Mindful senior managers need to “wake up” to the fact that only 30% of US workers are fully engaged in their work; only 15% of workplaces inspire real employee enthusiasm and an even smaller number can actually lay claim to the assertion that they are “great” places to work, because employees trust managers. More disturbingly, despite 15 years of expensive training and other forms of organizational interventions these numbers have barely increased. Why? The answer to that question lies in the structure of the human mind and the workplace.
We now know that the emotional mind is wired to seek persistent positive emotional connections with others – a state of trust. It’s also wired to protect us in that pursuit by avoiding uncertainty and any threat to our conscious sense of self-worth. When managers connect with their employees these neural needs are served, their minds become positively aligned and their emotional mind releases mental energy into the work. Their productivity improves dramatically.
Of course, in most organizations the role of manager is structured to operate in control mode – a style of thought and talk that contradicts connection. Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup sums the problem up in an editorial on why most workers are miserable at work. He argues they’re miserable because they have managers who can’t clearly communicate two things: (1) what the employee’s job is (reduce their uncertainty) and (2) that they care about them (reduce their fear of social ridicule).
The month’s presenter is Dr. Dalton Kehoe. Dalton brings 4 decades of experience as a teacher, organizational change practitioner and communications consultant. He retired from York University after a 41-year career and is now Senior Scholar of Communication Studies. Routinely voted one of the top teachers at York and chosen as one of the best lecturers in the province, he is also a top-rated instructor in the Executive Education Center at the Schulich School of Business at York University.
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This webinar series is a de Jager & Co and Interthink Consulting production.
Join us on 25 August 2015:
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