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I'll Be Watching You: Creating Trust in the Workplace |
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Security cameras have become so commonplace in the workplace today that most of us just take for granted that our every move is being watched by someone. But the growing use of surveillance technology might indicate the loss of something that sadly seems almost quaint in today's workplace: Trust. |
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| Author: Dave Caperton |
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I recently watched a special news report on the growing trend in business to install hundreds of tiny video cameras and other surveillance devices in the workplace. The report showed how tiny cameras and microphones can be secreted in coffee pots, plants, lamps and even pens, turning honest and dishonest employees alike into the stars of the company’s own private version of “The Office”. These companies offered no apologies for their corporate voyeurism and neither did the security firms that provided the way-cool spy gadgets that would make even James Bond envious. After all, they say, if you aren’t doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry
about.
Such an erosion of trust has apparently occurred between leadership and their people that these companies now believe that investing in this expensive Orwellian technology makes business sense. Yet the cost in dollars—security-monitoring technology isn’t cheap—is only one way of counting. What about the cost in the lost loyalty of your people? We can only assume that an environment of distrust almost certainly already permeates these workplaces, or else why go to the trouble and expense of spying?
Jay Leno once gleefully ridiculed the highly visible surveillance systems found in most 24-hour convenience stores by observing, “Seven thousand dollars worth of video cameras guarding 70 dollars worth of Twinkies.” In many ways the same flawed logic applies to the business leader who buys into the notion that only eternal vigilance will ward off financial ruin at the sticky hands of unscrupulous employees. The truth is that the vast majority of employees really are hard-working and honest, but an estimated 3% will steal if given the opportunity.
It’s true that the dishonesty of even a single employee can have a significant impact on the bottom line, but there is a balance point between taking reasonable security measures and sending a message of suspicion to everyone. The unfortunate result is the creation of an “us vs. them” environment in which any pretense of team identity becomes a bitter joke.
Can the maximum-security environment yield effective results? Sort of. It's true that when you never know who might be tuned into the supply closet channel, it might well discourage consummating an office romance on company time-- at least in that particular location. Hidden microphones in the break room tend to quell the boss bashing over coffee, but beware. Oppressive regimes are difficult to sustain for lots of reasons. Paranoia is an expensive habit to feed and those you are watching tend to get ever better at not getting caught.
Before installing the stapler-cams and listening pencils, organizations might first consider what their true need is. Perhaps the security measures are treating a symptom rather than the root cause of employee misbehavior.
A Department of Labor survey once asked employers and employees the same question: what do employees really want? As expected, money, job security, and opportunity for advancement made the top ten, and --on the employer's list--they placed first, second and third. What came as a surprise was the order of the results when they asked the employees what they most wanted for themselves. Money, security and opportunity were, of course, important for workers surveyed, but they all finished behind matters with little direct connection to dollars and cents.
In first place was recognition. Employees feel almost universally under-appreciated. Secondly, they want to feel a part of something, as opposed to the often reinforced belief that they are a replaceable cog in a mysterious machine. Third, they want their employers to care about their problems. All top three employee desires can be summed up in one simple wish, they want to matter. They want more than anything to count as people, and that means celebrating their value, including them in communications, and expressing empathy for their difficulties and opportunities for them to experience joy.
Employers who reward employees emotionally as well as compensating them fairly are thinking long-term. They are supplying the ingredients for loyalty. Employees who feel a familiar connection to the people they work for are far less motivated to pilfer, sabotage, or abandon an organization than the disaffected and emotionally wounded.
Workers who steal or sabotage can almost always cite a justification for their actions. The time-stealer might be lazy, but she might also feel justified in her actions because of some perceived slight. The rumormonger who spreads dissension and lowers morale might have a chemical imbalance, or he might just feel so excluded from the loop that he is compelled to create his own important information.
Certainly it’s reasonable to take a hard line, zero-tolerance posture against such behaviors. If people are apt to steal then they must be watched so you have the minicams installed in the pencil sharpeners. However, if you see the problem as a symptom of a larger illness of lost trust and unfulfilled need, then the strategy called for is perhaps more complex but ultimately more rewarding. Here are three critical goals for cultivating an environment in which trust can grow:
• Inclusion - Understanding begins with open communication. That means asking questions and educating team members where they need to learn. For example, does everyone understand how the organization is constructed? Some companies empower their employees to create profit by making sure the receptionist as well as the CFO knows how to read a balance sheet. In short, do they feel a vital part of the whole organization?
• Recognition – We’re not talking about just employee-of-the-month awards which provide four weeks of good parking and little else. Awards are good, but more than twelve people a year need positive reinforcement. Making each level of leadership responsible for expressing formal and (often more importantly) informal recognition of jobs well done helps send the message that the people you rely upon are not taken for granted.
• Caring - Cultivating a caring environment is difficult, but when it exists, it's evident to everyone. Instead of demanding that your team members leave their personal lives at home, recognize that it’s all personal! Show you care about their lives outside of the workplace. After all, it’s the people and the needs they have outside of work that keep them coming in.
• Fun – Don’t underestimate the power of shared joy. Laughter (when it’s kindhearted) brings people together, and makes tasks more enjoyable. After all, doing what you like is infinitely better than doing what you must.
Of course even in this healthy, family-like organization where everyone counts, there will still be those who reward trust with treachery and organizations have to be prepared to deal with that fact. But the true leader will reject the cynicism those sad experiences can breed and realize that, in the long run, it's better to build a bridge than a trap.
About Author
Dave Caperton is a national speaker and seminar leader on communication, stress, humor, sales and service. Contact Dave at (614) 804-5725 or at http://www.davecaperton.com . You can email your comments or questions to: dave@davecaperton.com or drcaperton@aol.com
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