Here at Workology Co our focus is usually on the tangible and intangible actions that organisations with high performance culture take to stay that way.
Things like – acknowledging your employees, communicating with them, and listening to them, to name three examples.
This piece is changing things up a little, with a focus on what NOT to do.
So now, without any further ado, here is Workology Co’s Top 4 No-Nos when it comes to high performance culture.
1) Do not condone, support, encourage or allow inappropriate behaviour.
Behaviour such as harassment, discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying are all examples of inappropriate behaviour. The problem with condoning this misbehaviour (apart from the legal ramifications when complaints end up in external tribunals) is that the behaviour is like our old friend Covid. In other words it is toxic, spreads like wildfire and its impact can be devastating.
It is especially important not to condone (or to be perceived to be condoning) poor behaviour displayed by members of the Executive. Partly because as the old saying goes, the fish rots from the head; but also because it is so much harder to spread the message that this kind of behaviour is Not Ok, when rank and file employees witness the Executive engaging in it.
This also applies to the star players in your team(s). Just because they are ‘stars’ does not mean they should be allowed to get away with bad behaviour. In an earlier blog, J is for Jerk Alert we looked at this very issue.
Here is one of the most popular examples from that blog, that occurred during a cultural audit I conducted earlier this year.
During one on one interviews with some female members of staff for the audit, they described behaviour by their business unit manager (let’s call him Don) that made them feel extremely uncomfortable.
Truthfully, what they told me amounted to allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.
When I debriefed the Program Director responsible for this business unit about the findings of my cultural audit, I also mentioned my concerns about Don’s behaviour.
I had interviewed Don, and whilst it’s hard to offend me (I was raised with five elder brothers), Don managed to do so. Several times. In a 45-minute interview, the first time he had ever met me.
The response I received when I discussed my concerns with the Program Director was along the lines of, the girls need to toughen up and just deal with his behaviour (interestingly, they didn’t deny his behaviour).
The Program Director claimed the behaviour was common in their industry; and also said that because Don came from a tough military background, his behaviour is ‘just the way he is’.
Plus, there was this familiar refrain when it comes to why organisations tolerate inappropriate behaviour:
He’s really good at his job and we need him.
The lesson here: Don’t be like Don. And definitely don’t be like Don’s manager, and condone or push Don’s behaviour under the rug, no matter how ‘good’ he is at his job.
Unless you are happy to face eventual consequences that will cost your organisation $. Lots and lots of $. Amongst other ramifications…
2) Do not spy on your employees.
I mean this should be pretty straight forward: you hired them, so presumably you thought they were capable of doing their job. This means you shouldn’t micro-manage them and force them to check in with you every hour or so to let you know what they have been doing; and you definitely shouldn’t set up cameras and microphones to watch and listen to what your staff are doing. Including private chats between staff.
Given there is legislation in all states and territories against recording of private conversations without consent, this should be a pretty straight forward No Go Zone. Alas, one of my younger family members works in a cafe, where the owners (who do not actually work in the business, dealing with the daily bump and grind of customers) watch their staff throughout the day via cameras and listen in on their conversations- and will message individual staff members to tell them off for alleged ‘infractions’ during the day.
About important items like, you know, moving the bags of spinach from Spot A to Spot B. *True story. This is wrong on so, so, so many levels I don’t quite know where to begin. Except for to say – THIS IS A HUGE NO-NO.
And clearly will not be helping foster a culture where trust and psychological safety exist, let alone flourish.
3) Don’t seek out your employees opinions, and then disregard them without explanation.
For example, last year I conducted a stakeholder engagement project for a client in relation to a proposed major restructure of a program. As part of the review, employees frequently mentioned that inductions for new employees weren’t happening, or if they did, they tended to be insufficient and not particularly helpful or meaningful.
The General Manager who had commissioned the report disagreed, insisting they had overseen the introduction of a revitalised induction program 2 years before. The result? You guessed it. The induction program was neither (further) revised, nor more broadly discussed/communicated.
I worked with the client again approximately 6 months later on a different program – and guess what came up again on this different review? Bah bang. Inadequate induction of new employees into the organisation.
This time the grievance was raised with more obvious levels of anger. And distrust. Employees felt they had raised an issue which had been ignored.
Absolutely, yes, please canvas your employees opinion. ‘L is for Listening’ after all, because listening to your employees is (as noted in this previous blog) an essential ingredient of high performance culture. But if you can’t respond in the way employees have identified that they want you too – then TELL THEM. Then explain why.
Is it a permanent no or a ‘not right now’? Share the more specific answer, and your rationale. Consider establishing focus groups where employees can discuss potential solutions to the issues raised. By providing employees with an opportunity to be part of the solution, you increase buy in and engagement.
4) Don’t rely on internal staff to review your culture.
Ok, ok, I get that this seems a little self serving. And maybe it is. But one of the things that I have noticed happening a lot during 2022, is organisations advertising internal vacancies for newly created roles that are, in effect, responsible for improving the culture of the business.
Of course you can’t improve culture (or anything really) unless you know where the culture currently is on the spectrum from toxic/terrible ➡ok ➡good ➡great ➡high performance.
Whilst I wholeheartedly applaud the fact that the pandemic seemed to wake a lot of business owners up to the fact that culture is important for organisational success (yay, cheers!); I firmly believe the answer does not lie in placing this responsibility on HR team members. I know of at least one HR manager who attempted to alert the Board of his organisation to serious issues I had identified during a cultural audit; including allegations made against members of the Executive. The HR manager in question was told in no uncertain terms to back off – and left the organisation shortly after. You can fill in the gaps.
The brutal truth is that employees will NEVER be as open and honest with someone from the HR team about what they see are the issues with the current culture, as they will be with an external, unbiased consultant. There will always be a perception, true or otherwise, that the internal HR team member is ‘one of them’ (ie management) and effectively acting for the Executive team.
People will be frightened of repercussions if they speak up. It is also much, much easier for an external person to take a birds eye view of what is going on in an organisation than it is for the internal practitioner who is ‘in the weeds’. And having also been that internal HR practitioner, I can vouch for the fact that it is all kinds of awkward (and sometimes, job limiting) to have to point out to members of the Executive, or the Board, where the Executive are failing or falling down in their duty.
So what else is a No-No?
Honestly, there is enough material for this week’s theme to have morphed into its own spin-off series.
But perhaps the easiest way to summarise what are ‘No-Nos’ when it comes to culture, is this:
Don’t do the opposite of each ingredient in the A – Z of Workplace Culture series.
For example, A is for Acknowledgment. So a No-No would be failing to acknowledge, recognise, appreciate and triumph your employees hard work.
Follow the steps laid out in this series, and when it comes to Workplace Culture, instead of the No-Nos, you will be all about the YES YES’. F
Followed by a YAY WE HAVE A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE.
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