Can We Ever Really Trust Employees?

"See all of this grey hair?"

I was at a wedding on Saturday night, far away from my day job, when I was introduced to a fellow CEO running a similar sized organization. The conversation immediately went to the camaraderie and commiseration that only comes with the common experience of being responsible for so much. Over the years I've discovered the number one topic, no matter the industry or size, seems to be people problems. When we discovered that we oversaw similar sized organizations of around 100 employees, he pointed to his salt and pepper hair. "This is what that leads to."

A conversation about the challenges of managing and overseeing people nearly always focuses on one thing: people are not trustworthy and accountable. It comes out in many ways but the theme is the same. At the same time we complain about people not doing what we want them to do, we also admit we are in one of the fiercest competitions for talent that we've ever seen and that combination can be devastating.

The tried and true recipe for employer and employee misery (and grey hair):

• Start managing employees (any number)
• Realize that you can't trust all of them to do what you need them to do without heavy oversight
• Realize you are also afraid of losing them
• Attempt to motivate and keep them with perks (healthcare, ping pong, beer, lots of PTO)

Over time, this recipe is strong enough to eventually derail every organization or team in some way, even those with the boldest, most public culture initiatives and employment brands.

We struggle to trust people to do what we need them to do and we struggle to give them what they want in order to be loyal and committed. This conundrum is at the center of so much of our leadership fatigue and employee disengagement.

Does a solution exist?

I think we all know that babysitting our employees doesn’t solve this, but it's where most of us end up. Over the past 18 years at Greystone Technology we've learned that there is no trick to a perfect culture, but there are simple solutions that create a foundation for real employee trust.

Reclaiming your role as a true leader or an engaged employee is possible and understanding human nature is the key. 

Begin this journey with us at Boss or Babysitter? Lessons in building a top workplace on Wednesday, September 18th and 4:00 PM. Happy hour will follow so we can continue the conversation. Let's change culture foundations for everyone and maybe next time I meet another CEO we'll have a different sort of conversation.