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One of the real negatives emerging from the fallout of corporate breaches of stakeholder trust is an increase in micro-management.
In the disruptive world leaders now find themselves, compliance, process and procedure become the mainstay strategic and operational reality.
Micro-management is the biggest threat to rebuilding customer and stakeholder trust.
While new (and some not-so-new) visions, values and purpose statements are being shaped and communicated via frenzied PR, Comms and Marketing teams, all to reflect their companies’ genuine intention to rebuild customer and stakeholder trust, the danger is functionally, employees are lacking the sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness required.
As detailed in a previous post, researchers Deci and Ryan 1 have found that it is the intrinsic motivation that is released by self-determined individuals and teams that increases success.
Self-determination is the combination of heightened sense of autonomy (I have control over my actions and outcomes); a heightened sense of competence (I have the resources and capability to do my job well); and a heightened sense of relatedness (I have supportive and nurturing leadership and relationships).
The problem arises because the employee wants to ‘live up to’ their intention of making life better for their customers (in alignment with their organisation’s newly heralded purpose). However, if their leaders, fearing making a mistake and losing their job, fall into the trap of micro-management, their team’s self-determination and intrinsic motivation to ‘live up to’ whatever needs to be done to rebuild customer and stakeholder trust is at risk.
This puts trust again at risk… and when trust is at risk, everything is at risk.
