5 ms·
It’s good advice for many circumstances. Do a little 5 whys analysis and ask why in the absence of information your employees are moved to terror. It might be
by nuclearnice1 5y ago
It’s good advice for many circumstances.
Do a little 5 whys analysis and ask why in the absence of information your employees are moved to terror.
It might be a normal human reaction and an unavoidable power asymmetry between labor and management.
On the other hand, if the median expectation is terror, perhaps that provides some valuable information about the background energy left behind from all your other communications.
- bluetomcat 5y agoProbably because the tasks are badly-defined and management is generally uninterested, which leads to a low motivation, which in turn instills a constant fear of reprimand. In an environment where there is constant positive feedback from your work, you wouldn’t feel as scared from such “spooky” messages.
- nuclearnice1 5y agoExactly. If the environment has all the sharp edges of your first paragraph, then “send more detailed meeting invites” is hardly task one.
- Jeff_Brown 5y agoThis is good advice to some one who is already aware that they terrify their employees -- but many of these scary vague messaged come from people who aren't.
- nuclearnice1 5y agoTrue. Self knowledge is the first step to all these self improvement plans.
- DangitBobby 5y ago1. Why are they afraid of meetings without a stated purpose beforehand? Often the reason you wouldn't state a purpose is because you would rather do so in person, which usually means bad news. 2. Why does firing cause terror? Bad news could be a firing, which can be done at any moment without cause or notice. 3. Why would that cause terror? They need a job to have money. 4. ...
- atomicnumber3 5y agoIme, companies that have an environment of terror-by-default generally know, and brand it is "high expectations" or "fast paced work environment". Sometimes they back that up with high pay, and in those cases, perhaps it's fair enough. Oftentimes though, it is not.
- TheCoelacanth 5y agoEven in romantic relationships, it's a common trope that "we need to talk" is going to be a breakup. Is it really realistic for working relationships to have a level of trust that even most intimate personal relationships don't achieve?
- nuclearnice1 5y agoDid you alter the article’s phrase “let’s talk when you get a minute” to "we need to talk" inadvertently?
- tdeck 5y agoI've never had a "terrifying" manager or even a particularly bad one, but my personality type is such that I would worry about these things and dream up possibilities. It's likely that many other people have a similar personality type, based on the comments here.