Nothing says “I don’t trust you” more than draconian HR policies that are spread like peanut butter over the employee population in an attempt to snare a few bad apples who are likely disengaged and working against the best interests of the company and the rest of the team. The solution? Improve the skill level of managers across the organization through intentional learning and development programs and make it clear through incentives that excellence is rewarded and poor performance/disengagement are not. The bad apples will opt out and head for more fertile pastures to apply their mediocre skills and display their poor work ethic for all to see.

My advice is instead of looking down your nose and denigrating members of the generations that follow you, lend a hand. Use your gifts to mentor, lift up, and inspire those who are less experienced than you are.

I know from personal experience as a leader that teams who believe their jobs are at risk or who’s pay is uncertain do not perform at their peak abilities. The constant threat of being let go or of not getting paid looms over the team like a dark gray cloud. When the rumors swirl that x team is going to be downsized or y operating unit is going to be shut down, productivity grinds to a crawl.