During the last twenty-five years I have worked for several companies and saw different cultures at each of them. While trying to find similarities and differences it showed to me that the view on employees had a big influence on shaping the individual culture. And because culture can attract or expel employees and therefore influences mid-term corporate development it’s time to share some of these thoughts.
I have identified five levels of perception depth that are explained here in detail. Each level can be read using the four quadrants borrowed from Ken Wilbers Integral Theory to get a comprehensive picture;
- What is the managers view on the employee? (individual outside)
- What does this mean to the employee himself? (individual inside)
- What is the teams view on the employee? (collective outside)
- What does this mean for the culture? (collective inside)
Before stepping into the levels keep in mind, that there are huge differences i.e. between producing firms and consulting
firms.
So the levels are not evaluated as good or bad practices, but should find the right context to achieve an individual
benefit for everyone.
Managing people in a manufacturing environment like consulting people is equally bad as managing people in a consulting
environment like factory workers.
Quantity level
The first level is the simplest possible and a pure quantitative one. Do we have an employee or don’t we? Companies measure employees in headcount and use terms like workforce. The managers and the team think in ways, that if they double the number of employees they only need half the time. It’s that easy. The employees are glad to have a job. They are gaining for security and stability in a small world. They don’t need to see the whole picture. They just get the tasks they have to fulfill and the results will be toughly controlled by the manager. In case of an error the responsible will be punished. Errors delay tasks and for task completion delays the management will be punished. And before this happens, the manager will punish his employees to prevent it. All employees are objects and there are none to few attributes to distinguish them from each other. The employee is like a battery, replaced when exhausted. This is no environment to keep high skilled or high potential people on the long term.
Knowledge level
Besides the quantity on the next level the knowledge is added. Education, study path and experience are important attributes looked after during recruitment. Salary is based on education and also the career will be dependent on it. Manager and team will try to match task requirements with knowledge and skill, to gain a certain quality level. The employee has studied some topic to get a job like this one. He will constantly provide the team with his knowledge and he will let you know what makes the difference if you don’t have this education. And he wants to see the part of the plan that is related to his expertise. Education is definitely an attribute to differentiate employees, which will lead to different classes of employees. But still they are mostly seen as object without interest on the individual.
Skill level
Besides knowledge skills become important. Employees are categorized into some set of categories i.e. artist, craftsman and technocrat. And it is recognized by the manager and possibly by the team that you wouldn’t give the tax declaration task to the artist and the paint-a-portrait task to the number crunching technocrat. Delegation has the perspective of skill-based matching of task and employee, so that high quality and low effort comes together. Intrinsic motivation rises on a broad basis because employees have to solve tasks that are somehow made for their individual capabilities. And now they want to know about the plan for the next years, they want to imagine where their environment is developing to and what their contribution could be. Colleagues understand the capabilities of their team mates, which creates a culture of respect. This is the first time the employee becomes a subject and a team member and your payback will be a high loyalty.
Intentional level
On this level the intention of the employee is taken into account. Because intentions can change over time the scope should be limited to some duration for example three years. And watch out, this is a huge change. For the levels quantity, knowledge and skill is was sufficient to observe the outside of the employee. Now we have to dive into the inside, into his thoughts, emotions and intentions. These can only be assessed by talking to him. And even if the employee doesn’t knows about his intention you could/should help him to uncover it. It is important to distinguish, if the employee wants to learn from the company, if he wants to make money or wants to take effect on the company. Respect employees intention to support them on their way and to create a long term collaboration. The employee will not only make his job, but will recognize that his individual growth is supported. The employee becomes a part of the family. He will stay for a long time.
Values level
Besides the employees intention, on this level most of his values are taken into account additional to all previous levels. With this step you leave the exclusive scope of work and understand the priorities of work, family and free time. You can balance the work with his life. The employee becomes a friend for a lifetime.
This perception level will directly influence the fluctuation rate. If you have fun to invest your efforts repeatedly into adjustments into a new job, just keep going. But from my point of view it really makes sense to invest into the good people and keep them forever. If you don’t have good people, overthink your recruitment strategy as well.
At the bottom line there is not one strategy that fits all. Take the perception level, find out where you are and where you want to be, act on that and you’re fine.