Updated July 26th 2023

We were working with approximately one hundred middle managers recently on the topic of employee engagement and performance management, and it hit me, how the very basics, the building blocks of optimising people’s potential are often ignored, even in the most high functioning of organisations (this is a multinational organisation).

The organisation in question exudes a wonderfully positive vibe, fostering a sense of camaraderie among its employees. It stands as an exemplary model of a goal-oriented organisation that, like any other, prioritises targets and the bottom line, yet remains firmly committed to upholding values of integrity and treating its members like family.

By the way, were you aware that interactions with coworkers and supervisors exert the most significant influence on emotions in the workplace? The positive emotional bond shared between colleagues might be the crucial factor in maintaining employee well-being at work. Many individuals express that the only ones who truly comprehend their daily job challenges are their coworkers, rather than their own families.

Did you also know that the effects of the things we often don’t like doing in the workplace, can be mitigated by feelings of solidarity in the workplace (Karabanow, 1999). This solidarity includes respect for others, feelings of belonging and family (all working towards a common goal) and an element of fun.

Anyway, back to the point…whilst working with this particular group, we realised that even in this highly functioning (e.g. positive relationships, family feel) organisation, there were signs that many opportunities for growth were being missed, solely because individuals were not prioritising substantial time for performance appraisals and were not conducting them optimally. Other tasks and meetings, leading to repetitive diary changes meant that often appraisals were months and months apart, and often when they actually happened, were being rushed, and managers were not engaging. These managers were not asking powerful questions, or truly listening to responses. All in all, they were not taking the time to practice good coaching skills at the level necessary.

In conversation with the managers during our sessions together, most agreed that realistically they just have not been in the habit of prioritising these meetings, and that they could in reality make time to do so.

I estimated that each of these managers have 3-4 people on their immediate team. Approximately 75% of them admitted that they were not prioritising appraisals with the individuals on their team, meaning new skills development in many cases were getting pushed out by approximately one year. This organisation had a revenue of almost 500 million in 2011, a profit increase of approximately 10% on 2010…pretty impressive for the times we are in, don’t you think?

My question is, how much greater could this impressive profit increase have been if managers at every level really engaged their colleagues and hence made them feel even more valued, motivated and moving forward, (and kept the organisation thriving well into the future, guaranteeing everyone’s jobs remain intact) to the extent they could be?

If you can do the maths, let me know, it’s not my strongest point 😉