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Resolving the Discrepancy Between Male and Female Work Ethic

Resolving the Discrepancy Between Male and Female Work Ethic

Have you ever wondered whether there is a real difference between the performance ethic of men and women? You don’t want to be biased, but if all things are not equal, it would be silly to pretend as if they are. Here is my experience – not a law or rule by any means, but some more data for you to consider.

Recently, I noticed a gap between the way women and men prepare to present at online conferences. Some background: my company has delivered five 3-day virtual events in the past couple of years. They attracted over 4,000 attendees, causing us to work with over 400 presenters.

Typically, we invite quite a much larger number of applicants. The best are offered speaking slots, which involves the production of a pre-recorded video. We offer ample instructions in the form of checklists and other aides to complete the process, which can take several hours from start to finish.

In our first conference, I noticed a difference between the way the male and female speakers completed their individual projects. For the most part (but not in every case), women were models of diligence. They followed the steps laid out and met assigned deadlines. Their work product was complete, and they asked fewer questions which were pre-answered in the provided materials.

I think the men would have been surprised to hear that they were the laggards by any measure. I was certainly shocked.

Four events later, I can say that the trend has continued. Whether the conference was Caribbean-based or not didn’t matter. The same behavior prevailed as men made a mess, while women anxiously over-performed. In fact, many of the latter were concerned that their final product might not be good enough.

By contrast, men’s submittals came in at the last-minute, with no apparent concern for its quality.

Fortunately, I function as part of a team with my wife, who has been on this journey from the beginning. Playing an equal role to mine, she is not surprised at all. After several conversations, I have concluded the following.

* Female presenters are putting in the hard work. Coming from a background of outright discrimination and exclusion, they have learned to eliminate the errors that would lead to them to “not being picked for the team.”

Furthermore, they are more likely to ask to be coached and are willing to accept guidance and put it to use. They seem to believe that the system is fair, leaving them free to focus on doing a good job.

* Male presenters appear to assume that deadlines are vague guidelines rather than operational requirements. As such, the consequences of doing their own thing are few. Feedback is rare, and if it’s offered, they are prepared to overlook it.

What are the sources of these very different behaviors? Here I can only speculate and I won’t generalize to entire genders in all situations. However, I do know that in my next conference, it would be a mistake to ignore the evidence. That would be bad for business. So take the following insights with a grain of salt, but maybe use them.

My male presenters have floated on a cushion of privilege. It truly is a man’s world…at least in their experience. As such, they can get away with rule-breaking at our events, just like everywhere in life. They need not pay close attention to changing times, or expectations. The sub-conscious assumption is that things will always work out in their favour.

As a man, I can confirm that this rings true.

However, some of my female presenters would be shocked to hear this account…at first. Upon reflection, they may realize that it explains prior experiences. Some can even cite supreme efforts to reach a high standard, only to see the selection of a man reaping the rewards of his sloppy work.

It’s unfair.

If you’re a man reading this, I encourage you to check your privilege. That safe cushion is probably being steadily deflated and when it finally goes away, you may be in trouble.

If there’s any good news, it’s that in some cases (like the one I described above), the facts are plain to see. The key for us all is to adjust our actions accordingly so that we are dealing with reality and helping others do so as well.

As managers, it makes no sense to ignore these truths. The fact that there are more female than male professionals in Jamaica is only one aspect of the picture: the part I thought was most important. Now, more than ever, I believe performance matters. Therefore, men will need to step up, just to keep up.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search his prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.

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How to Manage a COVID-era Ineffective Employee

Is there at least one staff member in your office whose lack of productivity has been exposed by COVID? Before the pandemic, you had a favorable opinion, in general, of the person’s performance. But once they began to work from home, their output plummeted. How should you intervene? Is it worth the time and effort?

The fact is, you may be in a bit of shock. In each company, there are employees with diplomatic skills who excel in social gatherings, are constantly active via email and get along with everyone. They’re always available to help, playing the role of a consummate corporate professional. Some dress and speak with authority, enjoying a first-hand relationship with members of the C-Suite.

However, working from home has been a breakdown for them. While you couldn’t imagine an office without their daily presence, the pandemic has taken away their ability to impress. Now, they are being judged solely by their most recent outputs. Unfortunately, since March 2020, you can hardly point to anything they have created of significance. While others have shined, they have disappeared.

As you look back, you wonder. The truth may be that their performance was always lacking. Perhaps they just didn’t keep up with technology. Or new knowledge. A few were living on past successes, reminding everyone of their historic value.

Sadly, you conclude that they had become experts in “keeping” rather than “doing” their job. Now, you must make a decision about their future. Here are some steps to follow.

  1. Get the facts

Oftentimes in Caribbean companies, low performance goes unflagged because managers are unwilling to have difficult conversations. The result? Years of performance reviews which produced stellar reports. In short, there may be no written record or warning of any issues whatsoever. Any discussions which hinted at a problem are, in the past, forgotten.

If this is the case, in the absence of any other information, it’s safe to assume that the employees have no idea they have fallen behind. While they may have personal, private suspicions, don’t speculate. Most employees care about doing a good job and have some degree of anxiety regarding their continued employment. Don’t presume an emotional state.

Instead, focus on the facts and separate them from any interpretations which you have added. If you need to write them down for the sake of clarity, do so. By the end, each factoid should pass the video-tape test: visible actions that could have been recorded if a camera were available.

If you recall incidents which took place before COVID versus those which showed up after, all the better. However, if you have no facts; stop. You can’t take further action until you can satisfy yourself (and others) that it’s all not just a figment of your imagination.

  1. Prepare for the Conversation

With the facts in front of you, take time to prepare to have a difficult conversation about what they mean. If you have never used a feedback model before, find one you feel comfortable with. I prefer the Observation-Impact-Suggestion framework as a kick-starter. It begins with the observed facts, continues with their impact, and concludes with a suggestion.

Practice this conversation opener with a colleague. Ask them for coaching to make it as effective as possible, even as they roleplay extreme reactions.

When the time comes, be ready to have a lengthy exchange with your employee to come to some sort of agreement on a way forward. Be prepared to help.

  1. Confront the Work from Home Reality

Beyond this individual’s performance lies the reasons why this discussion must be conducted in the first place. Performance management in most regional companies is weak, a fact which COVID has revealed. In response, some managers are itching to go back to the way things were, when they didn’t have to confront low-performers.

Make no mistake: the newly exposed low-performers also want to return to the safety of the office. Hence, both parties are in an awkward spot. But they will receive no mercy from the high-performers, who have found ways to motivate themselves during the pandemic. Freed from micro-management and wasteful commutes, they have shined brightly; some for the very first time.

What would it be like to have a full complement of self-motivated staff? If you commit to such an outcome, don’t simply lapse into business as usual, acting as if COVID was just an unwelcome interruption.

Instead, grasp it for the opportunity it is to transform the culture of your workplace. This bump in the road could be a catalyst for breakthrough results. Perhaps it’s an answer to your prayers.

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WhatsApp Groups for Employee Engagement

In today’s COVID era, local companies have seen a dramatic rise in the use of WhatsApp groups among staff. It’s been a love/hate relationship for most, but online groups have become a critical channel of communication. Is your organization boosting employee engagement via these groups, or sitting by hoping the fad will die off?

Remote work has made virtual, intra-company communication more important than ever. By replacing its digital sibling, email messaging, WhatsApp has become the popular default choice. Now, your official email updates are being ignored. Your employees’ habits have shifted; they are using the app over a hundred times per day.

Unfortunately, a number of poor practices have also arisen. In response, most executives and HR departments watch from the sidelines as the software shapes their organization’s culture. No-one knows what to do, or even whose responsibility it is to ensure this channel adds productivity. How should your company influence a change which is already underway?

  1. Accept WhatsApp’s power and limitations

Understand that you can only influence WhatsApp, not control it. Unlike email, the messages being shared aren’t sitting on IT’s servers, where management can observe and dispose of them at will.

Also, individual accounts don’t belong to you. Disgruntled ex-employees can continue their hourly gripe sessions with key workers for months to come.

As such, WhatsApp groups have a life of their own. For example, a small chat between friends can quickly grow to reach the limit of 256 users. Any hot topic can dominate the space and take over attention, including office gossip. Individuals can use it for self-promotion, or to attack others.

Unfortunately, the range of responses is limited. For example, when a group develops a nasty sub-culture, an administrator may only see a single course of action – to delete the group. However, this final act of desperation doesn’t prevent former members from forming a brand new chat to continue the discussion.

Yet, despite this danger, WhatsApp remains the most effective way to have a conversation within a small to medium-sized group of people. It’s already your employees’ most popular app. Some companies try to counter its power by launching their own app. If you try this tactic, “Good luck!” Be prepared for staff to bypass it. Instead, they’ll discuss your attempts to take over their chats in their groups.

Your best bet? Accept WhatsApp’s role as today’s trusted, and most frequently used, channel of corporate communication between staff.

  1. Play the Role of Coach

If the channel is already out of your control, the best option is to provide workers with skills to use the platform effectively. Essentially, this “if you-can’t-beat-them-join-them” strategy is your way of spreading sound WhatsApp principles to others. You hope that they’ll act in ways that support the well-being of your employees.

This means that someone needs to become versed in the apps’ best practices, such as:

  • realizing that group chats are not the same as individual chats – once the number of participants grows beyond 10, a unique space is created.
  • setting up a moderator and establishing guidelines or rules of engagement.
  • developing a strategy for large groups, such as splitting it when the number of members reaches 100.

Where do these come from? This short list is based on my experience in regional WhatsApp groups of all sizes. Your company needs to develop its own insights in keeping with your policies and strategy.

The sad fact is, most companies don’t train their employees to be productive in either meetings or electronic messages (email and WhatsApp). The net effect? A ton of waste, even as these activities take up a reported 25-50% of employee time.

  1. Encourage Exception Reporting

Unfortunately, WhatsApp’s design encourages users to think of themselves as individuals, not corporate citizens. Therefore, they act in their own interests, first and foremost.

However, there’s another dimension which you must consider: the impact of online discussions on the entire staff. For example, when an employee quits, but doesn’t exit a WhatsApp group discussing sensitive company matters, everyone is affected.

Your organization should act to introduce this broader perspective.

In cyber-space, employees need to ask a new question: “What is best for all concerned?” In this context, someone can act to protect a fellow employee, a department or their entire company by intervening and alerting others when trouble is brewing.

The truth is, these are uncharted waters. Executives who ignore the powerful immediacy of WhatsApp Group communication are putting their heads in the sand, hoping it will go away. It won’t. Gear yourself and your staff for the new reality of remote work dominated by digital messaging at scale.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.

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Are you a Tit-for-Tat Manager?

As a company leader, you are probably interested in employees doing their best work. But most new staff members quickly lose the inspiration they had on their first day. How can you intervene so that precious employee motivation doesn’t get lost so soon?

An old man woke up one morning to the sound of stones hitting his zinc roof. He ran out to see a bunch of kids running away, laughing as he shook his fist and shouted at them to leave him alone. After several episodes in a row, he drew them into a conversation, from a distance: “Come stone my roof tomorrow and I’ll give you each some money.”

The following morning, they each received J$100 for their antics. But he apologized. He could only afford J$50 to repeat their performance. Deciding it was still a bargain, they returned the next day and collected their payment from the obviously senile senior citizen.

Shaking his head, he said: “There’s so many of you…I can only pay you J$1 tomorrow.”

“That’s all? Cheapskate…Forget it!” they complained as they stalked away for good.

While the old man was a master manipulator, there are managers who unwittingly produce the same result. Their employees start out being “transcendent”, but end up stuck in a “tit-for-tat”. The only difference is that everyone is unhappy with the outcome. Here’s why this happens.

  1. A Transcendent Beginning

Most employees are naturally motivated at the outset of a new job. When asked to give discretionary time and effort, they are often quite willing to do so. They are inspired.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t last, but it’s not because of the circumstances. The transcendent state they initially enjoyed is one they can’t manage for very long. In other words, they are unable to explain why they feel the way they do. Also, they don’t identify the drivers of their positivity, fail to intervene when it slips away, and sometimes even regret that initial burst of motivation.

And most company cultures are unhelpful.

They don’t foster transcendent ways of being, let alone act to keep them alive. Toxic employees attack them with open cynicism. Those who are “too happy” have obviously “drank the Kool-Ade” – a snide reference to the suicidal Jim Jones cult.

In other words, companies allow this precious resource to fritter away as if it weren’t important. However, it’s actually critical.

In fact, most organizations do a good job of promoting staff to the executive suite, where transcendence is the norm.

Unfortunately, top leaders take their own motivation for granted. They also don’t realize that as they rose in the corporate ranks, they left the de-motivated behind. They no longer had to contend with the most embittered. Their amnesia leaves them unaware of the battle new employees face, made worse by a lack of help from their direct managers.

2. Why Most Leaders Become Tit-for-Tat Managers

Even though leaders may be transcendent, few have the ability to inspire their troops to extraordinary actions. Instead, the average manager devolves into a Tit-for-Tat: “No-one does anything if they aren’t being paid”.

While there’s abundant evidence this thinking is flawed, they cling to this explanation. It’s the ultimate escape from responsibility because there isn’t a single organization on earth with enough Tit (i.e. cash) to induce a meaningful Tat (i.e. a transcendent culture.) Why? Research shows that apart from short, physical activities, more pay does not produce motivated behavior.

In other words, ineffective managers surrender, then blame their staff. But is there an alternative? Yes – the fact is that transcendent cultures do exist.

  1. Prevent the Slip into Tit-for-Tat Relationships

The best interventions take place before the slip begins. Organizations can train employees to work with their habits of thought that often turn a dip into a landslide.

Eastern philosophies teach that joy is inside all of us. Unfortunately, its presence fades as we pick up defects in our thinking patterns.

However, mystics also argue that transcendence is merely a transformation away. If taught, we can learn how to become like the old man in the story: someone who coaxes a change with the right dialogue. In other words, we can pick up the kind of self-talk which transforms and returns us to a transcendent experience at will.

There are a number of effective methods to try, including affirmations, meditation, and journaling. More advanced approaches require fresh mental models picked up from coaches, books and therapists. (For more than a decade, I have used The Work of Byron Katie.)

The startling realization is that most organizations offer nothing at all. If they were to start, they would probably see that the high motivation present in the probationary stages never goes away completely. They just need to invest in helping staff remove the obstacles.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.

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On Fostering Powerful Admins

As an up-and-coming leader in your company, do you need an administrative assistant? If you are adamant that you don’t, consider that it’s only a matter of time before your mind changes. The question is, do you know why this will take place?

The position of administrative or executive assistant has been under assault. In times past, the role was the exclusive domain of women who possessed shorthand, typing, and organizational skills. While the first two tasks have been replaced by note-taking technology, the third has become all-important.

In fact, there are a number of women running Jamaican companies behind the scenes. They all used to be admins. Outside their organizations, they are unknown, but insiders know the real story. Recently, Big Bosses’ memory has started to fade. Their facility with the latest technologies has slipped, but their admin has stepped up to play a vital, but quiet role.

Furthermore, persons in these roles have added specialized digital and online skills no-one else in the company has. But they are far more than IT geeks. Their unique position means that if you aspire to the executive suite, or already sit there, you need an admin by your side.

Take note of the McKinsey research completed by DeSmet and Bevins. According to their article “Making time management the organization’s priority”, admins enhance a leader’s power. Also, executives who are effective time managers receive “strong support in scheduling and allocating time”. Only 7% of ineffective time allocators said the same.

What would it take for you to have that level of support, preferably before you become desperate? Here are a couple of steps.

Invest in Administrative Talent

Following the low pay, low-skilled secretarial positions of the past, some companies still treat admins as if they aren’t important. For example, some HR managers are quite willing to put a brand new hire in the office of the CEO, believing that such persons are interchangeable.

Using the old, outdated definition, they are.

However, once admins are seen as a critical part of executive success, the game changes. The person (who can be any gender) requires specialized training in each step of their development. This should be introduced as they climb the career ladder, enabling them to serve managers at higher levels. In fact, there should be a healthy pipeline of assistant talent at all times.

Also, companies shouldn’t pay assistants peanuts. Not only is the role important, it should attract quality persons who have their own aspirations. Low salaries simply won’t engage those who can add value to the C-Suite.

Be Prepared For a Partner

As a high-performer, you may be quite capable of navigating any new technology, and managing the demands on your time. However, the moment will come when you won’t be able to juggle all your business and personal commitments on your own.

As such, you need to give thought to the kind of person you intend to work with. What practices will they perform? How well? Should other staff relate to them as the power behind the throne?

Unfortunately, personal productivity among executives varies widely, because few have received any formal education on the topic. As such, they aren’t taught how to leverage someone who helps them manage a busy calendar, to-do list, or project plan.

Up until now, it’s also unlikely that you have benefited from the feedback or coaching required to be productive at higher levels. As such, you may be underestimating the demands which will be made on you, and the need for a team approach.

Consider the television show “The West Wing”. Jeb Bartlett, the President, had a decades-long working relationship with his admin, Mrs. Landingham. Several times per day, he asked: “What’s next?” In keeping with the character of a perfect assistant, she was always ready with an answer.

If you haven’t recruited such a person in preparation for promotions you hope to attain, start looking. Likely subjects may already be in your company. But sometimes you can recruit talented admins from other organizations where they just aren’t being appreciated.

More importantly, if your corporation doesn’t foster its administrative assistants, undertake a coordinated attempt to change the culture. If folks think that having an assistant is a perk like a bigger office or a company car, challenge this thinking.

Introduce the idea that admins are powerful contributors to the executive suite. Without them, your organization may be wasting time and effort on meetings, email and scheduling activities.

Advocate the notion that these necessary evils are better left to the trained professionals. Show the powers that be that the value of their skills far outweighs the cost of their salaries. Then, champion concrete changes.

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Overcoming COVID’s Communication Gaps

As a leader, has the advent of “working from home” distanced you from your employees? As a result, have you witnessed unwanted behaviors? Perhaps you have even realized the unexpected: workers who are actually worse off.

In some companies, we have noticed a surprising phenomenon: Employees who had a good relationship with the organization’s leaders before COVID are now becoming fearful of the same executives. In other words, a certain anxiety has arisen.

It’s led to many staff members working longer and harder, but this added effort doesn’t come from a healthy place. Ultimately, this behaviour does more harm than good because it’s being driven in a way that’s just not sustainable.

The Problem

The average Jamaican worker operates in a perpetual state of low anxiety. The proof? Managers who arrive here from other countries notice talented individuals acting like victims. Furthermore, many of our workers thrive when they migrate to more supportive environments.

On a daily basis, local staff members cope with their fears by developing a heightened sensitivity towards the “Big Man” or “Boss Lady”. Outsiders are shocked to see the deference our employees give to powerful people, going out of their way to elevate and “Big Them Up”.

For example, staff members in some organizations know exactly where the top manager is at all times: when she is absent, work comes to a halt. In others, people scan the CEO’s demeanour to understand his mood. If he is on the warpath, they broadcast the news internally, and warn their colleagues to act accordingly.

But these are all just survival techniques. Our workers developed these habits because executives embody a threat to their well-being. As in slavery, the wrong word from the wrong leader can lead to dire outcomes: public shame, disrespect and separation.

While the exact coping mechanisms vary, their intent is the same: to relieve the state of anxiety. And to some degree, they succeed.

The Pandemic’s Impact

Enter COVID-19 and the mandate to work from afar. Some are thriving: they have escaped the scrutiny of micro-managers and enjoy a fresh freedom to be productive.

However, most are not accustomed to the new disconnection from their organization’s leadership. Now, they are left to their own thoughts and worst fears: a bad thing. Here’s why it happens.

The fact is, the average worker is a social creature: closely linked to other people in the workplace with whom they can share informal interactions all day long. Any scary news or rumors were (before COVID) moderated by the presence of their colleagues, even if no words were passed. At a glance, one could gather critical information by simply observing the environment.

Furthermore, if the CEO happened to walk through the company, staff could feel comforted by her proximity, reducing their anxiety. The quality of her “Good Morning” and the quickness of her pace communicated valuable messages. Questions like “Will I be fired today?” dissipated with her smile.

With new work from home norms (such as Zoom) all these emotional supports have disappeared. In fact, staff is spending more time in meetings than ever before. Perhaps it’s all an effort to compensate for the lack of informal communication which has fueled rumours and driven up anxiety.

Creating the Contact People Need

In a radical departure from the past, some are suggesting that the physical workplace should be retained…but only as a place to socialize. By contrast, an employees’ focused, productive efforts should occur at home, where they are free of distractions. The original purpose of the two locations should be swapped.

But that’s futuristic, post COVID thinking. We can’t follow this prediction today because of the pandemic. What can be done in the meantime?

Some companies have responded by creating informal gatherings between employees. These are opportunities for their people to enjoy each other’s company without a business agenda. Apps like Remo and Airmeets are built for these kinds of interactions, offering far more possibilities than the average meeting software.

However, the most important chats are not with peers, but with superiors. These can be implemented to prevent a rise in anxiety. In spite of busy schedules, some companies are including executives in game nights, cocktail hours, joint training and other gatherings. These are designed, scripted activities (not just random hangouts) which are meant to reduce the emotional distance from bottom to top.

In this context, these informal, but intentional, interactions between leaders and staff serve an important purpose: they help compensate for a cultural challenge in the Jamaican workplace. Together, they provide a way for companies to avoid a predictable spike in employee anxiety in pandemic times. It’s a corporate tactic suited for the distance we’re forced to maintain.

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Signs of an Unhealthy Probation

Years ago, I mistakenly worked for someone I shouldn’t have. Since then, I have wondered: could I have foreseen what transpired? Were there early warning signs I overlooked?

Abundant research shows that employees don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers. We need look no further than the outgoing White House, with its record high turnover, to find an outstanding example. Many high-profile staffers depart (and have left) amidst a storm of tweeted insults.

I had a manager who did the same: publicly bad-mouthing me to others long after we had parted ways. Since then, I have scoured my memory to determine what the predictors of an unhealthy relationship with a boss might be. After all, if I could see them happening in real-time, I could confront them, knowing that they never go away by themselves.

Anyone who is considering a new position can do the same. For most jobs, companies offer a probationary period to test an employee’s suitability. In their eagerness to please, few new hires consciously realize it’s also a unique opportunity to ask: “Are there early warning signs of an incompetent manager who will eventually make my life miserable?” While these aren’t easy to pick up, here are three red flags you should look out for on your next assignment.

1. Being Liked

Arguably, it’s a natural desire to want to be liked, but becoming a competent manager involves outgrowing this everyday tendency. Over time, good managers learn to place the welfare of others and the mission of the company above their own need to be accepted.

In this context, a probationary period is a chance to see what your manager does under stressful situations. Will they stick to principles, or give in to the weakness to say and do things which are popular, or avoid getting themselves into trouble…all in order to be liked?

If you witness your manager “throwing people under the bus” i.e. blaming others in order to be liked or accepted, watch out. It’s safe to assume that the worst treatment meted out to others will one day be directed at you.

But this doesn’t mean that your manager is a “bad” person. They may be very well-intentioned…and completely clueless. Your task in this phase is to uncover the raw truth about their competence and act accordingly, setting aside any wishful thinking so you can take decisive action.

2. Looking Good

Another faulty behaviour to watch out for are those intended to make a manager look good…at all costs. There are many variants of the theme: some focus on physical objects such as their clothing, cars and houses. Others try to show off using their kids or spouse. A few lord their intellectual or artistic achievements.

It all amounts to a relentless campaign to compete with, defeat, and dominate those around them. As a new employee, if your manager uses you as a tool to further his/her ego-based objective, it’s corrosive.

Why? The moment will eventually come when you make a mistake. If your manager’s reaction under pressure seems bombastic (i.e. out of proportion), he/she may be putting the welfare of others in the back seat. Instead, their efforts to avoid looking bad include a tendency to become abusive.

3. Not Stepping Up as the Owner

As a new employee, perhaps the most difficult (but important) trait to detect in your manager surrounds taking responsibility. It’s a skill many managers struggle with, finding it to be unnatural. After all, it flies in the face of self-protective human behaviour which is so essential to our basic survival.

In fact, holding oneself publicly accountable equates to putting oneself in harm’s way…at risk. The act of doing so on a continuous basis is the very definition of a capable manager.

Yet, it remains a tricky behavior for employees to flag, especially early in their careers. Here’s a useful shortcut: observe if your manager apologizes sufficiently when he/she makes a mistake. You’ll be able to know by measuring the degree to which the apology restores the trust and goodwill that existed before the error was made.

In fact, if you work for a manager who publicly apologizes for a mistake you (not him/her) made, pay attention. Their resistance to the temptation to hang you out to dry, may indicate that you have a true winner.

This positive “warning” sign may mean that you shouldn’t leave. However, if all you can sense are the other incompetencies listed above, consider your probation a success: you have detected a manager you should probably quit.

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How to Inspire “Paused” Employees

As a result of the pandemic and the recession, are many of your staff-members unconsciously “working-to-rule”? In other words, have they reverted to doing the minimum possible to keep their jobs? If so, what can you as an employer do to break them out of a dangerous rut which could drive your firm all the way into bankruptcy?

These are scary times, and with good reason. Here in Jamaica, COVID is spiking to unforeseen levels and as the death-toll mounts, even more people are testing positive. Furthermore, the economy faces poor predictions as we enter the traditional slowdown of the tourist season. Arguably, business confidence is at its lowest ever.

Consequently, most of your employees are probably stalled. Confronted by bad news and distracted by children who would normally be in school, they are overwhelmed. Laying awake at night, they are pre-occupied by the need to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

It seems only natural: in response to a threat, you should focus on defending yourself. However, when the threat is enduring, there’s a limit to how well a good defense works. Case in point: you can’t win the football World Cup by only preventing goals from scoring. Plus, deep within the human spirit lies a steady force that drives us to do more than just survive.

Unfortunately, few corporate leaders know how to transcend the “survival” stage of the pandemic. With each spike, they reset their companies’ attention to the usual: social distancing, wearing masks and working from home. But there will always be spikes…for now. A vaccine won’t make its way to our citizens for several years.

In the meantime, your company may just go out of business.

Instead of waiting and resetting every few months, how can you take your employees out of the “pause”?

1. Think Big

A few years ago, the US Coast Guard had such a challenge. The world was changing rapidly and its old operating mode as the first-responder to sea-based emergencies was no longer working. The threats it faced were now organized: some by terrorists and others by global forces such as climate change.

The organization needed to take into account incipient trends, then rise far above them. As opposed to merely reacting, it needed to shape long-term outcomes. That could not happen in the short term.

Instead, the organization developed a decades-long scenario in which it transformed itself, creating a new, influential role in the future. From that end-point, it worked back to today, resulting in a difficult re-organization impacting thousands.

But my experience leading Jamaican companies planning tells me that the articulation of a vision isn’t enough. To some degree, we are immune from such leader-talk courtesy of politicians. Now your people are, quite rightly, skeptical of bombast.

They should be.

Research shows that overblown visions of the future can be de-motivational. Why? When a goal is too far out of people’s reach, they give up, asking themselves, “Should I waste time on a failure?”

2. Be Fact-Based and Realistic

The first way out of this dilemma is to create a numbers-oriented map of the journey from the future back to the present. Such a chart is quite difficult to craft, but it starts by defining a specific year for your goal, such as our own “Vision Jamaica 2030”.

Furthermore, it must show how critical metrics such as top line revenue, EBITDA and market share need to change to accomplish your end-point. Plus, it needs to capture qualitative milestones. Finally, projects and interventions which take months or years to implement should be added in and synchronized with the other targets.

The end-result is a detailed picture of the journey your organisation must take from now until the stated year of your vision.

Some would say that such detail is likely to be “incorrect”, and they are right. This is not an exercise in prediction or accuracy. Instead, it’s meant to galvanize your organization with not only a destination, but a realistic means of reaching it.

Why is this activity important to employees? Without this level of specificity, they won’t buy-in, and will simply add the goal to their mental list of empty promises. This is the problem with overarching, vague vision statements. They have stopped working because people are immune to the optimism of “world-class” pronouncements which are more ignorant than credible.

One way to tackle this challenge is to involve all your staff in your data gathering. After all, this is their future you are crafting. Take care to address all the facts and assumptions they deem important.

The fact is, in these difficult times people want to be inspired…but moreover, they don’t want to be disappointed by a CEO’s pipe-dream. Focus on creating a vision that’s realistic and you’ll replace their unwanted fears with a motivation that enlivens and lifts them to extraordinary achievement.

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The Shock of Low Standards

There are a few moments in your employees’ careers when they go into a shock. However, it’s not because too much is demanded of them…in fact, it’s the very opposite.

In prior columns, I shared what sometimes happens when a recent college graduate joins the full-time workforce. Coming from an education system with extreme demands and standards, they encounter a rude surprise: individual efforts to excel are attacked by one’s peers. At the same time, their management rewards vague, dubious achievements.

Unfortunately, most newcomers fall right into place, frittering away whatever fresh energy they once had. They become like everyone else: comfort becomes the paramount goal. In fact, some firms set “making employees comfortable” as an all-important concern.

Not surprisingly, this is the very opposite of the way people relate to each other in high-performing organizations.

For example, military boot-camp is designed to expose raw recruits to an environment of impossibly high standards as quickly as possible. This immersion is intended to surprise them – to provide a shock. When it’s done well, it isn’t sadistic or destructive. The best rise up to meet the challenge, while others are excluded.

I’m sure at some point in history, a well-intended general experimented with a more “comfortable” path to basic military training…only to see it rejected. Why? A battlefield is no place to discover that your colleagues are more interested in saving their skins than bravely following the mission.

The truth is, society doesn’t admire someone who “seeks my own comfort above all else.” However, this is a low standard that many companies promote during the onboarding stage. But that’s not the only instance where the battle is lost. Here are three additional episodes in employees’ careers which could be carefully crafted to show excellence.

1) Their First Meeting

Sharon, a new employee, bustles into her first meeting to ensure she’s not late. As she opens the door with moments to spare, there’s no-one else in the room. Five minutes later, the second person arrives. The meeting eventually starts 15 minutes late with several missing, including the convenor. The top executive, whose presence is required to make decisions, stumbles in even much later still talking on his phone, without apology.

This everyday scenario teaches Sharon to surrender her college standard of arriving ten minutes before others to sit in the front row. Instead, she’s encouraged to join a sloppy, mediocre majority.

2) Their First Project

After a few months on the project, Jerome is confused. He can’t define the mission and the last two status meetings have been cancelled. While he continues working on his deliverables, his manager has never asked for an update.

With extra energy and bandwidth, he turns his efforts to a startup – a side-hustle he has launched with friends. That feels more real for some reason, even though not a single penny has been earned.

3) Their First Promotion

Fred was just promoted to the executive suite. While HR makes sure that all frontline employees have their annual performance reviews, their advice is ignored at this level.

He discovers that the Managing Director has been too busy (for several years) to schedule feedback discussions. She seems happier giving out random, public “Big-Ups” to low-level staff than having substantial, confronting conversations with her direct reports.

As such, he has no idea how to improve his performance. Consequently, when a headhunter calls, he jumps at the opportunity to move to a different organization which, he hopes, has higher standards.

No Excuses

Perhaps you are reading this article, arguing that “My company is not an army.” True, but what would it be like to find and emulate the best-run organizations in your industry? Maybe you would discover a common thread in all high-performing service clubs, sports teams, NGO’s, statutory bodies, corporations and even bible-study groups.

Consider that there may be something in human nature that instinctively seeks comfort in relationships with others, rather than accountability…and that it destroys performance.

As such, your book-club which skillfully causes (or “forces”) its members to read the assigned books is one that thrives, where others fail. This core ingredient – accountability – is the secret sauce that wards off the drift towards mediocrity. When you fail to repeatedly burnish it brightly, the worst will always happen.

The alternative is to craft high standards around key events which offer their own shock and surprise. While you’ll definitely lose those who are committed to their personal comfort, each one who remains has the opportunity to push others to excellence.

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Can Your Leaders Lead Without Personal Integrity?

“All I have is my word.” Back in the day, this was a common saying among working professionals. For them, keeping one’s word was the only honorable, accepted thing to do. But times have changed: Is there a place for that sentiment in today’s Jamaica?

In 2020, many people have a contingent relationship to the promises they make. In other words, they will keep their commitments if the stars align in just the right way.

When they do, it’s because their feelings and circumstances are in the perfect place, and the gain far exceeds the cost. To summarize: the result is not really up to them, but a fortuitous confluence of external events. It provides them with a psychological back-door: a way to escape any future obligation.

Some people specialize in this kind of behaviour, even while seated at a boardroom table. But it’s human: we hate being trapped by promises we made in the past. Some refuse to make them altogether, explaining that compliance is up to God, not them.

While such behaviour is convenient to those giving their word, it wreaks havoc in the world around them. Here are two ways.

1. Reputational Risk

If you have ever been ghosted (i.e. stood up) by someone with a flimsy excuse, you probably made a decision. Perhaps you resolved never to trust him/her again.

However, if you are a habitual “flake”, you may be upset to hear what we won’t tell you: “If you can’t be trusted to satisfy simple obligations, then you certainly won’t be considered for others which are more substantial.” Also, while we may consent to meet with you again, we’ll be calling ahead to “confirm” (aka micromanage) the appointment.

But don’t relax. Whereas this trick may work for small matters, it fails for important commitments. Instead, we’ll just call someone else.

Unfortunately, you may never understand why you are no longer on our list of invitees, or why we don’t return your calls and email messages. Your inability to generate the willpower to keep your promises has resulted in lasting damage.

2. Organizational Weakness

Hire enough chronic promise-breakers into the same organization and you have the perfect recipe for bankruptcy.

Case in Point: A founder, known for honouring his word, dies and leaves the company to an unreliable sibling. The inheritor never understands the invisible glue of integrity that enabled the company to thrive. Consequently, promises are broken on a whim so customers, employees and other stakeholders start a steady exodus to better alternatives. It’s a lack of integrity writ large: a violation of the brand promise, employee compact, or shareholder trust. These are all unwritten expectations no company can break for long.

Arguably, the rise and fall of the quality of Digicel’s mobile service is such an example. When it entered the market in 2001, it delivered a striking, powerful salvation from C&W’s monopoly. But recently, the government reported a meeting with the company to complain, on behalf of consumers, about its poor service: a dramatic reversal for a favorite brand.

What can leaders of companies like Digicel do? They can undertake a return to workable standards on a personal, but public level. 

In an era in which the President of the United States freely reverses his stated commitments to people, precedent and principles alike, the world is short of those who lead by example. It appears that the practitioners of “situational integrity” are “winning.”

This has not gone unnoticed in Jamaican society, however. Organizations like the NIA and CAFFE are pushing to return our country to a simpler standard: a time when people did what they said they would, just because they said they would…especially when it’s hardest to do so.

But the key is not to merely be wary of making promises. The deeper challenge is to relate to one’s word as if it were as important as oneself: a reflection of character.

Unfortunately, when life is working as it should, the challenge seems to fade in importance.

For example, several local politicians have apologised for disparaging remarks made on the campaign trail about an opposition Member of Parliament. In essence they said: “Those comments are not a reflection of who I am.”

The irony is that Digicel and other organizational leaders could see their recent shortcomings as an opportunity to return themselves to who they really are. Jamaica yearns for this kind of leadership: the kind that willingly reveals itself when mistakes are made, at the moments when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable and unprofitable.

These opportunities demonstrate how to live old-fashioned principles in modern-day life and empower everyone of us to do the same.