Employee/Staff/Key asset whatever be the term you use for them, majority of the answers to solving organizational problems lie in the understanding of the question: What are you going to do without them?
Autobiography of an organization
When I was born I was a name, a name given to me by my owners, a name having a vision to become big, and soon after, I was also a structure. My logo was engraved on the gates. I had an area, a site which was and is called by my name. It felt good, still feels good to have a space of my own. Soon my owners started on a hunting spree seeking some beings called employees to fill up the space I had. They started with few hundreds, then thousands and then the number kept increasing in geometric progression.
I always wondered why when the “employee” number increases by a large extent, the problems I face don’t decrease by the same extent. After all, the people who filled my place were hired by my owners to help me grow, survive & sustain.
The answer to my confusion or thoughts as you may call it was, managing the mismanaged: Mismanaged talent, workplace and leadership.I have seen ups and downs in my life and realized that each person/employee has problems. There is chaos in their lives, certain issues unresolved; they are tensed about issues that are important for them, issues that are mismanaged.
Managing people is managing the problems that affect their work to a large extent.
-by me, an organization.
Solution lies not just in higher pay cheques or in the concept of “cash is the king”. The solution requires rewarding staff in the form of token of appreciation, an additional time off when it can be given, engagement in team sessions, an out of office get together along with work environment flexibility. It can also be in the form of recommendations that would help them achieve “work – family life” balance- like advising them to engage in activities outside office to rejenuvate them.
Like we feel attached to our home, the company premises are second home to each and every employee. Those who feel valued, who feel they are making a key contribution and are intrinsic to the success of the organization will be far more loyal and committed.
One should keep employees abreast with the issues affecting business through their department and help them clear the hindrances along with use of notices, live chat, face-to-face talks more often. There is a tendency to have meetings on a daily basis and the organizer of those meetings always feels it has been a good initiative, a great task done, to regularly have the team meet up so as to convey information. But isn’t it important to understand whether each person sitting in the meeting has understood the agenda, the resolution and the ideas discussed and not just informed? They were asked to be present in the meeting because they were valued enough to either have a say or hear someone else. While I agree that with high number of people around us, one cannot go around talking to each and every person- but if we are teaching them Time Management can we not demonstrate it ourselves by making time for them. This in turn will lead to a happier and successful second home, an environment friendly enough to promote culture and effective work relationships. It’s a tendency that when we see our employees disturbed, the management thinks of a standard solution being ‘counselling’. Though in reality this may not work.Men can counsel and speak comfort to that grief which they themselves not feel
-William Shakespeare
If you see your workforce is not happy, you assume there is a problem with which they need help. But it is not help that they are essentially looking for. They are looking for engagement. Employee engagement is very common and all organizations follow it at their level and capability. Probably that is why we see a lot of common modes of engagement across sectors.
We know the areas to focus on for Employee Engagement: it could be Training, Rewards and Recognition. Team Building, Group activities and essentially all we do revolves around that. The basic nature of human beings is that he may not admit the reason for his unhappiness, which makes this task difficult.
Man is a wanting animal and rarely reaches a state of complete satisfaction except for a short time. As one desire is satisfied, another pops up to take its place. When this is satisfied, still another comes into the foreground, etc. It is a characteristic of the human being throughout his whole life that he is practically always desiring something.” Maslow (1970)
There is a tendency to benchmark across sectors and do things for employees to engage them and make them feel important. Apart from what is common, other things that can be done are:
*Having an In-House Magazine to promote a cooperative & sharing culture.
*Brown bags: Wherein employees carry their lunch from home in a brown paper bag. This is generally a training or information session during a lunch break. The lunch can be shared with others over informal talk.
*Focus on underperformers: Those who won’t be engaging no matter how much training and communication you provide.
It’s time to get involved and create a personalized engagement action plan for them.
*6-6-6 Session: Initiative to have a one on one meeting with HR for new employees on their 6th day,6th week and 6th month.
*Birthday Collage Display: Printout of the birthday celebrations can be displayed on the bulletin board.
Overall, if we can engage the employees, we might just be able to manage the unmanaged.
Overall, if we can engage the employees, we might just be able to manage the unmanaged.
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