Author: sybil

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Engagement

Coping with the Credibility Gap in Employee Engagement

“Our current practices and approaches to employee engagement are failing. They are failing to achieve organizational results and most employees fail to experience the benefits of their own engagement.”  Excerpt from David Zinger’s 21-Point Employee Engagement Manifesto.

A disheartening statement, but not surprising as employee engagement gets more intention than action. In my workshops, I frequently hear managers lament about being told to initiate engagement and/or recognition programs with insufficient commitment and resources needed to support their efforts. Then when these programs don’t work, the well-meaning but clueless-in-charge look for other quick-fix workplace remedies.

Frustrated by wasting precious resources on “flavor-of-the-month” engagement initiatives, employee cynicism continues and top management’s credibility gap widens. If this describes your workplace, here are several tips to help you preserve whatever sanity you have left.

Help for hanging in there

  • Keep in mind that across your life’s spectrum this situation is only temporary.
  • Another important perspective is your workplace isn’t all that unique – the world is filled with Dilbert-like organizations. While “misery loves company,” refrain from wallowing in a victim mentality.
  • Until you can change jobs, or if you’re unable to make the switch, look for whatever positive, fulfilling aspects of your workplace you can find such as making a difference through the work you do, helping customers, enjoying some of the people you work with, and yes, even getting a steady paycheck.
  • Find healthy ways to de-stress and maintain your mental and physical health – it’s the most precious resource you have.
  • Consider the opportunity you have to learn what works and what doesn’t work in dealing with people in the workplace. You can apply “lessons learned” in your next job and any community activities you may be involved in as a volunteer. (Note: the practice of engaging employees is similar to that of engaging volunteers.)

It’s important to remember that engagement is a two-way proposition between employers and employees. While the management team is responsible for creating an engaging workplace, employees are responsible for showing up each day ready and willing to engage in their work. The absence of the former may mitigate–but doesn’t preclude–the latter.

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Engagement Training & Development

More Favorite Employee Engagement Quotes

Here are more great quotes that apply to workplace engagement – some relatively new, some from a century or two ago. You can use these or other quotes as conversation-starters in management development training by asking participants to choose and briefly discuss which quote(s) they find most meaningful.

“Just as there are no little people or unimportant lives, there is no insignificant work.” Elena Bonner

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” Goethe

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.” Albert Einstein

“It’s easy to get good players. Gettin’ them to play together, that’s the hard part.” Casey Stengel

“Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.” Robert Half 

“Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.” Anonymous

“When people thrive, companies thrive.” Bob Chapman

 

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Engagement

Engaging Employees in Responsibility

This special post is an excerpt from Ken Blanchard’s classic book, The Heart of a Leader, and is reprinted with permission. His message to managers is also key to engaging employees in their work.

“If you want your people to be responsible, be responsive to their needs.”

“The traditional hierarchy is okay for goal setting. People look to the head of their department and to the top of the organization for direction. But once goals are clear, the pyramid should in essence be turned upside down. This way the customers are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the customer contact people, while the president and chairman of the board are at the bottom.

“When this philosophy is implemented, your role as a leader changes from being ‘responsible’ to ‘responsive.’ Your job becomes to work with your people rather than having them work for you. Being responsive to your people’s needs sets them free to be responsible (able to respond) to getting the job done.

“Make your people responsible for doing high-quality work by responding to their needs and supporting them. That places the responsibility at the appropriate level–with the people who do the work.”

© 1999 Ken Blanchard. The Heart of a Leader is published by David C. Cook. All rights reserved.

 

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Engagement

Is Your Organization Contributing to Employee Disengagement with Institutional Disrespect?

Lately I’ve been hearing more about employees disengaging at work due to a condition they describe as “institutional disrespect.”  This occurs when new or newly-assigned managers, with upper management’s complicit support (or feigned ignorance?), make decisions with little regard for organizational protocol. For example, the manager who automatically sides with a group of employees in departmental disputes without fully investigating the situation as prescribed in HR policy. Or a supervisor who reverses a customer service rep’s appropriate handling of a customer problem without consulting the employee to explain the change. The result of continually undermining employees’ efforts, particularly when they’re performing according to company standards, is increased employee frustration and disengagement.

Most employees will give new managers the benefit of the doubt at the beginning of their tenure. But when a manager continues to dismiss company policies and procedures, employees begin to wonder: “Are the higher-ups blind to this boss’s performance? Or is management trying to make our work difficult as a way to get rid of us?”  Such speculation plants the seeds of discontent as employees can’t fully engage when they don’t feel respected by the very people they work for.

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T …  find out what it means to me” 

Employee engagement and retention specialist, Dr. Paul Marciano describes how respect can best be applied in the workplace:

  • Recognition – thanking employees, acknowledging their contributions
  • Empowerment – providing the necessary training and tools employees need
  • Supportive feedback – giving employee feedback that’s positive and corrective
  • Partnering – fostering a collaborative workplace
  • Expectation setting – establishing clear goals and accountability
  • Consideration – demonstrating courtesy, kindness and empathy
  • Trust – demonstrating faith in employees’ skills and abilities, supporting their decisions.

Employees in organizations that practice institutional disrespect find little evidence of true partnering, consideration and trust.

“Employee engagement depends upon the extent to which individuals respect their organization and its leadership, and feel respected.”  Dr. Paul Marciano

 

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Engagement

What Happened to the Year of the Employee?

2014 was predicted to be the Year of the Employee with increased competition for talent and continuing attention on employee engagement. But did employee engagement improve in the workplace?

Certainly, the Market Basket story of employees’ successful public (and customer-supported) protest of their ousted CEO illustrated the powerful impact of loyal, engaged employees. Yet according to engagement studies, the level of actively engaged employees still hovers around 30%. For all the expressed interest in in improving engagement, many in charge demonstrate more intention than action.

Mixed results on “The Year of the Employee” were found by leadership coach, Tanveer Naseer:

” … I did see leaders this year who clearly understood not only how to engage and motivate their employees, but also how to manage conflict in today’s faster-paced, connected world, how to foster an environment where our employees succeed and thrive, as well as how we can use our leadership to bring out the best in those under our care.

“Unfortunately, I also saw leaders who tried to side-step any responsibility for the issues that currently plague their organization, with some even arguing how the problem was the fault of those their organization serves, and not a reflection of their leadership or contribution.”

There are also executives for whom engaging employees is based solely on issuing paychecks. I recently learned about a company’s year-end-in-review meeting where the CEO addressed all employees. His conveyed his disappointment in a sluggish bottom line as he admonished employees to work harder in the new year.  There were no words of acknowledgment for employees’ efforts/contributions during the past challenging year and no words of encouragement moving forward. As a result, many of his managers and employees are committed to working harder — to find new jobs elsewhere.

For that company and others like it, 2015 may well be the Year of Employee Burnout and Turnover. Here’s hoping those employees will be successful in finding the organizations that take engagement seriously.

 

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Best Job Ever! Reflecting on 2014

“To give your best is to receive the best … ” Raymond Holliwell

I’m fortunate to do work that I enjoy. This past year I had the opportunity to train managers how to strengthen employee engagement with internal marketing, facilitate planning retreats, and help marketing team members “get on the same page.” What’s most challenging is that each client presents a unique workplace culture and situation. The process of working with them to achieve positive outcomes in the context of their organizations is rewarding and a privilege I do not take lightly.

In addition to my client work, I met many fascinating folks at a variety of conferences. Highlights of this past year’s speaking engagements include:

  • Asomercadeo’s International Marketing Congress – I traveled to Medellin, Colombia, to share internal marketing practices with South American marketing colleagues.
  • BlogPaws – For the second time I participated in this special gathering of people who are passionate about animal welfare; my workshop there was designed to help rescue/shelter volunteers and staff better understand nonprofit marketing.
  • Volunteers in Medicine – I was truly inspired by this dedicated group of healthcare professionals and volunteers driven to improve health care access for the under-served and under-insured  in their local communities; in multiple sessions we discussed how to strengthen volunteer and board engagement.

Here’s to a new year of new opportunities and challenges and why it will be another successful year:

“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hope you find similar success in 2015!

 

Categories
Customer service Engagement Training & Development

5 Tips to Keep Employees Engaged During the Holidays

The last few weeks of the calendar year can be stressful in the workplace as people become distracted preparing for the holidays. Employees can be overwhelmed with year-end reporting and planning deadlines just as everyone else seems to be using up the last of their vacation days. And those at work may be so into the holiday frenzy that they’ve mentally checked out.

Here are five ways managers can help employees stay on-task and engaged during the holiday season.

  • Keep employees mission-focused, customer-focused, and connected.
    Respectfully remind employees how year-end projects and planning are critical to your company’s mission and goals. Make time to recognize employees’ individual and collective efforts in taking care of customers and each other as the year winds down.
  • Acknowledge and alleviate seasonal stresses.
    Consider what you can do ahead of time to minimize year-end pressures such as starting your business planning cycle earlier (if feasible) to avoid a planning crunch when fewer people are at work. Or schedule the employee holiday lunch or dinner party in January when there are fewer social activities; this also gives employees something to look forward to after the holidays.
  • Ask employees to share their ideas.
    Go to the source and solicit suggestions from your employees as to what might be done to improve productivity during this time of year — whether in a special discussion at staff meetings or as a project for a designated employee task force.
  • Inspire and de-stress.
    • Invite employees to share with each other how they cope with seasonal work stress … the funniest holiday situation they’ve encountered at work … how they successfully defused a difficult situation with a customer, etc.
    • Give-back to the community by volunteering time as a group to work in a food bank or collect gifts for needy families. To keep such an activity from creating more stress, however, employee involvement must be voluntary with no management or peer pressure regarding time and financial contributions.
    • While bringing holiday sweets to the office is welcome by many, also consider healthy ways to reduce stress. For example, a licensed massage therapist can be hired on-site to provide 10-15 minute back massages for employees or a yoga instructor can lead mini-meditation sessions.
  • Patience, patience, patience.
    Keep in mind the end of the year can be a challenging time for everyone: you, your customers, employees, colleagues, and business partners.

Try one or more of these ideas to help get through the season. When you find what works, you can apply it next year when you go through this all over again. Happy Holidays!

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

Please Pay Attention If You Really Want to Learn: Guidelines for Respectful Engagement

The multi-tasking attendee is a challenge for professional speakers and trainers. So whenever I give a training workshop or conference presentation, I respectfully request my audiences’ complete attention so they can fully engage in discussion and applied learning.

Attendees who are focused during the session benefit from new and/or reinforced knowledge, insight, and ideas – individually as well as collectively. As the presenter, I benefit from an attentive audience that actively participates by asking questions for clarification or elaboration and sharing their ideas and experiences – all contributing to a dynamic session. I bring my professional skills and dedication to help my audiences get the most they can from my sessions so their time is well-spent. Recognizing that learning is a dual responsibility between a speaker/trainer and attendee, here’s what I ask of my audiences in return.

Attendee Guidelines for Respectful Engagement

  • Please bring your complete attention so you can fully engage in discussion and be able to apply the information and ideas to your organization.
  • Out of professional and personal courtesy to everyone in the audience, please silence your cell phone.
  • If you know in advance that you might be contacted during the session – for example, you’re waiting for an important message from your boss or key customer – then please keep your phone on vibrate and attend to it quietly; leave the room, if necessary.
  • If  you’re alerted by an emergency call or text from a family member or someone at work, please excuse yourself quietly and leave the room to do what you need to do. If you’re unable to return to the session, consider getting in touch with me afterwards (via email or phone call) to let me you had to leave for this reason.
  • Please refrain from sharing session content during the session. If you want to tweet an idea or learning takeaway, please wait until a break or after the session. In the meantime, you’ll be able to better digest the ideas discussed, including how you might actually apply them to your business/situation. (Note: This guideline will vary depending on session-content. Many of my colleagues who speak on social media topics encourage in-session tweeting.)
  • If you find you’re not interested in the topic and are inclined to email, text, or check your social media networks, I prefer you leave the session to avoid wasting your time.

Pay attention if you really want to learn, and avoid multitasking that distracts you and those around you.

“If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”  – Sir Isaac Newton

 

Categories
Customer service Engagement Training & Development

Great Customer Service Quotes for Training

“It’s risky to underestimate the benefit of exceptional [customer] service; it’s equally risky to overestimate the level of customer service that you are currently providing.” Unknown

I often use this quote in the beginning of my customer-focus workshops to engage attendees on the impact of customer service in their organizations. Discussion is based on addressing these questions: Who defines quality customer service? How is it measured? To what degree is your company truly customer-centric? etc. learn_and_share

Another approach to foster discussion and idea-exchange is to add the words “How do you …?” at the beginning of each of these customer-centric guidelines from Diana LaSalle:

  • See who you are and what you offer through the customer’s eyes.
  • Consider the well-being of the customer in all decisions.
  • Train and trust employees to care for customers in the moment.
  • Anticipate customers’ needs by continually striving to improve their experiences.

You can also use the following quotes as a springboard to talk about the importance of taking care of customers:

  • “The easiest way to turn a service into an experience is to provide poor service – thus creating an memorable encounter of the unpleasant kind.” B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, The Experience Economy
  • “Customers care about the degree to which you respect and value their business … If you provide customers with clues that you don’t value their business, then all the customer satisfaction in the world won’t help you.”  David C. Lineweber
  • “Technology has evened quality; hardware is all the same. The difference is how you treat customers. If you treat them well, they’ll love your product. If you treat them poorly, they’ll find 100 things wrong.” Lee Iacocca

I welcome your favorite quotes and suggestions for using them in staff development.

 

 

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Culture + Brand = Passion for Engagement: Volunteers in Medicine

The value of having a favorable brand is that it inspires public trust and confidence – the stronger the brand, the more likely people will associate with it. A most important contributor to brand strength, and one that is difficult to duplicate, is the organization’s culture.

“Over time … we ultimately came to the realization that a company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin.”  Tony Hsieh

A strong culture and brand also support effective workplace engagement. Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) is a perfect example of this culture-brand-engagement relationship. With nearly 100 community clinics throughout the U.S., VIM’s mission is to “promote and guide the development of a national network of free clinics emphasizing the use of retired medical and community volunteers within a culture of caring to improve access to health care for America’s under-served, particularly the uninsured.”

Amy Hamlin, VIM Executive Director, with speaker Sybil Stershic
Amy Hamlin, VIM Executive Director, with speaker Sybil Stershic

I had the honor of working with this organization as a speaker at their Volunteers in Medicine Alliance Conference. Preparing for and participating in the conference, I was impressed by VIM’s Culture of Caring, a hallmark of its clinics and overall brand that appeals to patients, volunteers, and staff.

Volunteers in Medicine’s Culture of Caring is an approach:
“based on an ethical standard in medicine acknowledging that how people are treated during a clinic visit is as important as the actual medical care they receive. We believe that people who come to a VIM clinic are our friends and neighbors, good people in need of help. Surviving on limited resources, they often exhibit great courage simply trying to get through each day. Recognizing the strengths of those in need and respecting their dignity, the ‘Culture of Caring’ seeks to heal not only physical illness, but also the injury caused by bias, prejudice and indifference.”

As the foundation of its mission and brand, this special culture enables VIM clinics to successfully attract, engage, and retain physician and medical volunteers, as well as administrative volunteers, by offering them high-impact, meaningful opportunities to:

  • serve people in need
  • in a patient-focused environment
  • and with greater scheduling flexibility and more control than in traditional healthcare settings.

The chance to “practice the art of medicine, not the business of healthcare” through its culture of caring to engage volunteers and staff is critical to VIM’s brand strength and sustainability — a winning formula for patients, VIM volunteers and staff, and the communities VIM serves.

How does your culture and brand impact your organization’s engagement with employees and customers?