Philosophies to abandon in the workplace

For some time now I have wanted to express the deep concerns I have regarding behaviours in the workplace, be that in the corporate world or your own business or start-up.

There are a few philosophies that I feel need to be abandoned as part of a transformation towards more caring and Mindfulness Based organisations. I have decided to write a separate article for each of the philosophies , so this will be part 1 of a few.

Just a brief comment on Mindfulness in the context of this article. Mindfulness is a practice whereby you give the present moment your full attention without letting thoughts of the past or the future interfere with being in the moment. Mindfulness practitioners use practices such as breath work and meditation to enhance their ability to remain centered and not be distracted by all the other things that need to be done and all the thoughts that are forever in the mind. However in the context of this article, I am referring to a Mindfulness Based organisation as one that pays close attention to the intent behind their leadership practices, culture and the resultant behaviours. They are sincere and authentic in their engagements with all individuals and ultimately believe that there is an innate goodness in everyone. Therefore when dealing with individuals the thoughts are not on how much more money we can make but rather the thoughts are about the individual and their own unique wonderfulness.

Upfront, I would like to point out that these articles are straight forward and to the point and therefore could stir up some emotion and defensiveness. I urge you to have an open mind and read through to the end. If you are feeling a strong reaction to this article, I encourage you to try and identify what triggered you and why.

1st Philosophy to abandon – “Going the extra mile”

We have all heard the saying “going the extra mile” or “giving 110%”. This usually is in the context of what an organisation is expecting from their employees. I have seen these words in job specs, in performance feedback reports and in leadership (rah rah) speeches.

What do these words mean to you? For me this means that there are immediately two groups of employees; those that are perceived to go the extra mile and those who don’t. Behind the scenes, possibly without you knowing, you have been placed into one of these two groups. The result is that those who are in the preferred (giving 110%) group are the ones that will be given the opportunities and will be invested in by organisation. By invested in, I am not necessarily talking about money, but rather simply being treated with respect and being heard. The other group, to a large extent is written off as the “bad apples” and the investment by leadership is often about how to deal with the headache of “managing” these employees, or finding ways to have them replaced. This may sound very blunt but I feel that when we are dealing with people’s livelihood, there is no room for softening the reality.

As I have held numerous leadership positions, I can tell you that the direction of movement from one group to the other is almost always only from the “going the extra mile group” to the “bad apples” group and hardly ever the other way round. This tells us that once a negative perception is formed about the individuals, it is usually there forever. However if someone was once a star and starts to “slack” in the eyes of leadership, they will very quickly be demoted to the “headache” group. What does this tell us about the leadership value system? Would the employees feel safe if they are going through personal difficulties and are not able to perform at the levels they usually do? Would mistakes be tolerated? How does this impact on the anxiety levels of these employees?

Because of the “rah rah” speeches about going the extra mile and because employees see the same people getting all the “pats on the back”, smiles and airtime in meeting, ultimately unhealthy behaviours start to become strongly prevalent within the organistaion. We start to see people trying everything possible to be seen as a good apple. This includes getting to work very early and / or staying late, even if there isn’t really workload to justify this. What happens to these individuals sense of self? Often they still feel undervalued because of the unlikely transition from the bad apples group to the good apples group. In addition, they are adding personal issues to their woes as they are spending less time at home. Further we often see employees turning on each other, commonly referred to as “back stabbing”. This back stabbing behaviour can very quickly become endemic and threaten the resilience of the organisation as a whole. The sad part of this behaviour is that colleagues at the same level, who had possibly formed good relationships and even friendships, have decided that getting into the good apples group is more important than those relationships. And ……despite any rewards that they may get from the organisation for this decision, they will not be any happier as a person.

This leads me to the next question: “If you are giving more than 100% or going the extra mile, what gets less than 100% or which journey is not being completed by the shortfall of this extra mile? What are we sacrificing and is it worth it? Perhaps it is worth it if you are running your own business or you have embarked on a personal initiative or following your passion. However, even in these contexts, the questions are still valid. If you have your own business, this is certainly applicable if you employ people.

So what’s the alternative? This is where Mindfulness Based Leadership comes into the picture. Set aside some time as a leadership team to deeply explore if this expectation of giving 110% exists in your organisation. Establish from your management team if they have created virtual good and bad apple groups in their structures. The challenge here is that the truth may not come easily if only asking the management team. Perhaps this should come from the employees themselves.

If this culture exists, and it is highly likely that it does, take strong pervasive measures to eradicate it:

1.      Replace the time that would have been invested in trying to get rid of the bad apples, with time spent getting to know the individuals, their dreams, their passions and their personal struggles.

2.      Use modelling to instill the new culture. Start setting the example at the top levels by packing up at a reasonable time and chase your teams out with you. Leave the office and leave no-one behind. Use repetitive mantras such as “Let’s get home and have fun with our loved ones” or “that’s enough for today, let’s go and do things that bring us joy”. Pay careful attention to the challenges and needs of working moms. Perhaps we can even get to the point where we consider shorter days or a 4 day week, as is proving successful in Finland (but that is for another conversation).

3.      If your organisation cannot sustain its strategy without the 110% philosophy, I encourage you to seriously take a close look at your activities, initiatives, projects, products and markets and start to rationalise and consolidate. The truth is your organisation, in the long term, is not sustainable with your “good apples” continuously going the extra mile. They will eventually burn out and the back stabbing culture will ruin your reputation as an employer.

4.      Invest meaningfully and sincerely in employee rewards and wellness programmes not because you want more out of them, but because you care about their well-being. Critically take a look at the intent behind programmes that are aimed at benefiting the employees. Look for the words attached to these programmes? Invest in them because leadership genuinely believe that all people are good “apples”.

5.      Look at making amends for those that have been side-lined or forgotten. There are potentially many individuals that fell out of the good apple tree and are now continuing to work for you but don’t get the same treatment. These individuals are possibly suffering from self-esteem issues and maybe even depression. In addition there could be those that have left the company for health reasons as a result of them giving their all to the organisation. What can you do for these individuals? My sense is that their stories are all there in your HR records. Make this an HR priority as part of your culture transformation. 

These transformations that are about addressing how we impact on the livelihood, health and overall wellbeing of individuals are not easy, but without a doubt they are the right things to do.

If you, as an organisation, have started this journey to eradicate the "going the extra mile" philosophy, this is to be highly commended and I encourage you to share your successes so that others follow.

Look out for the next article that will about abandoning the culture of Multi-tasking.