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Does Your Company Have a “Jerk Free Policy?” Toxic bosses can alienate employees and cause more trouble than necessary. Expert blogger Ried Carr mentions in FASTCOMPANY magazine that: “A jerk can make anyone dread coming to work. Those jerks can be on the other end of the phone, such as clients, vendors or partners, or those that work around you including managers and colleagues. It doesn’t have to be that way; it wasn’t what I wanted my days to feel like.”
Maintaining a jerk-free environment at your company takes time and patience, but it is worth the effort. Here are five ways to maintain a jerk-free work environment:
1) Hire Winners. Include people on the hiring team that have a lower position than the potential position of the person being interviewed. This will provide an initial sense of the type of individuals joining the company. New hires will be aware of the importance placed upon the people at lower levels of the organization.
2) Resolve Conflicts. Conflict resolution must include more than the two people in the conflict situation. Form a Ronald Reagan approach to decision-making. Ask everyone possible about what their opinion of what happened and then decide yourself what the outcome should be.
3) Keep people happy. Fulfilling work environments are not stress free, they are not always easy to work in, and they are not filled with laughter at all times. They are work environments in which people feel happy, wanted, needed, respected, honored, and heard. People that are happier at work are much more productive than those that are not.
4) Create high integrity. Do not tolerate dishonest or unethical people. Just like in practicing law, the first thing a lawyer does when investigating a person is check credibility. If a person was dishonest or unethical in the past then lawyers may attribute that to how the person is at the present time. If you find a dishonest or unethical practice going on in your company, act swiftly and remove the person. This will prevent future problems that may bring the house down.
5) Motivate people. Keep people motivated but be aware of the Paradox of Motivation. The motivational paradox has to do with incentives that motivate. What motivates individuals today, in our challenging economy, is not the same as what motivated them yesterday, or for that matter what will motivate them in the future. People, in the past, were more motivated by recognition and praise. Not today! While recognition and praise is still a valuable resource to motivate people, money and promotions are what drive people today. Continue to recognize and praise people but add more tangible incentives too. People want to stay solvent and be able to pay their bills and meet their other financial obligations. Therefore, they are most motivated when companies provide them with appropriate compensation as well as any monetary bonuses or raises that reflect their hard work and dedication. When this practice becomes the cornerstone of employee compensation, this will be reflected in high employee motivation.
A jerk-free environment exists in many companies today. Ensure that your company is not firing qualified individuals while conversely promoting toxic managers. This will only perpetuate the problem. For more insight on motivation, visit http://docprov.com/.
Article written by Dr. Michael Provitera, Author of “Mastering Self-Motivation.” March 9, 2012
Our thanks to Dr. Provitera for authoring this article specifically for our newsletter, with the focus of providing valuable hiring and work place practices to our readers and clients.
http://beaconbulletin.com/2012/03/12/does-your-companyfirm-have-a-jerk-free-policy/
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