While much is written about productivity and the benefits associated with a higher degree of "employee output" many articles, books, blogs, white papers etc, speak to some very specific tactical things that can be done to increase productivity. I was reading a blog recently where the author identified 33 things to help boost productivity. While they all made sense and I am sure if implemented would help drive a higher degree of productivity the author never once mentioned the correlation between productivity and the "organizational climate" that employees must function under.
As I have shared in previous video blogs -- organizational climate is the perception that your employees have about what it is like to work for you. It would be hard to argue that an organization which embraces and respects the talents and skills of those on the team would not have a higher degree of productivity than a company where people are berated, devalued and taken for granted. And as obvious as that seems, organizations for the most part are not creating the proper climates that contribute to job satisfaction. A survey of 5,000 U.S. households conducted for The Conference Board by TNS, finds only 45% of those surveyed say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61.1 % in 1987.
Aside from some of the economic uncertainty which has contributed to the overall decline in job satisfaction, I believe that something else is going on that is contributing greatly to this decline. And that is the absence of true leadership.
Over the last 24 months leaders have been faced with a leadership challenge, the likes of which have not been seen for over 70 years. In many organizations, sales have decreased, margins have shrunk, head-count has been reduced, raises and bonus are non-existent and the threat, if not already a reality, of a four day workweek looms large.
While it is obvious that leaders are under a great deal of pressure in today's economic climate, they need to be more conscious than ever about their responsibility to create a healthy organizational climate that produces discretionary effort. True leadership is about influencing and impacting others. It is about growing and developing people -- not demanding performance.
As a leadership development consultant I am constantly looking to see how leadership or the absence of it shows up in our lives. I was recently in my home walking past the family room where my kids were watching television. Without paying much attention I looked up at the TV to see and hear the opening theme song of the Flintstones (come on -- I know if you are old enough to remember the Flintstones you are probably humming the tune right now). Although I have probably seen thousands of episodes over my life, and watched that opening countless times, something struck me as odd from a leadership perspective. If you can recall, the scene opens with Fred on his dinosaur (crane) lifting boulders in the quarry. Then the whistle blows ...and here is the interesting part...in the middle of his work with a load of rocks on the dinosaur's head, Fred just stops working, yells Yabba Dabba Doo and slides off the dinosaur's tail (I guess the thought of rushing home and getting a rack of ribs that are so big they flip your car on its side has much greater appeal than work). As I watched the scene unfold, I wondered what is was about the climate that Fred was working under that he felt no obligation to finish the job he was literally in the middle of. As I thought more about the show and the organizational climate that Fred experiences I realized that for the most part his boss/leader, Mr. Slate, employs only one leadership style (out of the six available) which is the Directive style. He demands performance, does not appear to be Affiliative in any sense of the word, degrades and embarrasses Fred frequently and shows not interest in growing and developing Fred as an employee. In essence, his poor leadership style has left Fred with the attitude of compliance; doing the bare minimum to meet the requirements of the job, rather than the feeling of providing discretionary effort; the willingness to go above and beyond and provide the extra effort when needed.
So think about -- what kind of climate are you creating for your team? Do your employees look to do whatever is required to get the job done or are they yelling Yabba Dabba Doo at the end of the day?
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Michael on the Directive Style of Leadership & The Wizard of Oz.MOVby YourSoundBoard491 views
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