How to Avoid a Corporate Apocalypse

Transcription

1 How to Avoid a Corporate Apocalypse A Guide to Employee Engagement 2016, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All product names and/or slogans mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All information presented here is subject to change and intended for general information.

2 Everyone s heard of the zombie apocalypse. These undead creatures inhabit movie screens, TV screens, and books- it s hard to avoid them. The fascination with these mosters and the epidemic they re a part of lies in how fast and easy a healthy individual can turn. Seemingly normal interactions with an infected person can turn someone normal into something toxic and deadly. ZOMBIES IN THE WORKFORCE Unfortunately, zombies are not just fictional creatures. While the zombie virus itself may not exist in the world we live in, the spreading of toxic infestations is. In organizations everywhere, yes- even yours, there are employees who are spreading discontent, disengagement, and negativity like a disease. If there is a decrease in worker satisfaction, product quality, and/or involvement, you have an infestation. This type of plague endangers your entire corporate environment. The zombies in your organization can infect even the most awesome and engaged employees. Instead of bites and scratches, this epidemic spreads in other easy-to-catch ways. Bad habits, negative speaking about the company and leadership, disconnection, doing average work, and more are all symptoms that will move uncontrolled through your ranks. Failing to administer a cure for your corporate zombie outbreak will start to poison your organization until it grows into a total takeover. To neutralize and eliminate this crisis before it starts to affect your employee turnover rate and the productivity in your company, it s critical to identify the different stages of corporate zombies and take a look at how deep the infection in your company goes. Once you understand the depth of the infection, you ll be able to better understand how to implement a cure. 8-5 ENTITLED CURIOUS APATHETIC ENGAGED Page 1 of 4

3 THE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SCALE Depending on where your organization is in relation to your employees, you could find many differing levels of engagement in regards to the individuals employed by your company. ACTIVELY DISENGAGED The actively disengaged zombie is more commonly found in long-term employees. Long-term employees can lose focus, incentive, and care for the company over a period of time. This can be due to a number of reasons including missed promotions, not receiving raises, the boredom of current responsibilities and positions, the displeasure of coworkers, the inability to meet career advancing requirements, the disappointment of ideas not being taken into consideration, being unsatisfied with benefits and/or compensation, etc. APATHETIC This type of zombie worker exhibits apathetic and passive aggressive behaviors that can be easily recognized. These employees don t give much thought in suggestions or participation at meetings. They speak negatively about the company, management, and their coworkers. They miss deadlines and expectations. Overall, they are emotionally and mentally detached from the company and objectives. They are also the most threatening to those around them. These are the zombie employees who spread the apocalypse the fastest in your organization. MOSTLY DISENGAGED The mostly disengaged zombie follows quickly on the heels of the actively engaged zombie. This type of employee can be found in any worker, regardless of employment length. Red flags for the mostly disengaged zombies include overconfidence, entitlement, and holding unrealistic expectations. This zombie is commonly found in digitally native employees. We are certainly not saying that all or even most millennials are apathetic; it just seems that they require more out our your corporate culture than most companies provide. ENTITLED This stage of the corporate virus can stem from over-qualification, educational background, employment history, favoritism, personality, rewards and promotions, titles, poor understanding of company policies, and more. This type of zombie employee displays a lack of motivation. They may also feel entitled to do less work, therefore becoming uninvolved, because their position allows them to divide work between subordinates. Page 2 of 4

4 WORKS FOR A PAYCHECK Employees who only work for a paycheck are only aiming to get by in their jobs. These aren t quite zombies yet, but their chance of infection is the greatest. They show up standard day shift occupations, and are universally deterred from controversial opinions. Why? They become comfortable in an unchanging schedule, unions or laws that influence them to feel safe for performing basic requirements. These individuals may not want to advance, they may be uncomfortable with change, or may feel insignificant in regards to implementing adaptation or thinking outside the box. They do just enough to get the work done so they can bring home the bacon. Clearly this is the most prevalent group inside any enterprise. The good news is that they can be nurtured into mostly engaged or even actively engaged with the right culture. 8-5 This type of corporate pre-zombie may remain silent during meetings and only voice want-to-hear views when asked to do so. They are not likely to volunteer to take extra responsibility, even if they have the capability to do so. Their work shows the limitations of strictly following only what their job description requires. Predominantly, their involvement in the company only extends to their exact role: nothing more, nothing less. MOSTLY ENGAGED Employees who are mostly engaged are still free of the corporate apocalypse hold. They re workers who receive four out of five stars. This kind of employee is developed through pride in their part of the corporation, satisfaction with benefits and composition, working easily with other employees, acceptance of additional duties, and feeling self-fulfilled with their employment with the company. Typically, they take calculated risks and work towards the better of the company. This type of employee is beneficial to a healthy corporate environment, even if they have work to do to become actively engaged with the organization. A mostly-engaged individual can be someone who is working towards a promotion or other open position in the company. They may be someone who generally loves their work. Despite whether their actions make their job easier or harder, they do it to help enhance the company as a valuable asset. They prefer to be an above average employee. With a little help, this individual will become actively engaged in the culture and mission of your company. CURIOUS ACTIVELY ENGAGED This type of employee is the champion of your company. Your actively engaged individuals sit at the top of the list and, in retrospect, are the top survivalist for fighting off the corporate apocalypse! Any employee has the potential to be an actively engaged survivalist. All they need is the will to take a chance and act with a founder s heart. Qualities that make up this employee are motivation, drive, knowledge, experience, leadership, growth, guidance, and a genuine care for the company s advancement like an owner or contributor. Unfortunately truly actively engaged employees are somewhat rare and can be difficult to nurture without the right culture. One way to identify actively engaged employees is through their unmistakably high-performance ratings. They don t wait for the opportunity to expand their responsibilities; they just forge ahead and go for it. Actively engaged individuals exemplify leadership and look for ways to improve company operations, even if there is risk involvement. The employee s work ethic demonstrates as if the company was theirs. Importantly, they look for ways to grow and share their knowledge with other employees. ENGAGED Page 3 of 4

5 THE CURE With an accurate look at the different stages of the corporate zombie apocalypse, it s time to discuss the cure for this potential outbreak. There are three components to the cure that your organization needs to be aware of. DISCOVER The first is discovery. In order to understand why your employees are acting like zombies, you need to discover the source of the symptoms. Are they being heard? Seeing problems that are being ignored? Overworked? In order to put a cure in place, you need to ask questions of your employees that are in the trenches. Nurture an ongoing, two-way dialogue between management and staff. Managers should strive to remain open and transparent about their strategies and tactics, and workers should not feel inhibited about voicing their concerns. People at all levels of an organization should respectfully consider the ideas of others, no matter how far apart they may seem. Managers should also make a concerted effort to encourage direct employee feedback. SHARE ACCOUNTABILITY In order for employees to feel fully engaged and free from the virus that is corporate complacency, they must have some skin in the game. Instead of the leader or manager taking the responsibility and credit for new initiatives and ideas, the group actually doing the work shares the authorship and recognition. This gives everyone the responsibility and opportunity to make suggestions and solve organizational problems. No one can complain that their suggestions aren t being heard when everyone is accountable for resolving the issues that apply to their jobs. ENGAGEMENT When people feel like their voices matter, they will be actively engaged in your organization. You won t have to worry about a corporate apocalypse because you ve eliminated the symptoms that plague disgruntled employees. With engagement, you give the people in your organization the ability to stay involved and not succumb to the symptoms of a corporate zombie virus. is a crowdsolving platform that drives success for a company s initiatives through the intimate engagement of its employees, partners and clients. Selected initiatives are then CrowdSolved with specific discussions to deliver timely and innovative impact to relevant corporate objectives. popinnow.com info@popinnow.com Page 4 of 4