If you were ever in a scouting troop when you were younger, you probably learned the phrase, “Leave the campsite better than you found it.” That meant if you saw a piece of trash in the woods, you didn’t ignore it or say, “well, it’s not my trash.” Instead, you were encouraged to pick it up, put it in your backpack, and take it out of the woods with you to dispose of it properly. Thus, leaving the campsite better than you found it when you arrived.
I wonder today whether we’re doing that in the workplace. I don’t mean about picking up other people’s trash, although staff should definitely do that! I’m talking about the betterment of our workplace cultures. Are we, as leaders, leaving the workplace culture better than we found it when we arrived?
Consider how much has changed regarding how we lead others today versus how your first few bosses led you.
Do you remember how it felt when you had a manager years ago answer your question with, “because I said so?” Didn’t that feel terrible at the time? Of course, it did! So, why on earth would we turn around and say that same response to the next generation? It’s simply a power play for many bosses, and now that employees have choices as to where they work since every company is hiring, very few people will continue to work for that power-hungry type of boss any longer. (Staff don’t have to anymore!)
We’ve learned so much in recent decades about more effective communication methods to address different working styles in the building as well as the roles empathy and emotional intelligence play in creating better leaders and better workplaces, just to name a few examples. I rarely hear leaders say “because I said so” today, and I’m hoping it’s because they have learned better approaches by now.
In a recent leadership training class I taught, I was told how glad the nurses were that they don’t have to wear pantyhose anymore. If older nurses kept saying, “well, I had to wear them when I was young, so the next generation of nurses should be forced to wear them too,” we would never have gotten rid of them! That’s a perfect example of one generation leaving the policy handbook better than they found it upon arrival. Thank goodness!
Today, there are still many leaders at various levels who feel that new workers should have to follow the traditions those older workers had to endure early in their careers. “Paying your dues” and “getting the grunt work” come to mind for me. Haven’t you met a great 26-year-old administrator? I have met several! They don’t have to “pay their dues” in a traditional sense and wait until they’re 30 anymore if they’re equipped to do the job at a young age.
Many young workers had to wait their turn before being heard, play by old-school unnecessary rules, and follow the strict chain of command in the late 1900s. Those young workers hated being treated that way back then, and so do today’s young workers.
You’re not holding on to a leadership model from the past, are you? You are not carrying a chip on your shoulder that today’s younger workers are getting the easy route, are you?
While there are so many requirements and regulations in our field that must be followed to provide great quality care to our residents, let’s be sure we’re not hanging on to any other outdated, unnecessary expectations carried on from one generation to the next. Let’s instead leave the workplace better than we found it.
Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP, works with organizations of all sizes to reduce unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making managers more effective in their roles. She is the author of the book, Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave & How to Keep Them Longer.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
