I recently came across an almost identical quote (with unknown source) which I found being a spot on notice for an unhealthy development of employee satisfaction. While serious marketing is about triggering good emotions only I made an exception here as post and created media shall deliver a message to affected individuals: Take action!
The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate staff becomes quiet.
Concern requires awareness
If you are reading this you might have seen the meme I created or this post was linked somewhere. Thanks for visiting!
If you are staff member…
You probably got triggered by the topic and chances are high you are on the suffering end of this uncomfortable condition. Maybe the company you are working for has recently been taken over by another company and you feel like things are getting really bad.
The bad news: Your management is probably not aware.
The good news: You already are aware!
More good news: You can signal peril!
I got feedback from a friend that she just loves this quote but does not have the courage to share it on LinkedIn in fear of negative consequences of any kind. Isn’t that sad?
If your management doesn’t know, things will not change. Managers have skills that make them good at what they do: Optimising processes and reducing costs. While most of them have awesome analytical skills at the same time they have deficits in emotional intelligence. Don’t blame them for that, it doesn’t make them a bad person. They just function in a different way than you do.
With this knowledge in mind we can derive the following facts:
- Your management wants to have a well performing staff, because it is key to success.
- You need to address issues on a level based on facts, not emotions.
If you are trying to argue by describing moods and feelings, to them it’s like you are using a language they don’t know.
So what’s a good way to bring attention to company issues?
You are probably not the only one being aware of a negative trend, so it’s a good idea to bring up your worries when chatting with colleagues. As we don’t want to start mutiny but help regaining status quo, these are hopefully some good steps to make everyone happy again:
- Reach out to your team leader or head of department and bring up your worries
- Find consent about the issues with them
- Your team leader or head of department should have access to performance data. If not, this is the perfect moment to gather that data. If there will be no performance data available for a reasonable amount of time – or for strengthening your point of view -, try other fact based data, like a negative trend in customer satisfaction or increase of complaints. Probably don’t try regressive sales as they already should be aware of it.
- Let your supervisor address the topic at some appropriate time in a meeting
- If you don’t get support from your direct supervisor it should be okay to skip a level.
Another subtle solution
If you feel like you are not ready for dealing with negative stuff to that extent, why not try sharing the meme I created for addressing exactly this very exhausting issue we are talking about:
As a meme can’t know facts about your company’s issue, this one uses a different approach of universally addressing management: The concern for regressing performance leading to failure.
Do you like animated GIFs? I made one and uploaded it to my GIPHY channel:
How did it go? Your feedback is welcome!
I would be so happy to hear from you if you managed (or failed!) solving an oppressive situation. Be it with the help of this article or not, your feedback is greatly appreciated!
If you are a manager…
You found there might be something going on but don’t know what it is. You became aware of it and you would like to contribute to improvement. You did the first step.
Chances are high you are not only a manager but real leader material! Congratulations!
Your Feedback is greatly appreciated
I would love to hear from you about your worries and concerns in your working environment and how you solved them – or failed to do so. Your feedback can help others who find themselves being in similar situations.