A recent article from a scholastic business journal, entitled something like the “Three Things Your Employees: Need to Know,” imparted this wisdom:
- Employees need to know to whom they report.
- Employees need to know how they are paid.
- Employees need to know what they’re supposed to do.
After reading this, you might ask yourself, “Do these guys get paid to write about this stuff?”
The sad news isn’t that some academic makes a living writing about the obvious; it’s that they even need to. Although leading people isn’t rocket science, you’d be surprised how many organizational or motivational problems you can solve by answering one or all of these questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.
It might be obvious to whom an employee reports - the boss of course. But who is the boss? The person who did the hiring? The supervisor who controls the daily assignments? The lady who owns the business. Or her husband? Or, her son? Every organization has a decision-maker for whom everyone works, either overtly or because of consequences.
It also might seem ridiculous even to talk about how you pay your employees - because it’s either by the hour or by salary. Right? However, there’s more to it than that. If you pay employees by the hour, are you paying them to be there for a certain number of hours, and will you get what you pay for - hours? Unfortunately, the same holds true for salaried employees. Most employers just want them to be on premises during certain times during the week. You’re not paying them for what they produce, but just for being there. Again, you get what you pay for. Pay for hours and you’ll get hours. How you pay employees is an essential tool of employee engagement. Think about it: If you own the place, you’re motivated because you’re paying yourself for productivity. Why change the rules for your employees?
Finally, it might seem silly to spend a lot of time on what an employee is supposed to do because the work is usually right in front of them and it’s not that hard to figure out what needs doing. Again, this is a tricky issue. Remember that anger and frustration are nothing more than unfulfilled expectations. This candle burns at both ends. Although both employer and employee have expectations, how often does either party address them in advance to avoid anger and frustration? For instance, what does success look like? What happens when we win? What happens when we lose? Why is my part in what the organization does or delivers important? These are vital questions for getting employees engaged in their work.
Are these the only three things that employees need to know? Probably not. I’m skeptical about conclusive lists. However, as you might guess, these questions offer an important, and deceptively difficult, place to start.
I’ve created a tool, the “Position ScoreCard,” that takes a stab at managing expectations with your team members. If you’d like a copy, e-mail me, and I’ll send it to you.