Theft of employee abilities and competencies by inadequate leadership has a direct causal impact on productivity and profits.

Waste, fraud, and abuse of the employer’s property might include each employee’s engagement in work activity in fulfillment of the mission and goals of the enterprise. A Gallup poll in 2010 revealed that 72 percent of the U.S. workers are disengaged and simply come to work because they have to. In the United States it is estimated about $370 billion are lost due to poor productivity, waste, duplication of efforts, lack of inventiveness, or other insidious means caused by disengagement. If this enormous amount of time, effort, energy, creativity, loyalty, and interest, all essential elements for success, are missing or reduced, can this loss or diminished individual investment be considered theft from the employer? Effective leadership is an important element to employee engagement and satisfaction.

If the culture of the workplace encourages or, at the least, does not address the basic emotional need of feelings of belonging, the theft of disengagement may fall upon the manager whose responsibility it is to provide guidance, feedback, and recognition. An enlightened workplace recognizes its people, communicates in a respectful fashion, and encourages trust. Stressed, overworked, or unhappy people cannot be creative or productive. Knowledge workers need to know their role and purpose in contribution to the success of the organization. Theft by poor management should be a measurement of lost profits or productivity.

Researchers at the University of Akron and Michigan State University developed the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS) to identify arrogant tendencies and mitigate them and the resulting problems in the workplace. Arrogant bosses often cause employee turnover and bring about a negative overall work atmosphere. This can occur when arrogant managers attempt to prove superiority and competence, such as:

• Placing a personal agenda ahead of the company’s agenda
• Demonstrating different behaviors with subordinates and supervisors
• A pattern of discrediting others’ ideas to make them look bad (bullying)
• Recurrent rejection of constructive feedback (bullying)
• Exaggeration of personal superiority to make others feel inferior.

Merely because one has the power to make others feel inferior, embarrassed, humiliated, or demeaned does not mean this form of theft of motivation and engagement should be tolerated. It is counter-productive to use intimidation or bullying techniques on anyone, and especially those on whom leadership relies on to get the job done. Stealing energy from co-workers is a type of workplace theft that drains resources and adversely impacts the organization.

The important lifestyle changes DePaulo recommends as being nearly as effective as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy are exercise, nutrition and diet, recreation, relationships, relaxation and stress management, service to others, spiritual or religious involvement and time in nature. If these activities make us happy, what is common to several of these lifestyles and how might we go about taking the first steps to a better life? The answer is to learn to be more compassionate.

Compassion is a virtue of empathy for the suffering of others and is regarded as a fundamental part of human love and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism – foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society and personhood.

Compassion is ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies and is considered in almost all major religious traditions as being among the greatest of virtues. For compassion to be more fully realized, what we know as the Golden Rule — Do unto others as you would have done unto you — should be changed into the Platinum Rule — Do unto others as they would have done unto them.

Compassion can be demonstrated through improved listening. To listen is also to communicate and there are two emotional factors that affect most conversations.

(1) How you feel about the other person’s ideas.

(2) What you believe the other person feels about your ideas.

Once you understand the role emotions play in communications you will be able to place yourself in another person’s shoes. Empathetic communication links people and performance and forms the basis for common action, generates power to leverage communication to targeted goals and gives relationships their foundation to empower rewarding and positive exchanges.

To be a successful team member, friend, spouse, human you must possess great empathy and sensitivity to the needs and wants of others. The secret to empathy is understanding — and caring. You must be able to communicate in both words and actions that you are interested in other people as individuals and they need to know that you appreciate their efforts and that their accomplishments are recognized. Healthy relationships are built on recognition, communication, trust and compassion, perhaps the greatest of virtues.

Within organizations, managers are being asked to find new ways to accomplish goals, often with dwindling resources. Jobs are changing and organizational leaders are experimenting with new approaches to business. The traditional style of directive management is less effective as work becomes more complex, information needs increase and the effort for quality and customer satisfaction requires more participation and involvement of everyone in the organization. Teaming has become a standard management approach to drastic changes forced upon the workplace.

Teaming is a fairly loose concept in many organizations, often referring to any group of individuals assigned to work together. The movement toward teams represents an increased awareness and acknowledgment that people involvement may be a key to improved productivity, competitive survival and personal satisfaction. When the team comes together, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, output must increase.

However, the enjoyment people derive from a group work effort should also be greater than what would be expected given the nature of the work itself. This synergy is a highly desirable result of successful teaming, and the trend of more involvement of everyone in the team has resulted in the need for members to work together more collaboratively.

The team should have a purpose for working together, such as, to win a prize, increase productivity or develop a new product. That purpose must be articulated in a clear and understandable way and shared and supported by all team members. Managers should not regard teams as structures but as behaviors; people who unite to accomplish the mission. All teams must have leadership, and people who assume that role and risk of leadership should guide, mentor and support the unit while building bridges with outside components. Teamwork is a cooperative effort with interdependence of its members. This means they need each other’s experience, capability, and commitment to be successful. When a team is committed to itself, it works best.

All teams have a unique personality resulting from the uniqueness of the individual members composing it. Combinations or blending of certain traits we possess as individuals is the alchemy that good managers mix in the workshop. People are different, and that contributes to the strength of the team. A manager’s understanding and appreciation of these differences can increase the effectiveness of the team. An effective team requires more than putting a group of people together and told to get the job done.

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The implications are huge since the more we feel devalued the more energy and effort we expend in defending and restoring our value…which allows less energy to create that personal value.

When we express feeling about ourselves, others, the situation in which we are currently, or just about anything, a new level of dialogue is opened, and we can exchange and share authentic relationship data that could strengthen bonds and build trust. Empathetic communication links people and performance and forms the basis for common action, generates power to leverage communication to targeted goals and gives relationships their foundation to empower rewarding and positive exchanges.

If collaboration is a sharing of responsibilities and resources to achieve a common goal, we do this all the time, but the extent and quality of those interactions often do not meet expectations. The shared reality of people at work depends on the structure of their relationships; the culture within their organization, including the sub-culture of their immediate workplace; and the degree of cooperation, communication, solidarity and collaboration among them.

In its broadest sense culture is a way of life, but within an organization it means the shared attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and relationships that make up the organization’s norms and customs. Changing strategies and structures could prove ineffectual or detrimental if the culture, the surrounding sea in which we swim, remains unaltered.

Organizations are social systems in which people are strongly influenced by the organizational culture. Therefore, the most potent tool for improvement is cultural change. The goal is to increase the long-term health and performance of the organization, while enriching the lives of its members.

Appropriate communication and listening skills can benefit workplace interactions and impact the bottom line. We assume we are better listeners than we really are, so, in a tense situation, despite our sincerity and selflessness others can’t read our minds or motives and our egocentric perspectives keep us from realizing people can’t measure our actions except by the signals we send—which aren’t as clear to them as they are to us.

Training in constructive conversation can be rewarding to the individual and the organization. Good communication skills are mutual-respect skills and each person should show respect for the other as well as for self. Not many aspects of human experience are as powerful as the desire to be understood. Core values to promote trust, diversity, personal and professional growth, mutual respect and constructive communication are absolute requirements in a vibrant and healthy business or association of people.

The preservation of workplace relationships, resolution of disputes, advocacy in conciliation and early intervention, and interest-based approaches to conflict are attainable through training, education and coaching.

• Begin with the end in mind. Start with a clear picture of what is to be accomplished and make sure everyone sees the same vision. The goal should be stated simply and concisely so it is easily understood and comprehended, even if the mission is complex. Remember the power that political campaign slogans have in rallying the masses to action.
• Develop the roadmap. The path should be precise and easy to follow so that people can visualize where they are going. Each organization is a living museum of what has been tried and failed in the past, so don’t repeat history.
• Enlist the support of others. Enthusiasm is contagious, and people who are adequately informed and feel they are part of the team are more likely to respond positively and lend support in any way they can, even in small ones.
• Create checks and balances. As the progress of the project evolves, it is important to assess success and realign responsibility for adjustments or modifications. A timeline can be helpful and lets everyone know where they are along the path to the goal. Let people know the status of the project from time to time and monitor the progress so everyone can visualize success.
• Be consistent and reliable. If you are the mentor of the project, people will read your responses for signs or reflections of success or failure. Honest and consistent information will slow rumors and build camaraderie. Form alliances with influential people within the organization to disseminate accurate information and facts.
• Share the glory. When success smiles on the project and the plan comes together as designed, celebrate and recognize the people who made it happen. ������