d to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related emplo

Taking the Brighter Path by Creating a Positive Environment of Trust
Over an Environment of Negativity.

What is an environment of negativity? Perhaps the best way to describe this type of work place environment is to share my own personal experiences with you. In my years as both an employee, and later, a business owner, I’ve observed actions that have created negativity among employees, and as a result, I have learned the keys to building an environment of trust.

As an employee, one of my first jobs in sales involved an incident where a fellow employee was not only swiftly, but rudely dismissed. Management proceeded to deny the very existence of this associate in a threatening manner. They suggested that any inquiries into the whereabouts or circumstances of the terminated employee would result in further terminations without due process. These actions frustrated the employees, leading to concern for their own futures with the company. The secrecy with which management approached this situation drove some team members to leave the company.

An environment of negativity may result in team members getting the wrong impression of your management practices. The risk in creating an environment of negativity is that the resulting work environment will become non-productive. This happens when team members get the impression that employees are summarily dismissed or are not given the opportunity to improve or remediate their actions.

I’ve witnessed public perception of an entire department turn negative when employees were unaware of the positive steps taken by management to help team members with performance issues. This spiraling of negative reactions commenced after the actions taken by management to remove the problem employee were handled in a negative manner. Because department managers did not clearly communicate the opportunities for improvement that every employee was offered, existing employees began to react defensively to any interaction with their managers.

The lesson I’ve derived from these experiences is the importance of conducting employee interventions and communications in a manner that is consistent and fair. This communication fosters an environment of Trust. When employees know where they stand regarding company policy and performance, there are no surprises when corrective actions are taken.

The Consequences of an Environment of Negativity

The most serious consequence in the environment of negativity is employee turnover. Employees may believe that their position within the company is insecure, that their job is subject to random standards that they can’t control and/or are unaware of; in many cases, this fear causes an employee to quit. In effect, why not take control of their destiny by leaving before being asked to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related emplo

nner. They suggested that any inquiries into the whereabouts or circumstances of the terminated employee would result in further terminations without due process. These actions frustrated the employees, leading to concern for their own futures with the company. The secrecy with which management approached this situation drove some team members to leave the company.

An environment of negativity may result in team members getting the wrong impression of your management practices. The risk in creating an environment of negativity is that the resulting work environment will become non-productive. This happens when team members get the impression that employees are summarily dismissed or are not given the opportunity to improve or remediate their actions.

I’ve witnessed public perception of an entire department turn negative when employees were unaware of the positive steps taken by management to help team members with performance issues. This spiraling of negative reactions commenced after the actions taken by management to remove the problem employee were handled in a negative manner. Because department managers did not clearly communicate the opportunities for improvement that every employee was offered, existing employees began to react defensively to any interaction with their managers.

The lesson I’ve derived from these experiences is the importance of conducting employee interventions and communications in a manner that is consistent and fair. This communication fosters an environment of Trust. When employees know where they stand regarding company policy and performance, there are no surprises when corrective actions are taken.

The Consequences of an Environment of Negativity

The most serious consequence in the environment of negativity is employee turnover. Employees may believe that their position within the company is insecure, that their job is subject to random standards that they can’t control and/or are unaware of; in many cases, this fear causes an employee to quit. In effect, why not take control of their destiny by leaving before being asked to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related emplo

given the opportunity to improve or remediate their actions.

I’ve witnessed public perception of an entire department turn negative when employees were unaware of the positive steps taken by management to help team members with performance issues. This spiraling of negative reactions commenced after the actions taken by management to remove the problem employee were handled in a negative manner. Because department managers did not clearly communicate the opportunities for improvement that every employee was offered, existing employees began to react defensively to any interaction with their managers.

The lesson I’ve derived from these experiences is the importance of conducting employee interventions and communications in a manner that is consistent and fair. This communication fosters an environment of Trust. When employees know where they stand regarding company policy and performance, there are no surprises when corrective actions are taken.

The Consequences of an Environment of Negativity

The most serious consequence in the environment of negativity is employee turnover. Employees may believe that their position within the company is insecure, that their job is subject to random standards that they can’t control and/or are unaware of; in many cases, this fear causes an employee to quit. In effect, why not take control of their destiny by leaving before being asked to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related emplo

interventions and communications in a manner that is consistent and fair. This communication fosters an environment of Trust. When employees know where they stand regarding company policy and performance, there are no surprises when corrective actions are taken.

The Consequences of an Environment of Negativity

The most serious consequence in the environment of negativity is employee turnover. Employees may believe that their position within the company is insecure, that their job is subject to random standards that they can’t control and/or are unaware of; in many cases, this fear causes an employee to quit. In effect, why not take control of their destiny by leaving before being asked to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related emplo

d to leave? People don’t stick around long in the environment of negativity.

Many managers may not realize the cost of turnover both in the short run as well as over the long term. The immediate cost of employee turnover includes replacement cost of the new hire i.e. advertising, training, testing, etc. But there is also a cost that is not so obvious – the costs of lower departmental performance as a result of poor team morale. This cost affects not only your employees, but also your costumers, who are negatively impacted by poor service levels.

Creating a Brighter Path with an Environment of Trust

Consequently, what I generally recommend in dealing with performance-related employee problems is an approach I call the “Brighter Path.” This path is so named because it uses a brighter, lighter, more positive tone to open up the employee to better, more productive behaviors, rather than a darker path that shuts down the employee publicly. It is based on clear communication of performance expectations, company policy and discipline practices. When expectations are clearly and directly communicated to the employee from the outset, and any performance-related concerns that arise along the way are tackled with the clear goal of helping the employee improve, the possibility of further performance problems usually dissolves.

Here are my steps to creating an environment of trust:

- Consistently and positively communicate performance standards to all employees.
- Give gentle yet effective reminders to employees with performance-related problems. I’ve found employees are receptive to positive reminders, usually yielding an immediate turnaround in behavior.
- Follow up by observing behavior after the reminder has been issued.
- Attempt several more reminders to employees, with a more serious tone, should the first efforts not produce the desired results.
- Take company appropriate steps to reprimand/remove should a reasonable amount of follow up steps fail to produce the appropriate behavior.

Making these extra efforts does not take a lot of time or energy, yet it often produces some surprising turnarounds that reduce unwanted turnover and cultivates a positive work culture with superior productivity. The reason is that employees appreciate an open positive environment of trust, and demonstrate their approval with behaviors that are consistent with acceptable management practices.

Communication Tools to Cultivate an Environment of Trust

After many years of dealing with hundreds of employees in a variety of challenging circumstances like these, my business partner and I launched MaraStar Communications to help companies create environments of trust. MaraStar Communications produces patented training and communication animations that can be used, among other things, to help managers, trainers, and quality coaches to communicate to employees in a positive manner, and reinforce appropriate workplace behaviors. These animations, called ToonUps, are designed to be used as positive reinforcement, as well as in reaction to performance-related issues, sent directly to the desktop of individuals or posted to the company intranet and even included in PowerPoints for an entire group to view. To view these animations, visit our website at http://www.marastar.com/.

Many companies use these positive and humorous animations to not only communicate performance-related issues, but also educate employees on company policies.