Commitment is a characteristic of all human relationships, because for a relationship to be stable over time it is necessary for the parties to intend to remain in it. It is something like a social contract that is never signed and on many occasions the clauses of this are not stated, but in saying, we are “friends”, “partners”, “family” there are overtly conditions that must be met.
In marriage, as in the workplace, it is customary to document the agreement between those involved and both parties, in these cases, they sign a document establishing regulations and if a document is not signed, the same relationship establishes the rules of engagement between those involved. In any case, in any permanent relationship there must be the component of the commitment.
At the employment level, any relationship one person undertakes to provide a personal service to another, under the relationship of dependency and immediate or delegated direction of dependency and direction, in return for remuneration, is considered an employment contract. It is of little use that the relationship is recorded in a written document or has been the product of a purely verbal agreement: the existence of the employment contract is presumed to be the very fact of the provision of the service and the payment received for the that service.
The concept of “labor commitment” is identified in companies as the loyalty link by which the worker wishes to remain in the workplace, due to his implicit motivation. But we know that neither the contract nor the remuneration creates the level of commitment necessary in the organization to achieve the desired objectives and/or results. Commitment is a personal decision, made by each employee and that goes beyond the work obligation, so we can find good employees who are not necessarily committed to the organization, because a committed collaborator invests all their energy to achieve their purpose, every day reaches their workplace full of internal motivation, finds personal meaning in what they do and is aligned with institutional objectives.
Many times, I have felt this passion in the workplace, because commitment generates passion for what we do, but I have also experienced situations that are extinguishing that passion…
- The inconsistency between the statements of organizational culture (mission, vision, values,
purpose) and the actual behavior of leaders. - Disrespect, because in addition to respectful words, actions of respect must be generated. It is disrespected every time, at work, you interact with a collaborator in the absence of your supervisor.
- Limitation of independence in decision-making and for the simplest decision you have to wait for the approval of the supervisor.
- Lack of interest and support for the realization of professional goals, limiting the development of the collaborator in the misunderstanding eager to retain them within the organization.
- Mediocrity of leaders who come to think that if they share knowledge with collaborators, they become possible substitutes and latent threat.
- Hiring outsiders to be trained and in most cases that training will be done by the collaborator who has been waiting for a promotion opportunity within his career plan.
- Lack of mentoring and coaching to achieve better employee performance, not everyone needs to invest the leader’s time in their development within the organization, but it is proven that a personal focus on continuous detachment loyalty to the collaborator.
- Disinterest in the personal motivations of collaborators, people have life outside of work (family, hobbies, studies, fears, plans), it is about taking an interest in people as a subject and not as a resource.
- Putting limits on collaboration, not taking into account brilliant ideas simply because they did not occur to the leader and if they are implemented, the credit is not given to the person who generated it.
- Lack of recognition and reward, it is necessary to celebrate and reward the hard work, especially if you offer a reward do not forget to make it happen.
Time needs to be spent analyzing the organization and its employees, cultivating employee engagement, and developing the organizational culture of engagement. Determine actions and implement processes that contribute to raise the commitment of the collaborator with the company, but also the commitment of the company with the collaborator, because let us not forget that every relationship is two-way and an important element in the relationship is communication. Investing in commitment management affects the control of staff turnover and leads to a significant increase in productivity.
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