Employee Disengagement

Tales from a Toxic Work Environment #2

  Based on recent behavior patterns, I'm guessing that one of our newest hires may be on his way out.

It became apparent two weeks ago that he had disconnected from the job; showing little interest in learning or expanding his knowledge base, spending far too much time sitting by the machine oblivious to his surroundings, and just this week he has called out two days in a row.

 We only work three days this week, so that's a lot.

 If I had to guess, I'd say that he has burned his limited vacation days, and started in on sick days,  because he wasn't planning to be around much longer.  That's the obvious first step when someone has disengaged and no longer cares about the job, the team, or the company. In my experience the pattern is fairly consistent. 

 I am further qualified to spot disengagement because in my three years here I have gone from proud to be here, to why am i still here, because I stopped drinking the Kool aid over a year ago. There was an incident prior to that point, and that put me in the frame of mind to notice deeper issues, and that's when the realization occurred to me that I no longer really cared about a culture that doesn't actually care about me.
 I had essentially allowed all the joy to be sucked out of my work. That actually hurt, because when I started, I genuinely liked my job for the first time in...forever?

 This plant is less than two years old, so being here for three means I am a member of the founder's club. The original group of twenty people, of which I am a member, has been whittled down to about 13 now. Some have quit, some were let go, but that's par for the course at most companies. But for a company with a reputation for higher retention rates, it should be alarming.

 I've been on four teams in those three years. My first supervisor became a friend, and then she quit to move home to Chicago. She was my first (and last) career coach. We still share a text on occasion.

 My second supervisor was the subject of a prior post, Tales #1, and in the six months that we worked together he managed to say exactly 9 words to me. Once. I was tolerated, and he didn't hide it well.

 My third team was my favorite because my supervisor was an intelligent, down-to-earth ex-cop who actually looked me in the eye and spoke to me like a human. He was respectful, fair, and honest and I respected the hell out of him for it.

 But, I moved once again to a newer line so that my prior line experience could make their startup easier. I get it, but it's not ideal. And like I said, I disengaged a long time ago so at this point i'm just showing up, and those rare positive moments are the only things keeping me sane about it.

 One of the issues that led to this state of mind is all the attention being placed on the glass ceiling here. Being a new plant, there is a lot of room for overhead growth. Both middle and upper management slots waiting to be filled, lots of shuffling going on, and this quickly became a full-time preoccupation for every manager at every level.

 So much so, that it became clear to us on the floor that we were basically alone here. Our support was non existent because it was off brown-nosing and training for the next promotion.

You couldn't get anyone's actual attention because not one of our supervisors were engaged themselves; none wanted the job they had, but were instead sniffing for the next level job they wanted. They simply needed you to make them look good so they could leave you in their wake.

 That went on heavily for about a year, though it has started to slow a bit by now.

 Engagement is still an issue however, so obviously the problem runs a bit deeper than just a group of non-committed managers. Maybe it's a general feeling that the work doesn't really matter. That impression is inevitable when everyone is focused on the career ladder.

 Maybe it's a general feeling that you don't really matter. Certain managers have a way of conveying that message regularly, despite the best intentions of  upper management or policy.

 Maybe it has to do with being treated like idiotic children instead of like thinking, rational adults.

 For example, management has recently started littering the plant with these moron signs, like the one at each trash hopper that says, " This is the cardboard hopper. Only put cardboard into the cardboard hopper". It has pictures. Of cardboard. In the cardboard hopper. In case you're really stupid.

 The walls of every hallway we use are plastered with childish posters depicting aspects of the safety guidelines. From outside, the building is a work of art. The main lobby is tastefully appointed with integral works of art. But when we walk the halls, and it looks exactly like an elementary school. It's quite embarrassing, TBH. They don't rotate or change, so you quickly stop seeing them, but they do increase on occasion. Maybe they're breeding.

 In any event, the filthy undercurrent of discontent that began years ago before the plant was even built has never been addressed, and has therefore grown into an underground movement. Lots of grumbling going on; Lots of unhappy people planning an exit strategy while simultaneously giving this plant a black eye in the form of an employee retention rate that rivals the local 7-11.

The Dehumanizing Treatment of Employees

 Tales from a Toxic Work Environment #1

 Now that we have reached the so-called Age of Enlightenment, wherein socially conscious managers would never dream of forcing arcane rules or personal whims on their underlings, it is considered by most people to be at the very least morally wrong for a supervisor to intentionally create a hostile work environment for personal or emotional pleasure.

 This is exactly the type of behavior I have witnessed on multiple occasions at the P&G Tabler Station plant however, regardless of plant, company or corporate policies. 

 Because to be blunt; Policies don't mean squat in the day-to-day, minute-by-minute operations of a manufacturing plant when people with little to no proper management training are making the little decisions that will affect the lives of their team members.

 In one recent example, a low-level (bottom rung) manager of only three team members with a reputation for constant sexual harassment of female employees set his sights on a newly hired young lady on his team.

 He asked her out repeatedly, and she was placed in the awkward position of needing to explain that she was not only engaged but also not really interested in him, while at the same time preserving his fragile ego so that her new career would not be jeopardized by making an enemy of her new boss.

 Being a friend of a friend, I was allowed to follow this drama through first hand sharing and second-hand followups. She was a sweet kid, and I have a grandfather vibe, so we talked on occasion. 

 Because she was an adult, I didn't presume to stick my two cents into another adult's story.

I never notified HR or anyone who maybe could help her because I tend my own garden.

  Anyway, she seemed to be taking it fairly well in the early stages, and showed a solid sense of humor about the whole thing in general. That is until a few weeks ago when she decided that he had gone too far.

 Because he was the first approval for requested vacation days, she had submitted a request to take her birthday off so she could spend it with her fiance.

 Her request for the day off was denied, despite it being a valid request in every sense. She was disappointed but mature about it, until her boss took that same day off himself. She was convinced that he was exhibiting a childishly spiteful abuse of power, and rubbing her nose in it to boot.
 {if she was nicer to him, he might be nicer to her...}

 She then requested a transfer to another line, any line, in the hope of starting fresh with a fair manager. This request too was denied. Her boss was also an excellent underling, and held in fine regard by all of his supervisors (middle management) because he tells them what they want to hear and appears eager to learn. 

 In my experience, this usually means an ambitious and hungry jackal has his eye on his next promotion, but that's not my problem. The point is, he had their collective ear and if he wanted autonomous control over a team member it was a simple matter of placating his own bosses with some well crafted bullshit.  

 So, feeling trapped with a childish and vindictive drama queen of a boss, this young girl with aspirations of a career with Proctor and Gamble simply quit her new job to seek greener and less painful pastures.

  Her friends suggested an exit interview, so that at the very least someone from HR would listen to her reasons for leaving, even if she chose not to pursue proper recourse.  I don't know if that meeting ever happened; We rotate shifts regularly, so I came in one day and she was just gone.

 It's a shame that stories like hers rarely get told, and maybe that's why I bothered to write it out here for you to peruse. Maybe her life is much better now. Maybe she is reading this with you and smiling at the wasted tears she allowed some saddle-sniffer to extract from her.

 Maybe you or a friend are in a similar situation, and shedding a few tears of your own, and hoping for encouragement. The best advice I can offer is to speak up and speak out.

 Don't allow dark intentions to remain in the dark.

 Drop by the HR office, or just drop an email asking for some advice on how best to correct any misunderstandings you may have with your boss.

 Shedding some light on small miscommunications or outright mistreatment has a wonderful way of bringing the sun out again. 

 And you deserve a bit more sunshine in your life, don't you?

Lao-tzu, The Way Of The Tao: Manage With Care

"Rule a large country as you would cook a small fish"

- Lao-tzu, The Way of the Tao

  Although very little is known about Lao-tzu, the teachings found in The Way of the Tao have become the foundation of a way of life for twenty million people today.

 The name Lao-tzu itself is more a title that literally means "old master" so it could simply be a name, similar to Homer or Preacher in Ecclesiastes, labeling someone who has written a famous or ancient work.

  There is even doubt that Lao-tzu actually wrote The Way of the Tao, or any other one person for that matter. Despite this mystery, the work and it's famous quote stated above are attributed to Lao-tzu, and the followers of the religion that grew from it don't seem to mind.

 The title statement has been misused a thousand times by speakers who simply wanted to appear worldly and educated to his audience, or maybe even to impress a girl by looking like a deep thinker who is well-read. 

 Many of the lessons in The Way of the Tao are open to personal interpretation, and I will simply offer my own as it appears to pertain to the management of a workforce.

With it's terseness and trace of humor, this famous line looks to advise political moderation and the modesty of wisdom. The wise governor governs least and interferes least.

 As opposed to the dangerously broad strokes common to the risk-takers, a bit more tact and diplomacy is called for in today's work environment. 

  

  2015  The Leader Coach    -    JB Stran

Problematic Employees: Close The Complaint Department

 Reclaim Your Valuable Time By Closing the Complaint Department.

  Falling under the "Tough Love" section heading of an SBA advanced management course I attended in Baltimore (too many) years ago, this challenge has less to do with an alienation of the chronic complainer and far more to do with effectively managing your personal resources.

 "I'm Telling Mom!"

 Nearly every team has at least one, and at times it can feel like yours are multiplying.
Regardless of how many of these chronic gripers you are living with, this small group of employees will insist on monopolizing your scarce free time with an endless stream of personal grudges.
 So, how do you safely and respectfully curb this trend, and stop playing house-mother to a few employees who seem to be regressing before your eyes?

 > First, recognize that each individual tends to color the world in their own way.
   This means that we don't actually see the world around us as it is, but rather as we are.
 It will often take new managers up to two years of conscious effort to craft and maintain a perspective of objectivity, something that most professional managers tend to take for granted once they have achieved this level of personal growth.

  Specific to this subject: An habitual liar likes to think that everyone else is always lying in some way, and they both expect it and feel verified by pointing it out, whether or not it actually existed in everyone else's reality.
 Ironically, they are telling the truth when doing so, despite the fact that they are wrong.

 The slacker thinks that nearly everyone around them is also lazy, and their 'time thief' habits are justified because everyone else is trying to get over in some way as well.
 The above examples are little more than basic human psychology, an (albeit feeble) attempt at rationalizing our bad and/or socially unacceptable behaviours.
 "It's OK if I do it, because everyone else is doing it".
   This particular type of mindset taps into a primal survival-instinct:  The irrational fear of being left behind by the herd.*

 The trick for the time-conscious manager therefore is to learn to read between the lines.
 I'm not telling you to stop listening to the complaints, but instead to start hearing what the chronic complainer is actually saying about themselves.
  You will very soon see the pattern of personal issues that require attention, and this will help you to deal directly with the real reason that this person has insisted on tying up your valuable face time with little more than gossip.

 "Twenty percent of your people will occupy sixty percent of your time, and half of that is wasted on pointless whining."    ≈ Anonymous (by choice) retired team manager

 The old adage, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" isn't such a bad rule to live by, and it's far more valuable as a management policy.

 -  Avoid the temptation to view this type of input as an information resource:
  There have been countless "advisers to the throne" throughout history, each with a personal agenda, and each considered a trusted source for a time before having their true motives discovered, usually long after irreparable damage to the boss's reputation or even the kingdom had occurred.

- Understand that for the vast majority of individuals, it is nearly impossible to relate a story or situation to a manager without putting a personal slant on the facts. A minor personal irritation easily becomes fodder for a complaint when they feel that every complaint has value to their manager-friend.
 This naturally leads to the perception that the complainant's real value as an employee is tied directly to their ability to find more things and people to complain to you about.

- Clearly communicate your (new) personal policy with regard to high maintenance employees who seem to spend an inordinate amount of paid time both monitoring their co-workers, and then filing impromptu verbal reports that no one has asked them for.
 Should they really have so little to do each day that they can find plenty of (paid) time to track fellow employees, then maybe the complainers are overdue for some additional duties to keep them fruitfully occupied.
  These self-appointed managers may require a bit of special attention, but you will find this a valuable investment for the sake of the team and it's goals.
 Your proactive approach to this issue will quickly see your daily stress levels dropping along with your personal time becoming far more productive.
  So go ahead: Give yourself a big pat on the back.

  2015  Leader Coach     JB Stran

* The fear of being left behind by the herd (thus becoming food for a predator) is a primal instinct that all humans carry, although deeply embedded in their unconscious core along with their various other survival instincts, such as "Fight or Flight".
 It has been the root of such popular axioms as "There's Always Safety in Numbers" and similar survival concepts, as well as many social adages like "Keeping Up With The Joneses".
 This is a base fear that I have taught many marketing professionals to reach with their advertising in my 1995 book "Marketing To The Cro Magnon Masses", later retitled "Guerilla Marketing".

Effective Employee Communication

How to Communicate Effectively with Your Team

by J.B. Stran

 § To quote George Bernard Shaw:

  "The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has happened."

 In his book "The Three Big Questions For A Frantic Family", management guru Pat Lencioni made it clear that managers spend lots of time and energy to develop and implement very specific and strategic plans for our businesses. 

 At home however, we tend to fly by the seat of our pants with our family members.

 A similar phenomenon occurs within many businesses: We plan and strategize tirelessly to best engage external audiences such as customers, investors, media, and community, while too often forgetting to invest in our most valuable constituency, the employees who have the most control over the future of the company.

 "You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere"      ≈ Lee Iacocca

  Employees have a significant impact on the final outcome of any work project.
 They want to know where the company's heart is, it's vision and values. Your team members will engage or disengage based on the effectiveness of local management's ability to convey these core principles, along with clear, timely and effective updates.

Regular Communication Practices:

  Develop a plan to regularly communicate with employees without making it tedious, especially if you have a younger workforce who tend to find routines difficult.

 Regular meetings don't need to be weekly, but they will be necessary from time to time.

 Pepper in the occasional one-on-one meetings to touch on recent successes and shortcomings.

> Avoid feedback that criticizes the employee rather than their actions.

 Some members are more sensitive to criticism than others, just as some managers may have a personal presence that intimidates or 'rashes' certain employees.

> Ask if employees would like to receive feedback alerts to their smartphones.

 Younger and more tech-savvy team members often prefer to get simple notices from and about the team the same way that they get their news: In small casual bites, and at their own pace.

> Employ social media for company alerts and workforce updates.

  * Tip: Start a Facebook page for employee 'Weekly/Monthly News' updates to foster a feeling of engagement. The team can catch-up with their phones, tablets or computers at their pace, and show up the next day feeling briefed and up to date on the latest happenings that affect them and their goals.

( Now that most teenagers are moving away from Facebook, mainly because their parents have joined and are able to easily monitor them, team communication via this medium can have a more professional flavor.)

Bonus: This could help to eliminate the local rumor mill, and you can delegate the authority for this mission to an entry-level manager or to a particular employee-level (shift managers,foreman, department managers, etc.) whom you feel will remain professional, avoiding local gossip or any other unauthorized 'news'.
  You and your management team are the editors, and they the reporter(s).

 

Feedback in the Workplace:

   Solicit an active system of feedback from your employees.

 This facilitates two-way communication and lets employees know that their ideas are important.

 For managers, this offers the opportunity to gain new ideas, as well as offering some detailed insight into the employee's evolving jobs and skills.

 As an example; While one employee is responding to complaints regarding a company policy or process, another employee may actually have a simple solution to the problem causing said complaints.

 >  Give feedback to encourage continued effort.

  Respect the time and effort of the employee, and take note of specific areas of any shortcomings and  training gaps that will need to be addressed at a future one-on-one meeting.

    "Never miss a good chance to shut up"   ≈ Will Rogers

 >  Listening can be your most valuable communication skill.

  People begin to heal the moment they feel that someone is listening.  Your "open door" policy means very little if you're glancing at incoming emails, or answering the phone, or any of the other subtle and often unconscious ways that managers show a lack of personal interest in what's being said. 

“The most successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.”      ≈  Bernard M. Baruch

  The stronger your reputation as a good listener, the more comfortable employees will feel when they have information to share. This could easily relate to your being apprised of a potentially costly problem long before it has brewed to that stage.

 > Coaching is the best Feedback.

  Coaching is based on mutual respect, strict confidentiality, and trust. Your employees first need to know that you are credible, so only promise what you can deliver.

Managers can create credibility by admitting when they are wrong; never taking credit for another employee's ideas; never denigrating an employee for their ideas, especially in front of others; always indicating a willingness to communicate openly.

 Match actions with your words. If you say you will address a situation in a certain way, then follow through. Anything less, and you are undermining your own credibility.

 Remain objective. Never "spin" or assume how a piece of news will be interpreted.

Questioning effectively is key to the coaching approach. The coach asks questions to achieve:

 - an accurate assessment of where the employee may need additional training,

 - the proper response by management to meet mutual goals,

 - the best path to help the employee find answers for themselves.

“When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.” 
≈ Abraham Lincoln

> Negative Feedback 

 Some situations may cause undue tension on the part of the employee if they are made to feel as if under a personal attack. There are a few steps you can take to avoid this when the time has come for handling a difficult situation and you feel momentarily anxious about finding the right words.

  

 - Prepare yourself. Check facts and positions, and deal with feelings, both yours and theirs.

 - Approach the situation constructively. Humiliated employees will be reluctant to change.

 - Deal with excuses respectively. Accountability is ideal, but some may need more time to get there.

 - Ensure that people can accomplish what they said they will do. Support is always appreciated, and in most cases you will find it reciprocated.

  “We have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionally.” 
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

≈ 2015  Leader Hacker   /   JB Stran

Performance Improvement: Once Per Year is Not enough

Performance Improvement:

 That Single Annual Review Simply Won't Produce Measurable Change

  Most companies participate in the mandatory "Annual Performance Review", often dreaded equally by both management and employees alike.

 As someone who has endured far too many of these psychologically irritating sessions at a variety of different companies, as both the giver and the receiver, I can assure you that the majority of them are little more than an exercise in futility.

 Middle management usually ends up with the responsibility of wading through the stack, as if they don't already have enough irons in the fire, and the tedium alone is enough to make a grown man scream into his pillow.

 Pepper in a dozen Freudian sessions with "the Critics" (that small group of mildly delusional employees who seem convinced that they have been doing all of the company's work alone, flawlessly, and they can't wait to tell you which of their co-workers have been 'dropping the ball'), and you have a fine recipe for a mind-numbingly fictitious quest for performance enhancement.

 There is a better way.

The missing piece of the performance improvement puzzle is timely and meaningful feedback throughout the year.

 Research has shown that providing ongoing feedback in smaller bites, while the situation is fresh in the employee's mind, is far more effective than the annual one hour meeting, and will consistently produce gradual, lasting change.

 Savvy professionals know that frequent contact, encouragement, and recognition with direct and honest feedback has been proven to produce employees who want to perform to a higher standard.

 Communication with an emphasis on simplicity, a focus on the future and support for the employee's self-tracking is a winning combination that will yield measurable results.

 2015 ≈ The Leader Hacker ≈ JB Stran