If you want to improve employee engagement, it’s not enough to model best practices demonstrated by employers such as Zappos, Southwest Airlines, and other denizens of the various Best Places to Work lists.
You need to identify and eliminate the “wrong things,” says David Lee, founder and principal of HumanNature@Work, an employee performance consultancy. By “wrong,” he means the organizational and managerial practices that squelch employee engagement and crush employee morale.
Here are five employee perceptions that are deal breakers when it comes to improving employee engagement and morale. If your employees feel this way about you as a manager or your organization as an employer, you must find out how you are creating these perceptions and eliminate those actions.
“You have no clue about what it’s like for us in the trenches.”
“You make decisions that affect us, but you don’t have the decency or common sense to ask for our input.”
“You don’t let me know how I’m doing, and you don’t let me know what I’m doing well.”
“You take advantage of your power.”
“You want me to be more motivated, yet you’re not inspired or inspiring.”
Use this as a catalyst to find out how your employees perceive you as a manager and the company as an employer.
