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Undiscussable truths and half-truths that employees all know but no one wants to talk about can bring a company to its knees if HR isn`t willing and able to address them.
Every workplace has its open secrets.
Those things everybody knows, but no one is willing to discuss -- at least not with management, or sometimes even HR.
It might be the bullying boss who rules through intimidation, but who is protected by higher-ups. Or, it might be the poor business practice that creates havoc -- like the group of managers that just can`t make decisions, or the department that is always (shhh!) far over budget. HR may be the last to know about these "secrets."
Or maybe HR leaders do have inklings, but prefer to let sleeping dogs lie, because they don`t know how to begin solving the problem -- or because they fear being seen as unwelcome meddlers.
The problem is, they`re closing their ears to open secrets at their own risk, say a number of HR leaders as well as experts who have studied this kind of organizational dysfunction.
"Sooner or later, if you don`t deal with these issues, it`s going to hurt the company and hurt the people in it," says Jeffrey Hunt, the senior vice president of communications and HR for Sylvania, the Danvers, Mass.-based lighting company. "You may not be responsible for the behavior itself, but you are responsible for identifying the behaviors that have a negative influence on the organization and doing something about them."
If you`re an HR leader who doesn`t take action, "later on, you`re going to be seen as asleep at the switch," says Hunt. "It`s `pay me now or pay me later.` "
Hunt witnessed a classic case of such a secret a few years ago, when a middle-management position opened up in one of Sylvania`s manufacturing groups. It was a very attractive job with high visibility and exposure to senior management. "A good launching pad for other things," says Hunt.
"I had expected a lot of high-potential people to be very interested," he recalls. "We only had one."
When the job went vacant, Hunt knew there was a problem. He just didn`t know what it was.
He began having informal conversations with managers at the same level as the opening, asking generally about business conditions. "I got a sense of caution, of people not being as forthcoming as they might have been," he says. Hunt also talked with the HR manager involved in the business, and asked, "What are you seeing?"
What eventually emerged was "the unspoken secret": No one wanted to work for the senior manager running the business. Top management didn`t know it, but the person was widely considered to be an over-controlling micromanager who couldn`t delegate.
Hunt stepped in and did a discreet intervention -- "without the person`s boss knowing." The HR manager had some frank conversations with the person about the problem, and there was a 360-degree appraisal that was billed as a team-building exercise. Hunt also brought in an executive coach to help the senior manager work through his issues.
In the course of the six-to-seven-month process, the manager came to realize he could delegate without losing effectiveness, says Hunt. But that kind of success is rare, he acknowledges. "More often, they have to be moved."
One of the characteristics of an open secret -- also known as "the elephant in the room" -- is that it`s often the subject of office chatter, though uttered quietly and on the sly.
"Usually, it`s around someone`s performance," says Bill Noonan, author of Discussing the Undiscussable and a consultant who is based in The Dalles, Ore. "The team members will spend a lot of time talking about it, but never to the person`s face."
And open secrets tend to spread to new employees very quickly, he notes. The first day on the job, the employee will go through the company orientation -- but within a few days, he or she will be taken aside by co-workers and told, "This is how it really works. Let me tell you about so-and-so."
Says Noonan, "It`s kind of like an informal employee-orientation program." And it often frames how the new employee will view the boss or the workplace from then on, even if the secret has no basis in reality.
This issue may be more critical than ever. Some experts say the growing pressure these days on organizations to perform has put more stress on management -- and has led to an upswing in the kinds of problems that no one wants to discuss openly.
And for HR executives, the challenge is two-fold. They`ve got to learn where the most harmful open secrets are -- no easy task -- and then deal with them in a way that doesn`t sow even more distrust in the workplace.
Breaking it Down
Daniel Oestreich, a consultant and author of Driving Fear Out of the Workplace, says there are three basic types of open secrets: the behavior of a boss or co-worker, a difficult (or cozy) relationship between two people in the workplace, and what he calls "work outcomes"
Source:
http://www.hrguru.com/news_feeds/visit?uri=http://harvinderjit.multiply.com/jour
Every workplace has its open secrets.
Those things everybody knows, but no one is willing to discuss -- at least not with management, or sometimes even HR.
It might be the bullying boss who rules through intimidation, but who is protected by higher-ups. Or, it might be the poor business practice that creates havoc -- like the group of managers that just can`t make decisions, or the department that is always (shhh!) far over budget. HR may be the last to know about these "secrets."
Or maybe HR leaders do have inklings, but prefer to let sleeping dogs lie, because they don`t know how to begin solving the problem -- or because they fear being seen as unwelcome meddlers.
The problem is, they`re closing their ears to open secrets at their own risk, say a number of HR leaders as well as experts who have studied this kind of organizational dysfunction.
"Sooner or later, if you don`t deal with these issues, it`s going to hurt the company and hurt the people in it," says Jeffrey Hunt, the senior vice president of communications and HR for Sylvania, the Danvers, Mass.-based lighting company. "You may not be responsible for the behavior itself, but you are responsible for identifying the behaviors that have a negative influence on the organization and doing something about them."
If you`re an HR leader who doesn`t take action, "later on, you`re going to be seen as asleep at the switch," says Hunt. "It`s `pay me now or pay me later.` "
Hunt witnessed a classic case of such a secret a few years ago, when a middle-management position opened up in one of Sylvania`s manufacturing groups. It was a very attractive job with high visibility and exposure to senior management. "A good launching pad for other things," says Hunt.
"I had expected a lot of high-potential people to be very interested," he recalls. "We only had one."
When the job went vacant, Hunt knew there was a problem. He just didn`t know what it was.
He began having informal conversations with managers at the same level as the opening, asking generally about business conditions. "I got a sense of caution, of people not being as forthcoming as they might have been," he says. Hunt also talked with the HR manager involved in the business, and asked, "What are you seeing?"
What eventually emerged was "the unspoken secret": No one wanted to work for the senior manager running the business. Top management didn`t know it, but the person was widely considered to be an over-controlling micromanager who couldn`t delegate.
Hunt stepped in and did a discreet intervention -- "without the person`s boss knowing." The HR manager had some frank conversations with the person about the problem, and there was a 360-degree appraisal that was billed as a team-building exercise. Hunt also brought in an executive coach to help the senior manager work through his issues.
In the course of the six-to-seven-month process, the manager came to realize he could delegate without losing effectiveness, says Hunt. But that kind of success is rare, he acknowledges. "More often, they have to be moved."
One of the characteristics of an open secret -- also known as "the elephant in the room" -- is that it`s often the subject of office chatter, though uttered quietly and on the sly.
"Usually, it`s around someone`s performance," says Bill Noonan, author of Discussing the Undiscussable and a consultant who is based in The Dalles, Ore. "The team members will spend a lot of time talking about it, but never to the person`s face."
And open secrets tend to spread to new employees very quickly, he notes. The first day on the job, the employee will go through the company orientation -- but within a few days, he or she will be taken aside by co-workers and told, "This is how it really works. Let me tell you about so-and-so."
Says Noonan, "It`s kind of like an informal employee-orientation program." And it often frames how the new employee will view the boss or the workplace from then on, even if the secret has no basis in reality.
This issue may be more critical than ever. Some experts say the growing pressure these days on organizations to perform has put more stress on management -- and has led to an upswing in the kinds of problems that no one wants to discuss openly.
And for HR executives, the challenge is two-fold. They`ve got to learn where the most harmful open secrets are -- no easy task -- and then deal with them in a way that doesn`t sow even more distrust in the workplace.
Breaking it Down
Daniel Oestreich, a consultant and author of Driving Fear Out of the Workplace, says there are three basic types of open secrets: the behavior of a boss or co-worker, a difficult (or cozy) relationship between two people in the workplace, and what he calls "work outcomes"
Source:
http://www.hrguru.com/news_feeds/visit?uri=http://harvinderjit.multiply.com/jour
