Why poor leadership damages trust and won’t stop people from getting sick.

 

Image courtesy of @aionytoday

Don’t believe everything you hear.

Especially if it’s in the middle of a political campaign.

These days trust is so far from synonymous with politics it's sickening, so you'll excuse the irony that this is our starting point.

By no means is this a political piece, but rather the catalyst for a larger conversation around trust. A recent campaign in the US Presidential election was heavily grounded in the notion of unification for what has proven to be a very divided States of America.

Repeatedly expressing beliefs that unifying the nation and birthing its healing process starts with relationships and how people treat one another. An approach widely applicable to unifying people in communities, workplaces, and in families.

Trusted relationships are universally important in providing a foundation for progress and reciprocation. Relationship expert Dr John Gottman states that when trust is combined with commitment (not perfection), it provides the essential footing for sound relationships.

In choosing commitment, we tend to lean in to the other person and express healthy disappointment with the intention of resolving differences instead of avoiding or withdrawing from conversations.

By making the choice to commit, we are in essence developing a psychological contract with another person. One where we determine an unwritten set of promises and expectations with the people we have relationships with. In working environments, a psychological contract can include informal arrangements, mutual beliefs, shared understanding and perceptions between two parties. 

For trust to build, commitment to the psychological contract is the responsibility of both parties in the relationship, and is unique to each two parties.

Dr Gottman states these types of contracts exist in a state of constant flux - constantly evolving in response to the interactions between people.

As this article’s headline suggests, the old world power approach of fear and ‘power over’ is a major detractor of trust, making any sort of psychological contract null and void. Be wary that exercising power over someone will see you create division, not loyalty.

Instead, those who operate from a position of power with/to/within are more likely to unify people to collectively achieve a common purpose and effect change. 

Power over is driven by fear. Daring and transformative leaders share power with, empower people to, and inspire people to develop power within. Brené Brown

Reflecting on my earlier career in positions of leading people and teams, my leadership style was influenced by and conditioned to value the #heroworkethic. The most glaring example of how we eroded trust and exercised power over was through ‘enforcing’ our sick leave protocols.

When a staff member was unwell, they were expected to personally call the shift manager in a short window of time. Our managers (myself included) would then proceed with a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ approach to determine if the person was actually sick. 

An interrogation of sorts, making it clear to them how much the impact of their illness would have on their team members that day. Nothing like a healthy dose of guilt and shame to help them recover as quickly as possible. As I reflect now, the thought of this culture is nauseating in itself. And I’ve no doubt it’s still prevalent across many workplaces today (stats).

Our workplace policy stated that to access sick leave entitlements, they were required to produce a medical certificate for every day they wanted to be paid. From a legislative standpoint, the law was on our side. From a trust and work culture perspective, we were treading further and further off-side. 

At the time, in the ruthless pursuit of a bigger bottom-line, I hadn’t considered the psychological or financial costs on an employee. For a front-line worker, apprentice, trainee to obtain a medical certificate to access sick leave entitlements, they had to pay close to $70 to see a doctor.

We implemented this policy to deter people from taking sick days - having the most hands on deck so to speak. What we weren’t considering was healthy talent retention. During certain periods of the year, the organisation even ran incentive programs that rewarded people who had the most sick leave remaining. 

At this stage of my leadership journey, I hadn’t considered people might be caring for others, or that people may have been experiencing mental health challenges. They simply may not have been in a position to speak with others, let alone front up to a doctor to say they have a stomach bug.  Most importantly, I hadn’t observed that we were in essence rewarding behaviour that left others feeling powerless in this situation by exploiting an unfair advantage. 

It’s often been said that organisational culture starts at the top. I now understand that it starts with the person next to you. Top-down or bottom-up, the most thriving workplace cultures begin and end with trust.

It takes one to shift the dynamic.

What might a power with, to and within approach look like in your sick or carer's leave policies?