Submitted by: Jonena Relth, President and Leadership Evangelist of TBD Consulting
Knowledge is power - for both employees and employers!
Employees need transparent leadership and honest communication in order to feel in control of their destiny. Everyone needs to feel valued for the skills and abilities they bring to our companies, and if they don't feel valued, they will leave - - even in this horrible economy. Why you ask? The simple fact is that power over one's destiny leads to healthier, more secure employees. Employees left in the dark waiting for the pink slip to land on their desk experience more stress than those doling out the pink slips. We know this from the days of testing surgeons, airline pilots and other professionals who were in charge verses hourly workers, who are not in control. The surgeons obviously had more stressful job situations, but they had more control over their jobs - - thus resulting in less work related illness caused by stress. The employees with less control of their jobs suffered more illness due to "bad" stress.
So, that's why we're experiencing valuable employees leaving jobs now. They would rather take their chances finding a new job rather than continue working for a boss they don't trust because he/she is closed or "protective" with information and keeps their employees in the dark
Unfortunately, our economic outlook is still very bleak for the rest of 2010 and as long as employees feel out of the information loop, vulnerable and unappreciated, our companies take the chance of losing our most valuable employees to the competition. After all, we hold the pick slips, not them. For our employees to stay on board, we must treat them with respect and trust in the process of transparent leadership.
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