In today’s workplace many feel that the pendulum swings too far in the company’s favor when it comes to accrued benefits. Simply put, many believe that the average employee exists merely for the pleasure and benefit for the organization.
Whether these beliefs are grounded in reality really isn’t the point. The point is to recognize there’s a certain level of cynicism out there.
It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to figure out that when people feel that they’re viewed as a means to an end they’ll be far more likely to be less engaged.
Showing greater levels of respect to employees is a way to avoid this pitfall. People want to feel valued—one that is reflective of a professional work environment.
At E. W. Scripps, a long-standing media company of some significance, they’ve ceased using the term ‘talent management’—a program that Scripps feels is integral to their success. Instead, Scripps now uses the term ‘career management’. This change was made to put the emphasis on the employee, not the company. The change isn’t window dressing, it’s substantive.
Scripps worked hard in enabling employees to realize honest-to-goodness value from this ‘career management’ approach. The employee drives it, managers and HR support it. The approach enables people to paint themselves into the picture.
When people feel like they’re integral to the success of the company good things happen. This is precisely why we advocated in The Power of Professionalism that culture should be centered around an organization’s professionals. An organization that has as its focus a ‘culture of accountability’ runs the risk that the employee sees themselves as a pawn for the organization’s pleasure.
Instead, an organization that has as its focus a ‘culture of professionals committed to accountability’ is far more likely to be engaging to employees in much the same way that the Scripps approach did. Chapter thirteen in The Power of Professionalism outlines this approach in greater detail.
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