I recently observed a team carrying out a typical day’s work. It was a request from a leader who felt challenges in the workplace were having a negative effect on productivity. When asked for my observations, I couldn’t ignore the level of frustration evident in the team; it seemed to permeate every minute of the day for most of the members.
Organisational leadership can be an opportunity to find new ways of achieving differing results. Its focus should be the future, bringing with it the opportunity to change. The fury that comes behind workplace frustration is liquid gold for change, and as there's more than a fair share of frustration in most corporate ranks today, corporations could be considered a learning or even research laboratory. If frustration is something that's easy enough to just fix, then aren't most adults smart enough to make that happen? There's clearly something a lot more complex that's bubbling away underneath corporate frustration. So what is the untapped gold mine that awaits discovery?
Three questions are relevant here for leaders to look into:
1. What unquestioned assumptions are embedded into the current system that may limit effectiveness?
2. How are existing systems guiding the staff towards frustration rather than intelligent and intentional work practices?
3. When frustration is observed, how is the new information that’s at the core of the frustration being collated and applied by leaders?
Take performance management systems, for example. Performance management generally includes some form of appraisal, the process of two-way communication regarding expectations, measurement of performance along with desires for the future.
Managers commonly consider appraisals a time-consuming interruption to daily departmental duties rather than a great opportunity to officially reinforce or extend daily feedback, take stock and plan for the future. Subsequently, many shortcuts are introduced that act as a deterrent to the process, an interruption to its effectiveness and also a reason to complain about it once appraisal time comes around again. This is a great frustration to tap into for change.
By delving into assumptions, a workplace psychologist discovered that appraisals appear burdensome because they are all due at one time of the year. So what might happen if we intelligently linked the appraisal process to an annual cycle based on when a staff member actually joined the organisation, negating the bulk approach and thereby becoming less burdensome on time and focus. Do they really all need to be completed at the same time?
Another example may be reduced teamwork. Teamwork inefficiency is often tracked back to a certain individual who is interpreted as a source of agitation. This assumes that the presence of this individual will restrict the performance of the whole team, limiting future possibility. Why is that so?
If you question this assumption, it could be considered that everyone has individual quirks. It may be discovered that the agitation caused by this individual’s differing behaviour and attitude is not intentionally bad or disruptive. If something or someone is different, could that be an impetus for a team to change and evolve with this.
The liquid gold of frustration has been tapped into previously with great results. At some stage of corporate development, someone somewhere questioned these three assumptions:
• All people are happy with the same benefits
• All people are able to leave the house at the same time in the morning
• It is only the HR manager who decides promotions and increments
Could the questioning of these assumptions have been the birthplace of flexible benefit packages, flexible working hours and multiple level of system access?
Back at the workplace I was observing, I asked the leader listening to my feedback one further question. If you had a bucket of mud and you knew there were four nuggets of gold buried deep within it, what would you do? So too, with corporate frustration buried deep, don’t hesitate to jump in deep to discover the riches it holds for us all.
Debbie Nicol, the managing director of Dubai-based business en motion, is a consultant on leadership and organisational development, strategic change and corporate culture.
business@thenational.ae
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”