By SYCORAX TIYESA NDHLOVU –
In the process of some juniors becoming more marketable on a competitive labour market, some workers are amassing more better qualifications, performing relatively better than their superiors; making the latter to be more worried about their job security in their respective positions in such organisation.
This being the case, some superiors feel that their respective subordinates are threatening their job security in that some workers might soon or later take over their respective supervisor’s position.
Such situations in employment happen, especially among superiors who have allowed their curriculum vitae (CV) to remain static and working for almost the same employer for too long.
Some workers perceived to be threatening their high authorities’ positions in an organisation have, in some cases, been charged on flimsy grounds or for fabricated offences. Some such workers have hard their contracts terminated or not renewed for being threats to their bosses’ positions.
Unfortunately, some board of directors (BoDs) seem not to know or deliberately side with such superiors at the expense of smooth and sustainable operation of such organisations.
Who is to blame in such a situation?
Reflecting on such developments, as you try to be more marketable on the labour market through acquiring more qualifications, keep an eye on your supervisor to see if he or she is comfortable with your zeal to be more marketable not only with your current employer but also in the competitive labour market. Is your supervisor comfortable or that he or she feels you are a threat to his or her position?
Other supervisors, CEOs and BoDs should also keep a close eye on supervisors to check whether some or all of them feel threatened by some subordinates who work hard; and try to upgrade their academic and professional qualifications.
Supervisors who ill-treat their subordinates from fear that such juniors are threatening their positions should be counselled accordingly as workers achieving better qualifications benefit an organisation in many ways for many years.
Therefore, supervisors should encourage subordinates to improve on their academic and professional qualifications.
Each supervisor should ask oneself: ‘How many juniors have I facilitated getting better qualifications ever since I became a supervisor in this organisation or in my life? How many of my subordinates have been promoted to my level or elevated above my level as a result of my encouragement and support to such subordinates?’
If the answer to the first question is ‘many’; congratulations on your being a good leader. If the answers to such questions are ‘few’ or ‘none’; work hard to be a good supervisor in your career life.
A good supervisor doesn’t feel jealousy of good achievement his or her juniors make. In fact, a good leader should facilitate high performance, high academic and professional achievements and career progress in his or her juniors. A good supervisor should congratulate any worker who works hard and improves on his or her academic and or professional achievements.
Therefore, share with your juniors some of the important career advancement choices you and each of your subordinate should consider training in. Help your juniors to achieve more better academic and professional qualifications as you achieve yours.
Life is about helping; and not threatening each other. One might not know who is going to help who tomorrow or in the near future. Invest in your subordinates through encouraging them to upgrade their qualifications for them to be more marketable on a competitive labour market.
To support such supervisory skills and practices, some management experts have argued that a good leader facilitates career advancements in his or her subordinates career to such an extent that he or she allows his or her juniors to be in better positions than the supervisor himself or herself.
While the competitive labour market is forcing many young and old workers to improve on their academic and professional achievements, some top management officials and some chief executive officers (CEOs) who are supervisors to many workers who seek higher academic and professional qualifications have allowed their CV and repetitive experience to remain static for a long time; thereby making them stay in one positions with the same employer for too long for young, new and ambitious workers to be accommodated by some superiors.
Such a situation has created a ceiling for some workers who are supposed to be elevated to senior positions because some top management officials aren’t moving either upwards or to some other employers to leave room for highly qualified, ambitious, hard working workers with fresh minds to engineer an organisation to greater heights.
Analysing such a situation, one can advise those junior workers to continue working hard, get better academic and professional qualifications, and go on acquiring sound experience and improved skills.
One can also counsel top management officials which includes supervisors and CEOs never to remain content with their respective academic and professional qualifications, experience and skills.
The labour market needs and expectations are dynamic and volatile. If one wants to remain in employment, one should upgrade his or her qualifications in many ways.
The more you work hard; and the more you improve on your academic and professional qualifications; the more your supervisors, CEO or BoDs, as the case may be, support your employment in that organisation.
Feeling jealousy and suppressing or dismissing those who work harder and acquire better qualifications won’t take you far.
When you remain static; but feeling jealousy of any junior who works hard to contribute effectively to an organisation’ objectives; and advances his or her academic and or professional achievements, then you will also be put in the limelight as a hindrance to smooth and sustainable operation of that organisation.
You might also be accused of frustrating government efforts to create more jobs through smooth and sustainable operation of an organisation that leads to expansion for more job creation for other citizens.
Don’t allow your juniors to threaten your position. Always watch your subordinates academic and professional advancements; and ensure that you also do the same to keep that academic or professional gap between yourself as a supervisor and each of your subordinates.
As a wise junior continue upgrading their academic and professional achievements, wise supervisors should also further their academic or professional qualifications.
As a supervisor, if you cannot further your academic and professional qualifications for any reason, then don’t feel threatened by your subordinate because they cannot remain static just because you are static. Instead, encourage your subordinates to work hard.
As a supervisor, give them appropriate career guidance which each one of them should consider for his or her career advancement in the same organisation or with other employers.
Supervisors should remember that workers who work hard to obtain better qualifications and work hard in employment, if well supervised, contribute to effectiveness and efficiency in an organisation’s operations.
If you have hard working, result-oriented, highly qualified and ambitious workers, it means your organisation will easily achieve its objectives and goal.
Therefore, subordinates who work hard to achieve better qualifications not only help an organisation concerned but can also help the same current supervisors to get another better job elsewhere if such juniors are well supported to get better qualifications and be more marketable on the labour market.
Moreover, narrowly and shallowly considering more of your personal interest and your job security alone in that organisation might not only lead to dwindling fortunes of that organisation in the eyes of all stakeholders but can also reduce your personal support from other people.
Sometimes even the support you might be enjoying from some top management officials , your CEO or from some of or all your BoDs might falter with time if they see that your contribution to the organisation is more personal; therefore more negative than positive to the sustainable operations of that organisation.
Therefore, as long as we live on this earth; and we still want to be in formal employment, the best thing to do is to continue upgrading our academic and professional achievements. This is critical especially when one sees that subordinates are doing so at an increasing and alarming rate to one’s position.
The author is a trainer and career coach. Contact: Cell: 0976/0977 450151 E-mail: sycoraxtndhlovu@yahoo.co.uk