Why You Need A Resilient Workforce and How To Create One

I just came back from speaking at a conference on how to create a
resilient workforce and wanted to share with you a few thoughts
and some resources about this critical topic.

First, what is a resilient workforce? It’s a workforce comprising
employees who:

-Bring high energy, enthusiasm, and goodwill to their work.
-Don’t “sweat the small stuff”, but instead have their eye on
the big picture.
-Respond to change and challenge with flexibility, optimism,
and confidence.
-Operate at peak effectiveness in challenging situations.

Another way of saying it is to borrow from  Harvard Business
School’s Rosabeth Moss Kantor’s classic observation that to
survive in today’s economy, companies have to be “fast,
friendly, flexible, and focused.”

Well, to be that way, you need employees who are “fast,
friendly, flexible, and focused.”

Here’s the problem: many – if not most -- organizations
create a work experience that leave their employees stressed
out, worn out, overwhelmed, frustrated, and disengaged….
Not exactly the raw material for delivering the key sources of
competitive success in today’s economy:

*   The Ability to Create Brand-Building Customer
   Experiences
*   Organizational Responsiveness: Alertness, Agility, and
   Speed
*   Innovation and Intellectual Capital
*   Talent Acquisition and Retention
*   Productivity Per Employee

If you want a resilient workforce, you need to:

*   remove or minimize unnecessary sources of stress
*   provide a work experience that inspires and engages –
   i.e. satisfies key drivers of human motivation
*   manage employees in ways that are consistent with
   human nature

To get you started on this, the website has a new addition:
“Managing Employee Stress and Safety”

http://humannatureatwork.com/Workplace_Stress_ManagingStress.html

Even though it’s written from a safety perspective, the material applies to
employee stress in general and how to minimize it, while maximizing
employee performance.

Want to See More Initiative From Your Employees?

Two of the most common laments I hear from supervisors and managers are:

• "I wish my people would show more initiative."
• "I wish I didn’t have to baby sit my people; I wish they would be able to make routine decisions and solve routine problems without having to come to me all the time."

Does this sound familiar? What I’ve found over the years is that two managerial mistakes often play a major role in this frustrating pattern:

1. Being the Answer Guy or Gal instead of a Kung Fu Master

2. Being a Control Freak

Let’s explore these…

Being the Answer Guy or Gal Instead of the Kung Fu Master
Now, this may be a bit of a dated reference, but do you remember the show Kung Fu, where David Caradine would ask the Kung Fu master a question, and the master would answer in some kind of riddle: "Ahh Grasshopper… why does the rain not fall up…?" If you never saw the show, I think you get the idea… He wouldn’t directly give the answer. He forced his student to think, to explore.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you respond in obscure or mysterious ways. Who has time for that? I am saying, though, not to give answers all the time to questions your people should know the answer to or solve problems they should be figuring out themselves.

I KNOW it’s quicker to give the answer and move on.

But… YOU KNOW that you are doing them, you, or your employer a disservice every time you do that. The effectiveness and success of all three parties depends on your team’s ability to think for themselves, to work with a minimum of oversight, and to innovate. One of the keys characteristics of resilient, flexible organizations is decision-making and problem-solving is pushed to the edges of the organization, not centralized at the top.

Remember the classic Steven Covey allegory of the man trying to saw down the tree with a dull saw, feeling frustrated, but convincing himself he doesn’t have time to sharpen his saw. Being the Answer Guy or Gal makes just as much sense. Here is a bit of research from the world of human nature that you might want to ponder. The following quote is just a glimpse into the work on learned helplessness, uncontrollable stress, and the dumbing down process.

"Know it All" Bosses can create "Learned Helplessness" – which dumbs down employees and destroys initiative.

"Of all the qualities in a manager conducive to innovation and initiative, a degree of uncertainty may be the most powerful. If a manager is confident, but uncertain – confident that the job will get done but without being certain of exactly the best way of doing it – employees are likely to have more room to be creative, alert, and self-starting."
Langer, Ellen. Mindfulness, NY: Addison-Wesley, 1989

OK, so how can you turn this around? How can you stimulate your employee’s ability to think for themselves?
1. Refrain from being "The Answer Guy/Gal." – When your employees ask you for answers that you believe they know, or they should know where to find them, challenge them to do so. KEY POINT: Let them know ahead of time that you will be doing this and why (Why are you? Because you’re not doing them any favors, you any favors, or your employer any favors by not helping them cultivate their ability to make decisions, solve problems, and innovate.)

2. Practice neo-Socratic teaching – Besides downing a vessel of hemlock, Socrates was famous for his teaching style. Rather than give answers, he asked questions. Now, he would ask questions that would lead his students to the answers he, Socrates, wanted them to arrive at. This isn’t what you want, which is why I call it "neo-Socratic." The whole idea of stimulating your employees to think for themselves is to discover their own solutions, not figure out what the boss is thinking. I can guarantee you, if you ask questions to lead your employees to YOUR preconceived conclusion, you can forget them daring or caring to think for themselves.

3. Challenge the need to be "the smartest guy in the room." – OK, it’s understood you haven’t gotten to where you are by being a Dummy. No need to convince others. Unfortunately, there’s tremendous pressure in many organizations to look like you have all the answers and to demonstrate how smart you are. However, the willingness to "Not Know" is a hallmark of great learners and leaders. (refer back to Dr. Ellen Langer’s quote.) Besides, your people know better. They know that NOONE has all the answers and that only a fool thinks he does.

4. Balance self-confidence with curiosity and humility. – This relates to the last point, but deserves its own billing. Every personality style and trait has its strengths and its dark side. A strong ego and rock solid self-confidence can be both a gift and a curse. While you need to have self-confidence to be a leader and to make it in today’s ultra-competitive world, this strength turns into a fatal flaw when it crosses the line into arrogance. One of the most comments complaints I hear from lower level folks in organizations is how their boss and those above their boss seem to believe they know everything. So… would your people say the same thing about you?

OK… This went a bit longer than I had planned, so I will address #2 "Being a Control Freak" in a later issue. I guarantee you, you need to share that one with your fellow managers because the research on control and human behavior shows what a little bit of reflection on the work world reveals: Control Freak Bosses Cost Their Employers Big Time.

In the meantime, here’s an excellent blog entry on what motivates "Geeks". You can just replace "Geeks" with "Really smart, talented employees" and then ask "Are we doing a good job addressing these factors?
As I read it, I noted how many of those factors relate to fundamental human drives. That’s why it’s so important, I believe, to understand human nature. When you do, you can design a work experience that brings out the best in people.

http://www.retrospector.com/2006/06/21/top-10-ways-to-motivate-geeks/


For articles on motivating employees, achieving Employer of Choice Status and more, go to:

www.HumanNatureAtWork.com