Are Your Managers Right For Employee Relations?

"The number one reason for conflict is the need to be right."

The first time I heard this, I was an ROTC instructor by day and a graduate student by night. When I wasn't teaching leadership or hanging out by the Schuylkill River, I was grabbing nuggets of wisdom from my graduate courses. 

I think of this nugget often with managers and employee relations.

The Beginning of the End

Managers who approach employee relations with a need to be right are all wrong. They approach employee relations as a zero sum game. They  can't talk without spitting, consider without pacing, or see the forest for the trees. They gloat when a decision is in their favor and talk about quality of hire. They analyze employee  attendance, work quality and engagement. They don't ever look to themselves for answers.

Reality Check

Good people do bad things and employees do not perform. It's a manager's job to address employee conduct and performance issues and there are workplace consequences for both. The consequences may range from a performance discussion with the manager to the loss of employment or something in between.

Good managers address conduct and performance issues with an eye towards  changing employee behavior, not simply to prove a point. Good managers take feedback. A manager who won't take feedback or consider all options, maybe, just maybe, shouldn't be in that role.

Doing it Right

Employee relations done right means keeping the organizational eye on what matters most. What matters most is staffing an organization with people who perform and managers who treat people equitably and respectfully. 

Employee relations done right means being responsive to employee issues, being prepared to support a case, and being open to consider all options. Employee relations done right positively impacts employee attendance, work quality, engagement, and organizational effectiveness.

There's a difference between needing to be right and doing the right things and while the final action taken may be the same, the road to get there is paved very differently.

Which road are your managers on?

Photo credit iStockphoto

Employment Law and Leaders

Employment law is my forte. 

On some days, there's nothing better than reading a recent ruling, grabbing the salient points and being that much more equipped to advise and guide. Employment law is an area that employee relations HR pros need to pay attention to on a regular basis because it is under constant refinement. I am attending the 21010 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute for that very reason.

I entered the conference for facts and I left after day 1 with an insight.

The plenary session included a Title VII update and as the presenting attorney  wrote, "the 'human drama' we see in our day to day work continues to play out in some pretty amazing factual scenarios." Yes, it was amazingly unbelievable as we reviewed rulings on religious discrimination, sexual harassment, sex stereotyping, and pregnancy discrimination. And then, right there 60 minutes into the session, it struck me. 

Employment law is an entire profession responding to a void of common sense and respect between people. The cases we reviewed were nothing less than a reflection of the disappointing and troubled state of leadership in organizations. The legal system is complex, but leadership is not - bring judgement to a situation, consider the totality of the circumstances, and think before acting.

Why do so many leaders get  this wrong?