Getting to the root of workplace issues

Things have been going the way as planned and we have been meeting our production targets as well. The funny thing is, the external results look good but this cannot be said of the internal results, by which I mean the “emotions” of our people. They are complaining about loss of interest in their work, with many even saying that they do not feel good here, and that they are getting tired easily these days. This is not as worrying as compared to the many silly mistakes they are making in recent times. Add on to this their punctuality issue, too. Also, misunderstanding and conflicts among themselves seem to be a daily occurrence. We no longer have the excitement and the high energy that we used to have. What is your view, and what should we do? 
Incomprehensible 

A: It seems to me there is high stress in the work environment and your people are feeling the heat. Something has been simmering all this while beneath “the calm waters”, which is giving the delusion that nothing is wrong. It is a good thing that you are realising this for it may get worse if nothing is done about it now. The paradox of people in stress is they can be in this state without any real evidence of being physically or mentally overworked. The mere fact that they perceive that they are in this state is enough to get them into it. Take yourself, for instance; you do not feel it because you do not perceive it even though you are working as hard as they do.

The Bottom Line: There are a number of actions you can take. Firstly, get close to them so that you know exactly what is going on with them and what they are going through. Secondly, assess their capaฌbilities and threshold for pressure against the work they are doing so that they are redesigned accordingly. One other thing to do is to give them more autonomy to decide what they want to do. Lastly, make the workฌplace a more pleasant place to work in by encouraging interaction and sociability among them. 

Powerful Questions: 
If you were a member of the workฌforce, how do you feel yourself workฌing here? 
What causes you to feel this way? 
What is still missing? 
What do you want to do about it? 

GETTING APPRECIATION 
Q: There are a lot of complaints about the lack of appreciation in this workplace. Till now, I cannot figure what this really means. If it is the payฌcheque they are talking about, then I would say that these complaining employees are unfair in their remarks because we are among the best pay masters in this region. That is not all, too, as we run numerous achievers’ campaigns with attractive awards given to qualifiers. So why are they still talking about lack of appreciaฌtion? Is there something that the management is missing out? 
Ungrateful Lot

A: Your story reminds me of a case that I handled where his father was heart sick when he found out that his son had forged his credit card. He could not believe this because he was very generous with him. There is also a song by the Beatles called “Money can’t buy me love”. The morale of these two examples is to remind ourselves that we should not be hookwinked that money can do everything. Life is more complex than this. Your cash awards are quickly negated by many other “misdeeds” that may be preฌvailing in the workplace that you may or may not be aware of. Perhaps you may feel that there is no need for other forms of appreciation because they are already well paid.

The Bottom Line: Appreciation in the workplace basically boils down to the furtherance or respect for employees’ rights. This can range from simple personal things like respect for their thoughts, feelings, values, unique strengths (and differฌences) to how they want to participate and contribute their time and efforts to the organisation. You need to do an honest check on the “appreciation gaps” in the workplace and quickly find ways to close them through “‘humanising” some of your leaderฌship practices.

Powerful Questions: 
How well engaged are you with your employees? 
How much do you know them as a human being and lesser of an employee? 
What are their other motivations? 
How do you want to fulfil them? 

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The writer, Dr Michael Heah is an ICF Master Certified Coach. He provides personal coaching services and also coach certification programmes. Check him out at www.corporatecoachacademy.com or email at [email protected]