A Whole New Meaning to Office Repairs

An employee’s face looks up as his iPad slowly slips from his fingers; crashing on the floor below. Scattered, plastic remnants are all that remain. Can it be fixed?

A manager and an employee look across the table at each other, stunned into silence by the bitter and harsh words exchanged during a review. Can it be fixed?

Many things in the workplace can be fixed and repaired. But some wounds may be laying deep, some setbacks too shattering and some rifts too wide to be infused back together. Experiences such as ethical dilemmas, unsettling turnover, a betrayal, and even physical and psychological abuse can leave management and workers permanently wounded. As resilient professionals, people live and go on with their work; forever changed.

One high powered executive discovered this in the course of preparing for a divisional transformation. Before her time in that division, a colleague had died (six months earlier) leaving behind many who were still in the grieving process. Managers no longer knew how to manage their team, for their team was changed by the loss of their friend, colleague and boss. The executive quickly acknowledged that a different change approach was vital, and that the division would need time as they went through the grieving process. Instead of driving her initial approach, she assessed and embraced the reality that her newly acquired division was profoundly changed by the death. She chose to embrace them for who they had become.

Meeting them where they were, she offered resources for support, encouragement, and time to heal and discover meaning through a new beginning for themselves and their division. Can it be fixed?
In this instance, no, but other alternatives to finding new workplace meaning can be found in the intangibles – impacting the quality of people’s life can be achieved, resulting in growth.

In the U.S. alone, 53.5 million workers1 have been impacted by workplace bullying. Though outwardly moving on, for many there remains an internal fear for their physical and emotional safety. It takes an intuitive and emotionally intelligent leader to embrace the people side of transformation to help their organizations restore security and achieve renewal.

Healing and growth can be found and nurtured under the right leadership. When leaders and employees come together and establish high-quality relationships create open lines of communication and take responsibility for cultivating and upholding a culture of trust, individuals witnessing unethical behavior that may have even led to a colleague’s suicide can gain the courage to contribute vibrantly.

There is no “quick fix” strategy that will produce a viable, emotionally healthy workplace. However, like this executive discovered, the strategy for shattered equipment and lives and souls in the new workplace is not about a bandage. It’s about being granted the honest and secure gift of starting over, investing in relationships, learning and becoming anew.

As transformational leaders, in what ways do you extend security in your workplace?