Francis Wade | How to handle cynical staff

All organisations have employees who are solely motivated by the desire to trade time for money. Sadly, they contribute to creating a toxic environment that hinders CEOs.

As a result, many leaders let negativity take over their corporate culture.

But is there a way to tap into greater staff motivation? Can you do more as a C-suiter or board member to provide your workers with a slim chance to find meaning?

Most first-time managers are shocked to discover a rude fact. Their former, non-supervisory colleagues are not only jaded, they are cynical. In the worst cases, the most negative people are in the majority. They infect others.

Eventually, no one finds meaning in their work apart from the newly hired. But in a few short months, even newcomers lose that initial spark.

In dysfunctional environments, staff responds by actively finding meaning elsewhere: social media, games, religion, family, hobbies, vacations, side-hustles, resignation, or migration. A handful end up feeling depressed.

However, view these responses as good news. They reflect the underlying message of Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning and also the movie Life is Beautiful: we all yearn for a purposeful life.

Nevertheless, few CEOs act as if this is true. They just don’t know how to connect with staff’s deeper aspirations. Here are a few important steps to do so.

Lead with BHAGs

CEOs are generally happy to inspire the C-suiters closest to them. It’s easy. The highest executives demonstrate significant self-motivation.

Unfortunately, attitudes about “de people dem” at lower levels in the organisation gradually creep in. The resulting separation between the high-performers at the top and the low motivated below appears to be real.

However, a few CEOs have figured out that they are just the same as others. They agree with Frankl that we all want to make a difference. When we are thwarted in this goal, frustration mounts. But when it’s possible, action is activated.

Rallying the organisation to follow BHAGs – big hairy audacious goals – is one way to ignite engagement. Accordingly, without their inclusion, you are only committing to business-as-usual.

But including them isn’t enough. For example, a BHAG to ‘double profits at all cost’ isn’t likely to provide much meaning. It may pass all four B-H-A-G criteria, but it’s a goal only shareholders could care about.

Instead, the world now demands holistic collections of BHAGs that create a 360-degree view. Case in point: the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These multipronged commitments address the interests of multiple stakeholders in unison.

This approach is so powerful that individual goals can be quite ordinary.

Yet, when they are joined together, a BHAG is born. This makes their achievement more inspiring but difficult.

Credible BHAGs

Fortunately, these goal collections are often more sustainable since they incorporate multiple perspectives. This gives them a bit more credibility.

However, this is just the start. When goals are combined, they may run into the sort of problem the United Nations’ SDGs now face. Established in 2015, they are made up of 17 goals and 169 targets. Unfortunately, they describe a future in 2030 that no-one believes will happen due to their outsized ambition.

It’s no surprise that they are way off-track. Rather than a serious commitment, they look more like a wish-list. In response, countries have turned the project into a check-the-box exercise.

But this didn’t happen in the past. Back in 2006, when Collins and Porras coined the term BHAG, people were inspired by the mere announcement of a single, impossible-to-achieve, ambitious goal.

Sadly, that’s just no longer true. Today, the overall aspiration must be credible for it to have meaning. As an executive, this is a higher standard you must attain.

And here’s another bar to scale.

Strategic plan + BHAGs

Visit a Jamaican organisation that embraces BHAGs. Ask the first employees you meet: Where is your organisation headed?

If you receive a blank look, consider that there might not be a realistic strategic plan to accompany the BHAGs. But you aren’t alone. The SDGs also suffer from this issue.

Today, people want concrete evidence of a detailed pathway in order to grant their belief.

In short, take your collective BHAGs, make sure they are meaningful and credible, then use them to kickstart your strategic planning process. It will bring your ambitions to a realistic level, even for the sceptics.

More than prior generations, Millennials are searching for purpose. If you aren’t in the business of providing courageous meaning in these fresh ways, fire yourself.

Still want the job? Transform yourself into a new you: someone who can handle cynicism with positive action. Then start anew.

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Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com