Author: Katy Goshtasbi

When we think of company goals, we rarely stop and tie the concept with the happiness of staff. What does one really have to do with the other? Overall corporate goals are more tied to revenue and production than employee happiness, right? Moreover, what would either have to do with control within the organization? Let’s talk about how to balance staff happiness and your company goals by using organizational control.

As the saying goes, “if mama ain’t happy, no one is happy”. Within your company, if your employees aren’t happy (ie, productive), then everything suffers. Employee productivity is a reflection of how motivated your employees are.

Employees who aren’t motivated can’t and won’t produce at any level. End of story. Motivation of your employees is directly about whether they see that their natural talents and strengths are a good match for their roles and if they are being utilized well.

That’s all about their individual brands. Studies show that for every new employee added to a company, the brand identity of each and every employee gets diluted. Employees start to lose their identity. As they lose their identity, they lose motivation and productivity. Uh oh….

Control
Here’s what happens often as a result. Management hunkers down and attempts to control the situation by controlling the employees: people get written up, processes are put into place to “track” and “measure” performance and people and attempts are made to teach people how to carry out job roles that aren’t a good fit for them.

Control vs Controlling
There’s a big difference between being in control versus being controlling. The latter is a reflection of NOT being in control. When someone is controlling, odds are high they are low in self-confidence, fearful and have no idea how to be in control or influential. As a result, their stress is driving them to choke any and all situations in an attempt to be in control.

On the opposite side, when leaders are in control of their business, employees and processes, no one feels controlled. Everyone knows their roles and responsibilities, and everyone has freedom to be productive because they are motivated.

What does this mean for you? Stop and consider:

• How productive are your staff? When was the last time you checked in on their motivation and morale?
• Does your organization/company goal include specific intention/mention of staff/employee productivity and motivation and brand identity? If not, why?
• How does organizational control measure up in your company? Ask your staff and find out.

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So often in leadership, managing our employees seem unmanageable. I remember practicing law all those years and often wincing at the thought of dealing with my direct reports. This was especially the case when there were difficult situations. After all, everything impacts “the brand”. Let’s discuss how to keep your staff on track during hard times.

First off, I’ve come to learn that our staff are not difficult to manage. We just show up as poor leaders and manager and that’s why we find staff so hard to manage and keep on track. So, our mind-set and mentality, as leaders, are the problem and also the solution/key.

If we choose to see differently, then our staff is no longer unmanageable-during hard or easy times. What does that mean?

I mean we need to do a reframe on what is so unmanageable and what we consider hard times. True, that in business (and in life) there will always be hard times- whether that’s economic or not. But what else leads to such “hard times”?

This question leads to choosing to see our staff as humans. What do I mean?

My experiences as a consultant in corporate America has proven that employers often do not want to choose to see their employees as humans who bring their human issues and challenges to work. It seems so much easier to just focus on “revenues”, “operational challenges” and “organizational charts”.

However, at the end of the day, employees cannot leave their humanity at home. We must bring all our baggage with us to work because we don’t know any different. This is what leads to hard times at work, from my decades of experience.

So, what’s an employer to do when employees bring their baggage to work with them and generate hard times for themselves and for their employer?

I’ve found the number one tool to keep your staff on track during the hard times is to focus on effective communication. Yuck, right?

I define effective communication in two parts:

• Direct– to be effective, communication must be direct. Can you look your employees in the eye have a dialogue with them about being their best selves? It seems simple, yet it is not easy.

• Kind– to be effective, communication must also be kind. Are you looking at your staff with compassion and understanding? Are you then directly communicating with them from this place of compassion and understanding?

If you find this content hard to stomach, you’re not alone. I get it. My only ask is that you be brave and stop and really evaluate your staff and leadership style. Be honest with yourself. I know you want to succeed and you want the best for your team- through the hard times and through the profitable times.

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I’m always here to discuss this topic with leadership. Feel free to email me to connect and dialogue. After all, every situation is different and deserves individual attention.

Sometimes the topic of setting boundaries gets so old. We could all set better boundaries and yet, what does that really look like and who cares? Well if you are sick of the topic, I’ve got news for you. The same boundaries have to apply at work. Let’s talk about the importance of setting boundaries at work for wellbeing and productivity.

As a consultant in companies wanting their employees to be more productive, we talk about this topic a lot. I mean A LOT!

Why?

You take yourself wherever you go- that includes work.

To be a productive employee, you first have to feel motivated in order to want to produce results. Motivation is a very real human endeavor. Part of wanting to be a good employee is wanting to show you are motivated and productive. However, there’s also a very real side of us that wants to be loved and wanted- at home or at work. Ten years of consulting with companies has proven this for sure.

The number one things employees tell me is that they want to be appreciated at work.

Translation: how can I make my employer happy with me?

Translation: employees start collapsing their boundaries at work in order to make their boss happy. This collapse of boundaries then causes the employee to grow resentful deep down inside. They either start taking their resentment out: a) at other employees they work with or b) they start taking it out at home with their families.

Neither one of these results of not setting effective boundaries at work is optimal. It all leads to us not being well. The signs can, and often do include, stress, anger, procrastination, paralysis (ie, missed deadlines, lateness, etc) and actual sickness.

So what does this mean for you?

If you are an employer:

• How often do you discuss the idea of healthy boundaries with your employees?

• Have you considered hiring an expert to train and consult with your employees? Employees are 85% more likely to open up to a third party consultant than to you or your HR department employees.

If you are an employee:

• How can you stay self-aware of your boundaries and when you collapse them?

• How often are you trying to make your boss happy versus make a difference at work and be of true service.

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Here’s to effective boundaries and wellbeing at work,

Katy

Every organization deals with change as they grow. It’s inevitable and necessary. We all know this fact. If you’re not changing constantly, your not growing. Any size change impacts staff and productivity. What do you do to retain staff when changes are really big, like a sale of your company?

Change, of any size, is hard to take. This fact is true for us all as human beings. However, any change at work is even harder to take and manage as an employee.

Why?

Employees are not only having to navigate the change, as a human. They are also having the extra pressure of dealing with a change AND stress over job security. This makes them less productive because they are afraid. If they do not know what impact the change will have on them, then even worse. Instead of working, they sit and ruminate on what “this change will mean for me and my job?”.

When a company acquisition/sale is involved, the stakes are even higher for obvious reasons.

The number one tool you, as an employer, have at your disposal in order to retain your most important asset, your staff, is to communicate effectively with them during a sale. This may sound obvious and simple. Simple is not always easy.

In my work with organizations that are going to realignments, mergers, acquisitions, sales, etc. I develop a timeline of communication. This is not just about “when” to communicate.

It’s about “who” are you communicating with (ie, what is the employee’s individual brand and how do they each, and as a group, receive communication best). This takes time and energy to unearth. It’s at the crux of my work because if you don’t communicate in a way that your audience can digest, it’s the same as not communicating at all.

What does this mean for you? Consider:

 

• What is your communication technique with your staff?

• How do you communicate regularly with them?

• How personalized is your communication technique?

• How can you tell it works?

• What have you communicated to your staff about your company sale?

• Is it emotionally sound? Does it address their question and show you care?

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I remember so many times in my practice as a securities lawyer where I would sit in meetings with my supervising attorney and I was actually scared to speak up. What if I said the wrong thing? What if I sounded like an idiot? I was paralyzed with fear. The real question I should have asked myself, though, is “what if I am brilliant and can make a difference to the situation?”. That was then, this is now. I wish I knew then what I know now. Let’s talk about how you can build confidence in your employees by creating safety in your team.

Google’s famous research study, Project Aristotle, asked the question, “what makes a great team”? Their number one finding is that teams working together is very important. Most important to those contributing to a team is that they feel psychologically safe. Safety is very different for men and women. Here, we are not talking about physical safety, but rather, do you feel you can take a risk, speak up and be heard.

So, is the team dynamic building up your self-confidence or not?

So much of my research is based on the intersection of stress and self-confidence. Stress is the problem and impact of low self-confidence. Here’s a blog post about coping with stress at work.

As an employer, it is so easy to chastise employees for “getting it wrong” or not being as smart and fast as you. I know how hard this is. I am always monitoring myself with my employees. I mean, can’t they see what I see? No, not really.

That’s the beauty of diversity in the workforce: everyone is different, they bring their experiences to work, they think and process information differently and they deserve time to do it their way, within reason. Employers need self-awareness to catch themselves.

So what does this mean for you? Stop and consider:

• How are you cultivating a feeling of safety in your team?

• At meetings, do your employees truly feel like they are worthwhile enough to contribute? Do you manage the meetings in a way that EVERYONE can be heard? Gender plays a part here.

• Have you surveyed your employees anonymously to find out the truth? If not, why? The truth may hurt at first, but it is the first step to grow your team, revenues and productivity. If your employees have low self-confidence, odds are very high they are also not very productive.

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