Management Miscommunication
Posted by Clive Simpkins on: 2005-08-23 22:08:48
There’s a new disease spreading rapidly through marketplaces. Its main symptom is employee unhappiness. The cause is simple: management is out of touch with the concerns, needs, and aspirations of their co-workers. I refer to them as co-workers rather than employees because that’s what they are. ‘Employees’ implies a sort of indentured servitude. If one takes into account the global preponderance of young people in most populations, we’d better start re-thinking our engagement with them.
I watched in awe a BBC ‘Hard Talk’ interview featuring an erudite middle aged Muslim professor and a young, ordinary man from the British-Pakistani immigrant community. The discussion centred around ‘de-radicalising’ young people. There was a low level of rationality on the part of the young man regarding how the British Government should ‘handle’ young Muslims. There was a clear need for a ‘voice’ – and the expectation on the part of the young man was that British society should adapt to the needs of Islamic youth and that it was largely Tony Blair’s responsibility to ‘make the first move’. This is a beautiful illustration of precisely what older generation business managers are facing. We can all learn from it.
The people problems occurring in most organizations come today from the expectations gap between management and co-workers. Erudite editor of South African newspaper Business Day, Peter Bruce, wrote in his ‘thick end of the wedge’ column on 1st August 2005 that South African companies have to ‘somehow delink profits and pay. In an ideal world that might be possible. But we don’t deal in an ideal or indeed ‘real’ world. We deal in a nebulous arena of emotions and perceptions. Rationality should theoretically have co-workers understand that they may not have what it takes to crack the exclusive upper echelons – which is precisely why they’re co-workers. But they don’t see it in those terms. They don’t factor in sophisticated fiscal literacy, the ability (or as recently demonstrated, the inability!) to negotiate with Unions. The capacity to develop a strategic plan for the organization and see it through in solid tactical implementation terms is not rated. Their thinking is a lot more simplistic: something along the lines of, ‘You drive a fancy car and only work eight hours a day with too many expensive luncheons in the package. I have no car, work horrible shifts and earn a fraction of what you do. That’s simply not fair.’ It can be that reductionist.
What then of the young people – exemplified by the youthful Muslim wanting the British Government to upend the ‘traditional’ UK way of life to accommodate his immigrant life-style expectations? Management need to keep open lines of communication. If you invite feedback, you’re going to get it – and it could be depressing. Some of your best intended initiatives will be trashed and ‘dissed’ – meaning disrespected. Your most noble intentions may be misunderstood and rejected. Your commitment will possibly be unappreciated. You need to get representative age-compatible people to play the role of intermediary. Give the young people the forum and the voice to express their expectations and needs. Equally, empower them by requiring that they come up with a variety of proposed solutions to address those needs. Otherwise, you’re simply going to fall into the trap of becoming a bleeding heart ‘Dear Abby’ or Ann Landers columnist trouble-shooter.
If you’re not careful, it’s all too easy for your ‘open-door policy’ to spawn a clutch of complaining employees. It can be confusing when we’re faced with the ‘demands’ and seemingly very self-centred expectations of the younger generation. Truth is, they’re going to be running the ship (however ineffectively in our irrelevant view) in the near future. So it makes sense to create a rapprochement and a climate for engagement now. Let them propose solutions. Build reviews of the solutions into your process. Press them for refinements when those ‘solutions’ are found to be wanting, and press again until the system works. A helpful and stress-reducing approach is to give up on the idea that there’s only one solution because there seldom is.
Control, imposition of authority and positional power are not the ingredients that work with young people today. They’ll respect you for what they see you do – not for what you are by way of title or social status. They’ll contest your ‘time-honoured’ approaches and methodology in a sometimes highly abrasive fashion. Learn to laugh with them, at yourself and lighten up. The world is a rapidly changing place. We have two choices: go along for the ride, or step off the planet real quick while you have the chance!
About the Author
Clive is a marketing and communications strategist and published book author. His speciality is facilitating sustainable change in individuals and organizations. Website: www.imbizo.com
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