Can an organization — or its leaders — lead employees into being ineffective contributors? While we certainly believe in free will, employers or company leaders do influence the behavior of employees, for better or worse. Such influence becomes extremely unproductive when it occurs unintentionally or unconsciously as a result of participants' personality types. Don’t believe it?

Real-world example:
An employee is participating in a conference call with a client. Participants perceive that he is not solely focused on the meeting, but has another agenda: impressing his boss to improve his promotion opportunities. What clues lead to this perception? A louder voice tone at key moments (designed to allow the boss to overhear); ill-timed, repetitive and irrelevant comments during the discussion; and a tendency to take credit for another participant's contributions.

Now, let’s take a look behind the curtain of this "play." Let's say the boss is a micro-manager who has scolded employees before for not stepping up to claim an idea or provide counsel. Also, the employee’s personality leans toward ambitiousness and a fear of failure.

Don't miss the subtleties — or ramifications — here. The employee is going against better judgement during a client meeting in order to assuage any of his perceived fears. A tarnished client relationship, eroded confidence in his abilities, and missed opportunities for future business are very real possibilities. Also, don’t ignore how this reflects on the employer and his or her business.

Internally, negative or ineffective behavioral patterns can dilute an individual’s contribution, turn "star employees" into cut-throat competitors, reduce the quality and quantity of your service or product, foster turnover, make the workplace an unhealthy environment, and lead the business away from its core vision or mission. As a leader, is this what you want to create?

It can be fascinating to examine how these interactions and patterns come about, but here we’ll concentrate on what leaders can do to become aware of and reduce inhibiting dynamics in relationships with employees, without taking on sole responsibility to make the dynamic work. (We believe that the employer-employee relationship is a mutual responsibility.)

Approaches for building positive mentor relationships with employees

• Assess—staff members’ traits, reactions or responses that result in unwanted outcomes. For instance, do employees stop offering ideas when you’ve pitched out your ideas? Now, what are your traits, responses and reactions to employees?

• Discuss—the elephant in the room. Don’t avoid conversations about key issues, performance standards, personality traits and the like. Bringing these topics to the forefront helps the entire group work together to find solutions you can all stick to.

• Ask—an objective, professional ‘observer’ (such as an organizational development or communication consultant) to assess and identify employer-employee patterns, and provide recommendations as to how to alleviate unhealthy patterns.

• Decode—personalities and patterns with personality assessments and other tools that shed light on interpersonal and group dynamics. Examples include the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, Kiersey Temperment Sorter and cultural norms assessments. A consultant can help you explore options.

• Conduct—‘exit’ interviews for everyone, including employees, clients and vendors. These people have a clear view of how your organization works and can provide a different angle from which to see the same issues.

• Provide—and advocate use of communication tools that promote a healthy environment, and be certain to model them yourself. If ill-equipped to improve interactions within the office and outside of it, organizations will not overcome the patterns and "molds" that they’ve created.

• Celebrate—and recognize efforts and progress toward greater awareness and skillfulness. Consider discussing examples of progress and skillfulness regularly in staff meetings.

Remember, this information is food-for-thought, not customized counsel. The most effective interpersonal and organizational communication program is one that's been tailored to meet the unique needs of your group. If you have questions, connect with a communication advisor or e-mail us for suggestions.