I received the following email from “Terry” who just started his first job.
“Hi Miki, Basically with my new job, they are really giving their employees the shaft. Peoples’ contracts aren’t being renewed so they can bring in cheaper labor (like me). My manager often says “Hey man! It’s cool! You have a job! The economy is crap!” as though the position with them is the only one that I could get. It’s really infuriating sometimes because I know that when they use an attitude like that, it’s like they feel they can abuse their power. It’s like saying “Hey, you’re worthless, you’re SO lucky you have us… right? Do you feel fortunate that we take you under our roof? Good, because no one else will – now get to work or we’ll kill you!” I don’t feel they see it like that, but I am trying to decipher their motives. What do you think is going on?”
Hi Terry,
There are several obvious things that come to mind; your manager
is nervous;
is trying a poor joke to reduce the stress of layoffs;
doesn’t think and has no idea of the effect of his words;
actually believes what he is saying.
However, there is a not so obvious thought for you to explore.
Perhaps your manager is projecting—voicing his own feelings based on the way he is being treated.
Rather than guessing there are things you can do over the next few months to achieve a much better handle on why he acts this way, mainly through close, objective observation.
I say objective because you need to suspend judgment, scrub the emotional side and dispassionately study what he says and does.
I can almost hear you say ‘why bother’ when it’s much easier to shrug and write it off to his being a jerk or a lousy culture.
The reason it’s worth the effort is that it will give you an edge when working with and for him. It will help you to understand where he’s really coming from and how best to interact with him.
And it will keep you from doing the same things when you become a manager.
I love when readers write or call, so feel free to contact me if you think I can help; contact information is in the right column. I hope to hear from you soon.
Stress is like chlorestoral—there is good stress and bad stress.
A year ago I wrote a post about the problems of stress in the workplace. During the intervening months the economic situation has worsened and stress has increased exponentially.
Managers are under fire and being forced to do far more with far less—a situation that automatically raises stress in any workplace. And there are still those out there who prefer to manage by stress.
I decided to revisit that post, because I believe it’s very important.
Stress, Death and Obesity
Years ago I knew a manager who believed that high stress yielded the best productivity, he generated that environment by setting unrealistic deadlines and generating plenty of consequence-fear (I, and my fellow recruiters, considered his organization our happy hunting ground). The year his department’s turnover hit 99%, which was everyone except him, he was finally terminated.
There are still too many managers who run stress-filled organizations and too many companies that ignore, allow, and even support them—it’s called performance culture—but, as they say, these times they are a’changin’—even if it takes suicide as the wake-up call for some.
“Earlier this year, the French automaker, Renault, found itself doing some soul-searching following a rash of suicides at a design complex outside Paris. In the course of about five months, three engineers killed themselves. In suicide notes and conversations with their families before taking their lives, the three men voiced anxiety about unreasonable workloads, high-pressure management tactics, exhaustion, and humiliating criticism in front of colleagues during performance reviews.”
And companies are starting to get it, “Draper Laboratory, an R&D shop based in Cambridge, Mass., refuses to buy BlackBerrys for its engineers.”How can anyone be creative if they are on’ 24 hours a day?” asks HR Director Jeanne Benoit. “We want to keep them fresh and robust.””
Another recent finding adds another significant reason to reduce worker stress, touching on businesses’ greatest bogyman—obesity and its effect on worker health.
“Scientists reported yesterday that they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity, a discovery that could help explain the world’s growing weight problem…”
Now you have two negatives—death and obesity—and two positives—creativity and retention; separately or together they have an enormous impact on the bottom line.
Educate employees about stress types
Good stress is about concentration and creativity. Bad stress is about panic and fear.
Never worry alone
Sharing concerns can turn problems into brainstorming sessions. Teams are cemented through problem-solving.
Create a listening culture
If you’re not hearing about problems, there’s a problem. A good gauge: How many e-mails do you get from staff?
Conduct autopsies without blame
Make it safe to fail. Innovation languishes in blame-happy cultures.
Create a listening culture
If you’re not hearing about problems, there’s a problem. A good gauge: How many e-mails do you get from staff?
Encourage workers to ask for help
What is toxically stressful for one can be an exciting challenge for a team.
No, they won’t get it done in a day, but there aren’t any silver bullets for organizational changes (or anything else, for that matter)—especially those involving individual MAP—all you can do is start and then keep going.
Finally, if you run a company, or any organization, and you don’t heed this wake-up call to start reducing negative stress then, as a manager (and a person), you are heading for the same fate as the dodo bird.
I was venting my frustration today regarding people who say they will do something and then don’t—it makes me totally crazy and very cranky.
My reaction isn’t unusual; in fact it’s pretty common.
But in a work environment saying yes, but not doing yes is more than an annoyance, especially when the inaction blocks progress on a project.
For example, there’s a part of the SAAS application we have in development that contains a radically different approach to help; it has the potential to be a stand-alone product that could be added to any web or computer based program during development. It’s simple, intuitive, easy to use and the people who have tried it love it.
I have several close connections who have the knowledge and background to say whether it would fly in the market. All were interested and said they would be delighted to look at it—but after more than a month none have followed through.
Empty yeses are a form of tyranny; a passive, often unconscious, exercise of power in which the person who says yes is unaware of the repercussions, doesn’t think them through or, in some cases, doesn’t care.
In most cases giving an empty yes leads to frustration and stress for those on the receiving end.
But at its worst, it creates enormous stresses that hurt the team; wreak havoc on marketing, wreck project schedules, blow product launches and demolish revenue streams.
Whenever I’m coaching and discuss this with people they tell me that they ‘meant to do it’ or ‘didn’t want to say no and hurt someones feelings by saying no’.
Knowing all this should tell you that learning to say ‘no’ is one of the most important life skills you need to master.
Read the posts and if you want additional help feel free to call me at 866.265.7267 or email miki@rampupsolutions.com; to avoid filters please use ‘learn to say no’ in the subject line.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
“Hi Miki, Basically with my new job, they are really giving their employees the shaft. Peoples’ contracts aren’t being renewed so they can bring in cheaper labor (like me). My manager often says “Hey man! It’s cool! You have a job! The economy is crap!” as though the position with them is the only one that I could get. It’s really infuriating sometimes because I know that when they use an attitude like that, it’s like they feel they can abuse their power. It’s like saying “Hey, you’re worthless, you’re SO lucky you have us… right? Do you feel fortunate that we take you under our roof? Good, because no one else will – now get to work or we’ll kill you!” I don’t feel they see it like that, but I am trying to decipher their motives. What do you think is going on?”
