{"id":1588,"date":"2014-07-29T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T11:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2014-07-29T07:41:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T11:41:00","slug":"the-games-employees-play-when-leaders-bust-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trustacrossamerica.com\/blog\/?p=1588","title":{"rendered":"The Games Employees Play When Leaders Bust Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TAA_R2_EDIT-CS3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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When \u00a0leaders bust trust, employees play games. I don\u2019t mean board games or a tennis match. I mean the games employees play at work.<\/p>\n

In my first job out of college, my boss was simply intolerable. In retrospect, I can\u2019t blame him for being the way he was. He was placed in a leadership role, but was never meant to be a leader. He was insecure, abusive and lazy. He was also a liar. I frequently reminded him that if he didn’t lie, he never had to remember what he said. He chose not to\u00a0listen. He assumed that all he had to do to be a good leader was to pay his employees well, and the other “stuff” would work itself out. But it\u00a0didn’t.<\/p>\n

“Game playing\u201d became the office norm. These were some of the favorites:<\/p>\n

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  1. Calling in sick on Fridays and often on Mondays<\/li>\n
  2. Every last minute of the hour-long lunch break was taken, and often more<\/li>\n
  3. The water cooler was the most popular spot in the office<\/li>\n
  4. Friday couldn\u2019t come fast enough<\/li>\n
  5. 9AM turned into 9:30 and 4:30 became the new 5PM<\/li>\n
  6. Minimal effort was exerted<\/li>\n
  7. Many of us treated our clients the same way we were treated<\/li>\n
  8. People quit without notice<\/li>\n
  9. Hours were spent on personal phone calls<\/li>\n
  10. Throwing other employees under the bus was all too common<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Through observation, I once calculated that the average employee spent less than 3 hours each day actually working.<\/p>\n

    Any of the above sound familiar?<\/p>\n

    This week leadership expert Tom Peters<\/a> asked\u00a0the following:<\/p>\n

    Do you absolutely understand and act upon the fact that the first-line boss is the\u2026KEY LEADERSHIP ROLE\u2026in the organization?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Employees take their cues from their leader. We certainly did. If you want to avoid game playing in your organization, act like a trustworthy leader simply by being a VIP role model <\/a>(values, integrity, promises kept.)<\/p>\n

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    Barbara Brooks Kimmel<\/strong>\u00a0is the Executive Director of\u00a0Trust Across America-Trust Around the World<\/a>\u00a0whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning\u00a0TRUST INC.<\/a>\u00a0book series. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.<\/p>\n

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    .\u00a0\"Print\"<\/a>\"ND<\/a><\/p>\n

    Copyright \u00a9 2014, Next Decade, Inc.<\/p>\n

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    Have a question? Feel free to contact me: barbara@trustacrossamerica.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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    \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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