Can we really speak candidly at the workplace?
I’m heading up to Seattle for an offsite tomorrow. One of the main topics is to discuss the result of Employee Survey and to determine appropriated action steps.
Apparently, our internal survey result was rocked bottom from the previous year. Two top issues to address are the followings:
- Break Down Silos and Bureaucracies
- Speak Candidly and Listen Opening
We will spend few hours of working session to come up with some action steps. Executives want us to be open and honest so it can be a meaningful session. My co-worker asked me earlier if I am mentally ready for the meeting. How can one ever be ready for such kind of discussion? I always wonder how honest one can be so that it will not hold against him or her later on in the game. I know exactly what the root cause of the top two issues is, but can I really bring it up without pissing off the executives?
In order to break down silos and bureaucracies or be candid and open, it needs to start from the top. If executive levels can’t even get along, and always in the power struggle with one another; how can the people under them be able to function well? If at the executive levels, they can’t even share the fruit of their work with each other, how can they expect their teams to break down silos? To me, top two issues aren’t so much due to inefficiency in processes; they are a result of politics and bureaucracies from the top. It’s the reflection of people management and organization structure. If the organization isn’t built with a clear structure with defined roles & responsibilities for each group; the disfunctional organization will always be there. When people don’t have clear vision of their roles, they will need to search and define their own territories, sometimes it might not be align with the overall company vision or might be overlap with others. As the result, it causes the duplication of work as well as unnecessary conflicts between groups.
Of course, I know I can’t really say all these in the focus group tomorrow. I can only put up my happy and positive look for another day- so much for speak candidly.
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