Are Your Managers Right For Employee Relations?

"The number one reason for conflict is the need to be right."

The first time I heard this, I was an ROTC instructor by day and a graduate student by night. When I wasn't teaching leadership or hanging out by the Schuylkill River, I was grabbing nuggets of wisdom from my graduate courses. 

I think of this nugget often with managers and employee relations.

The Beginning of the End

Managers who approach employee relations with a need to be right are all wrong. They approach employee relations as a zero sum game. They  can't talk without spitting, consider without pacing, or see the forest for the trees. They gloat when a decision is in their favor and talk about quality of hire. They analyze employee  attendance, work quality and engagement. They don't ever look to themselves for answers.

Reality Check

Good people do bad things and employees do not perform. It's a manager's job to address employee conduct and performance issues and there are workplace consequences for both. The consequences may range from a performance discussion with the manager to the loss of employment or something in between.

Good managers address conduct and performance issues with an eye towards  changing employee behavior, not simply to prove a point. Good managers take feedback. A manager who won't take feedback or consider all options, maybe, just maybe, shouldn't be in that role.

Doing it Right

Employee relations done right means keeping the organizational eye on what matters most. What matters most is staffing an organization with people who perform and managers who treat people equitably and respectfully. 

Employee relations done right means being responsive to employee issues, being prepared to support a case, and being open to consider all options. Employee relations done right positively impacts employee attendance, work quality, engagement, and organizational effectiveness.

There's a difference between needing to be right and doing the right things and while the final action taken may be the same, the road to get there is paved very differently.

Which road are your managers on?

Photo credit iStockphoto

Comments

[Lynn Dessert]

The reality check goes beyond management, it applies to everyone in the organization.

I am currently helping someone who underwent intense interrogation from a "specialist" on something that supposedly was done. The specialist found he was wrong in his accusations because his fact finding was sloppy. The interrogation persisted for hours until he could find something to pin on her, IMO to feed his need to be right. In the next week or so, we'll be addressing the issue and it will be a pleasure to see him squirm when he realizes he let his ego get in the way of a bad decision.

[Lisa Rosendahl]

Lynn, those egos sure do have a way of messing things up don't they!

[HRMS]

I agree with what you said about employee relations. Having the attributes of an intelligent leader is not enough to make you a productive one. You need to know how to interact with your workers so that you could get them to see your ideas from your point of view and understand the kind of work that you want them to do. Hope to read more posts from you soon!

[Lisa Rosendahl]

HRMS - Employee relations can be the most exhausting area of HR, but also the most challenging. People being people - they don't always respond the way you'd like or expect them too. Thanks for commenting!