Nipping workplace politics in the bud

The success of every organisation depends on its personnel, so allowing conflict to fester can ultimately take down your entire operation.

There are a whole host of factors that affect a company’s status quo — each staff member’s age, job title and responsibilities, their individual pay rate including the way it is calculated, their level of education, target performance levels, or how long they’ve been with the organisation.

And that’s not including each staff member’s personality type, differences of option, political leanings, external influences such as family demands, and their coping mechanisms for stress. Together, these factors combine to affect group productivity, morale and your business’s overall success (or failure).

Human communications are an incredibly important component of any business; however, when they turn sour, they can also get in the way of your core business — one of the great frustrations for management teams the world over.

Something I’ve learned the hard way over the past few years is that there will always be conversations you simply don’t want to have, but, no matter how difficult and uncomfortable, they really must be had, and quickly. For the good of the entire organisation. Internal discord can derail your business’s core business quicker than a broken rail on a train track, so allowing an issue to fester can, and will, have dire consequences in the long term. Ignore at your own peril!

After acknowledgement comes the assessment period — just how far along has this issue advanced? Is the atmosphere in your workplace amicable or distrustful? Or has it reached the point where everyone is about to explode? What about productivity — to what level is your core business suffering as a result?

Detoxifying a workplace isn’t easy, nor is it pleasant. It means you must open the channels of communication and then put the organisation’s rules into practice in order to resolve internal conflict. Successful resolution takes time, negotiation, communication and then action. It’s not always an easy endeavour when you’re busy trying to focus on doing business, but it’s just one of the challenges that comes with running a business, one that Master Electricians Australia is always here to help you navigate.

While many Australians think of MEA as a strong voice for advocacy in the electrical industry, we are first and foremost an organisation dedicated to helping our members achieve within your own businesses. We have a committed team of personnel on hand to help guide any of you through a multitude of workplace issues — with organisational politics always high on the list.

We provide a range of services to help you navigate the trade environment — including HR, education and training, apprenticeship services and safety management systems — helping you to get on with the job.

Each of our separate services together ensure electrical workplaces around the country are safe. Collectively, they help facilitate product and service quality; increased business efficiency and productivity; improved customer satisfaction; improved business image and reduced errors and costs; and staff safety (physical and mental) through a reduced risk of accidents and ultimately prosecution. Our services help members create consistency throughout your business models, developing staff through traineeships, education and higher learning, and give you a chance to increase your business through strong industry relationships.

We place great value on our members’ goals — each year recognising those who have excelled in a number of different fields through our National Excellence Awards. This year’s will be like no other, after a complete revamp of the selection criteria, nomination process and the overall judging procedure.

We’ve recently closed the 2015 nominations, meaning that over the next couple of months, you’ll be seeing a host of finalists across eight different categories, including our Accredited Master Electrician of the Year Award. The national winners will be announced in Brisbane on 21 November.

We love to see our members out there kicking goals in the industry, and are always here to guide you in any issue you have along the way. We wish you all the best.

Master Electricians Australia

www.masterelectricians.com.au