A Quick Lesson on Aggression and Workplace Violence

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com

As leaders, we need to face the facts and recognize that there are times when aggression can occur at work. Aggression is not something that most people enjoy being around or being the recipient of. Aggression can be defined many ways. Knowing how to identify the signs of potential workplace aggression from the first indications can alleviate the situation and create a harmonious and productive environment. Aggression can come in many forms, it can include physical violence or threats of it, teaming up against a colleague, yelling at colleagues, and many other such acts. Understanding the sources of aggression may be useful. It can involve religious, racial, or gender differences and be a result of various types of discrimination. As leaders, we must realize that we may be the cause and not know it. Believe it or not, much of the time aggression can be found to come from supervisors, bosses, colleagues, suppliers, or customers.

Identifying workplace aggression in the workplace can be easy if you are looking for it. It can be noticed in the form of bullying and may be practiced by more than one worker teaming up against another. Bullying can be rather subtle and very often difficult for the victims to handle. Acts may include continuously complaining about the employee (victim) for one thing or another, defacing or destruction of the possessions of an employee or work materials, attempting to hinder the progress of the worker, and isolating the victim or rejecting an employee. It may be passive-aggressive where little choppy negative statements are spewed out as small jabs at individuals.

For some employees, they will try to ignore such aggressive behaviors by simply avoiding it. However, everyone must realize that working in a workplace where aggression is persistent can prove to be an unhealthy and classified as a hostile working environment. When the bullying is documented, employers need to correct the problem once a complaint has been received. Aggression must be handled in a respectful, but assertive way. Instances of workplace aggression should be addressed as soon as possible. Employers must look at all angles of each situation with an open-mind and listen carefully to all parties involved. There is probably much more to it than what you could find on the surface. One must not jump to conclusions, and be aware of any mental filters that can be formed through biases. Awareness is always the key to creating win-win workplaces. The smartest organizations create positive workplaces by educating and training all employees within their organization in order to avoid aggressive behavior getting out of control. It is not a "flavor of the day" program, or "just another mandatory training," but an opportunity for growth for all involved.

Training and education is the best way to change attitudes and behaviors and ensuring that the workplace is safe for all workers. This means that workplace aggression and harassment is clearly defined and spelled-out to all employees, supervisors, and managers. There should be detailed explanations on what harassment is, why it is not acceptable within the organization, what the workers can do about the problem, what are the responsibilities of the employees when it comes to addressing workplace aggression.

One of the most-difficult but necessary things for employers to do is set clear guidelines for which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. There must be a clear plan in place for solving problems of aggression when they do happen. All employees need to know what the consequences of such bullying behavior are, and what is expected from every employee. Awareness helps create a positive and productive organizational culture.

Organizational policies should include written methods that clearly define and recognize aggressive situations and behaviors, the resolution procedures--whether the complaint is formal or informal. It should specifically state what the steps to be taken are to file a complaint and how those complainants will be protected from the aggressors. It should also state what the rights of those accused are.

Leaders and managers must be wise, responsible and have an open-mind in all workplace situations. The ultimate goal is to retain valuable employees and to create an environment where everyone is working together to create a genuine feeling and workplace of progressive-positive success. Leaders or the people who receive, investigate and mediate any complaints must be knowledgeable about the processes. They must also be aware of what decisions they can make and what are the types of support are available to the victims. These types of information needs to be found in the organization’s records and policies in the form of a harassment prevention program. Each and every employee should have a copy, and be aware of the policy’s details. The organization's leaders and all supervisors must also be participants in all policy dissemination, training and education.

Every leader must look at his/her own actions and consider if he/she could ultimately be the cause of any possible aggression from employees. It may start with something as innocent as not listening to an employee or not recognizing the value that an employee brings to the organization. Leaders sometimes fall into the trap of believing that because they are a leader, that they see and know everything. The wise leader deeply listens and show respect to each and every employee. They must consistently and acknowledge and show appreciation to every employee at every opportunities. They must also realize that employees may know things that they do not know and encourage employees to share their valuable ideas.

Employers must take responsibility to ensure that each and every one of their workers feels supported. They can create positive work environments by leading by example. They must follow and to understand the company’s rule and regulations or code of conduct, just as each employee is expected to do so. Having clear and well defined policies, supported by proper training prevents workplace harassment and/or aggression. Well-written policies leaves very little wiggle room for any type of harassment or bullying. The enforces of the policies also have a responsibility to look at all angles of the aggression and realize they may be part of the problem. Workplaces that are perceived as fair, supportive and positive are ones that promote growth and harmony.

Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All right reserved.

Leaders Born or Made? The Complexity of Effective of Leadership

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com

There is an age-older debate whether leaders are born or created. Ever wonder why some people seem to be natural leaders while others seem to never get a clue? Twenty-first Century organizations must realize that leaders can be developed well to meet the needs of this new competitive environment। Studies point out that leaders can be developed and that leadership is usually an evolving process. The act of being a leader takes place through the various interactions of people. It is not only through bureaucratic influence from the top to bottom.

Leadership takes place at all levels of every organization and is all about inspiring people to give their very best in each and every action. There are numerous theories and studies that have taken place since the 1800's, however many of the ones that leaders use today came about from studies in hard sciences which include labor, business, chemistry, biology, the military, and physics.

Complexity leadership theory is the study of intermingling agents, which act with limited data and results in interactions which can generate varying outcomes for each leader, rather than the expected of the sum of what some may expect will result if you simply added up the each of the pieces of work from each employee. It is the goal of each leader to have employees work together to meet the goals of the department and ultimately the organization. In theory, effective leaders are directing the actions of each individual, so that they understand how their specific work is necessary and does impact the success of the organization. In essence, each leader has a responsibility of leading his/her employees to a genuine feeling that they do indeed make a positive difference.

Studying great leaders and understanding how to successfully apply leadership theory is what the best leaders do. The basic leadership principles can be learned and must be at the core of every leader's decision. Failing to treat followers in a way that facilitates individual greatness, means that a leader is simply failing at being great . Administrators must do much more than focus on control and efficiency. They must genuinely inspire a sense of value and willingness to contribute greatness of each employee while the adapting to each and every hurdle that emerges. Leaders must realize that there will always be emergent leaders in every department that must be recognized and groomed to continue to grow. Likewise, each member must recognize their own value and a feeling of accomplishment in every action as it contributes to the success of the totality of its organizational parts.

A classic example, from the leadership literature is what takes place in a flock of geese. When geese fly together, each bird has a set of simple “rules” for the speed, distance, etc. in relation to other birds it flies with. The individual behaviors on part of all the birds in the flock lead to the “V” formation of the flock overall – this is something “qualitatively different” than the totality of each individual parts.

Similarly, with effective leadership in action, the combination of every person’s action is suggested to lead to outcomes that are outside of the scope of any one person. Leaders must be adaptive and recognize that leadership can occur in any role at any level in the organization and is not tied to a specific level or position. It consists of creative interaction, inspiration, kindness, and shared leadership which leads ultimately to innovation.

Great leaders should realize the complexity of their jobs. Effective leaders enable adaptive change to occur by empowering each individual to give his/her best freely. They must enable each employee to not only want to give their hand and feet freely, but inspire their minds and hearts to share abundantly for the betterment of the organization. For this to happen, there are several conditions needed in order for this to occur regularly. First, there needs to be a genuine feeling of collaboration among the all individuals working in the team and players of each external systems related to functions of each related individual. Leaders must know that excellence comes from vigorous, dynamic networks of people linked through their individual jobs that frequently go beyond the limits of a workgroup or a sub-unit within the organization. Each interaction of every employee must be facilitated by a leader to allow for the free exchange of multiple points of view and new information which may have been stifled in a traditional model of leadership.

The second condition is that there must be a genuine feeling of freedom among each of the representatives of every department of the organization. Individuals must fully-recognize the inter-dependency of their workplace, which is a natural multifaceted adaptive system. Effective leaders must realize that Interaction by itself is not enough. Leaders must be an active-driving force which nurtures information exchange and enables the development of newly formed and inspired to be great--realities.

Smart leaders know that the third condition is that healthy tension is needed in order to provide inspiration that successfully motivates individuals to enact and create adaptive-positive change. Internal tension can be created in situations of diversity, wherein systems, communication, personality dynamics varying constraints and interdependency tend to nurture creativity. External tension may be created through actions of differing levels of leadership.

The bottom line about effective leadership is that it is an active process and there must be intentional and thoughtful actions from each leader. Leaders must inspire greatness and model it with integrity of every action. Every employee must be empowered to be his/her very best, while given the tools and autonomy to deliver success. Leadership greatness can be developed through training and on-going studies. It should be nurtured everyday intentionally and positively.

Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All right reserved.

What is Supervision and Why it is So Important

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt

It is vitally important to know that supervisory skills must and can be built through effective and proper training. What skills do the best supervisors have? This is an excellent question! Supervision may be the primary reason that turnover is so high in most organizations. The fact of the matter is, that most people quit their jobs because they have been mismanaged by their supervisor. So essentially, supervisors may be costing every organization MUCH MORE money in the long-run than one may realize.

Most supervisor's intentions are very good. The fact of the matter is, although intentions may be good, actions do speak louder than words. Too often excellent employees get promoted to the position of supervisor because they were very good at their jobs. However, when they are promoted to supervising of the employees doing the job they once did, they find themselves struggling in conflict with their employees or dealing with apathy and/or unmotivated workers.

The reason that turnover is so high in many organizations is very often due to the skills and quality of supervision. Supervision is an indispensable part of management. However, in most organizations, leaders do not realize that just because employees may be very good at doing their jobs, it takes a different type of skill to supervise employees. Seriously, it takes special training to gain the skills necessary to lead employees properly. Supervision truly is an essential part of what it takes to keep an organization strong and healthy. Having good people with poor supervisory skills can be the weak link and can cause the slow painful demise of an organization.

Supervisory development is usually done internally by someone within the organization in charge of training. Type of the organization, level of employees, objectives, etc. obviously vary from one organization to another. However, the basic functionality of a supervisor is essentially to the same.

Supervisors must be leaders! Managers, supervisors and leaders all have interrelated jobs within every organization. The development of supervisory skills takes time and must not be rushed through. The long-term consequences of employing supervisors with poor supervisory training can be extremely expensive! This is because supervisors are the people in the organization that have the largest influence over the job satisfaction levels of employees.

When employees are not happy, they lose motivation, loyalty and often can sabotage the success of their departments. The costs associated with employee theft, apathy and turnover are insurmountable. Studies show it is MUCH MORE cost-effective for supervisors to facilitate a work environment that promotes job satisfaction and motivation than to constantly pay for expenses like law suits, efficiency loss, recruiting, hiring, and training.

Some studies on supervision suggest that having well-trained supervisors is considered the most important aspect for achieving desired results within each department of every organization. Numerous studies pronounce that if supervisors’ skills and knowledge are limited to the technical aspects, the lack of other competencies will result in ineffective output by employees. In other words, a supervisor may have good knowledge on the technical aspects of the work, and the organization to guide the employees; however the lack of proper communication and other important supervisory skills can affect important organizational outcomes and success.

It is vitally important to know that a supervisor with poor interpersonal skills is more likely to ruin the performance of the subordinates, which obviously will have a dramatically adverse effect on the organization. Eventually, development of supervisory skills must become an important responsibility of every manager to acquire in order to continually be successful in lowering operating expenses and other vital accomplishments of company objectives and goals if organizations want to remain healthy and competitive.

Supervisory development is critical! By definition, supervision involves fulfillment of various needs of management and employees. The supervisor should be competent enough to perform the duties with great efficiency and effectiveness as well. Below are some of the essential basic aspects considered vital for supervisors:

• · Ability to deal with all level of employees

• · Ability to make decisions

• · Ability to solve problems efficiently and effectively

• · Adaptability and flexibility

• · Are available and seen regularly

• · Have excellent communication, both oral and written

• · Possess and have great interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence

• · Know all major responsibilities and duties of every employee

Supervision is a challenging job which supervisors should be well-versed in and able to handle each versatile function effectively and efficiently. The best supervisors EARN the trust of those they supervisor and must fully understand how important their jobs are and be seen always giving their best, being fair and being available.

Duties of supervisors: Major functions of supervisors include recruitment, delegating and directing tasks, evaluation of tasks performed, streamlining the work, etc. Additional or secondary functions involves the supervisor’s duty to allocate work, promote employees, recall the work completed unsatisfactorily, take disciplinary actions on irresponsible employees, suspend or terminate the employees with poor performance, deal effectively with grievance reviews, ensure performance appraisals and rewards for each employee is appropriate and timely, as well as other duties assigned by management from time to time.

Although supervision involves multifaceted responsibilities, the power of the supervisor can be limited by the power of a manager. However, it is the ultimate responsibility of the supervisor to motivate each employee towards accomplishing the objectives of the organization in a timely effective and efficient fashion.

Bottom-line on supervision: In organizations where supervisors are trained properly, there should be essentially no drop in the performance and efficiency of employees, even when the supervisor is away. Supervisor development should be focused on filling the gaps between the management functions as well the technical aspects. Training may seem like a waste of company funds to some. However, in the long-run it provides un-calculable returns and greater profits for the organization.

For more information please contact Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt at www.paulgerhardt.com

Career Management and Job Satisfaction

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com

Finding a job you love that pays well is the dream of nearly every American. Have you ever wondered why some people manage to find the best jobs—while you are working extremely hard and you never seem to catch a break?

You are not alone! Tons of research has been conducted that exposes the secrets of career management and best-practices that if followed lead to the paths of the quickest advancement. Studies illuminate that there may be specific attitudes which are the key to obtaining that ideal dream job and or promotion. The saying "Attitude is everything!" may be more true than you have considered. A positive career-related attitude that includes job satisfaction is clearly linked to promotions and getting your foot in the door.

Another thing that job seekers should know is that research suggests that practice makes perfect. One must continually demonstrate frequency of using career management best-practices, keep a positive attitude which shows organizational commitment and always looking for reasons to have satisfaction with your job. In other words, keep your horse before your cart!

Job satisfaction and career satisfaction are very much related to intentionally deciding to choose and hold a feeling of happiness with your life at work. This positive attitude must be accompanied with creating an environment of workplace contentment in many ways regularly. Career satisfaction is measured through levels of happiness that is experienced through a person’s place and choice of employment.

Essentially, job satisfaction comes from a person’s current work situation. It is built upon factors like location of the job, working conditions, supervision quality, relationships with coworkers, and other influences. Psychologists will point out that the opposite of job satisfaction is actually not job dissatisfaction, but "no job satisfaction." Take a moment to think about that!

For a leader, it should be one of the highest priorities to help create an environment that lends itself to employees loving their jobs. One of the highest costs in running an organization is associated with employee turnover. It should be remembered that one the most important factors in any successful organization is a culture that facilitates job satisfaction in every department with every employee. Experts will tell organizational leaders that job satisfaction is directly related to a person’s sense of meaning. It is important for each employee to feel effective and valued in the workplace. This suggests that leaders must do all they can to remove barriers that may diminish job satisfaction both internally and externally, as much as possible.

Here are the keys to organizational success then: Make sure that you do your part to build a culture where recognition, achievement, responsibility and the work itself are built into the job and facilitated. These are job satisfaction’s most influential factors. These factors are more influential than status, working condition or interpersonal relations. Studies have regularly concluded that the feelings workers have about what they have achieved and have been recognized for are the most common feelings associated with increased job satisfaction. Every leader has the opportunity to make this happen. It must be intentional, regular, and above all else sincere.

So what causes job dissatisfaction? Some studies have discovered that the factors associated with job dissatisfaction have a different set of relationships. Leaders should take note that the strongest factor associated with dissatisfaction on the job is the perception of unfairness. Employees need to feel they are being treated fairly in every instance. Leaders may have favorites, but need to make their intentions always be seen as fair for all. Other factors of job dissatisfaction are having a feeling that there is a lack of opportunities to professionally develop or grow. On the list too of things that contribute to a feeling of job dissatisfaction is discontentment with salary and wages.

Factors that dissatisfy could then lead to the development of behaviors and attitudes that would clearly indicate that there are challenges in the workplace that are not being addressed. However, it has been studied that things that may lead to job dissatisfaction are not the mirror images of job satisfiers.

Leaders should note that motivation and satisfaction are very different in terms of performance and reward. Motivation is essentially influenced by perceptions about the relationship between rewards and performance that are forward-looking. However, satisfaction is related to how employees feel about the rewards that they have received. In other words, motivation is an outcome of expectations of what will happen in the future. Satisfaction is essentially about past experiences.

Career management is the process which people develop an understanding of their environment and themselves. Those who are in charge of their own career advancement regularly acquire feedback about their progress in their careers. By doing so, it helps build and create strategies about career goals. Leaders should know that the best-practices of career management for employees must aim to help workers develop new skills or to update their old skills consistently. Great managers help employees make better career and job choices and assist them in giving opportunities to prepare for higher levels of responsibility within the workplace.

When leaders are focused on creating places of growth through a focus on employee career management, it lowers turnover. Turnover reduction leads to higher levels of productivity. This builds a pool of experience that helps the organization grow and maintain a competitive stance.

The bottom line in career management is that leaders must create places where employees feel completely or mostly satisfied in their careers. Successful organizations must be consistently doing things to help their individual members grow within the workplace and see opportunities for genuine growth. Managers should do all they can to cultivate a positive environment where people see themselves as being treated fairly and always being given tools to be their very best.

For more information contact Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD. at his website: www.paulgerhardt.com