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Recruitment & Retention Strategies

Every organization has them – unwritten rules which are much more potent than written ones.  These are the social cues that tell employees what is valued in a company, as well as what is dangerous.  These rules tell them how to act, behave and participate in a way that will be successful in the organization.

For example, it doesn’t matter how many times a company promotes a written “open door” policy if every time someone opens the door, it comes slamming back in their face.  Employees learn quickly that the policy doesn’t mean squat and that if they want to keep their jobs and be promoted, silence is the best option.  Unwritten rules can be positive as well.  If everyone knows that a priority for the owner is family time (as seen in his/her actions), than employees feel more comfortable asking for time off to attend family events.

However the biggest concern are the detrimental unwritten rules that unspoken (and almost invisible) go unchecked and unquestioned.  Welcome to the dark underground of your organization.

Here are a few questions to get at the heart of your company’s unwritten rules:

  1. Does your company promote based on seniority or productivity?
  2. Are people appreciated for bringing up tough questions or is this frowned upon?
  3. Is gossip an acceptable way to “get in”  and “get up” within the organization?
  4. Are you recognized for the work you accomplish or the hours you work?
  5. Why do people get promoted?  (LOTS of unwritten rules around this one)
  6. Who does the boss or executive team favor and why?
  7. What are the power dynamics in your organization?
  8. What are employees verbally appreciated for?
  9. Are employees measured on activities or results?
  10. Are new ideas from employees taken seriously by management?
  11. Who seems “unfireable” and why?
  12. What are the top 3 factors the boss says are important?  What are the top 3 factors the boss shows are important? (As you can imagine, alignment is both ideal and critical for the company to walk it’s talk.)
  13. Who benefits from the unwritten rules?
  14. Why do you think they’re unwritten?
  15. Do YOU benefit from any of these rules?

Of the list of unwritten rules that you came up with – which serve your organization positively? negatively?

Knowing what you know now (knowledge is power) – What are you going to do about it?

Silence?  (Danger Will Robinson)

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2 min readLast Updated: April 6th, 2021Published On: June 3rd, 2010Categories: Improving Workplace Culture, Organizational Development ProcessTags:

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