They treat people like children and then ask why people fail so frequently to live up to their expectations. Managers apply different rules to different employees and wonder why workplace negativity is so high. People work hard and infrequently receive positive feedback.
At the same time, many organizations invest untold energy in actions that ensure employees are unhappy. They ensure ineffective employee relations results. As an example, one of the most important current trends in organizations is increasing employee involvement and input. Organizations must find ways to utilize all of the strengths of the people they employ. Or, people will leave to find work in an organization that does.
According to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, the number of people in the labor force ages 25 to 34 is projected to decline by 2.7 million in the next seven years. To meet this challenge, work places need to recruit new populations and non-traditional employees. And, workplaces urgently need to retain valued employees.
The book, High Five, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles talks about building powerfully effective teams. The book emphasizes that "the essence of a team," according to Dr. Blanchard, is "the genuine understanding that none of us is as smart as all of us."
Teams allow people to achieve things far beyond our own individual ability. But teamwork also requires powerful motivation for people to put the good of the group ahead of their own self interest.
Pull these workplace trends together and it is no wonder that the Dilbert cartoon is perennially popular. Consider that Scott Adams, the strip’s creator, will never run out of material because, despite what organizations want – or say they want - they often fail to:
- retain valued employees,
- develop empowered people working together to serve the best interests of the organization, and
- create an environment in which each employee contributes all of their talents and skills to the success of organizational goals.
The next time you are confronted with any of the following proposed actions, ask yourself this question. Is the action likely to create the result, for powerfully motivating employee relations, that you want to create?
Twenty Dumb Mistakes Employers Make
Here are the twenty dumb mistakes organizations make to mess up their relationships with the people they employ:- Add another level of hierarchy because people aren’t doing what you want them to do. (More watchers get results!)
- Appraise the performance of individuals and provide bonuses for the performance of individuals and complain that you cannot get your staff working as a team.
- Add inspectors and multiple audits because you don’t trust people’s work to meet standards.
- Fail to create standards and give people clear expectations so they know what they are supposed to do, and wonder why they fail.
- Create hierarchical, permission steps and other roadblocks that teach people quickly their ideas are subject to veto and wonder why no one has any suggestions for improvement. (Make people beg for money!)
