Chapter 14 Engage Employees

Transcription

1 Chapter 14 Engage Employees By Evan Keller & Jennifer Pettie Definition Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. When employees care about their work and their company, they willingly give their discretionary effort going above and beyond their job description. (Kevin Kruse, author of Employee Engagement 2.0: Expert Quote Good leaders create prosperity, and it s not defined just by money, but by the emotional health of their employees. Good leaders treat employees as humans and appreciate them by creating an environment people want to be in. Good leadership creates happy employees, who create happy customers and, ultimately, happy shareholders. Tasha Eurich, author of Bankable Leadership as quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine May 2014.

2 160 EMPLOYEES Assessment Questions 1. Who is your all-time best employee and why? Which actions of yours increased or decreased his/her engagement? 2. Do your employees work like they care about your company? How would you describe their attitudes towards their jobs? 3. How consistently do your employees recommend your company as a place to work and a place to do business? Benefits Less: turnover, murmuring, accidents, wasted time, wasted materials, and friction between labor and management. More: productivity, positivity, innovation, initiative in solving problems, genuine concern for the company, customer satisfaction, and commitment to company values/mission/vision. Barriers Lack of care. With Gallup reporting that a mere 30% of employees in America feel engaged at work, they often sense that their employer doesn t care about them as people, but are merely using them as a tool to make money. If they don t feel cared for, they

3 ENGAGE EMPLOYEES 161 won t care about the company. They will disengage, burn out, and just go through the motions. Out-of of-touch management. Management seems aloof from the job challenges of the workforce and measures are not taken to ensure job safety and good working conditions. Lack of Influence. Employees don t feel like their voices matter at work. Micromanagement. nt. Employees have no sense of autonomy or latitude to use their own problem-solving skills. Lack of recognition. Employees don t feel appreciated. Underlying Values People matter. With intrinsic dignity and value, they must be treated as humans first and workers second. Invest wisely. Studies have shown that much of what you value in terms of company success depends on nurturing engaged employees. Give, and you will receive. Luke 6:38 Balance complementary values. The mission of your company and the people who you depend on to accomplish it are both important. While showing interest in their lives outside of work, don t shy away from calling out their best efforts on the job.

4 162 EMPLOYEES Steps to Implement Publicly recognize superior performance. Employees thrive on positive feedback; who doesn t? We re hard-wired for it dopamine is released in our brains whenever we hear something we like. Being valued is a primary human need, so genuine personal expressions of recognition, praise, and appreciation are considered important drivers of employee engagement. It takes only a little intentional effort, but gives big returns. It s great to encourage employees in private, but it s far more powerful when made public. You can recognize them through company awards, commendations at staff meetings, employee of the month programs, newsletters, and social media or blog posts. Consistent high performance should lead to promotions and increased influence in company decisions. But don t wait for big milestones to praise good work. Rather look for ways to be encouraging every week, using your existing communication channels, hand-written notes, and thoughtful words shared face-to-face. Read customer reviews and thank you letters out loud to employees who devised solutions and gave exceptional service. Recognizing a good idea or dedication to a project fuels engagement, particularly when it goes to a person s sense of competence, rather than just results. ( I like how you handled that ). A sense of competence is a core psychological need that drives intrinsic motivation and a continuous interest in the work at hand. Joe Robinson in Entrepreneur Magazine May 2013 p.64

5 ENGAGE EMPLOYEES 163 Don t insult or shame them. Treat them right with kindness, consideration, patience, and gratitude. They will treat your customers the way you treat them. When correcting them, do so privately and focus on specific behavior rather than making it personal. Humans like to say they make rational decisions, but in reality they are driven by emotions, which people post-rationalize when explaining their choices to others.people personalize their job through emotions felt about the organization s actions as a whole and about their own supervisors in particular.the immediate supervisor is the chief emotional driver in the workplace; reactions to him or her explain 82% of how employees feel about their organization (Dale Carnegie Training White Paper entitled: Emotional Drivers of Employee Engagement). While many of us would rather focus solely on tasks rather than venturing into the murky waters of feelings, that isn t really possible. People don t check their emotions at the door, but come to work as whole people, and how they feel at work profoundly influences how they perform. You and any other supervisors in your company should avoid evoking negative emotions, and instead try to help employees feel valued, confident, inspired, enthusiastic, and empowered. The same Dale Carnegie study found these five positive emotions to be the biggest drivers of employee engagement. Those who emotionally connect in a positive way with an organization feel a sense of ownership and are more likely to stay with it, delivering superior work in less time. Give them a higher sense of purpose. Connect their work to your company mission. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, something they can be proud of (Dale Carnegie study cited above). Hopefully that describes your mission an engaging purpose that serves people well and makes a difference in the world. It helps if you ve built ownership around it and are on

6 164 EMPLOYEES the way to achieving some great results. So connect the dots for them, explaining how their particular roles are helping the company achieve this noble mission. Offer employees regular feedback on their performance and the difference they are making for the company. Point out their strengths and personality traits that contribute to effective teamwork. Give them what they need to do their job. Set them up to succeed, giving them enough time, teammates, tools and training. If you create an environment in which they can achieve small successes every day, this virtuous circle positively reinforces their work and can lead to ever greater achievements. One of the 12 affirmations Gallup found in engaged employees is: I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. Many entrepreneurs launch their business in an all-out 24-7 scramble to survive then achieve and automatically expect employees to jump in beside them with the same intensity. While making their roles and responsibilities challenging, don t make them unsustainable. Get rid of slackers. People who don t pull their weight pull everyone down. Why should a hard working employee have to pick up the slack for someone you re paying to do nothing? Poor performers are among the biggest de-motivators on a team. Before the poison spreads, gather your courage and terminate the bad apple in order to keep your hard working employees and attract others who love to work. One of Gallup s 12 indicators of employee engagement is: My fellow employees are committed to doing quality work. Collect feedback and act on it. Let your employees know their concerns and ideas will be heard and respected. Nurture open communication by meeting with them as a group and asking for

7 ENGAGE EMPLOYEES 165 suggestions, and providing comment cards for them to make suggestions anytime. Employees need to know that their opinions matter. Listen well and take notes as they talk. Ask for their opinions on products, services, operational efficiency, safety, and what is needed to get the job done better. Most importantly: follow up with action. Turn their best suggestions into positive changes. If you choose not to make a change they suggest, at least respond to their comments with appreciation and your own perspective. This lets your staff know the company takes employee concerns seriously and cares about what they have to say (Truist blog: Develop employees by giving responsibility and autonomy. Give them opportunities to learn and grow, helping them obtain education and training to progress in their career. As employees grow in competence and reliability, give them more freedom to do their jobs in their own way. People are more engaged when they have an opportunity to think and use their own creativity to solve problems. Imagine how low your own job satisfaction would be if you were told exactly how to do every aspect of your job every day! Even give them room for small failures, and help them learn from failure. A measure of autonomy with regular debriefing will grow their leadership capacity and job satisfaction. As their capacity and skills grow, give them ever new challenges to keep them engaged. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink identifies three keys to employee motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Choose a cause and do some good. One of the most powerful ways to improve engagement is to have a company vision for community service. Employee volunteer programs increase engagement by encouraging team building, skill development, and leadership along with the positive feelings that come from doing

8 166 EMPLOYEES good (Frontstream blog: employee-engagement-activities-to-help-your-bottom-line/). Ask your employees what causes are important to them and their families. To make the most of community activities, offer a wide selection of opportunities to volunteer and support financially. Provide progress updates on how these community projects are succeeding and then celebrate progress. Have fun together. Celebrate success, recognizing your team s hard work and dedication. Be intentional about scheduling time for employees to have fun. Make time during holidays or random occasions for down time with employees. This can prevent employees from burning out and shows them you value more than just work and profit. Friendships will develop; trust will deepen. Case Study Tree Work Now Inc has a ways to go in earning employees discretionary effort, but we ve made some good strides. We used to pack in workdays as long as the sun was up, but have realized that was a recipe for burnout, both physically (trimming trees in the hot Florida sun) and emotionally (when they rarely saw their families). We re updating our fleet of heavy equipment so equipment failure over-extends the workday less often. We quickly terminate workers who look for ways to coast since they ruin team morale and productivity. We have a suggestion box and ask employees how we can do things better. We introduced six employee awards that reinforce our values. The awards are framed $100 bills with a certificate, and are given out at our company Christmas party along with reasons why the recipients received them. Each summer, we take the crew deep-sea fishing and the office staff to a spa day. Even

9 ENGAGE EMPLOYEES 167 with all this, some employees don t feel appreciated because of their dangerous, hard physical work and laborers pay. A matching savings program helps a little, and we re intentional in developing our highest capacity folks toward the higher paying roles. We can measure discretionary effort by how far that motto ( Every Detail. Every Time. ) is followed in small choices throughout their workday. While we already provide a much higher level of professionalism that is expected from our industry, we ve not yet reached our own standards. We go for fairly long stretches without employee turnover, but it still comes in waves. I look forward to putting this chapter into better practice in my own business! Leading Self, Employees, Systems SELF Managers who tended to be calm, business-focused, organized and willing to listen were three times as likely to have highly engaged work groups, compared to managers described as manipulative, arrogant, distractible, and overly attention-seeking. Rob Reuteman, How Much Money is a Good Leader Really Worth, Entrepreneur Magazine, March EMPLOYEES Annual performance reviews are powerful tools to communicate where employees stand and give them direction in their ongoing development. These reviews are most effective when you refer to them throughout the year and implement employee development plans. SYSTEMS Employee awards that reinforce your company values are great ways to recognize those you catch doing something right. Implement a feedback loop so you can make changes that employees suggest.

10 168 EMPLOYEES Summary Engaged employees have a strong sense of loyalty to your company. They care about the organization and work to further its goals. Giving their discretionary effort heart and hustle stems from a sense of ownership and personal connection to our company. This elusive connection can be nurtured through some of these employer actions: showing appreciation, not demeaning, building purpose, setting up for success, terminating slackers, acting on feedback, encouraging learning, having fun and doing service projects together. Application Questions 1. Do you know what is important to each of your employees outside of work? Do you ask about these interests and relationships regularly? 2. How can you better communicate that you value your employees? 3. Which of the nine above steps do you need to take with your employees? Prioritize them and identify specific next steps for each. 4. How does your company rate according to Gallup s Employee Engagement Survey?

11 ENGAGE EMPLOYEES 169 ( Recommended Reading Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink