Ensuring Cohesion between Management and Employees

People are social animals. No matter how hard we try to be objective and business-like at work we still apply real world standards to our workplace relationships. Knowing that, it's really no big mystery how to foster a good relationship between management and employees. You do it the same way you do it with your friends and family.

In a word: trust.

You can read every motivational book there is. You can toss fish and move the cheese and try every goofy gimmick that ever made the bestseller list. When it comes down to it, if the trust is not there then there will be no teamwork, no cooperation, no communication.

There's a certain kind of person that buys into all those gimmicks. You know a few, I bet. They make into management and they jump around smiling and saying "you're doing a great job!" when you know perfectly well they have no idea what your name is. Those people lack sincerity, and the number one sign of lacking sincerity is motivational gimmicks. These people are so shallow that they think others can be tricked into being motivated by silly gags. Their expectations for you are very low and you know it. You know they lack sincerity and you cannot trust them.

A good manager truly cares about his employees because he knows that the employees are the backbone of the business. Without them, nothing gets done.

A good manager is honest and straightforward. Employees need to know that they are going to be treated fairly. A good manager must be objective and admit when he's wrong. A good manager must be accountable for his employees. If an employee is performing poorly, it is a management failure. A sincere manager will take the necessary steps to get that employee back on track.

It boils down to motives. Sincerity cannot be faked. If you have ulterior motives, people will know and they will not trust you. A good manager must constantly preach the gospel of common business goals and not let his employees lose sight of those goals.

Trust builds slowly. If it's broken it may never be regained. Once an employee trusts a manager and the manager is sincere in caring for the employee, the employee will gladly do what's asked of him for that manager because he can trust that the true objective is the common business goal.

Forget those complicated motivational schemes and those pithy punchlists of seven things. You only need one list and it only has one thing on it:

Trust.

Learn more about this author, Griz.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Ensuring cohesion between management and employees?
We want to hear your view. Write now!