I have always found that an instant barometer to the state of any company's employee relations is the way their people use the words 'we' and 'they'.
You ask a salesperson for an item and he says, 'Sorry they have decided not to carry that brand any more.' Or you get to the front line of the check-in line at the airport and the airline agent tells you, 'Sorry, they have just cancelled that flight.'
This mysterious anonymous entity 'they' is held responsible for limitless problems. Bad news tends to be delivered in the third-person plural, whereas good news is much more likely to be relayed in the first-person singular. I wish my old English teacher could read this, as she was convinced I never listened to a word in those lessons!
So if the requested item is in stock, the salesperson will likely reply, 'Yes, I have that.' When a flight is on time, the agent will say, 'I would like to announce the on-time departure of the flight XYZ.'
Managers and business leaders should watch for this tendency. A company where the staff overuse the word 'they' is a company with problems. If employees aren't associating themselves with their company by using 'we', it is a sign that people up and down the chain of command aren't communicating - and if that turns out to be the case, you'll usually find secondary problems throughout the company, affecting everything from development to customer service.
A company's employees are its greatest asset, particularly in service based operations where your people are your product. When the company fails to grasp this simple business tenet, the result is invariably an oppositional 'us and them' divide between management and front line staff.
Just as two wrongs never made a right, these two conflicting 'theys' will never make a 'we'.
Resolving the underlying issue is not that difficult. If employees feel they are outside looking in - so far outside that they refer to their company as 'they' - then who's to blame? Managers and executives may be investing no effort in making staffers feel like valued insiders. For example, try asking employees where they learn about new product and other important company news. If the answer is the newspaper or a next-door neighbour, then they are truly stuck in a 'they say' quagmire.
Involving every relevant employee group in development not only drives better product design but also adds a huge pride-of-association factor. 'We came up with this as a team.' Everyone wins, including customers and shareholders.
A few days back I went to a general store and asked for a product, someone working there said, 'Sorry, but they don't have that anymore', my standard response was, (with a smile!) ""They"? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you worked here.' Tough love, maybe, but it certainly gets the point across!
One of a leader's greatest challenges these days is getting people to actually talk to each other; one on one meetings and old fashioned brainstorming are vital to the success of any growing business. Sending an email with an attached Power Point presentation to a hundred people may be effective in some situation, but most of the time nothing beats gathering all the contributors to a project, soliciting everyone's input and then acting on it.
So, rather than sending that email to the product team, why not walk over there now and talk to them. I am sure 'they' will thank you for it!
You ask a salesperson for an item and he says, 'Sorry they have decided not to carry that brand any more.' Or you get to the front line of the check-in line at the airport and the airline agent tells you, 'Sorry, they have just cancelled that flight.'
This mysterious anonymous entity 'they' is held responsible for limitless problems. Bad news tends to be delivered in the third-person plural, whereas good news is much more likely to be relayed in the first-person singular. I wish my old English teacher could read this, as she was convinced I never listened to a word in those lessons!
So if the requested item is in stock, the salesperson will likely reply, 'Yes, I have that.' When a flight is on time, the agent will say, 'I would like to announce the on-time departure of the flight XYZ.'
Managers and business leaders should watch for this tendency. A company where the staff overuse the word 'they' is a company with problems. If employees aren't associating themselves with their company by using 'we', it is a sign that people up and down the chain of command aren't communicating - and if that turns out to be the case, you'll usually find secondary problems throughout the company, affecting everything from development to customer service.
A company's employees are its greatest asset, particularly in service based operations where your people are your product. When the company fails to grasp this simple business tenet, the result is invariably an oppositional 'us and them' divide between management and front line staff.
Just as two wrongs never made a right, these two conflicting 'theys' will never make a 'we'.
Resolving the underlying issue is not that difficult. If employees feel they are outside looking in - so far outside that they refer to their company as 'they' - then who's to blame? Managers and executives may be investing no effort in making staffers feel like valued insiders. For example, try asking employees where they learn about new product and other important company news. If the answer is the newspaper or a next-door neighbour, then they are truly stuck in a 'they say' quagmire.
Involving every relevant employee group in development not only drives better product design but also adds a huge pride-of-association factor. 'We came up with this as a team.' Everyone wins, including customers and shareholders.
A few days back I went to a general store and asked for a product, someone working there said, 'Sorry, but they don't have that anymore', my standard response was, (with a smile!) ""They"? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you worked here.' Tough love, maybe, but it certainly gets the point across!
One of a leader's greatest challenges these days is getting people to actually talk to each other; one on one meetings and old fashioned brainstorming are vital to the success of any growing business. Sending an email with an attached Power Point presentation to a hundred people may be effective in some situation, but most of the time nothing beats gathering all the contributors to a project, soliciting everyone's input and then acting on it.
So, rather than sending that email to the product team, why not walk over there now and talk to them. I am sure 'they' will thank you for it!
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