The Manager - 126 - Monitoring staff
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you’re doing well and are safe. Life has been hectic here as usual. I made two videos last week for the channel and had to delete them both due to focus issues with my camera. Annoying - but hidden inside is a lesson….Somewhere.
I’ve been reading a lot in the news about managers and leaders spying on their staff (links at the bottom of this mini article).
It seems to be a natural reaction by managers to the increased need for employees to work from home. It’s nuts. Even in my tiny brain there are a number of thoughts and questions flying around when I read about this stuff.
Here are some thoughts on this topic :
If you don’t trust your staff, why did you hire them?
I worked with a manager once who needed to set up a team to work nights on customer support. We had the tech to allow remote working, in fact, that’s the very tech we sold, so it seemed sensible to let people work from home throughout the night. Not for this manager. It seemed she didn’t trust people to work from home so she made them come into the office. As the company insurance didn’t allow people into the office at night without a manager present, she also had to pay a manager to work all night!
So, I asked her why she had hired people she didn’t trust. No answer.
If we cannot trust our teams to work when we cannot physically see them, why have we hired them, or what are they missing, or how bad is our communication and clarity?
Constantly checking on people means people will be "busy"
There is an overarching theme in the world of work today, that being busy is important. After all, if we’re not busy it must mean we’re doing something wrong. It must mean we are undervalued and not in demand.
Being overworked is a strategy to appear needed, even if what we’re busy working on is not adding any value. I see it all of the time, people busy doing work that adds little value. If managers are now increasingly checking in or monitoring people, it makes sense that people will always be busy. It’s a survival strategy, it’s about looking good, it’s about proving our worth even if it’s killing us (and adding little value to the business).
Trust is being broken down
Business is built on trust. Our customers trust us, we trust managers and leaders, and they should trust us. When managers don’t trust us we know it and we feel it. It betrays the very reasons why we bring our best self to work. Without high levels of trust, how will we be creative, use our initiative and take risks? These are all things that help move the business forward.
Breaking trust by monitoring staff is a serious problem when it comes to giving people the space to do creative, fun, interesting work.
Business is not normal
It’s not business as usual. The world is messy right now yet managers believe work should continue as normal. It’s not normal times, so let’s not pretend it is.
Some people need more time, space, care, meaning and trust. Spying, monitoring and constantly checking that people are working feeds paranoia and the feeling people should always be busy working, even if all they feel like doing is breaking down and crying.
Who’s checking on them?
Managers and leaders are unlikely to want people checking on them, so why would it be ok to check on their own staff?
Most people can deal with poor behaviours, but hypocritical double standards create the most toxic of cultures.
If you’re a manager:
Hire people you can trust.
Speak to people about behaviours that lead you not to trust them.
Get to know people and work with them. Do they need more care and attention? Less work?
Push back against corporate initiatives about spying if you can. Do so carefully.
If you’re being monitored and spied on:
Do good work and do your job as best you can in the current climate.
Don’t work epic hours just to show you are busy - speak to your manager and set boundaries, and explain why. The law, in most countries, protects you from having to work epic hours. Check your contract.
Speak to your manager about why the monitoring policy is in place and what problem they are trying to solve.
Don’t do silly things on company issued laptops. And remember, if you use a company VPN or company network all of your internet traffic may also be visible. Again, don’t do silly things on the internet.
Some Links
How to monitor whilst protecting privacy - Just don't!
Wouldn’t it be great if managers and leaders just didn’t feel the need to monitor people like this?
There are other ways to see work output and business results. Getting to know people and building trust is the best way, followed by clarity over deliverables.
It really is worrying how little some leaders and managers trust their staff. Trust is the very foundation on which good business, and good relationships, are formed. When it’s broken, it takes time to fix, if in fact, it can ever be rebuilt. Good management is built on trust.
Until next time. I trust you.
Rob..
Latest Video
FOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN
1 - What does it take to build a habit?
https://hbr.org/amp/2021/02/what-does-it-really-take-to-build-a-new-habit
2 - Good article on truth telling in business. It’s not just as simple as “tell the truth” - there can be a lot riding on what you say, like your job.
https://psyche.co/ideas/imagine-a-workplace-where-you-could-actually-tell-the-truth
3 - Interesting idea that a computer scanning your CV and application using AI, is fairer than a human. Could be good for the industry of recruiting, but let’s face it, as Amazon found out (mentioned in the article), the AI quickly trained itself to be bias towards men.
AI is just computer code that learns how to improve the calculations it makes. Who programs the code and calculations? With what purpose? What inputs is the code using to improve its calculations?
https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-55932977
4 - A long, and sometimes very interesting, article on shifting behaviours with communication…from the UK Government - that bastion of well behaved and positive role models in the UK.
Interestingly, not a single mention of “feedback” in either the communication sense (all communication must have feedback otherwise it becomes broadcasting) nor the feedback from leaders, managers, peers etc on behaviours….communication alone won’t change behaviours, as evidenced by our UK politicians.
https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/publications/the-principles-of-behaviour-change-communications/
5 - This whiteboard looks good fun
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/freehand-invision-remote-collaboration/
6 - Apparently success in business for your team is down to one core skill; the ability to up-skill.
I have found lots of benefit in up-skilling myself and my teams, but let’s face it, up-skilling alone will not make your business successful. So, although it plays a part, it’s not the ONLY factor. Good article though.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90597140/meditation-and-yoga-are-great-but-its-upskilling-that-will-make-big-difference-your-workers-well-being
7 - "His biggest worry, though, is that we still mostly fail to acknowledge that we live in a roaring attention economy. In other words, we tend to ignore his favorite maxim, from the writer Howard Rheingold: “Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention to where you pay attention.” "
Scary but interesting article on the attention economy and why it’s destroying the fabric of life.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/opinion/michael-goldhaber-internet.html
8 - Interesting article on the vast IPO of Dr Martens boots.
https://marker.medium.com/how-dr-martens-became-the-most-surprising-ipo-of-the-pandemic-6385e5552304
9 - It's madness that Facebook still has a great reputation in the tech world, with technologists still flocking to work for the giant company. The general public are still glued to it, yet not a single week goes by when they don’t make the news for poor working conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/11/facebook-moderators-say-they-were-told-not-to-discuss-covid-working-conditions
Learn with me
Learn how to develop your superpower in the world of work - effective communication skills.
My award winning in-person Communication workshop, is now online as a modular text only course. Complete it at your own pace, practice the lessons with practical exercises and develop a solid understanding of the science of communication.
Find out more here.
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
If you enjoyed this newsletter and you think someone else would benefit from it, then please share it.
If you'd like to support Cultivated Management, consider buying a book - or working with me.
If this is the first time you've seen this newsletter - then you can subscribe here.
If you like videos - then check out the YouTube channel.
Thanks
Rob..