In response to uncertainty, inflation, and a slowing economy, many organizations have become leaner—squeezing employees and managers to the breaking point—bringing burnout to an all-time high.
There are a number of approaches that could alleviate the situation and re-energize employees and the organization; however, you may want to consider fixing the two things that frustrate employees most.
Broken or inefficient processes.
Broken processes, especially ones that have gone unaddressed for a period of time, cause major frustration and employee morale is the first casualty. Employees experience faulty processes and systems firsthand. They voice concerns and ideas for improvement, but often the opportunities for improvement go unaddressed. One employee at a client once told me she felt like she was yelling down an empty well.
Fixing them means listening to employees and middle managers who are feeling the pain more than others. They can identify the voids, overlaps, and redundancies in the processes and systems, and if supported, can generate and implement solutions. Putting continuous improvement efforts in place to listen to employees, identify what’s wrong, prioritize the problems, identify causes, and put solutions in place is vitally important. Integral to this purposeful improvement approach is training and equipping managers to coach employees, install teams, and supply resources for implementing solutions—whether departmental or cross-functional.
A purposeful approach does not have to be complicated. A Malcolm Baldridge Award winning client started small. At each team or work group meeting, agenda time was allocated to identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement, and then to address them. Over time, as employees solved increasingly more complex problems, employee morale skyrocketed as operational improvements took hold.
Individual poor or mediocre performance goes unchecked.
It is possible that nothing frustrates your high performers more than low or mediocre performance that goes unaddressed, because high performers must do more to compensate for the low performance of others and often go unrecognized for their tireless efforts. Even if they are recognized for their efforts, they find the work environment to be a hassle. Without creating a consistent, accountable environment, you are more likely to lose your best people. Poor performance can also come in the form of toxic behavior. One toxic employee can undermine other employees’ performance and may cause high performers to leave the organization.
As part of a purposeful process, organizations must regularly assess performance to discover obstacles and opportunities for improvement. The next step is to analyze causes. Is it a training issue? Is it caused by a new or low performing manager who may not know how to set clear expectations and coach employees? Is it a poorly designed process? Is the employee just not a fit for that position? Is the employee burned out and difficult? Once the cause is identified, the issue must be addressed quickly and consistently. I knew of an organization that had a very high performing employee (from a technical perspective) who was very difficult to work with, and other employees were quitting in droves. Finally, when managers became willing and able to hold the toxic employee accountable, the turnover in that department improved immediately. Regardless of the employee performance issue, accountability is key to morale and performance of the team, department, or business.
Re-energizing employees in the face of tight business conditions can start in several places, but I recommend starting with issues that matter most to employees. The result will be good for business and good for the customers and stakeholders it serves.
For more information or for a complimentary 60-minute strategy session for operational improvement, please set a meeting, email me, and/or follow or message me in LinkedIn.