Caroline Mboijana, Managing Director, The Leadership Team (U).
Dear Caroline, My company is “young”. We are only 10 years old and our core business is providing sales and marketing solutions to businesses. Our employee demographic is split relatively evenly in regards to gender, spread quite wide on the age demographic. We have at least three generations, Generation X, millennials and Gen-Z. We also have boomers who provide us with advisory services, leveraging their extensive industry experience to guide our younger employees, and play a critical role in skilling and experiential learning development.
My role is a manager in charge of talent management which includes performance management and development. Over the last year, we have done exceptionally well and we have created a conducive environment for work and fun.
However, I have also noticed a trend rearing its head, where team members are getting frustrated because managers are not addressing the poor performers. This trend is not only affecting team morale but also the overall performance of the company.
My investigations have found that this issue is prevalent in teams where supervisors and supervisees are frequently spending “out of office” hours together – socially and doing so more frequently.
This socialisation is around after-work drinks, going to watch sports events together, etc. While this is good, I am concerned that boundaries are being crossed in the workplace. How would you advise me on the best way to manage this?
Sheila
Hello Sheila, the joys of managing a workforce that crosses generations are not just daunting, but also a source of great potential for innovation. The unique perspectives and experiences each generation brings can catalyse creativity and progress. What you are trying to address is a global issue, and how you manage it will be unique to you and your business because of your organisational culture, values, norms and practices. It is a balancing act, not to kill the engagement and building that has been created while not compromising the importance of performance management on the success of the business.
To address this, you may need to look at it from a number of perspectives and not assume that what you have uncovered is the only root cause of the problem. The first, which is important, is to check that your managers understand the technical aspect of performance management and how it is structured within your organisation. You may find that one of the reasons they are not “delivering their responsibility “ is because they may not know how to. If this is the case, then they need to have a walk-through on how to manage performance as well as be guided on how to use the tools.
In addressing the above, an aspect also addresses what skills managers need to lead teams. This may include developing their soft skills, how to communicate, give constructive feedback etc, and for sure, there will be an element of how to use emotional intelligence (EI) in managing team performance. EI, often overlooked, is a crucial skill that allows one to navigate the delicate balance between social engagements and workplace responsibilities. It is developed over time and does not happen overnight, so in this regard, you may need to think about supporting your managers through coaching interventions that develop their leadership skills. This is something that can be handled by your Boomers, who are older and wiser and, given their technical and leadership skills, would probably find it easy to do.
In addressing the above you may want to re-visit the organisation’s norms, values and code of conduct. This is important because these speak to the behaviours and attitudes that define your organisation. It is essential that while re-visiting this through mini sessions within the organisation, you also stress the importance of self-brand – which means people taking a step back and self-reflecting on themselves, how they behave in the workplace, how they engage and work with others and how they contribute to the success of their team. You would be surprised by how impactful this can be and how it causes people to change how they engage with others in and out of the workplace.
This process may be longwinded, but you are trying to avoid blame and finger-pointing and allowing managers and their team members to change how they work gracefully.
Of course, if this does not cause a change, managers will need to be held accountable for not delivering on their mandate and be performance-managed themselves.
Good Luck!