I had a conversation with my eye doctor today about marriage and how it takes two to make it go right. She said over the years she’d watched her friends and family go through divorce and she’d thought to herself, “I don’t want to go through this, what did they do wrong that I can do right”.
As the old saying goes, it takes two to tango.
Same holds true for employers. Yes, sometimes employees screw up royally on their own even with great leadership, some people just don’t learn. For the vast majority of the employee/employer relationship, it’s a two way street.
It’s the responsibility of leaders to provide their staff with the tools and training to do a job, it’s the responsibility of the employee to learn it.
It’s the responsibility of leaders to manage their staff; it’s the responsibility of the employee to follow policies and procedures. It’s also the responsibility of employers to treat their staff like adults, it’s the responsibility of the employees to act like adults.
Leaders must give if they expect to get.
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That would be the ideal workplace. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. Take my company for instance: I’m working by myself in the HR department. Although it’s a great experience learning and doing things on my own, it would be even better if my employer would join the “tango” as well.
@novice-hr My first HR gig was a one person HR department. I can feel your pain on that one. That situation takes a little extra initiative on your part to be in the face of whomever you report to and make sure they are involved in HR. I drove my boss crazy to make sure I not only covered my own butt on stuff but to make sure he was knowledgeable about HR. It was a learning experience for both of us.