CorporateCulture #EmployeeEngagement #WorkplaceDynamics
Do High-Level Executives Care About Lower-Level Employees? Breaking the Myths!
As a level 1-2 Software Developer, you might often question the dynamics between yourself and those significantly higher in the company hierarchy, such as a VP. You may wonder, "Do they even care about my opinions or know my name?" This is a common concern and certainly valid, especially if you’re steering clear of engaging with high-level executives due to this belief. So, let’s dive into this topic to uncover the realities of workplace dynamics and bridge the perception gap.
Understanding Corporate Dynamics: An Overview
In any organization, hierarchy plays a crucial role in defining roles, responsibilities, and communication channels. Here’s what typically happens:
- High-level executives focus on strategic goals.
- Mid-level managers translate strategy into actionable tasks.
- Low-level employees execute these tasks.
But does this mean high-level execs don’t care about lower-level employees?
The Misconception: Do Executives Really Not Care? 🔍
Contrary to popular belief, many high-level executives do care about what lower-level employees think. Why? Because:
- Valuable Insights: Employees on the ground often have critical insights about operational inefficiencies, customer feedback, and innovation opportunities.
- Morale and Productivity: Happy and motivated employees are more productive. Executives understand that employee morale directly impacts the bottom line.
- Sustainable Growth: Engaged employees contribute to a sustainable and positive workplace culture, which is crucial for long-term success.
Real-Life Scenarios: When Executives Do Care
In meetings you’ve described—like those with a VP—here’s what can happen if the executive is engaged:
- Listening to Feedback: Effective leaders often request feedback to make informed decisions.
- Personal Recognition: While not every executive will know every employee by name, many strive to recognize standout contributions.
- Open-door Policies: Some companies encourage a culture where any employee can voice opinions or concerns regardless of their position.
Why Your Assumption Might Seem Valid 📉
It’s reasonable to feel skeptical, especially if you’ve had limited direct interaction:
- Hierarchical Barriers: Sometimes, structured levels create physical and psychological distance.
- Time Constraints: High-level execs have demanding schedules, making it challenging to interact with everyone frequently.
- Cultural Differences: Company culture plays a significant role in how approachable execs might be.
Improving Interaction: Tips for Effective Engagement
If you want to bridge the communication gap and feel more connected, try these tips:
- Be Proactive: Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations or share your insights respectfully.
- Understand Their Perspective: Recognize their time constraints and strategic focus.
- Provide Value: Offer well-thought-out suggestions or solutions when you do get a chance to interact.
- Use Structured Channels: Utilize employee feedback systems, town hall meetings, or suggestion boxes often put in place for this purpose.
Conclusion: Finding the Balance ⚖️
While it’s easy to assume that higher-ups may not care about lower levels, the reality is often more nuanced. Many executives do value contributions from all levels of the organization, although their ways of showing it can differ. To maximize your impact and interactions, it’s essential to understand the corporate dynamics and leverage the appropriate channels to communicate effectively.
So, next time you have the chance to communicate with someone higher up, remember—they might be more interested in your input than you think! 🚀
High level people who are smart are always keeping an eye on what the junior folks are thinking and doing and saying. Why? Because they are closest to the work, the customers, the products etc. A lot of high level people are drunk on their own ego and it makes them insufferable and incompetent.
I have never encountered a higher up who have a shit. They only care what they can extract, we are just numbers. Some places hide it better than others, but it is all the same.
In capitalism, businesses exist for the sole purpose of making a profit.
The means of making the profit doesn’t matter.
Everyone under the executive teams are just resources to be used.
Wages and insurance and PTO and benefits are just maintenance costs for keeping the tools running.
VP can mean a bunch of things. For example, at my 1st company we had a VP who ran our ~500 person division. He was nice, personable, knew most people’s names, and had a general idea of what went on and would definitely talk about ideas if he thought they were good.
On the other hand the “VP of HR” for your 10000 person corporation doesn’t know or care at all
No. I don’t think you can make broad generalizations like that. It also depends what you mean by “cares”. I work for a rather large company and our CEO recently gave everyone a freebie. I saw her in the lunch line and I thanked her for it. She really seemed to appreciate the interaction and we chatted a bit about it. So who knows? 🤷♂️
At the end of the day, VP’s are still human beings with all the pluses and minuses that brings. Some are going to be more sociable than others.
That said, how much they care really depends on how much they work with you. And that’s not exclusive to VP’s/executives.
In my experience this is about 50/50. An involved VP is going to be care about what people see and think about a project they’re working on that’s under the VP. Caring to get to know you personally is, in most cases, going to be limited to people who they interact with on a regular basis just because getting to know everyone takes a lot of time.
I would say directional that could be correct, but there are a lot of VP and up folks that I’ve meet over the years that do generally care about what ICs say. A lot of it depends on your brand. Are you “known” in a larger sphere for being a goto person, providing good input / feedback / etc.. The better brand you have across the org the more some of them are going to listen.
I will say, VP and up relationships are “THE” thing that you want to try and nurture in your career if you have the ability to do it. It can help you in many, many different ways.
I think it’s a confluence of things. There are definitely some that care solely for themselves and nothing for ICs. I also think successful business people are often results driven, and they tend not to have the warm and fuzzy personalities that people driven folks are. In other words, they may care about you as a person, but don’t care about your feelings.
> My assumption would be that the person about 5 levels above probably cares very little about anything I say, my opinions, or even just knowing my name. Do you think that’s accurate or not accurate?
You’d be surprised how good some execs are at remembering names, but 100% if you are very junior and they are a top senior exec they do not care at all about your opinions. It’s not because your reasoning abilities are bad, but it’s because you have very limited experience on one area, while they have tons of experience and see the whole board. There’s just knowledge and wisdom from years of experience junior folks just don’t have, and sometimes even older people if they’ve been in a narrowly focused job for a long time. The key to see if they care is not whether they care about your opinion, it’s whether they give you opportunities to grow. That IMO is the better way to judge.
They are people just like everyone else. You are more likely to know them than they are to know you. If you have one single meeting with them there is a good chance they won’t remember your name just as I likely would forget a random person I’ve met once. As for the meeting and them caring about your opinions I guess it depends. If you are in the meeting with them do what you would normally do in a meeting. If/when it’s your turn to contribute they will appreciate if your contributions are on point and applicable. Don’t try to show off.
I’ve found that at large corporations executives are generally personable and easy to talk to. A large part of their job is being able to form relationships and connections. They know that some people kiss ass to the executives. A good executive will still be cordial and polite but otherwise will be indifferent to these interactions.
I don’t think that’s accurate. I’d say that’s true in a poorly run company though
The higher you go in levels of influence the more your interactions with subordinates gets scrutinized. Interact with folks as authentically as you’re comfortable with but don’t assume malice in most people immediately.
My organization does “Donuts” in slack and mentoring, my last match was our Chief People officer and he at the time was two levels above me.
Guarded is healthy but be weary of thinking you don’t matter without explicit evidence of such. You’re new in your career there will be plenty of opportunities to feel inadequate don’t go inviting them just yet.
I manage about 1k employees. Here’s something you may want to consider. When you’ve been in a role like mine, you see a lot of humanity.. and humanity can be awful. Think about how often something terrible happens to you. Once a year? Once every five? With 1k employees, I’m hearing about something awful daily. It doesn’t really matter if it happened at work or not. It affects me.
I have a direct report who’s 17 year old child passed away a few months ago. I’ve had cashiers shot in robberies. Drug overdoses, leaving kids in hot cars, being physically attacked at work, just so much awful. In my position, it’s rarely the fun stuff that makes it to me. It doesn’t help any that I administer a fund for employees in need of emergency assistance.
Being exposed to this much humanity affects everyone in a different way. Some of my peers seem relatively cold to the general workforce because that’s how they cope.
They don’t notice me until I disturb their bonus then I get adopted into the “family” again.
I think there’s parts of this that are true and parts that are not.
Savvy executives want to hear from people at all levels of the company because they know that information is often filtered and spun from higher-ups…so it’s a way for them to know what’s really going on. You’ll see for example some like Elon Musk (Tesla) and Jensen Huang (NVIDIA) try to minimize the number of layers in a company because of this.
On the other hand, if by “care” you mean that they prioritize your well being, well then generally they don’t. Actually, I should say that their priority is their own career and what’s good for the company. So they care if your well being aligns with that 🙂
No
Assume that when you get to their level, you may behave in a manner similar to them. They have been where you are but the reverse is not true.
There will always be people who are unpleasant or uncaring. Look at your peers and you will see these people. They will not change on their way to being a VP. When they get there the reason is not the VP part.
Accurate. Lol
Can you name anyone who you’re “5 levels higher than”? Maybe a homeless person, your garbage man, the people who stock the shelves at your local grocery store you visit every week?
Edit spelling
Depends entirely on the business and the person in question, and the IC too. It’s all subjective
My last role was Director level and I considered it a core responsibility to listen to and support the teams under me, to be that leader I always wished I had. It’s a key part to a great culture imo. Empathy goes a long way when you’re interacting with lots of people
The execs, however, were awful at this at any level so it fell to me and other department heads, who were all awesome themselves. Doesn’t mean everything was sunshine and rainbows, far from it because we’re all human, but I’m very confident in saying everyone knew my colleagues and I cared
I aspire to be VP/C-level of a much larger org in time. While I may not get to spend as much time as I’d like with every IC during the journey, those intrinsic values are who I am as a person and will never be forgotten
Accurate but it isn’t malicious – you need to be pragmatic about things.
The same way you don’t care about the people who made your smart phone. Maybe a bad example but you’re pretty removed from it.
I work in manufacturing – and we make decisions that put global actors into motion – can you care about the feedback of a dock worker in Indonesia or Chicago moving freight? Or your operators in Mexico when you need to get parts to prevent a line down situation?
Not really- and I assume my VP largely views me the same way- he needs me to take care of the stuff on my plate and enable him to do his job better.
It reallly doesnt feel like that where I work so I would say that its not always the case, just depends.