• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Alienating employees

employees

Well, well, well!

This year 2020 has been very interesting and it only gets even more interesting. Unfortunately, I cannot just write this piece today totally ignoring the fact that some innocent children were shot, maimed and killed by the people supposed to protect them. 20-10-20 will never be forgotten in this nation. I see it as a nation alienating her citizens and so decided to write on how companies alienate their staff. There is actually a correlation.

I hope we will learn and make adjustments. This has been put together from research and personal experience. This alienation is not to be confused with Marx’s worker alienation which looks at things from a different angle.

A manager’s job is to help guide and encourage employees to reach their ultimate potential. A manager is called to be a leader, but as projects pile up, life gets busy and many things come to take priority. Maintaining and improving one’s leadership skills can sometimes take a back seat. However well-meaning the manager, sometimes they may alienate an employee without even realising it.

Unfortunately, many times the employees may be reluctant to speak up. Their bosses may not find out they’ve alienated them until productivity falls or an employee leaves the company. Below are some examples of what can make an employee feel unappreciated and unfulfilled.

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Projecting disrespect is one of the greatest causes of alienation. When employees are seen as objects, not subjects, disrespect shows up as aggressive body language, disdain, and indeed condemnation. An employee’s confidence is undermined, communication is greatly reduced and motivation is dashed by managers who take on a command and control stance.

Consistently not communicating almost always leads to employee alienation. Whether Project status calls and informal small talk, communication is critical. If you’re not building relationships with your team, they will ultimately head in another direction. This is almost always solved by increasing your communication on a consistent basis.

Consistently micro-managing actually leads to many employees quitting their jobs. They feel they are not being allowed to express their creative potential, which can then be interpreted as a lack of trust in their capabilities. A manager can avoid this by implementing a smarter hiring process and designing a company culture with respectful and clear communication so everybody knows where they stand. There will be no need to micro manage.

Favouring one person consistently over the others is also an alienation culprit. When assigning tasks, ask multiple team members to participate. Consistently complimenting the same person while neglecting the others is all it takes to signal that team members are not appreciated. Productivity requires everyone to perform and favouritism hurts.

Taking employees for granted and not truly valuing them or their contributions, not acknowledging their work and a lack of tangible recognition, especially personal and public affirmation, will lead to them being alienated. Engage others to help you see blind spots if you are doing this unconsciously. Surround yourself therefore with people who can tell you the truth. This will help you be constantly grounded.

Failing to give employees a voice, is similar to micromanaging and is a common mistake that managers make. Employees are not given valid opportunities to express themselves and their experiences. This can cause employees to feel isolated, alienated and undervalued. Managers can avoid this by implementing things like open feedback sessions and/or anonymous feedback surveys that can lead to a culture where feedback is encouraged and employees in turn feel involved and valued.

Not following up with a newly deployed employee, not giving enough guidance, until things go wrong will lead to alienation. Even if busy, managers must recognize that an employee’s success is dependent on individual learning styles, direction, engagement, and follow-up. It’s critical to sit down with new employees often to review their work, give them a chance to ask questions and provide direction.

Interrupting people is a quick way to nonchalantly tell someone that you don’t care about what they’re saying. It also means you were listening just to reply and not seeking to truly understand the person. Avoid that at all costs. Practice listening. It is an extremely important management skill.

Explain the decision-making process to employees in order to engage rather than alienate them. Employees can become alienated if they don’t know the process. A manager has options when deciding how employee ideas will be used: Hear all ideas and make the final decision alone. Have everyone hear the ideas, then all vote to narrow down, with the manager making the final call. All votes count equally and the best idea “wins.” Communicate the option you will use.

Another of the surest ways for a manager to alienate a person on their team is to adopt an adversarial posture. I versus You destroys trust, erodes confidence and silences dissent, all of which ultimately results in alienation and a feeling of not belonging.

Finally, lying about a proposed Job and the culture of the organisation during the interview alienates employees. When the new hire joins, they discover the truth and tune out the boss. Hiring managers will smile and tell their potential hires about the terrific opportunity with a motivated team of pros. Instead, tell new hires the truth about your culture. Surprises are rarely good.

I hope this was useful. Please keep safe.