Talent Management Tuning: What are Employees not Saying?

Figuring out what employees are not saying might be the start point to greater retention and a more engaged workforce.

Statistically, more than two-thirds of employees today don’t feel engaged in the work, either due to the mediocre culture or lack of opportunity to grow and unleash their talent potentials. Many feel that they are outgrowing their positions and are interested in other opportunities. Hard to help develop and implement a professional development plan when they won't tell you what they truly desire. So from Talent Management and Change Management perspective, besides listening to what employees say, have you even tried to figure out what are employees not saying? Here are some things managers hardly ever hear from employees who are undoubtedly thinking it:

*Understanding: You are making my job unnecessarily hard because you don't understand what I do all day.

* WIFM -What’s in It For Me: I want to be included in more decisions that affect me.

* Respect: I want to be treated fairly and with respect.

* Professionalism: Your temper tantrums frighten us. Your unprofessional actions are the root cause of mediocre culture.

* Leadership: Your insensitive, self-centered behavior sometimes hurts us, and you always make a poor judgment by looking at things at superficial way.

* Do not micromanage: Show me the big picture, and specifically "what" is my role / contribution. Then leave the "how" to me. If I need guidance, I will ask.

* Reward: Stop taking the credit for my work.

* Fairness: When you play favorites, you are breaking the team, rather than building it. (In short evaluate performance & reward people based on results & not your personal likes & dislikes / perceptions)

*Growth Mind: You need to have a growth mind yourself in order to inspire, develop and grow us.

There are so many things employees will not tell their managers what's in their mind, and unfortunately, there are not so many things that are positives. It is an indication of a lack of true emphatic leadership, lack of a culture of innovation and learning, lack of integral and effective talent management and performance management, it’s a real management challenge for all. All managers should proceed with the basic assumption and validate what’re in people’s mind, not just what they say, but what they do not say. The unfortunate truth is that while we all advocate transparency, but not so many managers will take this feedback in the right spirit. People need to be developed and grown so the positive energy can flow and collective human capabilities can really be transformed into business strength and competitive advantage. Figuring out what employees are not saying might be the start point to greater retention and a more engaged workforce. Bosses are more likely than not to ignore the advice they receive. The good news is leaders seek feedback. The trick is to make more leaders!

Posted in: Talent Master