Categories
Engagement

Workplace Gathering a Meaningful Ritual

One of my former clients, a small department of a large organization, engages in a morning coffee klatch – staff arrive on or before 8 AM, turn on their computers, and then gather around the table in a small lunch room for coffee, tea, cereal, and/or a variety of goodies available on the table. (There’s always a generous assortment of baked goods for nibbling and emotional nourishment.)

So what did you do last night?

Conversation varies: about family & pets, current events, movies and reality TV, as well as updates on meetings, customer successes and concerns, and current work issues. (A phone sits on the table so any incoming calls can be taken during this time.) The morning session continues until around 8:30-8:40 AM, and then staff return to their desks.

As a consultant/extended team member, I was welcome to take a place at the table whenever I visited. While this informal socialization seemed to give staff a late work start, the work always got done on time and no customers (external and internal) were ignored. Even in stressful times (and trust me, there were several based on the nature of the work), the team pulled together … . primarily due to the departmental culture created by Peg, the group manager, who’s a regular participant in the morning coffee klatch.

NOT a waste of time!

There is real value to this type of ritual beyond just a social gathering. According to Arizona State’s W.P. Carey business school management Professor Blake Ashforth, such activities should be encouraged because they can strengthen connections among employees who work together and create organizational goodwill. In his article, Water Cooler Talk Keeps Organizational Culture Real, Ashforth writes: “People are social animals and want to feel a sense of belonging with other people. How they feel about their employer is largely dependent on how they feel about their tribe – their boss and immediate co-workers – rather than the organization’s larger culture and objectives as dictated by upper management.”

Especially today, when “work and home increasingly blend together in an always-on business climate … there is still organizational pressure to keep one’s home life from interfering with one’s work life. Yet, knowing coworkers’ hobbies and passions, what sports their kids play and if they’re caring for a sick parent is precisely what Ashforth says builds bonds that strengthen corporate groups.”

Ashforth advocates that organizations recognize the importance of their smallest local groups (“tribes”) and find ways to: 1) make those groups meaningful to their members and 2) connect those groups to the larger organization.

Peg intuitively practices what Ashforth talks about. She knows it takes more than just a singular coffee klatch activity. She’s successful because she truly cares about her staff the whole day, every day.

Categories
Engagement

Employee Engagement: Interview with David Zinger

I’m delighted to introduce employee engagement specialist David Zinger, who is also the founder and host of the Employee Engagement Network. 

Employee engagement continues to be a hot topic these days. I posed a number of critical questions about it to David that he graciously answered.

Question: In talking about employee engagement as something that “enriches everyone in the workplace,” you emphasize that “It is not sucking out more discretionary effort from everyone.” How do you define employee engagement?

David: There are a plethora of definitions of employee engagement. Sometimes I think the multiple definitions are perpetuated by the larger consulting companies trying to sell their own measurement and interventions. I believe employee engagement is connection. The stronger the connection, the higher the level of engagement. It is our connections to our work, meaning, others, leaders, managers, customers, financial returns, etc., that creates and maintains engagement. We all must benefit from engagement or it will not be sustained over time. We don’t engage people to “suck out discretionary effort,” we engage them to enrich their life and work experiences.

Question: Why do you think there are so many managers who don’t get the importance of effectively engaging employees?

To some managers it is another buzzword. The workplace is shifting and it is a challenge for many leaders, managers, and supervisors to respond to the shift. I see the parallel phenomenon with social media and web 2.0 tools. Managers might not understand it and might not feel comfortable or competent in working at engagement. In addition many managers are taxed to the max, and if we don’t help them energize themselves they will not have the energy to initiate or sustain engagement efforts.

Question: Is there a point at which engagement levels are unsustainable? How realistic is it to sustain high levels of employee engagement?

David: On a macro level engagement can be sustained for a long time, perhaps even a lifetime. On a micro level we need to balance engagement with work with disengagement from work and engagement at home with disengagement from home. There are a lot of things individuals, managers, leaders, and organizations must do to sustain engagement. It must be of benefit to all. It must also be a very human endeavor.

Question: In her recent post, Maybe the Traditional Approach to Engagement is All Wrong, Judy MacLeish started a wonderful discussion on a top-down vs. bottom-up approach to engagement. What do you think is the most effective approach?

David: I think the hierarchical notion of engagement is part of the problem. When you have a top or a bottom, actual or perceived, you have a lot of division. I think engagement radiates out from a circle or a core. I think each individual is responsible for their own engagement yet everyone is accountable for everyone else’s engagement. I embrace John Wooden’s line: Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can. To me the most effective approach is when everyone is involved, benefiting, and ENGAGED!

Thanks for sharing, David.

I encourage you to visit David Zinger’s website where you’ll find great articles and additional resources … and while you’re there you can join the employee engagement network.

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Employee-Customer Care Podcast Now Available

My podcast interview from my recent virtual book tour with Phil Gerbyshak is finally up following some audio glitches.

To my readers – thanks for your patience.

To Phil – thanks for your diligence in fixing and posting the audio file!

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

“Punching In” Delivers Knock-Out Insight

For a fascinating look at life as a front-line employee in some well-known retail and service companies, read Punching In by Alex Frankel. Frankel spent two years working undercover as a frontline employee for UPS, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Gap, Starbucks, and Apple Store.

 

His adventure was prompted by his interest in discovering how these well known companies selected and trained employees and melded them into the corporate culture to deliver on the brand promise. Frankel’s experience provides insight into the hiring process (ranging from online psychological tests to The Container Store’s in-store group interviews) and the impact of formal as well as informal training and sharing of corporate values & norms.

Note to all who oversee their organizations’ orientation programs and/or are involved in trying to codify the employee and customer experience, including helping employees evolve into brand ambassadors – read this book and consider how your organization would have fared if Frankel wrote about you. (Better yet, ask your own employees … )

Punching In explores the human role in retail and service operations. Given my bias for positive employee-customer care, I loved one of the critical lessons Frankel learned from his frontline adventure:

” … I found that many of the best companies have not only realized that humans matter but have also moved ahead of competitors by finding, hiring, and training great people to work for them. People have become as much of a competitive weapon for many companies as the actual products they sell.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Engagement Can Be Tricky in Association Management

A colleague recently wrote about not taking employee engagement for granted based on his experience working for nonprofit associations.

Here’s another reason to be concerned with staff engagement – loyal members who have strong ties to their professional associations, particularly those who are strongly committed to and passionate about their participation. These members tend to work closely with the association’s professional staff and develop strong collegial relationships with them. As a result, they become concerned with – even protective of – how staff are treated in the organization.

For association management, the staff-volunteer relationship can be tricky, especially in instances where volunteers overstep their bounds to interfere with personnel issues. The relationship works both way, however, as many professional staff enjoy working with the members and volunteer leaders; it’s one of the perks that compensates for working in a professional association at nonprofit wages.

For association management, the bottom line is that internal issues regarding staff engagement can also impact (and be impacted by) member engagement.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Who’s on First: Customers or Employees? (continued)

In contrast to the clueless company mentioned in my last post, I’m going to again cite Marriott.

Check out what Mike Jannini, Marriott International Executive VP, had to say about his company’s employee-centric approach in a recent address at the Creating Value through Service Symposium.

Companies that are employee-focused are inherently customer-focused. Being customer-focused alone is not enough (and a poor strategy) when employee value is only lip-service.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Who’s on First: Customers or Employees?

In his June 24, 2008 article “If the customer comes first, where does that leave employees?”, Steve Crescenzo shares a story about a company whose approach is “Customers First, Employees Last.” [Updated note: access to Steve’s article is for Ragan.com Select Members. Ragan offers both free and select membership options on Ragan.com. It also offers My Ragan, a free social network for corporate communicators.]

This ‘customers first-employees last’ approach may not be what management intended, but it became the reality of the corporate culture as experienced by employees.

What’s especially disturbing is that an internal communications professional within the company tried to bring the situation about employee frustration to management’s attention – specifically in a proposed article entitled “Does ‘Customers First’ Mean Employees Last?” for an online employee publication. But management nixed the idea; they didn’t want to hear it and/or didn’t want to deal with it.

Unfortunately, the company described here isn’t unique. There are too many firms with customer problems – evident through constant complaints and customer churn – where the solution is to come down hard and put pressure on employees without actually engaging them to assist with solutions. (Why bother asking the employees who have daily interaction with the customers? If they were so smart, they’d be in management instead of on the front-lines!)

Hint to managers who think this way: customer dissatisfaction doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Besides worrying about customer retention, take a look at your employee retention.

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing Spotlight: Mustang Engineering (Part 2)

This post will continue my spotlight on Mustang Engineering, a company truly committed to all its stakeholders.

It’s also one of the few companies I know that has a dedicated internal marketing department.

I asked Liz Stevens, Mustang Marketing Communications Specialist, about the purpose and scope of their internal marketing function. Here’s what she shared with me:

“The purpose of internal marketing is to promote Mustang’s unique, people oriented culture and to keep Mustangers happy. We strive to provide a place people actually look forward to coming to every day and where they can enjoy who they are with and what they are doing. Fun, fun, fun! The scope is ALL Mustangers, worldwide. No matter where they are located in the world, we want all Mustangers to feel connected to the Mustang family.”

This reflects and reinforces the company’s vision: Our quest is to embody a culture that inspires super-motivated people to make heroes of Clients, Partners, Vendors and Mustangers.

In my internal marketing workshops, I suggest companies ask their employees the question, “Would you refer a friend to work here?” as a way to gauge the quality of the corporate culture. I can only imagine a positive response to that question at Mustang Engineering.

Categories
Engagement

What’s Behind Employee Turnover

To understand the real reasons employees leave, check out The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham.

He provides insight across the continuum of what prompts employees to start thinking about leaving to their disengagement and ultimate departure. Branham’s book is based on the results of extensive employee exit interviews.

The seven reasons why employees leave include:

  • The job or workplace was not as expected
  • A mismatch between the job and the person
  • Not enough coaching and feedback
  • Too few growth and advancement opportunities
  • Employees feel devalued and unrecognized
  • Stress from overwork and work-life imbalance
  • A loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.

Branham further breaks down each reason into specific underlying causes and provides “employer-of-choice engagement practices” and accompanying checklists to help managers more effectively minimize turnover. As a special bonus, he also offers guidelines for exit interviews and turnover analysis.

Branham’s book contains fascinating insight into why employees leave. Here’s one of my favorite takeaways: when doing an exit interview, ask “Why are you not staying?” instead of “Why are you leaving?”

Categories
Customer service

Corporate Insensitivity Adds to Customer Grief

This is a plea for companies to be more sensitive to their customers’ situations. It’s about a frustrating and emotionally-laden personal experience resulting from a lack of corporate sensitivity that may not be deliberate, but nonetheless, there’s no excuse for it.

My beloved mother passed away a few months ago, and I’ve been handling her mail and bills until her estate is settled. What’s unbelievable is the direct mail I continue to get in my mother’s name from companies who have been contacted about the situation. Here’s what happened recently (within the span of one week) that sent me over the edge:

  • Even though we closed out my mother’s checking and savings accounts after her funeral (just over four months ago) to transfer the funds to an estate account, she continues to receive promotional offers from her credit union.
  • My family recently received an insurance check after submitting lengthy documentation about my mother’s illness and death. Get this: a few days later, we also got a notice from the same insurance company stating that her annual policy renewal would be cancelled for lack of payment.
  • Then there was the personal invitation to my mother to attend a financial education seminar from the financial services firm where we opened her estate account!

I thought ‘Relationship’ was CRM’s middle name

I just don’t understand – companies have customer data bases that they presumably update with new and closed account information. How long does it take to remove a customer name from the marketing list?

Companies have invested millions of dollars in CRM (customer relationship management) technology, so what’s the problem? Is it a bureaucratic issue based on organizations that are so complex and silo’d that the left hand doesn’t talk to the right hand or even know what it’s doing?

Regardless, the result is inefficient and wasteful. Sadly, it’s also perceived as a lack of sensitivity to consumers who are emotionally fragile.

I was so upset about this that I vented to my new blogging buddy, Becky Carroll, of CustomersRock! fame. Here’s her response:

It is more than unfortunate that the thoughtlessness of these businesses has thrown salt into the wound. Obviously, no one would do this intentionally.  However, in delicate situations, it is critical that a business flag the situation and make it work out with as little stress on the customer as possible.

I think these things happen due to silo thinking, and it happens too often!

 

(Thanks for listening, Becky).

Is it realistic for companies to know what their customers’ families are going through? Of course not. But in these situations – when company policy requires a death certificate to change a customer account – someone should have a clue!