Globally there is a slow erosion of those binding forces for people to “go that extra mile” . The employee-employer psychological contract is degrading. The degree to which people identify with their job and consider job performance as important to their self-worth is slipping .In our recently published survey Focusing Change to Win identified the main culprits:
- Poor Planning
- Lack of Leadership
- Inconsistent leadership
- Poor Implementation
- Lack of Adaptability
- Lack of Communication
- Lack of Control
More than ever, we need to repair, build and protect the trust people have in their employers.
In North America, our evidence from 8 expectation alignment projects ranging from Royal Bank of Canada through Nature Conservancy to Turner Construction shows a clear trend. Leaders consistently under-estimate the gap between what they expect of their managers and what people think is expected of them. In all studies, leaders had 65%+ more expectations than their people were aware.
In the UK, managers need to do more if they want to earn employee trust , according to the latest survey into employee attitudes from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Trust in senior management is declining, particularly in the private sector, with
- Only 25% employees willing to place a lot of trust in senior management to look after their interests and
- Only 41% placing little or no trust in them to do so.
Essentially, new research suggests that many employees are losing faith in their management yet it seems leaders have don’t connect this condition with losing ground competitively.
Trust in senior management is essential for growth – July 2012
According to the latest Employee Outlook survey from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), corporate scandals are “eroding trust” in leaders with possible damaging impacts on staff engagement and the job market.
Any wonder then, why the report revealed that 58 per cent of employees display signs of being “not bothered” about quality.
Unsurprisingly, those who display “neutral engagement” are:
- Only half as likely to “go the extra mile” than those who are fully engaged in their roles, and
- Three times more likely to be looking for a new job.
- Less knowledgeable about their organisation’s core purpose.
Peter Cheese, chief executive at the CIPD, said it was perhaps unsurprising to see trust in the workplace eroding, given the number of examples of “unethical behaviour and corrosive cultures” overseen by senior leaders in the recent months. As the survey shows:
- Only 36% of respondents said that they trusted the senior leaders in their organisation
- Only 40% cent were satisfied that they had the chance to express their ideas and views to those higher up.
“What’s worrying is the impact this will have on engagement. We know that strong employee engagement drives higher productivity and better business outcomes, so such a prominent display of ‘neutral engagement’ in the workplace should act as a real wake up call for employers”.
“Now more than ever, organisations need to pay close attention to the impact the behaviours of senior leaders is having on the rest of the workforce and consider how they can improve corporate culture from the top down,” he concluded.” (Peter Cheese, CIPD)
A recent study from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills stated that a lack of strong leadership and management is stunting the growth if the UK job market.
These threats to productivity and competitiveness depend on leaders focusing on aligning their expectations for change and what their people think is expected.
“It takes more than personal integrity to build trust…. It takes skills, smart supporting processes, and unwavering top manager focus.” (HBR, 2003, Feb – by Robert Galford & Anne Seibold Drapeau)
Alignment needs to focus on the building blocks of trust. They are not new, yet leaders often do not pay close enough attention to:
- Consistency – “Walking their own talk”
- Clear Communication – Translating what changes really mean”
- Showing a willingness to work through disagreements
The Enemy at the Gate – The Need For Alignment
Many times a lack of trust is not immediately obvious. But, you know when the “Enemy is at the Gate”. when you here people say:
- “Why haven’t you done it?”
- “I thought you were doing that”
- “They never tell us in-time!’
- “Why are you doing that – it’s my job!”
They often stem from:
- Inconsistent Messages (with leader’s behaviour especially)
- Inconsistent Standards – people perceive favoritism
- Misplaced Kindness – Managers not confronting incompetence and negativity.
- False Feedback – saying someone is doing great when they are not.
- Elephants in the parlor – the issue that no-one wants to acknowledge or talk about them.
- Rumors in a vacuum – unfounded yet damaging
Mike Emmett, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser in UK says,
“Trust is a key element in the psychological contract between employers and employees. If employees have a positive psychological contract, this means they will show higher levels of satisfaction, motivation and commitment to the organization.”
Research shows these factors are important in helping employers reduce absence, retain staff and solve recruitment difficulties. So if employees don’t trust their employer, or don’t feel fairly treated, they will display a lack of commitment and underperformance.
A recent survey shows that employers need to work a lot harder to get the best from their staff. Good communication is key- consulting people about change and ensuring they feel involved in the decision making – is basic good management. But too many firms are not getting the basics right. People are not clear or confident in what their leaders expect of them, especially in times of change
It is not only top management who have problems – trust in employees’ immediate line manager has also declined, dropping in the private sector by over 10% over the past two years. Furthermore, fewer than half of respondents say their supervisor motivates them and only 37% say their line manager actually helps them improve performance.
The Ultimate Enemy – Stress
Misaligned expectations are often stressors in the psychological contract. Stress can have huge costs for employers in terms of sickness absence, productivity and morale.
A recent report explored the characteristics of a high quality workplace. These are to do with the demands of the job, personal control, support from supervisors or colleagues, work relationships, clarity of role and degree of change in the workplace. The success of these six dimensions significantly impacts motivation, organizational commitment, satisfaction at work and customer loyalty. People who scored highly on these characteristics reported much lower levels of work-related stress.
These findings suggest that managers need to make significant further efforts to tackle the issues responsible for creating stress: basically issues about good management.
Mike Emmett says,
“The survey findings suggest that UK Companies is failing to put in place management practices that address the root causes of work-related stress. This is not a “feel-good” issue about being nice to employees. It is an issue about productivity and getting the best out of the workforce. The survey underlines once again that dealing with stress is an issue about performance and profitability.”
“These findings suggest that managers have a significant job on their hands in motivating a majority of their workforce.”
The need for leaders to ensure their people understand, agree and are committed to what they expect is obvious yet often overlooked. What is not so obvious is the leader’s need to elicit and respond to what employees expect of them. This should be a process, not a survey.
It is far more active and genuinely engaging than surveys or other passive methods. It needs to compare each employee’s expectations and their assumptions with others in the organization, in regard to a specific change.
Such explicit and specific alignment of expectations and assumptions is the fundamental to building the transparency and consistency essential for a trusting environment. And a trusting environment is the very basis for productivity and competitiveness.
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For Help in Getting Your People on the Same Page
Nick Anderson, The Crispian Advantage
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