GREAT LEADERSHIP: ENGAGING YOUR EMPLOYEES
May 25, 2022
A major reason why employees get disengaged is that they feel their immediate supervisors are not addressing their problems nor sincerely considering their opinions. Buckingham and Coffman explained this very well in their ground-breaking book, “First, Break All the Rules”. Unfortunately, many executives and managers usually blame the staff and they try to fix this by calling on everyone to improve their attitudes, have more fun at work, and be thankful for their jobs. This causes staff to stay negative because they know they are being blamed and, ultimately, the problems and issues continue to be unresolved.
The solution is good managers and supervisors. Thankfully, the managers and supervisors are the solutions. Executives can’t do what only managers and supervisors can do. Paul Hawken summarizes that good management is all about the “art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.” Good problem-solving engages everyone.
HOW EXECUTIVES CAN HELP MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS
Look to your managers and supervisors - Adopt Buckingham's mindset that "if you are losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, this is why people stay and thrive in an organization." Expect more from your managers and supervisors.
Help with executive-level decisions - Find the problems and issues that require executive-level decisions and make those decisions faster. Own your part in this. The staff will respond and engage more when they see that their managers and supervisors can get executive-level answers from executives.
Be mindful of dismissals - You shouldn't tolerate ongoing staff negativity but be mindful when managers easily recommend the dismiss staff because they have become negative. Find out why they are negative and see if managers and supervisors are slow to address issues.
