Business and blame culture: A workplace match to avoid

“I didn’t do it, they did!”

It’s easy to point the finger when things aren’t working well, especially in workplaces. Drops in team performance, not enough sales, missed KPI’s, or an inability to recruit or retain staff, stepping back and trying to find the cause isn’t easy. If it was, then there would be less workplaces struggling with said problems (and there’d be no market for business consultants).

Despite humans being natural born problem solvers, it’s easier to blame external factors for problems. Typically, this opens the flood gate to victim mentality, lack of ownership and accountability. Behaviors and mindset which are toxic for business.

And sure, while sometimes there are legitimate things that happen outside of our control, ultimately the questions remain:

What are you doing about it? How much responsibility is your workplace taking? How much ownership is being taking over resolving the issues?

In the ideal world, there’d be no issues. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Our ways of working are stull outdated, societal influences are still limiting, dynamics of workforces have shifted dramatically, technology is impacting our daily lives, the global economy is subject to flux, and we’re still dealing with the offset of a pandemic.

Which means that unless workplaces make an effort to be part of the solution to the challenges being faced, they can’t be resolved.

One of my favorite examples to this, is when it comes to new hire and recruiting graduates.

Oftentimes we hear workplaces complain about the difficulties experienced with new graduates. Some of the pain points expressed are lack of initiative, lack of skills (usually social), inability to make decisions, no practical experience, knowledge gaps, high expectations, need for feedback etc. I get it, it’s a lot – but let’s take one step back to the lead up.

First, is upbringing and parenting – which is continuing to build on the helicopter model that millennials suffered with. In turn, hindering the development of critical life skills like decision making, using initiative and that wonderful virtue of patience.

Second, are higher education institutions (i.e. university).  Broadly speaking, the typical university experience isn’t set up in the most optimized way, to support graduates entering the workforce. “Most” universities are still operating vis-a-vis a model that assumes learn to retire vs learn, adapt, upskill and support. Or in simple terms learn from textbook with limited ability to either reapply the knowledge or skills in a way that mirrors the real world. This also includes a focus if you will, on a one trajectory pathway vs a portfolio career. Yes, placements and internships exist, but not all are privy to this.

When we begin to look at the causal factors for why things are the way they are, then it’s easy to understand. Which means, workplaces have two options: point the finger and blame the graduate, university or parents, or appreciate the context and influencing factors and do something about it.

Rather than be part of the problem, workplaces can in fact be part of the solution. And this starts with  empowering staff, investing in people and using it as an opportunity to shape new hire into the people your company need.