Category: Engagement

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Engagement

What I Learned About Facilitation as an Accidental Facilitator

“When I grow up, I want to be a facilitator.” I never said those words to my parents and teachers but that’s ultimately what happened. For the past 30 years, I’ve been developing and refining my skills as a facilitator, and it’s an ongoing endeavor.

It’s about people and purpose
Facilitation is “a powerful way of working that gives everyone a chance to be an active part of the decision making process,” according to the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).

I find it appealing because it involves bringing people together for the purpose of:

  • establishing a foundation of mutual understanding
  • exploring possibilities and opportunities
  • communicating concerns
  • sharing and building on individual and collective ideas
  • setting clear direction and agreeing on next steps.

That’s why it’s used in planning, problem-solving, creative thinking, focused discussion, and other types of collaborative meetings.

It’s about discovery
My primary role as facilitator is to guide the process of discovery that enables participants to determine where they want/need to go and what they need/want to do to get there. It starts with learning about the group’s situation, culture, and dynamics to develop the key questions and activities needed to effectively engage participants in a comfortable, non-threatening environment. Then I serve in a dual, somewhat contradictory role: guiding the group to stay focused and on-track while also being flexible if/when the discussion takes a different tack that’s critical to the issues at hand.

What’s most fascinating about my work as a facilitator is that I never quite know what the outcome of a session will be. For example, at one organization’s strategic planning retreat, board member discussion raised more issues than answers that needed to be explored further. With the group’s consensus we suspended the strategic planning portion of the retreat to instead identify important concerns that needed to be addressed before planning could resume at a later date.

It’s about asking the right questions
Although they may not realize it, most of my clients know what they need to do in planning, problem-solving, idea-gathering or ideation. They don’t necessarily know that they know, so my job is to ask the right questions that will help them develop and articulate the answers.

The challenge for me as a facilitator is to identify focused and thought-provoking questions that will be most effective in helping clients. Some questions may also be basic ones that the clients are too busy, overwhelmed, or distracted to ask themselves. Questions are an essential part of any facilitator’s toolkit, and I’m constantly on the lookout for new ones.

To showcase the power of facilitation, IAF recognizes October 15th-21st as International Facilitation Week. I’m proud to be an IAF member that week and every week!

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

Leading Morale: a Boost to a Better Workplace

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™

“Using emotional intelligence and showing deep human respect for employees is key. Without that, your IQ, occupational knowledge, and educational degrees mean little to employees.”  Kate Nasser

As a fellow advocate for an engaging and respectful workplace, I’ve been following Kate on social media for a while. That’s why I was thrilled to read her terrific new book, Leading Morale: The People Skills to Stop Negativity & Ignite Contributions, and interview her here.

About Kate: Known as The People Skills Coach™,  Kate Nasser is a thirty year workplace-tested consultant who continues to advise leaders and teams throughout the world on high morale and service for operational excellence. She is highly sought speaker because she brings morale issues to life and delivers solutions. In her first book, Leading Morale, she offers everyone the intersection of research and practical experience to lead morale instead of taking it for granted and scurrying to fix it later.

QSM: Please tell us why you wrote Leading Morale.

Kate:  I wrote Leading Morale because leaders weren’t doing it. They saw morale either as something that just happens (i.e. you can’t actually lead it) or cheer leading events — brief moments of appreciation — that don’t lead, build, or sustain morale.

QSM: What do you think will surprise readers the most when they read your book? 

Kate: I believe leaders will be surprised at what morale really is and how much they are influencing it. They will read insights that will stop them in their tracks and make them question what they subconsciously do. Lastly, leaders will be happily surprised at how they can easily lead morale.

QSM: In your experience, what is the biggest challenge in building and sustaining a more empowered and engaged workplace culture?

Kate: The biggest challenge is for leaders AND managers to replace their comfort of leading/managing goals to inspiring people to lead and manage their efforts to reach the goals.

QSM: I dream of an ideal world where people treat each another with genuine respect and dignity — a world where we wouldn’t need your book (no offense!). Accepting reality, however, what do you think is needed to get us closer to this ideal (beyond making your book required reading in all schools)?

Kate:  I love this question, Sybil, and I am not offended. To have a world where people treat each other with genuine respect and dignity we must:
a) Think of it as very reachable not as an ideal. As soon as we see something as an ideal, our brains tell us that we won’t get there. Some people then check out and think, well then … forget it.
b) Do it, show it, and discuss its importance daily. This is how you create a culture..
c) Politely demand it. When someone treats you disrespectfully, don’t tolerate it. Speak up civilly and say, “I treat  you with simple respect and I expect the same in return. Nothing more, nothing less.” As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” So don’t consent to disrespect and indignity.

QSM: Thank you, Kate!
You can see her in action in video footage at KateNasser.com. She welcomes your questions and challenges.

 

Categories
Engagement

How New Leaders Make or Miss the Mark

When leaders are replaced – whether due to retirement or changing jobs – it can be tricky for the incoming executive. It’s also tricky for the remaining staff members.

Consider these three scenarios drawn from organizations that will remain anonymous. As an employee, how likely would you stay to work with the new leader?

  1. A newly hired executive meets with employees to lay out new goals and directions. Eager to dive in, she accompanies staff members to a meeting with an organizational partner where the new exec dominates the conversation to showcase her expertise and undermines the current staff-partner relationship in the process. She also revamps a regular customer communication piece without asking the employee to explain the situational context. After a few staff members approach the exec to express concern about growing employee frustration, they’re told unhappy employees are welcome to find new jobs.
  2. A consultant in an interim executive position tells the management team how his consulting expertise will help them become successful in their jobs. The exec’s intention and other ego-driven behaviors are received as condescending. Wary in their dealings with the new CEO, team members resort to telling him what he wants to hear while they slowly disengage.
  3. A new nonprofit exec reaches out to staff members, current and former board members, constituents, funders/donors, and community partners to learn their thoughts about the organization. She uses the information and insight gathered from her listening tour, along with the Board’s directives, to develop a collective plan to move forward. In the process, she enlists people’s support in continuing to help the nonprofit further its mission.

The common thread in these situations is respect. In the first two organizations, employees’ expertise and experience are dismissed, whereas in the third they are acknowledged and valued.

Understandably, new leaders want to make their mark. It’s not just what they do but how they do it that impacts employee engagement – positively or negatively.

Categories
Engagement

Low Unemployment – What It Means for Employee Engagement

“Companies are in a talent war. It’s a race to get the best candidates quickly since unemployment rates are lower than they’ve been in years.”

“The days of employees being thankful just to have a job are over and likely will not return for a while. Instead, the onus is on employers to cultivate and appreciate talent.”

“With the labor market as tight as it is, employers would be wise to do everything in their power to retain exceptional employees while simultaneously recruiting strong candidates.”

Business media contain similar quotes on today’s low unemployment situation. As an employee engagement advocate, you’d think I’d be excited about the flurry of attention given to employee recruitment and retention. But I’m not.

Reactive engagement

In the current economy, company execs concerned with repositioning their employer brands to be more attractive for recruiting purposes and/or seeking to hold on to their employees have re-discovered employee engagement. “We need qualified employees who want to work here and not jump ship for other opportunities. So what can we do now to engage them given the tight labor market?”

Here’s what bothers me about this situational response. Reactive engagement isn’t sustainable — particularly when applied as a short-term solution by short-sighted executives. Because what happens when the economy cycles back to high unemployment? That’s when these same execs revert to treating their employees as commodities, and management’s message changes from “What can we do to keep you here?” to “You’re lucky to have a job!”

Engagement matters regardless of the unemployment situation

Even when unemployment rates go up, companies need to invest in employee engagement, development, and retention. Because high unemployment also means reduced consumer spending; i.e., when fewer people are working, they tend to spend less. So even though companies might enjoy a “buyers market” when it comes to employees, they have to work harder to compete for customers. And to effectively attract and retain customers, you need highly engaged employees.

“If your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.”  Sybil F. Stershic

Categories
Engagement

Summer Blog Break 2018

Summer is upon us — that time of year when most people look forward to a warm weather vacation or stay-cation. While I continue to work throughout the summer, I do enjoy a brief break from blogging as a chance to relax from the pressure of posting and refresh my content ideas.

This temporary break only applies to my blog writing as I’ll still be active on LinkedIn and as @SybilQSM on Twitter sharing noteworthy content on internal marketing tools of engagement that impact the employee experience, volunteer experience, and customer experience.

I’ll be back in late August or early September with new posts. Until then, I hope you enjoy a safe and happy summer!

 

 

 

 

Categories
Engagement

“I know you work here, but who are you?”

That’s the message some people in executive and management positions send their employees. I’ve heard this many times, and here’s how it plays out.

New employees starting with a company are likely to receive a fair amount of attention through orientation and on-boarding. This attention wanes, however, the longer employees are on the job. From the employee’s perspective job descriptions fail to keep up with changes in job scope … top-down communications predominate while bottom-up feedback is not encouraged … staff meetings are considered a waste of time … and annual performance reviews become meaningless.

As a result of management and organizational complacency, employees feel invisible — a condition that leads to their disengaging on the job.

Here’s what several thought leaders say about this:

“When employees feel anonymous in the eyes of their managers, they simply cannot love their work, no matter how much money they make or how wonderful their jobs seem to be.”  Patrick Lencioni

“When people are perceived as a cost and not a resource, when they are treated as a liability and not an asset, when no one seems to know or care that they are there, they don’t work well, and they don’t stay.”  Dr. Judith M. Bardwick

“Don’t make your employees guess about whether they’re doing enough or fulfilling [the company’s] expectations … Make people feel like they are in the loop, and they’ll feel more engaged … ”  Alan E. Hall

“Once you start treating employees as more than a job description, suddenly they go, ‘Oh, wow! Maybe I should bring my whole self to work today!'”  John Boiler

Shortsighted executives and managers who continue to ignore employees put their business in jeopardy because the customer experience is embedded in the employee experience.

If you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, you might want to share a copy of this post with them — anonymously.

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

Engaging Advice for Graduates

I am reminded in this graduation season of the time my husband and I spoke at an honors convocation at our alma mater, Lehigh University. It was back in 1987 when we were “young professionals.” It was also a time when making a lot of money was considered an indicator of success.

But financial success was not what we spoke about. Instead we focused on the importance of getting involved in both community and professional life to “give back” in positive ways — a message that’s still relevant. Here’s an excerpt of our speech adapted for this post.

What we said then 

Being in school is like being in a cocoon — you’re in a relatively insulated environment in which you grow and develop. But what happens when you graduate and enter the “real world?” The difference is your growth doesn’t just “happen” anymore. You’re solely responsible for your own development at that point. It’s kind of scary, but the good news is there are lots of opportunities out there for you.

I’m talking about “continuing education” — the personal and professional development you get through involvement in professional, civic, and community organizations. The contacts you make in these groups provide a valuable source of continued education and professional growth. They provide the opportunity to share ideas with and learn from others: to find out whether you’re on the right track with a project you’re working on … where to go if you’re having problems … or just to know you’re not alone with the challenges and frustrations you face. Besides serving as support networks, these organizations also provide opportunities for you to develop and exercise your leadership potential.

I know from my own experience that the opportunities and rewards are invaluable. From my involvement with the American Marketing Association [I served on the national board of directors at the time], I’ve traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada to meet with marketing professionals in different industries. I’ve also gotten to know many academics well known in the field. Working together with them I’ve been able to broaden my knowledge of marketing and gain insight into the different career paths that are available.

But professional development is not limited to organizations like the AMA. Through involvement in community groups such as the local Chamber of Commerce and United Way, I’ve met and worked with top executives in various capacities. Whether serving on or chairing a committee, I’ve had the chance to observe their leadership skills while exercising mine.

In a broader context, why is continuing education through this kind of involvement so important? Because it’s characteristic of the social environment in which people are looking for self-fulfillment. According to noted social observer Daniel Yankelovich, “Seekers of self-fulfillment are determined to prove that life can be more than a grim economic chore. They are eager to give more meaning to their lives, find fuller self-expression, and add a touch of adventure and grace to their own lives and those of others.”

Another reason so many professionals get involved is based on their need to be part of something, to belong. These groups serve as a valuable network; they provide an ideal opportunity to share ideas and discuss common problems. More importantly, they convert strangers into colleagues and colleagues into friends.

My husband, Michael, also spoke about his experience as a student volunteer and later as a community volunteer and leader.

This real world experience put my classroom experiences in perspective, and I was hooked. As a result, there has rarely been a period of time in which I have not been involved in some community-based voluntary activity. I learn a lot. It provides a challenge different than the challenges that I face on a daily basis. I can choose to get involved in areas in which I believe I need more experience or understanding. Everyone wins because the more and the brighter the heads there are to solve a problem, the better the solutions.

I also believe that a better understanding of the problems which affect our communities make us better citizens, more intelligent voters, and more complete human beings. The skills you gain by performing your duties as volunteers can give you confidence to do your job better or help you expand your horizons and learn more diversified skills.

Our communities need us more than ever … Use your energy and your minds creatively. Get into your community. Don’t try to escape it; invest in it. You stand to gain personally as well as professionally.

And now
As we plan for retirement in the future, we will continue to seek opportunities to learn, grow, and give back as volunteers. It’s a fulfilling form of “engagement” that we still strongly recommend.

Best of luck to all graduates in your professional and community engagements!

 

Categories
Customer service Engagement

You Can Forget the Customer Experience

Not that it doesn’t matter, because it does. But you can forget the customer experience IF you neglect to take care of the employee experience.

Here are several favorite quotes that capture the essence of the employee-customer experience connection.

“Paradoxically, to achieve an emotionally connecting customer experience, employees come first, ahead of the customer.”  Tom Peters

“When you improve your employees’ lives, they work harder and ultimately improve your customers’ lives.”  Jeanne Bliss

“The only reason your business is successful is because every interaction between employees and customers is positive. This only happens when employees are treated super well.”  Ann Rhoades

“Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”  Stephen R. Covey

“We can’t expect to win in the marketplace until we’re winning in the workplace … That means employee engagement is job one.”  Douglas Conant

“There is no way to deliver a great Customer Experience with miserable employees.”  Steve Cannon

As McKinsey & Company’s Sylvie Bardaune, Sebastien Lacroix, and Nicolas Maechler write in their article, When the Customer Experience Starts at Home:

“The closer a company can align its commitment to customer-centricity with the interests of its employees, the closer it will get to achieving its customer-strategy goals.” 

 

 

Categories
Engagement

3 Questions that Determine Whether Employees Choose to Engage

Workplace engagement is a both a responsibility and choice shared by employees and employers:

  • Employees are responsible for their own engagement in that they choose to show up in their jobs ready, willing, and able to do their best work, and
  • Employers are responsible for choosing to foster an engaging workplace where employees are enabled to do their best work.

What drives an employee’s decision to be engaged at work is based on how that person answers these three questions:

  1. What’s in it for me besides a paycheck?
    This is a primary consideration that gets to the heart of why an employee chooses to stay with an employer based on the nature of the work involved, how meaningful it is, quality of organizational culture, and benefits.
  2. What difference do I make?
    Employees want to know how their efforts contribute to the organization’s mission and goals. This involves having a clear line-of-sight as to how their work impacts the people they serve (customers, clients, patients, members, guests, etc.) co-workers, stakeholders, the community where the organization is located, and the organization’s overall success. Think of the NASA janitor who wasn’t just cleaning floors — he was helping to put a man on the moon.
  3. Does my employer care about me and my work?
    Employees also want their employers to recognize and respect their roles within the organization and support them with the tools necessary to do the best job possible.

Takeaway questions for managers
What are you currently doing to positively or negatively impact your employees’ choice to stay engaged?

And what will you do about it?

Categories
Engagement

5 Ways Nonprofits Can Effectively Engage Employees and Volunteers

“Mission matters. The people behind the mission also matter, and their passion for the mission can never be taken for granted.”  [from Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits.]                                       

This is why engaging staff members and volunteers involves special care beyond just a “recruit ‘em & recognize ‘em” approach.

How do nonprofit leaders and managers effectively attract, develop, and retain talent? They succeed by intentionally creating a positive workplace culture. Here’s how.

1. Learn about your employees and volunteers: who they are, their interest in serving your organization, and their expectations of working with you. Ask them:

  • What appealed to you to join our organization?
  • What inspires you most about being here?
  • What do you expect to give and get from serving as an employee or volunteer?
  • Would you recommend this organization to others?

Also conduct exit interviews with people who voluntarily leave your organization so you can learn more about their employee or volunteer experience.

2. Clarify and clearly communicate what your organization expects from its staff and volunteers and what they can expect from you. Be honest about what everyone’s commitment entails.

3. Provide the necessary tools and information people need to best serve your nonprofit. This includes orientation and training; sharing the mission, vision, strategic plans, and goals; program overviews and updates; etc. Also consider how operational or policy changes may impact staff and volunteer efforts, and communicate any changes and the rationale behind them in a timely manner.

4. Recognize and acknowledge your employees’ and volunteers’ value. While designated “holidays” like Employee Appreciation Day and National Volunteer Week provide an opportunity to celebrate the people who serve your organization, it’s important to let them know they’re appreciated throughout the year.

5. Proactively listen to your staff and volunteers – ask for their feedback and ideas – and respond appropriately.

Nonprofit employees and volunteers are precious resources. Treat them carefully and with the respect they deserve.