So here you are putting the best you have into a job you have had for several years. The compensation is decent, but not great. However, other of your work preferences are in place such as hybrid work settings, respectable collogues, manageable work volume, and most importantly you are largely able to exercise your strengths with minimal time spent on dealing with your weak areas. On balance, it is a good job, which is why you have stuck with it this long.
But as time has gone on you find yourself wondering if your bosses really care about you. You recognize that positive feedback is important to you. Confirmation of some sort is desired in order for you to continue putting your maximum effort into this endeavor. The fact that you are questioning this at all seems to be an indication something is lacking in the rapport you have with management. Yet, you just can’t put your finger on what is missing. It leaves you feeling somewhat unfulfilled with your job.
We can look at workplaces as falling into two possible camps which I will call the traditional camp and the emotive camp. The traditional workplace has an inherent expectation that employees are there to follow the direction of management — period. Employees either fit into this assumption or they don’t. It is not the job of the employee to question the instructions they are given. If they have issue with management decisions, then the the door is just over there. The message is to shut up and do your job.
The emotive camp on the other hand is characterized by a management style that believes employees need to be heard and respected. This stems from an ethic which attaches value to having the workplace be a place of learning, adaptability, and growth. This style of manager sees the incursion of contemporary business trends like globalization, technological change such as artificial intelligence, and consumers desiring personalized brand loyalty as game changing requiring employees who can function effectively in this new normal.
As an employee it is appropriate to ask yourself which of these camps is best suited for you. In some situations and for certain personality types the traditional culture may be fine. It offers a hierarchical structure with little ambiguity concerning whose place belongs to whom. However, for increasingly more employees, especially from the Millennial and Zoomer (Gen Z) generations, top-down my-way-or-the-highway supervision is unlikely to attract and retain the talent needed to meet the demands of today’s consumers.
What are some specific practices we can expect from managers in an emotive workplace? Margaret Rogers, a business consultant with a “human-centered methods” focus cites several ways. It begins with managers accepting as a priority the need to understand their employees at a more personal level than was expected in the past. The goal is to merge conditions which accentuate optimal employee performance with the needs of the organization. It is assumed each employee has career wishes aligned with related learning goals. Arranging these objectives such that company and employees both benefit can reduce turnover.
A resiliency must be worked into the decision making process of both manager and employee so that shifts can be made which satisfy fulfillment of on-the-job opportunities. Managers must have the flexibility to make good on the matches they find to bring about enhanced employee to organization interactions. As an employee, you can feel your contributions matter to the degree that you are upskilled in ways you want to be.
Integrating varied on-the-job occasions can broaden the range of skills employees develop while also expanding the talent pool from which organizations can draw as needed. Additionally, as with any high quality learning setting, superior communication among all stakeholders is required. Constant feedback, like constant data, is useful for fine-tuning the improvements all parties rightly demand.
An emotive workplace is often an organization that puts out a product or service in an always competitive marketplace. This culture realizes that by being a learning organization and sensitive to employees’ hopes they are more likely to have an employee base committed to adaptable people management.
We left you earlier wondering why your current job is leaving you feeling unaccomplished. Maybe the above analysis will help you determine where the rub may be occurring. And if you decide a change needs to happen, don’t put it off for too long. Lasting improvements are sweeter in the near term rather than indefinitely delayed.