By Miche Rayment & Diane Ratigan-Schmidt
Two Perspectives, One Article
Seriously, thank you! Without leaders creating a space for drama to happen, leaving their flaming reactions wherever they go, consulting firms like The Hire EffectTM and Holistic Team Wellness Consulting would be out of business. Today, we shed light on common themes where employees’ perspectives are either included or excluded, sparking conflict, negativity or even withdrawal. First, let’s be clear about what we mean by drama.
Throughout the years, the two of us broads have conducted numerous culture assessments, crafted employee engagement practices, and provided training, coaching, and mentoring to countless individuals (leaders and employees) for the sole purpose of identifying sources of drama and eliminating them.
Drama shows up in many ways; here are just a few things we hear from the leaders when they reach out:
- My team is emotionally out of control and I don’t know how to get them back on track because everything I say makes them mad.
- I try to ask them what is wrong but no one talks in our meetings.
- Everyday I come into work thinking they’ll do their job, but I end up having to tell them what to do over and over.
- Everyone is calling in sick, barely pulling deliverables across the finish line and none of my coaching is working.
- My employee engagement survey results are super real, but I don’t know where to start with all this feedback.
Unclear Expectations Create Drama – with love, Miche Rayment
Introducing Miche, a seasoned entrepreneur deeply entrenched in the realm of high performing team support and development. With a robust background in running her own consulting practice, she orchestrated the intricate human systems surrounding IT alongside her dedicated team. Miche’s passion extended beyond the confines of her professional domain. She now runs a training and consulting practice around the human systems required to build and retain high performing teams – The Hire EffectTM. Drawing from over 35 years of both formal and informal study spanning anthropology, psychology, philosophy, biology, and linguistics, she weaves together a tapestry of multidisciplinary insights. Miche’s unwavering commitment shines through in her compassionate application of these principles to the intricate process of high-performance team building. She specializes in using hiring practices to craft business cultures that naturally draw in the ideal individuals and retains top talent. Through her guidance, organizations embark on transformative journeys towards cultivating and retaining the most important part of the company – their people.
Running a business feels like riding a rollercoaster—everyday brings something new— but amid this whirlwind, one thing stays constant: confusion and drama about who’s responsible for what.
In over 1,200 clarifying sessions for roles and responsibilities, not one person has seen their job the same way as their boss. Inevitably responsibility will show up on someone’s plate even though it’s not written into their job description. That’s a recipe for drama. Why? Where there is a lack of clarity, there is drama. Let’s figure out why this happens and how to fix it, without all the fancy jargon.
Misunderstandings between what people think they’re responsible for and what bosses expect, lead to arguments and tension. Although misunderstandings are common, it was surprising once to find 5 people all “HR support” and no one the HR manager or HR director.
Key reasons why this happens:
Confusion from the Start: When someone starts a job, they’re often given a big list of tasks, but these tasks aren’t the same as responsibilities. The mix-up between tasks and responsibilities sets the stage for future disagreements.
Ongoing communication: As time goes on, jobs change (like the addition of HR support). If bosses don’t keep talking about what’s expected or employees stop asking for clarification, things get messy. Responsibilities turn into random tasks causing even more confusion.
What to do about this:
Get on the same page. Ask each employee to think about what their real responsibilities are, not what their daily tasks are. Then, have them write down these responsibilities. If they’re listing tasks instead, help them see the bigger picture by asking: “Why do you do those things?” That will get them back to saying what they are responsible for.
Figure out what success looks like. Instead of bosses being the only ones to decide if someone’s doing a good job, let employees say what success looks like for them and how they can measure that without your opinion. This will also keep you and them on the same page. Whether it’s stories or numbers, giving employees a say in how they’re assessed makes them more likely to take ownership and produce results.
Running a business is like solving a puzzle—without clear expectations, things fall apart. By talking openly about roles and keeping communication going, bosses can keep everyone on the same page. Let’s simplify things, turn drama into teamwork, and make our businesses stronger together.
Not Taking Ownership of Feedback Creates Drama – with love, Diane Ratigan-Schmidt
Introducing Diane Ratigan-Schmidt, a vibrant soul, brimming with boundless energy and a background entrenched in organizational development (OD). She’s spent years not just owning, but completely revamping people systems and challenging teams to prepare for their future. As the dynamic force behind Holistic Team Wellness Consulting, her superpower lies in unveiling the raw reality of a team’s current challenges, empowering them to confront and conquer obstacles head-on. Diane’s true magic lies in her ability to awaken the dormant superpowers within teams and leaders alike, guiding them towards their full potential with a deep-rooted belief in holistic healing approaches that empower and restore energy in leaders and employees. A big part of Diane’s past lives has been to evaluate the experiences of employees, measure engagement and coach leaders to improve their ability to leverage employees.
In Diane’s experience, every team is unique in many ways but the leader’s role is the same on every team. In today’s world of layers of hierarchy and the reality of performance management systems (high on judgment, low on trust-building), leaders don’t feel empowered to take ownership of feedback or engagement survey results and insights. For example, employee engagement survey feedback showing that employees don’t understand the future of the organization or their role in the strategy of the company is often interpreted by front line leaders as “the executives aren’t doing their job of painting that picture for our people”. They blame other levels or current situations rather than taking ownership as the leader.
Key reasons why this happens:
The results of this lack of accountability and ownership of behavior is low morale, low trust, disengagement, turnover…..drama. We see drama when these behaviors show up:
- Asking the employees to fix the problem: Leaders will review the results with their team and then solicit a task force of employees to form an action plan on how to “fix employee perceptions”. They actually ask the employee for feedback AND ask them to fix it too. This breaks trust with employees all day long.
- Dismissing feedback: Leaders that try to rationalize or justify a piece of feedback with their limited insight will only amplify the issue. Dismissing the feedback or blaming a specific situation/circumstance and pushing it to the side will make employees feel ignored.
What to do about this:
What should you do instead? Give yourself the permission to own it and evolve:
- Own the feedback – No blaming or shaming. Engage an organizational development coach if you have to…they will keep it real for you.
- Elevate self-awareness – Evaluate how you interact with others. Be real with yourself. Are you painting a solid vision that people can get ignited behind? Solicit additional perspectives and feedback from others too, which might be the greatest superpower of all.
- Create an action plan for improvement – In the example shared above, leaders who take the future seriously can take intentional steps to expose their employees to trending technology, new developments, best practices, and new ways of looking at their work with examples from other industries to help employees visualize possible impacts to their work in the future.
- Create a safe space for you – Leaders need a safe, dedicated space to be able to review feedback results, craft a vision, practice their pitches, and build new habits for better employee experiences. It is reflection work. It’s hard work. Bring in a friend, mentor, or coach if you can’t make sense of any of it.
Embracing feedback in a real way is hard, but doable. Owning the feedback can feel like a gift: allowing bosses to improve for themselves and their people. When leaders quit shooting themselves (and the team) drama dissipates. Turn drama into an opportunity to move to the next level in your leadership and accountability resulting in a stronger and more resilient team.
Summary
The Hire EffectTM and Holistic Team Wellness Consulting share transparently their knowledge in hopes of a better future experience for leaders and employees. Picture a drama-free team that looks like this:
- There is a seamlessly aligned vision cascading down to the most critical tasks
- Employees feel heard because they see you evolving your leadership based on the feedback they have provided
- Delegation works and provides clarity to all
- Employees engage wholeheartedly and unleash their creativity resulting in outstanding work and lessons learned
- Coaching is focused on enhancing processes and driving continuous improvement
As consultants, we’re not just in it for the business; we genuinely desire to see your teams thrive – all teams. Be empowered to become the kind of team that fosters complete clarity for your employees and embraces feedback wholeheartedly.
Ready to take the leap, but not sure where to start?
Join Two Wise Broads for an Ask Us Anything session on April 25th from 10:00 – 11:00AM CST.