Is there a place for Anger and personal Pride in the workplace? NO, absolutely not!
If your ego precedes you into a room, do you really think that the people waiting for you will be open minded and be inspired? Of course not. Instead, they will be closed minded and may even jump into what is commonly calledfight, flight, or freeze mode.
I worked in corrections for 4 years while I got my undergraduate degree. I had a leader that hated religion and made it abundantly clear every day. When I saw him coming in, I went somewhere else to avoid him. At the end of my employment there during my exit interview, they told me that I took care of my area very well and that they never had to worry about it because I was there. That would have been awesome to know before I looked for other employment.
The presence of that leader and his actions told me that I was not worth anything because of my religious beliefs. To be clear, I never told anyone that I was a member of that church. I just simply did not swear or drink coffee and he jumped to a conclusion.
If you are a leader, my hope is that you will be teachable and listen to what your employees want from you. They don't want arrogance, intimidation, pride, anger and entitlement. Your employees want someone who leads by example by serving the employees. They want you to make the environment a safe and secure one so that they can do their best work, be engaged, and be productive. They want to be shown appreciation through word and deed. They hunger to be told they are doing a great job.
Why is it so hard to tell someone that they are doing a great job or tell them something positive? It is easier to pick at them and tell them that they are not doing good enough.Or, even worse,leaders communicate displeasure or anger through non-verbal communication and body language. Employees will read and react to your cues, whether verbal or non-verbal.
This is why we have depression in the work environment. We as employees are never good enough. You may not realize the negative impact you are having with your words and actions. It may be as simple as your tone of voice when you provide feedback. You may argue that you don’t use a mean tone of voice. The point is, it is not worth arguing over becauseit's all about perception! How they read and interpret what you say and do defines what you are actually communicating. What perception do you really want your employees to have of you? Your employees are giving you their best. They have strived to perfect their skills, educated themselves on the job, and have studied to be the best in their fields. To have a leader look at them and say that they are not good enough—well that's a blow difficult to recover from.
How many people are or have been in a situation like this? I have.
So my question is can we as leaders control depression in the workplace?
We as leaders can build our employees to be confident in their Professional Identities and combat depression in the workplace. Why do we need to be intimidating, use anger, be proud, and condescending? We don't! Imagine if we looked at the workplace environment and did everything we could to build it so our employees could thrive. Well, a couple things would happen if we did build this environment:
- Production would go up.
- Employee engagement would increase.
- The employees would be happier.
- Increased employee retention.
- The corporation would move forward at a steady pace.
All good things!
Do you want to know more about how to lead a HAPPY and PRODUCTIVE workplace? Visit www.thedriveformula.com or buy the book Driving Engagement By Eric Liechty and Marcus Williams
YOUR EMPLOYEE ADVOCATES for a HAPPY workplace!