By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
Being responsible for someone or something is never an easy chore. Ask any parent. If you truly take on the duty to raise a young one right, it will be a physically and mentally taxing endeavor. On top of meeting personal goals and meeting spiritual standards, a parent must also navigate societal norms.
I have been managing people in my professional life for 42 years. It has been a pleasure, for the most part, a nightmare in some parts. I once dealt with an employee who had been in a job for a good while. This employee perceived that they were doing a great job and had been left on their own by poor management to basically decide what their job responsibilities were and was never challenged by any of that so-called leadership. This person had a good network of peers who had similarly been allowed to “make their own rules”. This clique of employees from different departments covered for each other when tardiness, absenteeism, insubordinate behavior, and even the disappearance of company supplies and materials were brought up. This employee had been allowed to be on their own for so long that they had total disregard for authority, ignoring directives and work schedules. To the outside world, this employee looked fine. They were always looking busy, but not accomplishing very much. Productivity or lack thereof, unless very strictly monitored, can be hard for those looking into an organization to see.
When an employee gets this far out of whack, it has very much to do with the management of the team. Ineffective leadership is the primary cause of productivity disruptions in the staff. It is easy to get comfortable with poor behavior if there is no ethical standard being enforced in leadership positions. Old-timers used to call it work ethic. It is a term seldom used in modern society.
“A work ethic is a personal set of standards for acceptable behaviors in the workplace. Work ethic directly influences how someone approaches their daily tasks, as they are driven by the passion and enjoyment they have for their work. Employees with a strong work ethic are often seen as competitive due to their drive to complete work goals.” (Personio.com)
When I took the responsibility for supervising the team, having assessed the staff and productivity of the workgroup, I immediately set about making changes to the work structure to eliminate waste and focus on bringing the team back to a positive work ethic. While it is best to make gradual change, in some situations, like this one, too much more damage could be done if quick action wasn’t taken. One of the tasks was to address this one individual’s behavior. Because this individual had been let go so long, they believed that the unacceptable behavior they were exhibiting was indeed good and productive. Of course, the opposite was true. When confronted with their behavior, they became very defensive and aggressively insubordinate, increasing the frequency of their tardiness and absences, and being openly belligerent to their teammates and especially managers.
The bottom line, when all else failed, disciplinary action had to be taken, and the employee was ultimately let go. This person was shocked that the company would let such a “good” employee go and stubbornly held to their own internal belief that they did a good job and that it was everyone else that needed an “attitude adjustment”. This person appealed their termination. During the hearing, even after evidence of disregard for scheduling and directives was presented, the former employee said, “Why are you doing this to me?” demonstrating a total lack of accountability and acceptance of responsibility for the actions that cost them the job.
A manager with a good work ethic will always feel some accountability for the failure to bring someone back around to productivity. We, as managers, should never take lightly the responsibility for teammate’s safety and livelihoods. But we also must weigh the responsibility we have to our employer and to the customers that we serve. And smart organizations insist on a mechanism to measure and hold the team accountable for their behavior and productivity. When one team member is allowed to get in this shape, it impacts the rest of the team’s productivity and morale. Similarly, suppose the company chooses to not recognize good work ethic in employees by doing away with merit incentives in favor of across-the-board flat bonuses. In that case, the practice can demotivate and stifle team enthusiasm. I am sure that, to this day, years after this person had to be let go, they still hold a grudge for their “unjust” dismissal.
Checks and balances are necessary in any organization, and accountability must be at every level, from top to bottom. Arbitrary factfinders and concrete disciplinary applications will level the playing field in the workforce. These are common tools used in private industry and governmental affairs. The key is setting procedures, policies, and laws in place, and having arbitrators who adjudicate behavior and have the immunity and authority to exercise penalties for those who step away from ethical behavior. Equal application of policy and law makes for a hospitable work environment, providing a space where work ethics are valued, team members feel safe and valued, and a workplace where productivity is high.
Did you know that it has been the policy in some of our governing boards and governmental units to wait for reports or formal complaints of unethical behavior to be submitted before an investigation is initiated? The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a relatively small community where news travels fast. And even with tight constraints on the release of public information, community members tend to find out at least part of anything that happens on the Boundary. Possibly because of the lack of transparency on some issues and events, and the perception of real or imagined repercussions for anyone who might officially make a complaint, few investigations make it into the public eye.
Just like the employee’s behavior that I had to address, we must have leaders who will hold us accountable, even if and especially if it is long-standing behavior. And we in turn, as a community, must hold our leaders accountable. Because just like that employee, all of us are prone to becoming numb to our own destructive behavior. Without a clear ethics policy that addresses all levels of government and an arbitrator with the authority to enforce policy for all levels of government, we will be at the mercy of our own destructive behaviors and those who would abuse the system and the community’s trust, encouraging nepotism and cronyism instead of fairness and equity.
If we continue to go along in life accepting less because “that is the way it has always been”, then we deserve less. Our ancestors would have never envisioned us as a community that accepts less, or that their descendants would condone unethical behavior. Those who say that “is just our way” are misreading our history. Accountability and responsibility are the keys to organizational and communal success.
