You may’ve heard of ‘busy bragging’ in the workplace but what about ‘glossing’?
New surveys have revealed a common issue when it comes to managers in the workplace and how it affects the overall ‘culture’ of a company.
Look, no matter how much we all love our jobs, nothing is ever perfect, right? We all have that one workplace bestie who we rely on for a debrief every now and again when deadlines are round the corner or tensions are rising in the online chat.
And new studies have highlighted just how important it is to not remain uber positive every moment of every waking day, particularly when it comes to work, and the risk of what can happen when managers do glaze – or should I say ‘gloss’ – over certain issues.
What is ‘glossing’?
The latest toxic trait to hit a workplace near you and taking over the baton from ‘busy bragging’ is ‘glossing’.
Doing what it says on the tin, ‘glossing’ is when a manager, employer – or someone typically in a role higher up the workplace food chain – glosses over any issues, basically ignoring them, choosing to focus on the positives instead.
A study by Mark Murphy’s Company Leadership IQ surveyed 27,048 executives, managers and employees and found ‘only 15 percent of employees believe their organization always openly shares the challenges facing it’ and ‘only 24 percent of people say their leader always encourages and recognizes suggestions for improvement’.
A study by Science of People also saw ‘67.8 percent’ of its audience say they’d experienced ‘toxic positivity’ in just one week.
And glossing can have some pretty negative consequences too.
The effects of ‘glossing’
Now, on one hand, a little bit of positivity is sometimes what a team needs, however, ‘glossing’ can result in employees not feeling heard, respected, valued and a company’s issues can ultimately just get worse if not properly addressed.
Skillsoft’s Global Head of Coaching, Leena Rinne, told to Business Insider that ‘leaders create culture’ and so if an employee does show up to a meeting with ‘big feelings’ but their manager ‘just glosses’ over any thoughts or flags, then it’s demonstrating to the employee ‘that’s what we […] do here’.
It results in a lack of open communication between employee and employer and if management are ‘less willing to evaluate the problems for better solutions’ then employees will be ‘less willing to take risks and be innovative,’ Rinne adds.
It’s very clear this isn’t the healthiest approach and could end up spiralling – employees concerns or struggles being glossed over leading to them going unresolved and consequently potentially leading to feelings of isolation, frustration, burnout which can lead to sickness. Or, if feeling overlooked that frequently, then worst case scenario, employees may want to jump ship to another company entirely.
So, if you’re a manager reading this and feeling an inkling of guilt creep in, what can you do to stop glossing in the future and repair some of the damage from previous glossing?
Solutions
Well, first things first, acknowledge the issues, make clear it’s a tricky ‘period’ and you don’t want it to last forever, but that it is ‘hard’ on everyone, Rinne notes.
Express your gratitude for people sticking together and tackling the issue and try to create a ‘subculture in the larger culture of calm’ making sure everyone feels ‘seen, heard’ and ‘focused’.
Honesty is the best policy and all that.
