Citizenship
matters; it can transform countries, states, and local communities. It can also transform your company.
Organizational
behaviorists have been studying
citizenship at work since the late 1970s. The evidence uncovered strongly
suggests that when employees choose to be good citizens at work, it makes a
difference in having a positive culture.
To
determine if you have a culture of good citizenship at work, you might want to
seek answers to what extent you think that your employees do these things?
· Do your employees
often ask “How can I help?”
· Are they willing to share
expertise, knowledge, and information to help improve the effectiveness of
others on my team?
· Do they always try to
lend a helping hand to those people on their team that need it?
· Do they try to
resolve unconstructive interpersonal conflicts with their coworkers?
· Do they touch base
with other team members before taking actions that might affect them?
In
many respects, having good citizenship at work is about the same as following
the principle of the golden rule…
“Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you.”
When
you have good citizenship at work it helps to create a sustainable competitive
advantage. When aggregated over time and people, citizenship adds up and helps your
organizations become more effective. Studies have shown that across a variety
of indicators, organizational citizenship accounted for anywhere from 18 to 38
percent of the variance in performance outcomes.
It
starts at the top. When our leaders help
us, they help themselves by encouraging a work environment where the “helping
virus” can thrive. When leadership
treats us with courtesy, dignity, and respect, we feel positive at work, and
good mood moves people of all personality types to be better citizens.
There’s
been a lot written recently about “fairness” in companies. Sometimes
the
hardest thing to do as a citizen is to be fair to people that aren’t fair to you,
care about people that don’t care about me, and help people that have thrown you
under the bus. But if you ever hope to
have a truly successful company you first have to choose to be good citizens.
For
more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white
papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net
