Messages from Employees to Managers – part 1

A few weeks ago, I began sharing on my YouTube Channel, ‘Karen Heart Talk’, expressions from the book ‘Walk Awhile In My Shoes’; gut-level, real-world messages from managers to employees written by Eric Harvey and Steve Ventura.

The book is unique; I consider it two books in one as half of it also has gut-level, real-world messages from employees to managers. Things that employees want us as managers to pause for a moment and think about.

Some of us may be at the rung of the ladder where we have forgotten what it was like being a rank-and-file employee, how we were made to feel, what were our concerns, what about the job kept us up at night or more so, who was the devil in our days. The people who made our lives so miserable that we pledged we would long remember them. Almost two years ago, someone close to me entered the working world and some of that person’s experiences as a rank-and-file employee have jogged my memory and caused me to fully appreciate how experiences differ the wider the rung spacing of the ladder gets.

On the premise of the messages from employees to managers in the book ‘Walk Awhile In My Shoes’, over the next few weeks, I’ll be the voice of employees and convey to managers some of what they want managers to know.

We are at every level of the organization; some of us are blue collar, some pink and some white and especially for those of us who have blue collars, sweat from hard work stain them. We aren’t robots. We are men and women, of every size and belief. Young, middle age and old. We have been working in the organization longer than you and not as long as you. We are cherished by someone. Some of us are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives. At the end of the day, some of us go home to a crowded household and some of us to an empty house. Sometimes we feel like we are seen as numbers or as just another cog in a big wheel, but we want to remind you that, like you, we are human beings with emotions and in the grand scheme of things, what we want most is to be accepted for who we are, appreciated for what we do and be understood.

When it comes to change, please make up your mind. At times you are indecisive, today you want us to do this and tomorrow you want us to do that. We think that you are reactive instead of proactive and it is tough on us because we are hardly ever the deciders of change, but always must adjust because of change that you made. It is not that we oppose change that is made to keep up with the competition, but we reject change that is forced upon us because you would have acted without sufficient thought.

We dislike having change forced upon us without any explanation as to why. You would get greater buy-in from us if you let us know why the change is necessary. We appreciate that you may not always know why because the directive may come from above your head, but we want you to try to find out.

We want you to know that we are struggling with the work environment. It may not always appear that we are doing our best, but we are, and we are fearful too, therefore, if you demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence toward us, it will help us to better cope.

We acknowledge that change may be difficult for you too but at least you get to call some of the shots.

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