Manager regrets resignation of bright worker
Elbonomics: Management is all about employee engagement and empowerment.
Irecommended to our CEO the promotion of my loyal, intelligent, and hardworking assistant who has been with us since more than five years ago. The trouble is that my recommendation was not approved resulting in this worker moving to another company. Who’s to blame here — our CEO or the resigned worker? — Just Asking.
There was a researcher-sociologist who was in an African jungle who held up her camera to take photographs of the local children at play. Suddenly, the youngsters began to yell violently in protest. Turning red in embarrassment, the sociologist apologized to the tribal chief for her insensitivity and told him she had forgotten that certain tribes believe a person can lose his soul if his picture was taken.
She explained to him, in long-winded detail, the operation of the camera. Several times, the chief tried to get a word in with her, but to no avail. The sociologist kept on explaining. Certain she had put all the chief’s fears to rest, she then allowed him to speak.
Smiling, the chief said: “No worries. The children were only trying to tell you that you’ve forgotten to take off the lens cap.”
With that story in mind, let me tell you there’s no one to blame but you — alone. You should blame yourself for one of the four or a combination of the following reasons, not necessarily in this order: One, you may not have done a good job in your recommendation. Two, you may not have been a good boss. Three, you may have given false expectations to the resigned worker. And four, you may not have listened enough to what your worker is trying to tell you in the past.
Now, you’re looking at others for your own fault. That’s regret or the feeling of having been a major part in making a wrong decision. But still, you can’t blame the employee for walking away or the CEO for not approving your recommendation, if you failed to do your job effectively and efficiently.
Why? If you consider yourself a leader, then you must accept the fact that everything is your fault. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) said “80% of all problems are caused by management, and only 20% are traceable to the workers.” That’s because management controls everything, from planning to leading and organizing, all the way to controlling. That’s PLOC, and it’s Management 101.
But let’s move away a little from Management. Let’s try the economic principle of loss aversion or a person’s tendency to avoid losses rather than to acquire gains. In other words, it’s better not to lose P500 than to acquire P500 in another situation.
Let me explain this in real terms. As I write this piece, I read of a young woman HR manager crowdsourcing the answers to another six-million bitcoin question on her Facebook page:
“How would you engage employees on a P5,000 monthly budget?”
Seeing an opportunity, I told her that I can teach her many zero-cash employee motivational strategies if she attends our one-day public seminar that costs around P9,000 per participant. She says her company can’t afford the seminar fee. “But why? If your company is willing to spend P5,000 a month, then imagine the ROI that can be recovered in two months and you’ll spend practically nothing in a good number of years,” I told her.
She says she’s very new in the company and is still trying to understand the management style of her bosses. In other words — “no deal.” That’s how some people behave irrationally, even in the promise of a money-back guarantee against the backdrop of spending P60,000 annually for employee engagement.
Many of us tend to act cautiously and conservatively, so as not to rock the boat too much.
In your case, regret came in too late. If you cared enough for the welfare of your worker more than five years ago, you’ll have no problem today. You should have done a proactive and consistent two-way communication process with your hardworking employee, so that aside from the monetary value, he can appreciate the psychological benefit of staying in one company, rather than take the chance of moving to another organization, which could prove to be like jumping from the frying pan to fire, at times.
Therefore, if he comes back to you begging to be rehired, this time, prepare all possible arguments so that your CEO would accept your recommendation.