Our survey of employees is telling a story. At times, I think that the managers are willing to hear the details, and then there are the days like yesterday, where nobody wants to deal with the core issues!
You would have enjoyed the movie in real life. The scene slowly unfolds with a closed room session discussing findings and proposed actions. The mood is positive, a few are consuming jellybeans furiously, and excitement is visibly growing for most participants. You can see heads bobbing in agreement, body language screaming a confirmation and affirmation, and then trouble begins in the corner from an apparently casual listener.
“We are not dealing with the issue. We must do something different to attach the root problem. If I would score our management performance using a 1 to 10 measure on our best managers, they would get a maximum score of two. Do we really want to solve the problem?”
A brief dissent by one or two listeners involved a mild tirade lasting almost 30 minutes. The examples were up close and personal, everyone present became aware of specific quotes from former employees, and the symptoms that come from failing in the job exposed for all to examine. The scene was not pretty. After a silent pause driven by personal reflection, everyone began to deal with the real questions and challenge.
Our choice of selfishness started with our original parents. You and I were born into a life of living, being, seeing, and doing things in a self-centric way. We can argue that the way we act is normal and I would agree! We may not understand why we do things and we may not see the root problem that our behavior indicates but that does not mean a core problem does not exist. The dilemma is that our normal way of living and doing the stuff is wrong!
“God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant.” (Romans 8.3) God’s score? Game, set, and match.
