It’s hard to confront some problems, so sometimes it’s easier to simply pretend they don’t exist. For example, in some organizations, there are long-tenured managers who most agree are not good at their jobs. Yet they remain. Or there may be operating practices or outsourced services that almost no employee likes, but they continue because management doesn’t want to deal with finding different solutions.
Very few organizations can acknowledge and confront every problem in a timely manner. However, there is a point where not acknowledging and addressing some of these problems begins eating into the workplace culture.
Employee morale may deteriorate as they see their company unwilling to admit there are problems, let alone deal with them.
The Danger of Glossing Over Problems
Glossing over problems can lead to what clinical psychologist Dr. Andrea Burgio-Murphy calls “toxic positivity.”
“Toxic positivity is an excessive and distorted form of positive thinking. It’s putting a positive spin on all experiences, no matter how dire or tragic,” Burgio-Murphy explains. “For example, you could be experiencing toxic positivity when a friend or boss minimizes or refuses to acknowledge your negative feelings or critical feedback. Or perhaps they go further and try to spin your dire situation in a positive way, like ‘This is a blessing in disguise’ or ‘All things happen for a reason,’” she stated in the report, The Risks of Ignoring Employee Feedback.
According to the report, many organizations have a long way to go to achieve honesty with employees in acknowledging and addressing challenges:
- Only 15 percent of employees believe their organization “always” openly shares the challenges facing it. And if an employee does believe their company “always” openly shares the challenges facing it, they’re about 10 times more likely to recommend it as a great employer.
- Only 24 percent of people say their leader “always” encourages and recognizes suggestions for improvement. And if someone does think their leader “always” encourages and recognizes employee feedback about suggestions for improvement, they’re about 12 times more likely to recommend it as a great employer.
- Only 6 percent of people say that at their organization, good suggestions or valid complaints from employees “always” lead to important changes. And if someone says good suggestions or valid complaints from employees do “always” lead to important changes, they’re about 18 times more likely to recommend the company as a great employer.
- Only 23 percent of people say that when they share their work problems with their leader, they “always” respond constructively. And if a team member says their leader “always” responds constructively when they share their work problems, they’re about 12 times more likely to recommend the company as a great employer.
The Budget Excuse
In my own experience, I’ve found that limits on spending provide companies with an easy excuse to avoid conversations about problems.
“Well, I certainly wish it didn’t have to be this way, but we don’t have the budget right now to upgrade our inventory management system,” a manager might say.
Or: “I hear you, but with the budget that was set for us, we can’t add another employee to the department at this time. I’m sensitive to all of you being overworked, putting in time on the weekends, but there is nothing I can do at the moment.”
Or: “I think we would all benefit from additional sales training, but we don’t have the budget for more this year. Maybe next year.”
Budgetary constraints are a genuine reason some problems can’t be solved right away, but that shouldn’t be the end of the conversation.
A savvy (and brave) employee might ask: “Why isn’t the money available for the things we need to do to solve our department’s problems? Should we be having a conversation about how the company earmarks money and what we could do to get a bigger piece of the pie?”
If you don’t have the resources from the company to solve your problems, that is the root of the problem. The conversation shouldn’t end with, “We don’t have the budget for that.” The manager then should feel compelled to ask why that is.
Valued Enough to Have Problems Addressed
When a department in a company is repeatedly asked to gloss over problems due to budgetary constraints, managers should ask, “Why is our department not as valued as others?”
The obvious answer would be that the department doesn’t bring in as much money as other departments. Yet, often, it may seem that way, but it’s a false impression.
For example, a sales department may be more highly valued than the people who are producing the products the sales department is selling—at least that’s how it usually is in the publishing industry. I bet it’s like that in some other industries, too.
A wider view from company leaders on where profitability comes from may be needed. Upon closer inspection, it may be discovered that departments that do vital work tied to profit are underfunded.
To ensure problems are acknowledged and addressed, the organization needs to both listen to employee feedback and then drill down to the true root cause of the problems.
How does your organization collect feedback regularly from employees and then ensure that problems are not being glossed over?