Egos and the Workplace, a Question of Shortsightedness
A high-ranking business leader had this to say about the matter: "This is your company and you'll do with it as you damn well please. If this means firing employees, so what? I'm the CEO and no one can tell me how to run my business. This is America, dammit."
If that sounds like an overstatement, it's not. The entitlement attitude pervading our workplace isn't conducive to productive environments. It's clear that we need a new approach to leadership in order for people to rise from their seats with anything more than a sense of impending doom.
This is the conversation we need to have…
A company of which you are president has just announced that it is laying off hundreds of employees, the third time in a year. Your reaction? To applaud the action and wish it had come sooner.
They act like such slackers anyway, I hear you saying. It's a good thing we got them out of here before they could undermine our reputation.
The only problem with that thinking is that employees aren't slacking around; they're working hard and fast, trying to produce for you because this company's reputation depends on it. But because their work isn't producing results or earnings right now, it must be because they're not working hard enough. The only solution, you decide, is to cut them from the payroll.
You aren't the only one who feels this way. The IT guy at your company just took his job for granted and, before he knew it, he was fired. You don't feel sorry for him because he was a slacker; you feel sorry for yourself because you can't get anyone to fix your computer or install new software anymore. Now you're on Facebook all day, trying to figure out how to do everything yourself (but you still can't find anyone).
The boss of the store where you shop fires the employees who are rude to him and hires new ones who will work harder and longer without complaint. The customer service representative who told you it was going to take one hour to do your online order has been replaced by another one who apologizes every time it doesn't work and then blames the system.
You can't get anyone to fix anything around here.
You are "the boss". You own a business with hundreds of employees, most of whom are there because you fired their predecessors for not doing their job well enough, and many of whom will be fired again if they don't prove themselves worthy soon enough. Your product or service is being sold by those same people, but you're only willing to pay for it when somebody figures out how to do the job properly.
You've got people working for you who think you're the greatest guy around. They're about to get a rude awakening.
To many, this sounds like a nightmare. To others, it's just business as usual. Either way, it's neither pleasant nor productive.
Over the last few decades there has been a tremendous cultural shift concerning how our workplaces are run relative to previous generations. Many of those changes were positive and even beneficial, but this one isn't; it's downright destructive and must be changed before it destroys the very bettors business we all founded in America.
The "finding your passion" movement has also had an enormous impact on our society. Even if you don't consider yourself a member of this club, chances are you know at least one person who is obsessed with doing what they love and couldn't care less about the money. This is the guy who's playing video games all day; he'd gladly do it for nothing if he were only given the opportunity to do what he really wants to do – be a game designer, for example.
"Do what you love and success will follow" is their mantra, but in their hearts they know that this is not true. Success is the result of hard work and lots of it; there are no shortcuts. The truth is that if you want to be a game designer, you're going to have to put in the hours necessary to become good enough at your craft to turn it into a successful business.
But as most of us know all too well, that's not what success looks like in today's workplace. What matters most are results, and if those results aren't good enough yet, then get rid of the people who aren't getting them or find a way around them so they don't have to…or at least until they can figure out how to.
The concept of corporate loyalty is on its way out and the "do whatever it takes" attitude is in. This means that you have no problem getting rid of the person who has been working for you for ten years if it means bringing in someone who will produce a better result. It doesn't matter that he's been there longer, or that he's a good worker; if he isn't producing, he must be a bad one, right?
That was your thought process when you hired your new IT guy. He was clearly more qualified than your old one because he had more experience, but once you started working with him, you realized how much harder it was to get things done than before. You couldn't get the software you wanted set up, the Internet connection kept dropping out and you couldn't even get a spreadsheet to open. You tried to fire him and rehire your old IT guy, but he had found another job at another company. So you bit the bullet and did what you had to do: You learned how to do everything yourself, no matter how long it took.
If this sounds like your attitude toward your employees, then let's examine what that means for those people who could easily be fired for not producing enough results in a company where results are all that matters.
But first, let's look at another kind of small business, one where a boss with a different attitude rules the roost.
Your friends have a restaurant. You've eaten there and you loved it. You come back time after time because the food here is better than at any other place in town and the staff is always friendly and helpful. You don't go out to eat much anymore because this place is just so much better than the rest.
Your friends are about to fire their best waiter for not being friendly enough to customers; he should smile more often, right? But wait a minute…this guy has been working here forever and most people who come here want his section because they know they'll get exceptional service from him.
Conclusion: He should be allowed to do his job the way he knows how. If customers don't like it, they won't come back and will take their business elsewhere. But if he's as good as you say, then a few extra dollars an hour isn't going to kill them.
What happens next?
A few weeks later, your friends decide that their restaurant has become too popular for their own good. Their food is so delicious that people come from miles around for a chance to eat here more than once a year – that's just not enough for your friends because they want the place packed all the time and don't want to fire anyone or cut back on staff hours in order to make it happen.