Do Employee Cliques Have You Stuck?

Do Employee Cliques Have You Stuck?

One of the quickest ways to alienate new employees, restrict their skill development, and keep an organization stuck in a proverbial rut, is to tolerate employee cliques and allow them to control production.

What are they? Employee cliques are destructive employee groupings (gangs) that don’t welcome new employees (outsiders). They view new employees and their ideas as threats to the status quo. To them, new employees are a waste of their time—particularly if they have to train the new person who (in their minds) will (in all probability) quit in a few months anyway. So why bother? La-dee-da.

Take a step back and ask yourself, “If I were a new employee, would I want to continue to work for an organization where the current employees don’t want me around and won’t train me?” Doubt it. I know I wouldn’t. I would leave and find someplace else to work—a place where I felt wanted and appreciated. And if I leave, the veteran employees will (in their minds) be vindicated, “See, we told you she’d leave.”

Here is what you as the leader can do:

  1. Recognize if and where destructive cliques exist in your organization
  2. Gather your veteran employees together and discuss why they feel the way they do towards new hires
  3. Develop a program, with a select group of veteran employees and your management team, to develop a new hire orientation program to quickly train and orient new employees into your organization, without unduly burdening current staff
  4. Continue to work with veteran and rookie staff members to identify ways to better integrate the ‘old’ knowledge and skills with the ‘new’ 

Trust me: If you don’t take action to correct the power of the cliques, they (not you) will control your employee population, its skill level, your employee turnover rates, and ultimately, your organization’s ability to move forward.

 

Copyright MMII – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching.

 

Liz Weber CMC CSP

Liz Weber CMC

Liz Weber coaches, consults, and trains leadership teams. She specializes in strategic and succession planning, and leadership development.

Liz is one of fewer than 100 people in the U.S. to hold both the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designations.

Contact Liz’s office at +1.717.597.8890 for more info on how Liz can help you, or click here to have Liz’s office contact you.

 

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