Does Mid-Term Election Mirror Workplace? Tip of the Week

Citizens are angry. They’re angry with Democrats and Republicans. Some say there’s no difference between the two parties. Both are interested in power, not results. Right now, candidates from both parties are saying that this has been true in the past, but it won’t be anymore if whoever is talking is elected. Washington is the problem. Send outsiders, and change for the better will occur.

Yeah, right. Politicians have been saying that for years. The fact is that promises are made during an election but rarely kept. Outsiders have a way of becoming insiders awfully quickly. How soon change gives way to reelection! A popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That’s what we keep doing. We elect people who’ve made promises to get our votes and then we don’t hold them accountable. There’s no reason to believe this election will be any different.

An employer isn’t quite like a political party or an election. But there are similarities. Employees get mad. Those who run a company make promises that aren’t kept or even remembered. They keep making them, and employees keeping hoping, but they get more angry. If someone new is put in charge, he or she will make promises that will likely be broken. This occurs up and down the line of any organization.

This week’s tip is sort of unrealistic, but I’ll offer it anyway. Tell your employees the truth — all the time. If you have to make a change from something you’ve said earlier, tell your employees why, instead of pretending that nothing has changed. Instead of working to make yourself look good, work to make your employees successful and fulfilled. If you do, you’ll look plenty good.