Dear Managers, first things first: do you know anyone who likes to be referred to as disgruntled? Not. A. Single. Person. Point. Blank. And. Period. So why do you see your direct reports as such? Let’s reframe the issue, shall we? Why not ask instead what is the source of low morale amidst your team? The simple truth is that a person does not wake up angry one morning to show up at work and be such a boor to the point you are forced to wonder how you could have misread his/her character to this extent during the interview. Keep reading to find out how to avoid making such costly mistakes.
Welcome back to the Branding24Seven community! As a reminder, this website answers all of your branding questions. In case this is your first time visiting, this blog is the brainchild of JMStrategy LLC (JMS), a boutique consulting firm that devises tailor-made plans of action to render your brand as robust as possible. Now, without further ado, here is the lowdown on strategic steps to identify the right candidates for your team.
The last time this blog discussed the keys to motivate disgruntled employees, readers flooded the JMS inbox to express how displeased they were as the publication of the day seemed to be accusing managers of wrongdoing (you can read all about it here). This was certainly not the intention of this blog. But, please keep in mind Dear Readers, that the first step to unraveling any crisis is to take an honest look at one’s own actions. For that reason, when working with clients, the JMS team begins with an in-depth evaluation of the role the leadership most definitely played in the crisis before focusing on that of the supporting staff.
In short, to accomplish crisis management effectively is extremely difficult precisely because it requires such a high level of introspection. The publication was only trying to give you, Dear Managers, real pointers to assess your own management style first before labeling your support staff as disgruntled employees. By the way, if that’s how you see your employees, it is time for you to change jobs as leaders will always take the brunt of everything that goes wrong…. It’s unfair but the truth nonetheless.
That said, since the Branding24Seven community is here to inspire you Dear Readers (including managers), the JMS team really wants to help you identify possible root causes of low engagement among your direct reports.
Root Cause # 1: A Misleading Interview
The number one complaint the JMS team hears from employees in the context of its mastermind ateliers is that managers undersold or outright misrepresented the level of challenges that their positions have to bear during the interview. So, of course, if you feel that you’ve been lied to or feel as if you have been trapped into a vicious cycle that leaves you overworked and underpaid…. Don’t you think that it is normal for the new hire to become disenchanted and quickly turn into the much-dreaded disgruntled employee, Dear Managers?!
Solution: Be Honest When Interviewing
Dear Managers, please avoid the familiar interview breakdown: 80 percent spent propping the company and detailing the virtues of working for you; 10 percent spent glossing over the specific challenges of joining your team; 10 percent on pleasantries. Is this not the recipe to successfully hired a future disgruntled employee?
Instead, Dear Managers, consider splitting the interview time evenly to discuss the pros and cons of the position, team, and company. You will have to be honest with potential hires by spelling out exactly what you expect from them (e.g., work long hours and over the weekend, be available by phone at all times even when not at work, work tirelessly to exceed expectations at the detriment of any personal life). And most importantly, avoid sugarcoating stressors that will affect employee performance (e.g., a bad temper or micromanaging tendencies of the direct supervisor that has plagued the team with the highest employee turnover of the department).
Such pertinent details help interviewees weigh whether the comprehensive employee benefits package is worth the job demand. The end goal is to attract the right person even if the company ends up shelling a bit more than expected salary-wise rather than hire an employee at a cost-saving rate that will become the low producing disgruntled employee who is likely to quit at the worst opportune time to boot!
So Dear Managers, being honest is the best cost-saving measure you can adopt to keep the productivity of your team at its best. But, if you need help improving your hiring process and rendering your interviews more effective to avoid hiring what essentially becomes a long-term liability since the definition of a disgruntled employee is someone who does the absolute bare minimum without caring about how his/her actions impact the team/department as whole, email us at jms@branding24seven.com.
Root Cause #2: Short And Overly Simplified Onboarding Process
The number one complaint the JMS team hears from managers is that employees are too slow to learn the ropes and pretty much grind to a halt team productivity. Of course, Dear Managers, if you are working on a pressure-sensitive project (e.g., due to a merger, unexpected shift in policy, or disruptive technological change), you do not want your team to move at the pace of a snail. That’s absolutely understandable!
But, do you think that it is fair to expect a new hire to operate at the same level of efficiency as that of a seasoned employee (even if s/he comes with experience in the same field) within 30 to 60 days?
Did you know, Dear Managers, that it takes on average an entire fiscal year for new hires to be fully immersed in the cultural and rhythmic environment of any given team? Furthermore, it can take up to two additional years (depending on the complexity of the organization) for new hires to fully grasp how their teammates are to act in concert with other departments and deliver increasingly demanding targets executive teams have the habit to set without a clue of how things are to be done on the ground level!
Solution: Expand The Organizational Socialization Process To Match The Degree Of Complexity
This blog suggests moving beyond the 60-day standard yet rushed trial period and establish instead a schedule that incorporates a yearly rotation of a select number of designated trainers who are responsible for different facets of the day-to-day operations the new hire is expected to master. The time has come for you, Dear Managers, to think about the ways your onboarding process can reflect the untold realities of opened positions. This is why the more complex your matrix is, the longer the training should last.
Let’s explore two scenarios to see how an effective onboarding process should look like.
A new medical technologist hired for the clinical microbiology laboratory of a midsize hospital has a lot to learn on his/her plate besides how to analyze urine or blood samples and expertly read gram stains! That hard-working technician must understand how to act effectively in concert with all the other laboratories (e.g., immunology,
Similarly, a newly hired supervisor in the same said hospital will have to juggle a lot more than challenge-ridden administrative tasks such as managing accreditation, planning/preparing laboratory services relating to national standards, implementing annual operating and capital budgets… Etc. Indeed, there are even more subtle nuances s/he must take into account with staffing as the hospital is opened 24 hours/day and 7 days/week.
This means that the newly hired supervisor will have to support the director in managing three shifts. But how can s/he understand the subtleties of the graveyard and second shifts if his/her experience has only been limited to first shift performance?
In this case, designated trainers will play a crucial role in providing the in-depth organizational socialization support that the director would not have the bandwidth to do.
Can you, Dear Managers, imagine just how long it would take for this newly hired supervisor to grasp 1) the nuances across the three shifts, and 2) the intricacies of managing all shits as they interact with other departments? Indeed, the same station or bench across the three shifts vary somewhat, partly due to hospital constraints. Since the daytime shift has access to all other hospital services in a way that the graveyard shift doesn’t, there is a certain level of mental dexterity needed to operate effectively at say 3:00 A.M. rather than any time after lunch!
Which team do you think has to be as resourceful as possible? The graveyard shift personnel mainly because it must resolve just about any issue as independently as possible as fewer doctors are on call and therefore unable to get back the graveyard shift right away; not to mention that many departments are not likely to be opened overnight. Grasping such a level of nuance is something that comes with experience and that no new hire can truly understand!
As the two scenarios demonstrate Dear Managers, restructuring the conventional 60-day trial period into a longer, multi-faceted organizational socialization process is a must if you want to avoid turning new hires into disgruntled employees.
And there you have it, Dear Managers! Thank you for stopping by the blog today. The JMS team hopes you found a few gems in today’s publication. Please share it with managers who are wrestling with this exact matter!
Do you know how to sniff out a poseur during an interview? Tell us all about it in the comment section below, by email jms@branding24seven.com, or by mail at JMStrategy LLC,
21 S. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
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