Category: Engagement

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Engagement

Employee Recognition & Engagement: Interview with Jon Dubbs

I’m delighted to feature my colleague, whom I’ve known and worked with for many years, in this interview. Jon Dubbs is a promotional marketing and recognition specialist who was CEO of The Dubbs Company (an Allentown, PA-based innovative marketing company) and a former Vice Chairman of Promotional Products Association International. He was among the first to attain the industry’s Master Advertising Specialist designation and recently completed his certification as a Certified Recognition Professional from Recognition Professionals International.

As the promotion landscape and market changed, so did Jon’s focus. He’s now applying his experience at RecIgnition LLC, a new company he founded that specializes in helping management teams develop and execute recognition strategies to improve organizational culture and employee engagement for competitive advantage.

QSM: Given lower engagement levels in the workplace, how can recognition help?

Jon: Recognition is a key component of building and maintaining employee engagement – particularly as a means of expressing appreciation for positive performance and significant contributions. As such, it affirms the person’s value to the enterprise. Proof of the relationship between recognition and high engagement can be seen in the companies that are recognized as being the best places to work. These are strong growth organizations with high shareholder value and where employees want to work.

QSM: In your experience, what do you find is the biggest obstacle faced by organizations interested in employee recognition? 

Jon: In a word, management. It is typically the lack of understanding by business owners and those in the C-suite at larger organizations of the real value of recognition and its deliverables: productivity, profitability, employee retention, safe work, reductions in reject rate of production, and the list goes on. All of these significantly affect bottom line results (either way) but some managers still regard recognition as being too soft.

The second biggest obstacle is the lack of communication planning and the critical importance of establishing a communication structure. A recognition initiative needs to be created by representatives from all divisions, product groups, and levels of employees (for example: production, sales, marketing HR, risk management, finance, distribution, communications, security, and unions) – who work together to understand the needs and ways that consistent accomplishments and fanfare can be shared. Without a communication plan, established broad buy-in, and a schedule for execution, the best recognition initiative will not have the potential high ROI and benefits that management needs.

Lastly, as Marc Drizin (author of Designing Employee Recognition Programs) says, “Employee recognition cannot be an unfunded mandate.”

QSM: Not all employees are comfortable receiving recognition in the workplace, yet some companies still approach recognition programs as a one-size-fits-all effort. How do you address this?

Jon:  While all employees like and need acknowledgment of their value and contributions, it is how the recognition is given that may create some hesitation, fear, and embarrassment. Supervisors and managers need to discuss with all direct reports how they would like to be recognized including avoiding ways that are absolutely intimidating.

It’s also important to understand and respect that some people’s ethnic cultures do not encourage public recognition. Some do not allow for individuals to be singled out above the group, and some do not appreciate individual recognition. Today, with multi-national companies having employee work exchanges, programs need to be built and managed with a keen awareness of and sensitivity to multiculturalism.

QSM: Thank you, Jon!

 

 

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Customer service Engagement Training & Development

Reaching the Breaking Point: A Lesson from JetBlue

Back from my summer blog break, I want to address the recent JetBlue flight attendant incident. For those who may have tuned out while vacationing the week of August 9th, here’s the condensed version: Flight attendant Steve Slater snaps after dealing with uncooperative, unruly passenger; launches into an expletive-laced speech on the plane’s intercom; and then opens and slides down the emergency evacuation chute to head home where he’s later arrested. A rather unique display of “take-this-job-and-shove-it” that generated a media frenzy and had people weighing in: those who hailed the flight attendant as a workplace “hero” for standing up to customer abuse vs. those who faulted him for not doing a better job of maintaining his cool as a customer service professional. (There was another group somewhere in the middle. A friend of mine commented, “He shouldn’t have done it, but damn!, what a hoot that he did.”)

Many factors contribute to customer frustration and rage – economic pressures, customer-unfriendly policies (not limited to the airline industry), poor customer service, even weather – as this summer’s heat wave made people cranky. Employees aren’t immune to these same factors in addition to dealing with demanding customers and/or employers.

How do you cope with workplace stress?
The owner of a small service-based business told me about her experience dealing with difficult customers – sharing what she refers to as her “call of last resort.” A customer called about a service bill he received, complaining the price was too high; this was after the work was completed. The business owner calmly explained that the price was based on the materials and labor involved, and that the customer’s wife had been given an estimate of the work in advance and agreed to it. The customer repeatedly complained about the price and would not listen to the business owner. She finally ended the call by saying, “Sir, your time is valuable; so is mine. We’ve reached the end of this conversation, and there is nothing more to say. Have a good day. Goodbye.” While she says this respectfully and sincerely, she admits it’s satisfying to have the last word.

Customer interactions vary by industry and may call for different responses to difficult situations. But how can they be handled without reaching the breaking point?

Start here
JetBlue’s incident can serve as a springboard to review your organization’s approach to difficult and/or abusive customers. I suggest engaging employees in thoughtful discussions based on the following questions:

  • What IS an acceptable way to handle difficult customers?
  • How can we deal with such customers while preserving our brand’s integrity?
  • What (if any) of our current policies contribute to customer frustration?  What can be changed to minimize this frustration?
  • What are our options when customers become abusive?
  • What coping strategies or healthy ways can employees use to deal with this stress?
  • Does the company have guidelines to help employees with this? If so, do they know what the guidelines are? And do employees have the necessary training and skills to apply them?

This discussion list is not exhaustive; additional questions are most welcome. I also invite you to share your experiences in helping employees deal with difficult customer situations before they exit the emergency chute.

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Engagement

Questions on Employee Engagement

Before you can find the right answers, you need to ask the right questions. And that’s just what you get in this free e-book, Engaging Questions: The Question is the Answer, from the Employee Engagement Network.

Whether you need to begin the dialog or explore a specific issue related to employee engagement in your workplace, this e-book is a great source of more than 100 thought-provoking and starter questions.

Here’s a sample:

  • Who is responsible for employee engagement? (from Art Bingham, p. 22)
  • What would you need to see from management, so you would know that they were as engaged as they want you to be? (from Christine Dunn, p. 39)
  • What things do people in your work group do that make you feel connected to your company? (from Tim Houlihan, p. 26)
  • When we hire new employees, how can our onboarding process maintain the enthusiasm they have when they accept a position? (from Peggy Foster, p. 8)
  • Beyond knowing how many employees work in the company, do top managers know many employees are actually contributing to the company’s success? And what can they do to ensure the second number equals the first? (my question, p. 15).
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Engagement

Nonprofit “Volunteer vs. Staff” Talent: Interview with Susan Ellis

I was introduced to volunteer expert Susan Ellis, president of Energize, Inc., when researching my volunteer engagement series. I had several follow-up questions for her, and she graciously gave her time to answer them in this interview.

QSM: It’s been said that nonprofits are likely to rely more on volunteers in lieu of hiring paid staff in today’s tough times. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Susan: The idea that anyone “chooses” to work with volunteers rather than paid staff is a non-starter. If there is work for a 35-40-hour-a-week position, it’s a job. Maybe you could get trained volunteers capable of doing the work, but you’d need at least 10 volunteers to juggle their part-time schedules to fill the 40 hours of work needed – and who’s going to supervise them?

On the other hand, there are lots of particular activities that are actually done more successfully by volunteers because of the “perception of credibility” that people assign to volunteers. So a nurse can help someone with AIDS, but that’s his/her job. When a volunteer is supportive of someone with AIDS, the impact is greater because it is perceived as a matter of will not obligation. Donors prefer to give money to volunteers who do not themselves stand to gain anything monetarily from the donation.

Organizations may be increasing volunteer numbers, but to do different things than employees had been doing. For example, when libraries close because of budget cuts, volunteers may be able to open the building doors on a Saturday so that people can use the resources and borrow/return books. But the services provided by librarians are missing during those times.

QSM: What do you advise in situations where there is resentment between paid staff and volunteers? 

Susan: The subject of tension between volunteers and employees is indeed the #1 most requested training topic in the field. Resentment is inherent in the roles unless anticipated and managed, but it can be overcome with great success. Volunteers do not WANT the staff’s jobs! They want to be of use to a cause they care about, for a few hours at a time. When staff feel threatened, they circle the wagons and won’t let volunteers be helpful, except in menial ways.

Resentment occurs if volunteers and employees are expected to do the same things – always a bad idea. I say that the most successful programs recruit volunteers for skills and talents totally different from the paid staff. Let paid social workers counsel and paid teachers teach. Get volunteers to teach “food shopping on a budget” or spend one-to-one time with a student who needs some extra help to practice a lesson, or talk to the class about what it’s like to be a police officer. Those sorts of roles do not cause resentment – they are welcomed by everyone.

Is there lousy volunteer management out there? Sure. But does that mean there is no value to it? NO. Getting (or giving) a salary is not the highest good in the world. I can pay an adult literacy tutor or a Big Brother/Big Sister, and the tasks done may be the same, but the adult loses a friend and the kid gets another teacher or babysitter. Again, perception of credibility.

QSM: Are there any resources that explain when to use staff and/or volunteer talent?

Susan: Self-servingly, I deal with exactly these issues in From the Top Down, and often in my Hot Topics, such as the one I wrote in December, When the Ax Falls: Budget Cutting and Volunteers.

QSM: In the latter article I especially like your comment, “Plan for volunteers when times are good if you want their help in times of crises.”

Susan: There have also been dozens if not more articles in the last year about how important volunteering is to the unemployed themselves. If the person selects the right volunteer role, this can be job training; it can assure that something meaningful appears on a resume in between losing a job and now. It immeasurably improves self-image and emotional well-being. (Note that the worse the economy becomes, the more people offer to volunteer. Really! And this has been true since the Great Depression and in all recessions.)

QSM: Thanks, Susan, for sharing your great advice and wisdom!

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Engagement Marketing

Engaging Volunteers (6): Helpful Resources

Here’s a compiled list of resources I found in researching & writing this series on volunteer engagement and management. Since this list is far from comprehensive, I invite you to share additional resource links.

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Engagement Marketing

Engaging Volunteers (5): The Volunteer-Staff Connection

“Without a disciplined and respectful approach to recruitment, orientation, support, assessment, and recognition, we will have lower performance and a disenchanted volunteer.”
– Francis Hesselbein in Hesselbein on Leadership.

The same can be said of employees.

Staff and volunteers require:

  • an investment of time for training and ongoing communication
  • attention in terms of feedback and recognition
  • and the tools (applicable resources) needed to accomplish the organization’s goals and advance its mission.

The challenge for nonprofit managers is that internal issues regarding staff engagement also impact volunteer engagement. Like it or not, volunteers pay close attention to the staff they work with and are sensitive to employee satisfaction cues. As one frustrated volunteer told me recently: “The organization seems to expect the volunteers to be a subset of their staff and we know how they treat their staff. So in retrospect, why do we expect them to treat us volunteers any differently?!”

Volunteer relations “mirror” employee relations – if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your volunteers.

Coming up: in my last post in this series I’ll share a list of resource links for volunteer engagement and management.

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Engagement Marketing

Engaging Volunteers (4): When Volunteers are Brand Partners

What I’ve shared up to this point in this series applies to volunteers in most nonprofits. In some organizations, however, volunteers serve multiple roles that require different engagement strategies.

I can explain with this segmentation model from the Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool for Nonprofits that identifies two types of nonprofit “customers”:

  • Primary customers – the people and entities who benefit from a nonprofit’s services
  • Supporting customers – the people and entities who help a nonprofit provide its services.

For example, a Girl Scout and her parents are “primary customers” of the Girl Scouts in that they all benefit as the daughter develops new skills from her scouting involvement. If her parents participate as troop leaders, help chaperone troop events, etc., they are also considered “supporting customers.” This segmentation model helps a nonprofit understand and recognize who its “customers” are (in one or both segments) so it can engage them accordingly.

But don’t let the simplicity of this model fool you as volunteer segmentation can be extremely complicated depending on the organization. It is particularly messy in professional membership associations that offer professional development and networking opportunities through national and regional (chapter) affiliation; e.g., the American Marketing Association, Society for Human Resource Management, Public Relations Society of America, etc. While all members of such organizations are primary customers, some may also be engaged as supporting customers on one or more levels as:

  • Local brand ambassadors – recruiting and welcoming other members at the chapter level
  • Chapter volunteer leaders – serving on committees/councils/boards and providing member benefits at the local or regional level
  • National volunteer leaders – serving on national committees/councils/boards
  • Volunteer speakers – presenting at association-sponsored conferences & workshops
  • Volunteer instructors – training (for free or a small honorarium) at association-sponsored educational programs.

The important role these volunteers play in delivering member benefits at the local, regional, and national levels can be taken for granted. Beyond providing token recognition for their service, some associations overlook the fact that these highly engaged volunteers help generate revenues via new and retained member dues as well as from conference and program fees. That’s why these truly “supporting customers” need to be recognized, valued, and respected as partners in delivering the brand promise.

How do you engage and manage volunteers who are also your brand partners?

  • Make volunteer involvement a focus of attention by the Board and executive staff. (See my previous post on Intentional Volunteer Management.)
  • Recognize and acknowledge volunteer value. To truly appreciate the impact of their involvement, analyze your volunteers’ lifetime value. Note: most volunteer calculators measure this value in terms of manpower hour & benefit cost-savings. In addition, consider volunteers’ economic contribution to revenue generation. [If anyone has a formula or model for this, please let me know.]
  • Keep volunteers informed of the organization’s vision and direction. You can’t expect them to serve as brand advocates if you don’t keep them in the communications loop.
  • Be sensitive to how operational/policy changes impact volunteer efforts to deliver on the brand – you want to facilitate volunteer (and staff) efforts to deliver member value, not create extra work for them. Communicate all changes in operations or policy openly and honestly, sharing the rationale behind such changes.
  • Proactively seek and respond to volunteer feedback & ideas.

Keep in mind that besides their individual and collective value as volunteers, these brand partners have strong influence on the frontline with access to fellow and prospective members who are your primary customers. Treat them carefully and with the respect they deserve.

In my next post I’ll address the volunteer-employee connection.

 

 

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Engagement Marketing Training & Development

Engaging Volunteers (3): Intentional Volunteer Management

 

“Too many organizations are thoughtless when it comes to volunteers.”
– Susan Ellis, president of Energize, Inc., a volunteer training & consulting firm.

Sadly, many former volunteers would agree with this statement. That’s why an intentional and proactive (rather than passive or reactive) effort is needed to effectively engage and retain volunteers.

Here are some guidelines to help you get started with intentional volunteer engagement and management.

  • Focus at the Board Level
    Volunteer expert Susan Ellis recommends volunteer involvement be a regular part of the board agenda so it can proactively focus on how to effectively recruit, engage, and maximize volunteer participation. “Don’t allow volunteer involvement to be the invisible personnel issue,” she says. She also suggests creating a board committee on volunteerism.
  • Learn who your volunteers are, their interest in your organization, and their volunteer expectations (as described in my previous post).
  • Clarify and clearly communicate your organization’s expectations of volunteers and what they can expect from you. Here’s a great example: After meeting with a nonprofit organization’s leaders, I received a follow-up letter inviting me to serve on their advisory council. This invitation described council members’ responsibilities and stated what the organization promised them in return, including “Appreciation of your time and our commitment not to abuse your time or generosity.”
  • Find ways to connect your volunteers to:
    • your organization’s mission, strategic direction, and goals. (Note: You can even include volunteers in your strategic planning process.)
    • your stakeholders (if applicable) to see your mission in action
    • your other volunteers for mentoring and partnering
    • your staff, particularly those with whom they’ll be working.
  • Provide the mission-focused training and tools your volunteers need to best serve the organization; e.g., orientation, ongoing communication, recognition, etc.
  • Proactively listen to your volunteers – obtain their feedback, ideas, concerns – and respond appropriately.

Volunteers require more than a simple “recruit ‘em and recognize ‘em” approach. Nonprofit leaders need to invest time and attention to engaging, managing, and retaining volunteer talent.

Stay tuned for my next post that will explore the challenge of engaging volunteers who are also brand partners.

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Engagement Marketing

Engaging Volunteers (2): Understanding the Volunteer Experience

The second post in this volunteer engagement & management series focuses on the volunteer experience.

Workplace engagement applies to both nonprofit employees and volunteers. Like employees, volunteers are not immune to becoming disenchanted with the nonprofits they serve. Unlike employees, however, it’s easier for volunteers to leave when they become disengaged.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNSC) addressed the problem of volunteer turnover in a 2009 research brief:

“ … over one third of volunteers (35.5%) drop out of service each year and do not serve with any organizations the following year. While new volunteers may be walking through the door of an organization, they may not stay, or they may be replacing an existing volunteer. This high rate of volunteer turnover stunts the productivity of nonprofit organizations as they focus on replacing volunteers instead of maximizing impact.”

Nonprofits cannot afford to lose this talent in a down economy when they’re increasingly hard pressed to serve growing needs with fewer resources. That’s why the volunteer experience is receiving renewed attention.

To better manage this experience, you need to understand who your volunteers are, what motivates them to become involved and stay with your organization, and what contributes and detracts from the quality of their experience with you. Volunteer motivations vary by individual and intensity; reasons range from wanting to “give back” … to sharing skills and/or learning new ones … to needing to feel needed … to getting involved to stay busy. Regardless of their respective motivations, most volunteers choose to get involved in a particular organization because they share a belief in the cause/mission and wish to make a difference.

Nonprofits can learn about their volunteer talent through research and informal listening posts that include volunteer surveys, roundtables, staff and volunteer feedback, etc. Here are sample questions that will provide important insight on volunteer motivations and expectations:

  • What about this organization appealed to you to get you involved?
  • What about this organization keeps you involved? [for long term volunteers]
  • What do you expect to give and get from your volunteer involvement?
  • What do you enjoy most about your volunteer experience here?
  • What suggestions do you have for staff that can improve the volunteer experience?
  • Would you recommend this organization to other volunteers? Why or why not?

Also consider exit interviews with volunteers who leave your organization – whether through rotating volunteer service (fulfilling board or committee term limits), burn-out, a negative experience, or other reason. Sample questions include:

  • What do you know now about this organization that you wish you had known when you first became involved?
  • What did you enjoy most about your volunteer experience? (or) What will you miss most about your volunteer experience here? [ask only if the volunteer is leaving on good terms]
  • What suggestions do you have for staff that can improve the volunteer experience?
  • Would you recommend this organization to other volunteers? (Probe why or why not?)

Responses to these types of questions will enable you to build a knowledge base of volunteer motivations, expectations, and perceptions of your organization.

In my next post I’ll cover what nonprofits can do to better engage their volunteers through intentional management.

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Engagement Marketing

Engaging Volunteers (1): A Volunteer Story

This blog post kicks off a six-part series in which I explore volunteer engagement and management.

It’s a critical topic for nonprofits that need to capture the attention and availability of more unemployed and underemployed workers willing to volunteer time and energy.

But the match of nonprofits and able volunteers won’t work if volunteer talent is not effectively managed.

I was excited to be a first-time volunteer at a special holiday party for children and their families hit hard by the economy. When I arrived at the banquet hall I was stunned by the number of buses already in the parking lot and the constant stream of bus loads arriving from churches and community groups. I entered the fray and squeezed my way through the crowd to find volunteer registration.

The volunteer table was chaos central. I introduced myself, explained I had signed up to serve the dinner shift, and asked about the check-in process. After shuffling paper and unable to find the sign-in sheet, one of the volunteers handed me a volunteer button, pointed to the dining hall, and told me to just go in and help out.

The room was set up with rows of tables to accommodate hundreds of people, and there seemed to be hundreds more milling about. Two long buffet stations were set up at one end of the banquet room lined with volunteers dishing out turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, rolls & butter; other volunteers ran back and forth to the kitchen to replenish the serving stations. More volunteers cleared dishes while groups of guests waited to be seated. I attached myself to a volunteer who had worked the event before, then quickly learned the ropes to make myself useful. Fortunately there were more than enough – even too many – volunteers to help out.

At the end of my shift, I thanked my fellow volunteer for taking me under her wing. There was no official “sign out” of volunteers, so I just waved to the people working the volunteer table and left the banquet hall. It was my first and last time at the event.

As a long time volunteer involved in a variety of organizations, I was surprised by the lack of advance communications, on-site instructions, and post-event acknowledgment encouraging volunteers to return. The good news is the holiday party attracts an abundance of volunteers; the bad news is not all of them return. Note: the event is organized and hosted through the generosity of a private company, not by a nonprofit. Nonetheless, it illustrates that volunteer engagement requires more than a “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” approach.

“Sadly, most nonprofits do not view their volunteers as strategic assets and have not developed ways to take full advantage of them.”
– excerpt from Stanford Social Innovation Review article “The New Volunteer Workforce.”

I hope you’ll join me in this “Engaging Volunteer” series that includes:

Throughout this special series, I invite you to share your experience as a volunteer. Comments from nonprofit managers are also welcome.