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&
ENERGY
they don’t bump it up the ladder. They take
it on and resolve it on the spot. You can’t
empower people if they don’t really have
a voice. The payoff is that you are more
responsive to the customer, and you get
problems fixed.
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I’m thinking of the bosses I have had.
If someone was likable, it was probably
because it was someone I trusted. If a
person is real and genuine and says what he
means and follows through, he gains cred-
ibility, and that can make a big difference
in likability. Someone who treats people
with respect earns respect as a result of that.
A boss who is abrupt, rude, disrespectful
and controlling is not effective with today’s
employees. You get surface compliance and
underground sabotage.
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The most effective way to influence moti-
vation is to provide immediate, eye-to-eye,
specific feedback when, as a manager, you
see something you like. You ask yourself
what was it the person just said or did and
comment on the specific behavior, not just
about how Harry is so nice or such a swell
team player. It’s about what Harry did, so
that he knows exactly what it was, and he
can do it again later. If you’re being honest,
sincere and specific, it’s almost impossible to
give too much positive feedback. Those are
the supervisors we’d walk through fire for.
This explains why you can have four
teams with the same salary and compensa-
tion, and one team outperforms the others,
and there is higher morale and lower turn-
over. It’s probably because the supervisor
is tapping into what the employees need
and helping each employee value them-
selves. The front-line supervisor is the key
person in every organization. They have
the power to make it good or miserable.
Employees don’t leave companies; they
leave supervisors.
Feedback is also the first step to dealing
with unacceptable performance. When you
see something you don’t like, you’ve got
to nip it in the bud. You can’t let it slide.
If you don’t say something right away,
you’re telling them that it is OK. You
must give immediate negative feedback
whenever an employee doesn’t meet your
expectations. A lot of supervisors figure the
employees know better, so I’ll say nothing.
Then after they’ve done it 20 times and you
try to discipline them, they can’t understand
why. One expert reminds us that what we
permit, we promote.
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The healthiest companies are the
ones where leaders truly value feedback.
If you’re perfect it’s not necessary, but
since that’s not likely, any information
you’re given on what you’re doing and
how you can improve it can help you get
better. Feedback is the mirror that many
of us don’t want to look into. We ask for
feedback when what we really want is vali-
dation. If we don’t want honest feedback
we shouldn’t ask for it. But employees will
always talk about the boss. Would you
prefer honest feedback to having people
talk about you behind your back?
Honest and free-flowing feedback can
also prevent problems. It’s tempting to cover
up issues or shade a problem so my team
doesn’t look bad. The unexpected result of
hiding or filtering feedback is that leaders
don’t get an accurate picture of what’s going
on. They make flawed decisions because
they’re dealing with flawed data.
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Every company is fighting the history
and baggage that each employee brings
from all the places they have worked – the
dusty suggestions box that was never
opened, or the boss who asks “What do
you think?” and then spends three hours
explaining why you are wrong. We have all
had those bad experiences. Over time, you
have to show that you are not only listening
but also hearing and using their ideas – and
make sure everyone knows that change
comes as a result of employee input.
The other side of that is that if you’re
not able to use that input, don’t ask for it,
because that is a tremendous de-motivator.
Don’t ask for input unless you want to know
and will use it.
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If you have a foundation of honest
communication, that helps. If bosses talk
openly about the future and the competi-
tion, it’s easier to explain when you have to
make changes. It takes more time to do that
kind of communicating, but if you want to
be successful, it’s important.
Of course, it’s also a lot easier to get
them to take on new or additional responsi-
bilities if you compensate them fairly. Many
organizations have been running lean for a
long time. Most of our employees have been
willing to jump in and take on something
extra, but at some point it’s going to
start to break down. That willingness
is being stretched to the limits in
many organizations. Leadership
has to look at how hard they can
push people. Do we need to give
better raises or more accurate
titles? Do we need to bring on
more staff?
There are some gen-
erational
factors with
this. I’m an aging Baby
Boomer, and many of us
peace-and-love Boomer
types became incredible
workaholics. But the
younger folks that are
just coming in are not
willing to do this –
they want to have
a life. As we boomers
start to leave the work-
force, companies will
have to start adding
bodies. I see this as
the coming crisis of
the next 10 years.
We can’t just keep
dumping more and
more on employees.
Employee Relations
