We live in a world where we’re constantly inundated with talk…news talk, political talk, family talk, educational talk, online chats, and the list goes on. But somewhere along the way, we just stopped communicating. Instead, the talks have turned into a one-way lecture with no interest in understanding that talking is a two-way interactive affair. And for a communicator, that is really hard to swallow.
I am beginning to see the popularity of social networking in a new light. A prime example is to listen to the chatter going on about corporate morale. Or should I say the lack of it. The media covers it, people talk about it, but it’s not addressed where it really counts…in Corporate America. So people have had to take the conversation out into the internet where communication happens every day. While the continued global economic crisis is ravaging the business of capitalism, it’s really the employees that are bearing the brunt of the punishment. I don’t understand how companies can turn a blind eye to the suffering of broken families while counting their enormous profit margins. We’ve reached this fork in the road because Corporate America missed so many crucial turnouts.
Of course, like all people, I am glad that I learned something from my experiences in Corporate America. But I can also say that my education came at a high cost to me. My on-the-job education was something that I pursued, not something that was provided by any company. I cost them very little in contrast to the returns that they received. While I expended immense amounts of personal time, energy and money, my reward was exponentially increasing responsibilities with little compensation. Yet, we still hear so much grumbling from CEOs about how high the employee costs are? Somehow the math classes that they took were different from the math classes that I took.
Our leaders want us to value the society of a past time, when loyalty was important and pride was prevalent. But the onslaught of media news indicates that even our leaders are only paying lip service to such “beliefs”, while allowing practices quite opposite to become the daily norm. Loyalty must be earned, and current corporate practices are anything but loyal! And how are we supposed to practice the company vision when all we have is a lousy mission statement?
I have little sympathy over the frustrations of CEOs who wonder why people leave their company “after all we’ve invested in them.” Humans don’t operate well when they’re frustrated and suppressed. When these emotions aren’t even acknowledged, much less addressed, then people will choose to move to a better environment. Why would a company choose to stifle creativity in this manner, when a little communication can make a big difference? Only when we leave, do companies choose to open a dialogue. What takes them so long? Don’t executives learn about human relations in their management training? It’s not only for the human resource expert. If you listen to the chatter, you’ll find that I’m not alone in my opinion. It’s why people are choosing to empower themselves by working with Corporate America and not in it. If only they would communicate…
