What's Going On?

By Mary Jane (MJ) Paris

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Like many of you, I spend a lot of time on the road in my “roving office” and enjoy listening to a variety of music and talk as I travel. Recently, “What’s Going On?,” Marvin Gaye’s 1971 social commentary about the environment came on and got me thinking about how common this phrase has become. Frequently used as a friendly greeting, I couldn’t help but think about how often we’ve all asked “What’s going on?” during this past crazy year of economic crisis and recession.

With all the right-sizing, wrong-sizing, down-sizing and cap-sizing that we experienced this past year, “What’s going on?” was frequently in our minds and on our lips. Now that the dust has settled, many organizations are operating under a “new normal” – and are doing more with much less – budget-wise and people-wise. As part of the realignment, many seasoned people with years of experience have exited organizations by their own choosing or, for so many more, it was chosen for them. Out with them went critical supervisory & people management skills that will take years to rebuild and replace. In some cases, supervisors & managers that are left (the survivors) are scared, disengaged, and just waiting for the upturn so they can move on to another position or continue their life plans for retirement or entrepreneurship. Some experts say, we are just a few months away from a mass exodus. Then what? Have leaders thought about the impact of this scenario? What are they doing to keep the engaged people? That’s a whole other topic for another time…

Whatever the scenario, those in supervisory & people management roles – whether a survivor or newly promoted to fill a gap - may be finding an expectation to perform flawlessly…from managing change to finding new solutions to problems they inherited, to supervising a workforce that is more diverse than ever before. They may be asking, “What’s going on?”

So much is expected of supervisors & managers today as they pick up the pieces and take on the daily challenges of the “new normal,” especially the people side of their responsibilities. It's nothing new for employees to be promoted based on their technical ability rather than management or supervisory skills. They are tapped because they may know the in’s and out’s of the technical aspects of the jobs in their department, but many are lacking in the critical communication and people skills needed to lead and motivate highly effective teams, especially these days. I recently read about a company whose employee survey showed that 65 percent of employees were unhappy with how they were supervised. When they asked the supervisors how they felt about their positions, many said they felt unprepared for (and unsupported) in their new roles.

I hear stories from so many people whose organizations have come to the rude awakening that very few of their current supervisors & managers have the required skills to properly manage people. Or they themselves are one of the survivors who are now in this new, uncomfortable and unsupported role to fill a gap. The upturn is coming…What’s going on with you and your organization? Ready?

We need to seriously ask… "What’s going on?" Think about the answers to these questions as they relate to your organization:

? Why are people being moved into these critical roles before they are
ready?
? Have we cut back too far?
? Did we cut the wrong people? Filling the gaps with the wrong people?
? Did we cut headcount based only on salary? On poor performance?
? Are we being “penny-wise and pound-foolish?”
? Did we keep the “sacred cows” to the detriment of employee morale and
growth of the organization?
? Were the cuts based on common sense business needs or just plain
political?
? Is the “new normal” working?
? "What’s going on?"

What ever the reasons, we need to move forward, for our own well-being and that of the organization(s) we serve. First and foremost, if we are currently a supervisor or people-manager, we need to honestly ask ourselves:

? Is a supervisory or people manager role right for me, the employees and
the organization? Why or why not?
? How does my manager/supervisor foster (or not foster) a positive workplace
environment?
? Has my career reached the point where I need to know more about the latest
strategies that are critical to my success?
? Do I rely on traditional ways of handling problems because I haven’t had
the opportunity to learn new ones?
? Am I busy 24/7 with no time to stop and think about how I could be even
more effective?
? Do I feel like I’m operating in the dark when it comes to dealing with the
issues that arise in today’s ever-changing workplace?
? Do I ever say to myself “there must be a better way!”?
? "What’s going on?"

If you answered “yes” to even one of these questions, it’s time to “turn up your dimmer switch!” Continuous improvement must be part of your personal, professional and organizational philosophies. What role does formal or informal training play in overcoming employee discontent with supervisors & managers? With supervisors & managers feeling unprepared and unsupported in their roles? Obviously, training plays a critical role or I wouldn’t be talking about it.

What’s going on with improvement opportunities available to you inside and outside your organization? What are you and your organization doing to retool, refresh, retrain, re-energize the people to be ready for the upturn?

A Positive Workplace Means Business! It Just Makes Cent$! ®