Opening Insights: Employee Problems
Believe it or not there are employees out there who struggle with personal issues and bring them into the workplace. We all know what these issues bring to the workplace... lost productivity and worse yet distractions and games. The Co-Lab environment is different, it creates an environment in which professional goals and team directives trump personal games and agendas. It reminds me of a story about Millennial Jane and Baby Boomer Joe.
Informational Insights: A Millennial Co-Lab Volunteer Discovery
Jane, a selfish and self-absorbed millennial was trapped in her own drama most of the time. She came from a powerful family in which she was given everything and anything she needed- she never learned to work, sacrifice or risk. She lived life with proverbial silver spoon in her mouth. She learned to position herself at the head of the pack... thinking she was a leader. She had been told my everyone growing up how smart she is and how she could do and get anything she wanted, the only problem was... no one taught her how to do anything. With degrees and certifications, education only seemed to cement her stupid.
Living in the illusion that she was at the head of the pack she never bother to look around and see there was no one behind her. She wasn't yet smart enough to know that you cannot be a leader without followers.
If given the opportunity she would catch her reflection in the mirror in inspection, examination and admiration - like narcissus looking in the pond. She always wanted to be part of a true team and make a significant contribution to the world, but like many people change was just a word to her. Her past experiences growing up taught her that life was all about looking out for number 1 and that she was entitled to whatever her heart desired. While she didn’t get a trophy for coming in last place, she was of the mindset that she would rather not try and not learn than risk the possibility of failure. She was no different than most millennials. A legend in her own mind, the leader of her own back, she never learned to examine reality and stop to look behind herself to see no one was there.
At work she didn’t communicate her schedule or processes to her superiors, because she liked holding on to the information, it gave her a sense of control, and if no one knew what she was doing, no one could tell her what to do. Her mentality was paycheck. Ignorance was bliss, with no awareness of consequences or compounding impact of her schedule or tasks to self or others. She was still the lone wolf. She really didn’t care about anything or anyone. She learned not to. And while looking out for number 1... left her all alone and isolated at work and life, she was comfortable in her misery... and like I said she never looked behind to be aware of her isolation.
She fought with middle management and gossiped behind other employee’s backs. She complained and whined because she could, because she was entitled, because that's what everyone else did. She was like a ravenous dog - chasing her... She worked for the weekend... and life was not about developing a skill or a career it was just about idol wants, feelings of pleasure and instant gratification.
While she wanted to do something significant and help humanity, she had learned not to care, she had learned that others don’t care, she had learned to distract, deceive and divide people. Drama was her default programming and the environments she perpetuated, skillfully at work, home and play (faith played no role in her life).
She didn’t know anything was wrong until...
One day, the founder of the company Joe came to Jane and the other entry level employees. He said "there is something wrong here. Our sales are down, our turnover is high, our customer satisfaction reports are embarrassing. There is a cultural problem we need to fix fast. I know you have all been complaining... now we get to do something about it."
He went on and said he had recently partnered with a powerful organization based on the Principle of Wolf Leadership and Management. He shared, "true leaders lead from behind, protect and build up the followers, the wolves in front..."
"The organization specializes in addressing our cultural challenges, on an organizational AND SOCIETAL level." "More than an economic problem," he said he was learning... "that we have a global problem." He said he was learning much from the Collaboration Laboratory (Co-Lab™) he was a part of and now it was the companies opportunity to discover what he has learning. He said that while he was aware of the cultural shifts in society and in business, he had become complacent in accepting the status quo and lost hope in solving the problem. Before finding the Co-Lab™ he saw robotics as the only way to ensure sustainability of his company, not because he didn't want to employee people, but because he didn't know how to transition the organizational culture in a way that would empower the collective and enhance productivity. He shared that the Co-Lab™ research had shown him that society has and is shifting in many ways he has watched, yet he didn’t fully understand the challenges of the generational problems and that there was a SOLUTION, until he entered the Co-Lab™.
"Based on what I have been learning in the Co-Lab™," he said, "we have a unique opportunity to affect change within our organization, self and our communities. And we are starting here. We are going to change our perceptions, thinking and communication and fast."
"Today the buck stops here," he said with an air of excitement and enthusiasm. "We are all going to come together. We are all going to focus. We are all going to find our collective and individual path. How you may ask... in our own Co-Lab™. A place and a space to provide us with a foundation for a common language and goal."
"You all know what we do, now we will create a clear way to communicate, collaborate and implement how we do it."
Joe shared what he had learned from the wise founder of the Co-Lab™ - "the direction, the foundational principles and the collaboration ideas that they we were going to collectively explore." He expressed real concern for society, culture, the company, the country, the lives of the employees and their family’s today and in the future. He shared that "the Co-Lab™ opens the door to a proven solution to do something about it!"
Joe spoke not of what he knew, but what he was learning.
There was a jump and freshness in his voice as he spoke. He shared that the Co-Lab™ was an environment with resources that would support us in better developing the skills we need to be more effective team members, employees and people. He said the Co-Lab™ would be separate from the organization, like a third-party accountability firm, where all employees would all have a say and a share. It would give employees the authority to share experiences and concerns and responsibility to be part of answering, solving and implementing solutions and accountable for the outcomes. "Like wolves," he said, "we will all learn to find our place in the pack and learn to become responsible and accountable to each other and ourselves."
Jane listened, but didn’t really digest the reality of what Joe was sharing...
However, through the experience of being in the Co-Lab™ environment, and learning to communicate, relate and applied knowledge transfer she began to trust and understand what is right. And that she could in fact develop and learn the skills she needed to effectively participate and contribute to the lives of others.
From Joe and the Co-Lab™ process, Jane began to learn what true leadership is and looks like. She realized that she never knew what a true leader was before... not someone who lead the pack from the front, but someone who lead by empowering others. Guarding, caring and protecting from the back for the good of the pack. She realized that her perception of a leader, leading from the front was very flawed and only those who had the experience, insight, wisdom and legacy lead from the front (as well as those who needed the most physical protection- weak and vulnerable) - the advisors and visionaries. Yet in order to get to the front that position needs to be earned.
She learned how to become accountable to her team and accept the feedback and support of the team. She started to learn to care and express care about a mission bigger than herself. She learned the cost of her dysfunctional error - sometimes through following direction, other times by failing and making mistakes. Mistakes where transparent and put on the table- compounding cost of mistakes like failing to communicate schedules, failing to communicate tasks and failing to care about other people could no longer be denied. The illusions of the need for a safe space of personal feeling good, was replaced with the safe space of collective vision, importance and maturity learning professional skills of success and discovery.
Within the Co-Lab™ Jane began to learn the skills of perception, thinking and communication that were lacking from her awareness of self and others. While foreign and uncomfortable to her she began to think about others and assess her mistakes and correct them - making her a more functional employee, more dependable and predictable and thus more valuable. She communicated her schedule and tasks, not because it was naturally what she wanted to do, but because she knew her time was valuable, and her tasks were not just her own but as part of a team she was a gear that needs to perform optimally to ensure the train kept moving and no one was held up. While issues of communication and immaturity surfaced at times, the foundation and support within the Co-Lab™ provided peer shared responsibility and accountability to keep everyone on track for the good of the mission and goals of the team.
- Did she make mistakes? Yes.
- Did she allow her narcissism and emotional immaturities from the past play up? At times.
- Yet, she learned that these actions where costly to herself and others.
- It upset the balance and cost the team and herself.
- It created delays and frustration.
- It created lost opportunities.
- Moments lost and never to be found again.
While, before she would ignore mistakes for fear of acknowledging just how stupid and immature she was. With the Co-Lab™ she is building the professional and personal skills to overcome her immaturity, work as a team and demonstrated awareness, care and amends to self and others.
Possibilities for Consideration:
- What if your organization could address the millennial issues instead of just accept them?
- What if your organization could become a leader in addressing and correction social engineering?
- What if your organization could empower people with the followship and leadership skills needed to survive and thrive?
- What if your organization could bring solutions internally and externally to reverse the cultural challenges and bridge generation gaps?
Add Your Insight: Be Part of The Solution
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
MAHATMA GANDHI
