Observations of a Workplace Behavior
Scientist Dr. Thomas F. Mahan, The Work Institute

I just finished hearing the noise of yet another self proclaimed workforce expert, a “worklife coach”. This breakfast presentation was presented to satisfy the objective of helping the executive audience know what they must pay particular attention to in their companies during this time of financial challenges.

As time permits, I occasional attend these meetings. It is often good space to share a cup of coffee with others – a time to renew relationships. I also know, while a presentation may cover 45 to 90 minutes of content, I typically leave with a few thoughts worthy of additional exploration.

Today’s experience was not about learning something new. It was actually embarrassing. Today I learned about ignorance. The presenters recommendations were just plain wrong and I fear for those companies at risk of acting on his recommendations.

The world of work these past several years has been full of self proclaimed experts hawking mythologies damaging to organizations – actually doing harm from a productivity and cost perspective. These mythologies are likely to include Best Practices, Engagement, and Leadership.

Mythology #1: Best Practices. Quit managing by depending upon other’s best practices. What worked for a hospital in Florida may not have any relationship to opportunities and your experiences in Massachusetts. Employees have their pulse on what needs to happen in their organization. Best practices come from within.

Mythology #2: Engagement. I recently spoke at an executive conference in Las Vegas. While my topic was “The Differing Preferences, Expectations, and Intents of the Workforce”, the conference coordinator listed my presentation as “Employee Engagement”. I had to ask all participants to cross out the final “e’ in the presentation title and make it a “r”, changing the title from “Employee Engagement” to “Employer Engagement”. Quit living in popular press mythology and the concept of employee engagement -- quit victimizing the victim. Survey tools need to move away from just employer-in-control questions and be designed to include employee-in-control items that are relevant to your current objectives.

Mythology #3: Leadership. I keep hearing the word; I keep seeing new books with Leadership in the title, many written by failed executives or never-been-there writers. Increasingly I see college courses and degrees in the area of Leadership. I don’t get it and I haven’t seen any science that supports Leadership as anything other than a re-branding of management and supervisory development.

I expect that as we look back at the case literature from the 90’s and early third millennium, significant errors will be illustrated