In the last couple of weeks I’ve had two really tragic things come up about SMS. You know, on your phone, Short Message Service, Texting.

One was a business owner that I was speaking to.  He was talking about how hard it is to keep good staff.  They train people to a high degree (better than anyone else in their industry) and as soon as they get trained, they end up jumping out into the market to work for someone else and earn a living elsewhere.  They tried a lot of strategies to keep people loyal. He even had one team member resign via SMS. No phone call, no nothing.

Fast forward to just last week, and there was an article in the morning’s papers about the reverse.  A hairdresser decided to sack a staff member via SMS.  Supposedly that had tried to contact her before with no luck. So he sent her an SMS telling her she was no longer required.

How can you end the relationship between you and your team with 160 characters?

And at what stage did we start to replace real human interaction with technology to hide behind difficult conversations?

This is really about the depths of commitment and loyalty in between employer and employee. It almost sounds like there’s a breakdown in the contract.

What Do I Mean By The Contract?

By contract, I mean the unwritten agreement. You do your best work and I’ll reward you well, has always been part of the agreement. But that is just the economic part of the contract.

It’s not enough to just cater for the hygiene factors of looking after your team. Making sure they’re paid, making sure that they have all the tools to do the job.

You’ve got a new generation, a younger generation that expects to be engaged in what they are doing.  More are seeking meaning through their work.

Now I’m not saying it’s your responsibility to bring happiness and joy into each of your team member’s lives through work everyday. Don’t start installing Air Hockey tables and go abseiling together every week … BUT it is your responsibility to create an environment where they feel actively involved in contributing to the success of your business, beyond their day to day work.

You can create a workplace where they have a level of control in their environment and are actively improving it. Or at least an environment where your team feel they are getting somewhere either personally or as part of the team. (I mean hey if someone like Gordon Ramsay can verbally abuse his team yet still have people competing to work with him, what are you doing wrong?)

By creating a challenging environment that allows good people to have something to aspire to, you are creating fertile ground for a strong team.  As Donald Trump once expressed, “Don’t kid yourself, nobody wants to work for a loser. Everyone wants to work for a winner.”

Get Moving: What sort of environment are you creating for your team?

Article by: Steve Smit – Reality Consulting