you thought you'd put it to bed.

Without knowing what happened, can you have a team meeting that reinvigorates them, work out some new challenges or ways of working that can benefit them in some way [is there a concession that they want that you can give them?]

I used to do a team meeting after any unsettling situation, which gave them all the ability to go through the team challenges in terms of 'internal strenghts and concerns' and external 'opportunitites and threats' [A SWOT analysis] and let them have their say in what they feel the issues are and discuss what is in your power to change. Often a good refocus on aims and targets, and getting things changed to help them out is a good way of making a fresh start with a team, particularly if you inherited them.

Thank you. That sounds sensible. I have been supervising/ managing people for about 5 years but this is the first time I have dealt with a situation like this one not the whole team, just a couple, so a team meeting is not a solution. It is more personal and was about me and the sort of thing I have to rise above, but knowing what to do and doing it are separate issues. The actual incident has been dealt with, it is the ripples that are my problem.

I wouldn't tell them that's why I was having the team meeting. I'd call one to go through priorities and as a support mechanism to see how I could support them all. I'd nominate one of the two to scribe the SWOT issues and take my own notes and agree what I could do and what I couldn't do going forward.

Ultimately the main 'job' of a people manager is team building, to build the team you need to do the job. I would never call it 'team building' but everything I did, was towards the aim of supporting the team to deliver whatever is needed, pushing back where it was not possible and trying to solve their problems. And you need to get ahead of things and build support with the others who can then shut down future ripples.