The More Things Change-The More They Stay The Same
Leaders at every level need their colleagues to, at a minimum, put forth their own quality effort for there to be any chance of real success. Too often, this is not the case. There are many reasons why colleagues struggle to deliver their full power and potential:
Poor manager and/or management
They’re not passionate about their work
They’re not inspired
Poor working conditions
Absence of succession training
When colleagues believe, their organization isn’t headed in the right direction, it usually isn’t. This applies to small business, all the way to the highest levels of government. Take it even further, the US population is divided into arguably two parties, both of which have leadership issues and constituents who just aren’t inspired enough to participate in the Democratic process. Low production or low voter turnout, it all boils down to leadership or the lack of it.
The one constant in most organizations is there are unqualified managers in leadership positions. The result of this is:
Lower profit margins (assumed indirect costs)
Poor customer experience (employees, client and constituents)
Low morale
High turnover rates of good employees/constituents (voluntary quit)
Low turnover rates of poor employees/constituents
Meetings with good ideas but poor results
Poor quality
Questionable safety
Poor housekeeping
High training costs (replacing replacements)
Poor or no communication
Withholding of useful information
With all that said, why is solving the poor management issue not a top priority. Answer: Dissemination. Dissemination of useful information regarding poor management is usually withheld due to retaliation concerns. When a person does finally share useful information regarding poor management, there’s usually no documented data to back up the claim due to the fact, poor management doesn’t want or require organizational perception feedback surveys or exit interviews. Poor managers wouldn’t want honest opinions derailing their goals of a corner office, reserved parking, promotion, pay raise, etc.
Unfortunately, dissemination is the problem and there is no good answer for fixing it. Divulging the useful information upon delivery of a two weeks’ notice might feel good but doesn’t work if it’s delivered to poor management, they’ll just sweep it under the carpet. CHANGE MY MIND!
