Page 167 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

154B RE-ENGAGE

: HOW EMPLOYEES SEE LEADERS ENABLING OR
UNDERMINING TEAMWORK

All the above conditions are within the control or influence of ex-
ecutives and managers. While having these conditions in place does
not guarantee team effectiveness, we found strong evidence in the
survey comments that leaders have great power to enable or under-
mine teamwork. We were interested in understanding how survey
respondents view their leaders and managers. Do they see them
as builders of teamwork who work to create these conditions or as
destroyers of it? To that end, we scoured the survey comments to
find and classify employee observations of leader behavior that pro-
motes teamwork and also leader behavior that inhibits teamwork.
We present these below, beginning with those that undermine team
engagement.

Leader-Manager Behavior That Undermines Teamwork
We identified four categories of negative comments that employees
referenced most frequently. Here is a sampling of comments by cate-
gory or theme:

Senior Leaders and Managers as a Separate and
Superior Class
The largest number of comments we gathered revealed a fundamental
fault line that runs through many organizations—a “we-they” caste
system in which superior-inferior, in-group–out-group relationships
predominate instead of the partnership and mutual commitment that
optimizes employee engagement:

: “The workers who are not in management are not treated with
respect.”
: “The Controller and VP often refer to the accounting staff as
kindergartners.”