Team Building Exercises and Employee Participation

Whether it is about an organisation or another human being, people will not be interested in it/him/her unless they can find something relating directly to them. Employees do not care for the organisation - till it is obvious to them that the interests of the organisation directly translate to their own interests. If they find that there is any ambiguity about this or scope of doubt about the intentions of the one in authority- such as the manager, speeches will be futile in getting people to participate and express interest in the organisational goals.. The first thing to do is to understand the reason for the lack of enthusiasm about the organisation - it could be either that the employees do not see a long lasting relationship with the organisation - may be due to high attrition rate - which may again be caused by so many factors like lack of retention efforts or poor reward and recognition system in the organisation, where ownership goes unnoticed. Or, the lack of interest in the organisation may be because the employees have their own agenda for growth apart from the growth of the organisation. In this case the reason may be lack of vision in recruiting and employing with long-term career plans for the employees - with proper training and new skill development facilities- like job rotation to avoid burn-out, or even career fulfillment options. So the employees may be considering this job as a temporary stop-over to some other place in the career path.. It would be crucial and elementary too for the manager to be able to put his finger on the problem and also understand the pulse of his employees. Thereafter,he will have to see to it if the issue is real or it is a perceptional one. If it is a perceptional one, then it may be caused by lack of transparancy on the part of the management. If there are such issues the manager will have to first of all evoke an environment of open-ness and candour and be confiding and transparant with the situation on hand. Sometimes, confiding in the employees and simply asking their help and asking them to volunteer to take organisational responsibilities (other than their jobs or related to their jobs,) will give desired result. If however the problem is due to some real grievance - It may have resulted from some singular incident,like a disciplinary action against a corrupt staff, being misrepresented. The issue has to be firstly discussed openly, not hesitating to take out any skeletons in the cupboard and the point of view of the management clarified. This kind of result may also be obtained by identifying ombudsmen in the organisation who can act as mediators for grievances that have blown out of proportion and to resolve the impasse. Finally, this kind of change cannot be brought about overnight. Do not expect miracles. It involves the culture of the organisation, which needs to be changed and can be only done by repetitive acts that reflect the managements commitment , avoiding any ambiguity or omission, in acknowledging and appreciating openly the employee that takes ownership. As a manager intent on such change, the best would be to set an example by personal commitment, and this cannot be faked. If as a manager we are not sold to the idea of our organisation being 'the' interest point for our best efforts and endeavor, we can hardly hope to get others to buy it.