In last week’s post I set out to address the ‘why’ behind the ‘how’ of fully engaging your team members. This week I want to share a number of the how-to’s my clients have used to achieve that elusive goal – as well as great ideas and best practices others have used. Ready? Here we go.
First a reality check: No one ever shows up on Day One unengaged.
Disengagement sets in when a manager is perceived to have failed the employee in some way. (Was it the first time they felt unfairly treated when they asked to leave early to attend their child’s play? Or the second time they were asked for their input, only to receive no feedback at all – again? Or did they lose faith, and face, when left out of a meeting they cared about, without explanation? Or?)
My point is this: Disengagement doesn’t just happen. It’s brought on – unconsciously and unintentionally – by the choices and actions of managers that make team members feel betrayed. The good news? Conscious and intentional action by those in charge can also reverse the decline. (I can’t count the times I listened to managers write off their disengaged charges as “unmotivated” and “careless” or worse – yet when I interviewed them, which I always did, they were happy to share their enthusiasm for activities away from work – coaching kids sports, volunteering at the food bank, restoring a vintage car. They were filled with enthusiasm for these external activities. All we had to do was get some of it back at work.)
But how? Here is one of my favorite examples:
The idea: Increase employee connection with end users.
The client: A high end architectural millwork manufacturer.
The scenario: The company had just completed millwork for a breath-taking reno at a luxury fashion store. Their client planned a private grand opening reception and invited the plant owner and senior managers to attend.
The action: We treated this as a potential opportunity to involve staff as well. We asked the client if they would extend their invitation to the four team members who did the actual work. They loved the idea and readily agreed. This turned out to be a fabulous experience. The employees – including a team member who had been written off as “unmotivated” – dressed for the occasion and had a ball. They were made to reel really welcome…they answered questions from guests; got into great conversations and came away full of renewed enthusiasm – both for ‘their’ customer and ‘their’ company. Perfect.
Follow-through: Back at the shop the team members – including our supposedly unmotivated member – raved about the event – the way they were welcomed and treated – the stunning beauty of all that millwork – the questions they were asked – how one of the guests – a furniture store owner – said they were planning a similar reno and were inspired to work with us. Following the event, my client built on their success. They hung banners in the plant showing photos of the finished install – along with blow-up photos of the rave reviews they received from store owners, interior designers, and ‘name’ customers. And they began to change the banners each time an exceptional project was completed. Key to success: actively looking for opportunities to help employees connect with customers and see the fruits of their labour. And what about our disengaged guy? The shop manager held a fresh start meeting with him, and they never looked back.
Note: On a less dramatic scale, another of my clients shows customer reviews on a large screen as part of each daily ‘Huddle’ meeting – and always leaves one image on screen until the following day.
It all starts with leadership and people skills
I encourage you to start, restart or expand your Employee Engagement Program by addressing two critical and intertwined drivers: company or organization culture, and the behavior of individual leaders.
To address culture:
First a reality check. In its most recent polling of employees across the US and Canada, the Gallup organization found that fully 51% of employees who quit their jobs dID so because they were unhappy with their boss. Solution: provide leadership and ‘people skills’ training for every leader – and ideally extend this training to every member of your team.
Here’s a thought…
After 44 years of working with clients – in board rooms and on the front lines – I’ve come to believe that the culture of your company is literally the minute-to-minute behavior of your managers. If they know why and how to treat team members as highly respected colleagues instead of underlings, your talent retention will be above average. If not it will be below. For example, if all your leaders know why and how to provide corrective feedback without demotivating their team members, you’re above average. If they tend to use angry or blameful defense-provoking responses, you’re below. (If you’re thinking this is too simplistic, you’re right, it’s just about that simple.)
Action:
Hire and promote for leadership and people skills – and provide or support continuous professional development training. Today, online training solutions make this imperative readily achievable and cost effective.
Providers I recommend:
I have no affiliation with the following providers, but I know their work well and recommend them without hesitation:
Dozens of ideas that may inspire you. (Note: numbers are for reference only.)
- Show respect for team members’ knowledge, skill and experience by consulting instead of dictating.
- Take employee concerns (very) seriously.
- Hold ‘fresh start’ meetings with team members who are unhappy/disgruntled/disengaged.
- Never say you’re going to do something and not follow through – even if it’s just to say you need more time.
- Recognize, reward and publicize special effort and achievement.
- Promote, recognize and reward innovation.
- Consider Idea of the month and year awards.
- Hold an Academy Awards style annual dress-up celebration.
- Start daily ‘Huddle’ meetings if you’re not already doing so. (Indeed.com, the global job matching and hiring platform, offers huddle how-to’s at https://shorturl.at/6bPHl ).
- Avoid ‘drive-by delegation’ and ‘hit and run coaching.’ Set yourself and your team members up to succeed.
- Provide continuous leadership and team building training.
- Correct team members without demoralizing them – by sharing responsibility for what has gone wrong (e.g. were you guilty of ‘drive-by delegation’ or ’hit and run coaching?’), by avoiding fault-finding and defense-provoking criticism – and by attacking the problem, not the person. See my additional tips in Posts 6 and 7 at neilgodin.com .
- Include remote workers in every possible way.
- Name names of people who volunteer in the community in various ways; publicize their organization’s campaigns and events, and contribute when they’re fund raising.
- By consensus, choose and support a local non-profit.
- Create a lending library of books like Daniel Goleman’s ‘Emotional Intelligence’ and ‘Working with Emotional Intelligence’ – and Dr. Thomas Gordon’s L.E.T. (Leader Effectiveness Training); Steven Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – and more!
- Hold ‘pre-mortems’ and post-mortems on projects and invite team members to participate.
- Invite team members to play leadership roles whenever appropriate.
- Offer flexible work arrangements.
- Appoint a Continuous Improvement Coordinator and CI committee.
- Organize team-building activities that are meaningful and enjoyable for the participants, not just valuable to the employer.
- Develop a team code of conduct focused on building and sustaining a safe environment, free of insulting and demeaning behavior.
- Trust is (just about) everything in building and maintaining engagement. Look again at your team code – does it contain a pledge to manage your commitments so you can be trusted to do what you and your team members say you’re going to do?
Special note: I have huge respect for leaders who attempt to forge a ‘real’ team code of conduct – where everyone is involved in its construction, and everyone commits to live by its words. Frankly, success came easiest when I worked with companies in crisis. These businesses and organizations had no choice but to take the exercise very seriously. Asking people in ordinary circumstances to stop insulting each other is a tall order. In a turn-around situation, it’s a no-brainer. My key to success with ‘ordinary’ clients? Be realistic. Test ideas with trial runs before locking them in. For example, I can hear myself saying, “Why don’t we try eliminating cheap shots for a week and see how we do. Then let’s look at it again at next meeting.” Why not?
- Offer bonus programs.
- Offer career development opportunities.
- Create an exceptional onboarding experience. (For example, one of our clients held onboarding lunches and asked each team member to introduce themselves and their role – and in a few words tell the new hire what working with this company and these people meant to them. This reinforces everything you’re doing right among present team members – and fosters the beginning of a powerful emotional connection with the company and their new colleagues – while calling the new hire to a higher than usual standard of personal performance and willing teamwork.
- Invite team members to participate in management team meetings on a rotation basis.
- Develop partnering, mentoring, work shadowing and/or peer coaching programs.
- Engage everyone in idea-generating and problem-solving ‘Action Meetings’ featuring minimal discussion and maximal brainstorming, consensus forming and action-planning
Focus on the benefits
I want to close this post by briefly recounting the benefits of building engagement. They include reducing staff turnover; attracting new talent; reducing stress (and stress-related illness and absenteeism), raising levels of quality, productivity and safety – and more. Generating these benefits is the business case – the ‘why’ behind the ‘how’ of engagement.
It’s also important to note that treating team members with respect and care in the ways I’m describing also has a direct, positive impact on a company’s sales. Creating better employee experiences in turn drives better customer experiences – which in turn drive loyal Repeat and Referral business and glowing Reviews. (Did you notice the Capital R’s? I describe these results as The Three R’s of success in business.)
Give yourself the last competitive advantage in business?
Finally, fully engaged team members give your company a hidden advantage. Just about everything else we do can be seen and duplicated. But employee engagement and the enthusiasm and commitment to good work it generates are deeply personal and can’t be copied. That’s why I describe this human development approach as ‘The last sustainable competitive advantage in business.’
See you next week.
Neil
