Culture Dysfunction - What Triage Says

Were I sitting before you right now, would you tell me that you don't care what people think as long as they come in and do the job every day? Were I to ask if you'd take your dog to the vets following a seizure, would you say, "Maybe, but I'd just leave it there"...?

Leaders often tell me, completely unsolicited, that they're very comfortably off, heading for retirement and very disinterested in the thoughts of their employees.

And another thing they invariably tell me, having admitted that People are their Greatest Asset, is how many millions they spent on machinery in the last couple of years.

Making light enquiries of cultural improvement and then doing nothing at all is like taking your pet to the vet and then abandoning it without further concern.

Even if you're hardened to the idea of empathy, some part of every leader knows instinctively that if employees are suffering, the profitability of enterprise suffers, too.

Regardless of the state of the world, Maslow's Hierarchy still applies.

Symptoms of culture dysfunction (rooted in distress, emotional starvation, abandonment, and fear) are;

• Disconnection. People put their heads down when you walk by. Communications seem confused. Co-operation doesn't happen. Information is guarded by a few.

• Despair. They may try to point out difficulties but nothing happens. They start taking time off, missing targets and leaving jobs unfinished.

• Disillusionment. Objects get left lying around, people seem to stop caring about the environment or workload. Housekeeping deteriorates.

If you took these symptoms to Triage, you would probably find that;

• Resentful scuttlebutt comes from all quarters - what people say out of earshot reveals itself in operational behaviour. People need outlets for their versions of pain.

• Loss of productivity and quality control quickly gets out of hand. When nobody cares what anyone thinks, people stop giving their best and do as little as they can.

• Staff churn is running wild. People don't like toxic cultures, so they look for greener pastures.

Causes can be found in;

• Betrayal. Line managers may be cherry-picking people's ideas and putting them forward as their own. They may also be resource-guarding, a common cause of confusion in communications.

• Belittlement. Operatives feel left out of the value equation when yet another shiny new machine comes into the works. The language used in the workplace may put them down on a daily basis. How people are treated affects performance.

• Baseline mentality. Everything seems to be someone else's job since nobody wants to take responsibility for anything beyond the basics of what you pay them for.

• Blame. A familiar cultural issue bandied about for decades, Blame comes from all quarters and is an easy (but damaging) shift of focus from a problem to a person.

We can tackle this B-List strategically; invite me along for a meaningful diagnostic and a constructive conversation.

I'm here to help make the workplace a great place to be, lift the spirit of your enterprise and set it on course for excellence. So I'm offering you (as a valued reader) a free Assessment involving a confidential chat, a meeting with your team and a quiet stroll round the shop floor. I'll give you an objective, unbiased Report and you can take it from there - no strings attached.

Sometimes we really have to question ourselves... please, don't let your people suffer any longer. It's costing you all far too much on all counts.

Want the fiscal figures? ...they're here. You know what to do. Do it now.

kathy@worldlinetraining.com