Another Failure In Understanding Human Problems In Organizations Which Will Lead To More Wasted Money - Etiquette Classes Coming Soon!

I recently was reading an article that stated 60% of Organizations are going to start doing Etiquette Classes with their Employees.

Not just New Employees, and not just for Gen Z, but for ALL Employees.

My first thought was...

Etiquette Classes?

You mean like they do for Cotillions with Debutantes?

Seriously?

Now, to be fair, it's not "that" extreme for these Classes that Organizations are using.

However, it does seem to be a growing concept in the Business World.

I also "understand" why they are being looked at.

There are certain ways we can utilize body language to project (and feel) certain types of atmospheres in the workplace.

The Idea is that if you teach people how to make eye contact and shake a hand firmly, that business will go more smoothly.

Supposedly these classes will also have a Focus on teaching people how to speak up about their Thoughts and Ideas.

I get the Idea behind the classes, but it's not going to make any difference to the problems we are seeing in Business.

At the end of the day, it will be a lot of time, effort, and money that will either have a Net 0 Effect or will actually make things worse.

Why is this?

99%+ of the Problems being experienced have nothing to do with Etiquette.

The #1 Problem that Businesses are facing around the World is Burnout, which Etiquette has no impact on.

It doesn't matter how polite you are taught to be, it doesn't help fix extreme levels of Stress and the Oxidative Damage that results from it.

But even more than this, Etiquette classes assume that "Employees" are the problem.

If you can't get your Employees to look you in the eyes - that is a Leadership Problem.

If you can't get your Employees to speak up about Ideas they have or Challenges they see - that is a Leadership Problem.

At the end of the day, Etiquette Classes are not going to fix the Leadership Problems.

If anything, Etiquette Classes will just become a Mask that makes it MORE challenging to find what the real problems are.

When I say "Mask", I do mean that quite literally.

When you tell an Employee that "You need to smile like this", or "Look at me when I talk", they will likely do it... just to keep their job.

But it doesn't change how they are feeling inside.

You can push them to look you in the Eye, but that won't create Respect toward you.

You can teach people How to Speak Up, but that won't Change their Desire to Speak Up, especially in a Hostile Work Environment.

Employees can learn to smile, but that doesn't mean they will Enjoy their work.

None of these things actually accomplish anything in the long term.

If you are lucky, it just has that Net 0 Effect of Accomplishing Nothing.

However, the more likely scenario is that Employees being pushed and forced to act a certain way will create more Tension in a workplace that is already at the point of Exploding.

That Tension will then be more difficult to "see" due to the Masks that are being worn, but it won't change the Psychophysiology underneath.

The Dis-Stress and Burnout will remain, they will get passed to other Employees and Amplified through Neurocardiology, and things will just continue going downhill.

The reality is that in Business, Employees are RARELY the Problem.

It is true that there are "Bad Eggs" that sometimes exist, but that is less than .01% of the time.

The truth is that it's not hard to get people to look you in the eye, do proper handshakes, and smile, along with any of the other "common" pieces of Etiquette.

Treat People as Human Beings instead of as Tools to be Broken.

Help them through the Real Challenges they Have instead of Treating those Challenges as Unworthy.

Take Time and Effort to Improve the Workplace, as a Leader should do, instead of Blaming all the Problems on Employees.

These would create a LOT more benefits than Etiquette Classes, and the funny thing is you would also get better Etiquette FROM Employees if you did these!

Leaders need to start understanding that the Challenges they have are Human Challenges.

Masking Problems with Proper Etiquette won't solve anything.

Leaders need Solutions that Create Regenerative Legacies.