You?ve always believed that you?re doing a good job. As a leader, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Departmental Manager or Head of Section, you think that you?re a competent manager and that those who report to you trust, like, respect and even admire you. All is going well and you are really enjoying your job. And suddenly, unexpectedly, out of the blue, it happens. Perhaps due to the last round of salary increases, or disgruntled trade unions not getting anywhere with management, or production staff who believe that their performance bonus has been unfairly calculated, an unforeseen outbreak of discontent occurs throughout your group, company, department or section. From smiling faces and a happy atmosphere, you are suddenly confronted with surly faces and sour looks. From a relaxed and open communication, people now form small cliques; whisper to one another; talk behind each other?s back or keep quiet when you walk into the room. Derisive jokes about the company and its management (the type ?Nous sommes tous des esclaves ici?) are being posted on the company?s intranet or notice boards. The laughter and chatter and joke-making and leg-pulling that used to characterize your setup have all but died down. If things get bad enough, open arguments may break out and the next thing you know, the Human Resources people have to be called in and will breathe down your neck about your poor management style, lousy team spirit and the need for conflict-handling training.

How does all this happen? How does it all start? Is there something that one can do? People are people and workplaces are after all, human communities. It is therefore inevitable that people in every organization, in every country in this world, no matter how well led or managed, will become dissatisfied from time to time. But if you let these whispers of discontent take over and spread throughout your organization (and they do tend to spread like wildfire!), you could end up with some serious morale and productivity problems on your back, when your employees engage into go-slows, strike or even resign in droves.

Some managers I?ve met do not take these whispers seriously. ?Ils aiment trop se plaindre,? commented one just the other day. ?The average Mauritian employee is forever an unhappy person that you cannot please, no matter how hard you try,? he explained. Others believe that people are fundamentally selfish and will therefore always see things from their perspectives only. ?They expect huge salary increases,? commented another, ?but know nothing about our current tight financial situation.?

If you want to keep these whispers of discontent from ruining your company?s or department?s morale, what can you do?

l Honest communication. What works most of the time is open, honest, heart-to-heart communication. Provide a forum where employees can freely express themselves, their concerns and criticisms, without any fears of recrimination or retribution. Call a special meeting and let them get it off their chests. The idea is for you to be seen to confront openly the issues, to listen without argument, to get to their source and examine their underlying causes. At the Business School, we often make use of the Action Learning methodology where a task force is set up to look at the situation holistically, meets on a number of occasions and is empowered to take whatever appropriate action it deemed necessary.

l Informal chats. A leader I tend to admire uses informal chats as the main vehicle of communication. As soon as she detects that there is a problem somewhere, she meets informally with those affected and explores how they feel about their jobs. It works.

The key here is to create a safe place where people?s gripes and discontents can be expressed in full voice and explored. If you are careful to ensure that you are not trying to force things to happen but create opportunities for things to emerge naturally, and remain receptive as they do, then communication will flow. And even if you cannot resolve these issues immediately, it is often enough ? others will know that you are listening and understand what they are going through.

Prof Eric Charoux

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