A house with broken locks and doors can make you feel unsafe and scared, and you will feel like leaving as soon as possible to a place where you can feel secured and happy.
Likewise, the best skilled employees in an organisation can feel unsafe in an organisational environment which is toxic with no growth or improvements. The only positivity out of it is the increasing positive number of attrition rate. As such, practising good people management is just as important if not more so than having good people.
The key components that can help an organisation achieve good people management are:
- Growth mindset
- Safe culture
- Quick action
Growth mindset – A conscious growth mindset can keep one on their toes by taking calculated move to ensure that the next course of action supports growth, or at least does not stunt it. Business leaders with such mindset will “pause and think” before an action, and “reflect to improve” after an action. Such mindset is a gatekeeper to uncontrolled emotional tongue-lashing which demotivates even the best employee.
Safe culture – While business leaders may have a growth mindset, there can be unintentional blind spots which frustrates employees. Employees shall be able to feel safe to share their voices, and business leaders shall encourage such culture equipped with safe channels for voicing.
Quick action – The “wait and see” method is prudent in ensuring the best possible response to a matter; However, waiting too long can be detrimental to the mental health of all parties involved, and will be worse if it affects productivity and key business decisions. A quick action ensures that a matter is addressed while it is still fresh and any misunderstanding can be quickly clarified. For example, when an employee is perceived to be not performing as expected, a quick action from business leader to understand the matter and address the root cause can help both the employee and company grow, instead of waiting till the official performance review to put an (confused) employee on a Performance Improvement Plan.
All in all, business leaders have the responsibility to create a desirable workplace for employees, and it can be achieved with exercising a growth mindset, creating a safe culture, and taking quick action to address issues. So, when things go south in an organisation, business leaders should take a step back and think, “Bad employees? Or bad leaders?”