I started working on employee engagement long before the “e” word came into vogue, and I’m tired of it. Here’s why.
Overused as a business buzzword, the term “employee engagement” has become meaningless. It gets talked about in executive suites and management meetings, yet few companies actually do anything about it because too much effort is required to change a culture that needs fixing and artificial attempts in a cultural vacuum only make the situation worse.
As a result, I’m just plain tired of:
the endless rhetoric and discussions that go nowhere
the naysayers who don’t think engagement matters
executives frustrated with engagement because it’s not a quick fix.
Employee engagement 1.0 and beyond When I started Quality Service Marketing more than 30 years ago, my work involved helping clients gain employee commitment to marketing and organizational goals. Managers wanted to know how to get employees motivated and willing to work with them to take care of customers.
Engagement’s scope has evolved since then to recognize that employee and employer each bear responsibility for it. Employees need to show up to work ready, willing, and able to do their best, and employers need to provide a workplace where employees are respected, trusted, and eager to do their best.
Work and workplace expectations have also changed. Employees want meaningful work with flexibility and fair pay. And while some companies proactively engage them as valuable partners, too many still consider them as labor to be manipulated in response to short-term market pressures.
That’s the main reason I’m frustrated with employee engagement. We haven’t fully transitioned from the industrial age of management control over employees-as-commodities to a better model of management with employees-as-respected-partners sharing in responsibility and ownership of results.
Not ready to give up Despite my frustrations, I’m encouraged when I meet with employees who tell me how great their employers and workplace cultures are. Ditto when I hear and read about successful organizations where employee-care is as important as customer-care.
Despite the clueless-in-charge, there are still leaders out there who value their employees and genuinely want to do better with and by them. So I’m not giving up – because people matter and they deserve better.
[Image credit: photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash]
July and August are a time to invest in sunscreen to avoid sunburn. For me, it’s also a time to invest in a break to avoid blogging burnout.
I enjoy this special time to step back from the pressure of posting. But it’s not a total vacation as I’ll be working this summer to help clients with their facilitation and training needs while continuing to stay active on Twitter (@SybilQSM), LinkedIn, and other social media.
In the meantime, I invite you to explore this blog with its abundance of evergreen content on improving employee, volunteer, and customer care with internal marketing tools of engagement.
This powerful statement is from the late Bob Wood, former Chairman of Wood Dining Services, whom I had the privilege of interviewing for my first book on internal marketing, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care.
Bob was the epitome of an engaged leader who truly cared about his employees and customers as reflected in this description of the company culture:
“The Wood Company’s recipe for success is developing and nurturing its people. We value and understand the difference they can make in pleasing our customers.”
I wish there were more inspired leaders like Bob who knew how to nourish a successful brand from the inside out.
Need to have your employees better understand and improve the customer experience?
Here are three simple approaches designed to do just that. Each one can be applied to engage employees in sharing their experiences and building on their ideas to take care of customers.
1. Consider the customerperspective
“Smart people walk in the shoes of their customers. But wise people remove their own shoes first.”
Because empathy is critical to improving the customer experience, it’s valuable for employees to consider and discuss their own experience as consumers. You can engage them in discussing one or more of the following questions, such as:
Thinking about a recent experience you had as a customer, how would you describe the quality of that experience? What stood out for you that made it that way? … Based on that experience, would you recommend that company to a friend? Why or why not?
As a consumer, how can you tell whether a company is customer-centric?
How do you see who you are and what you offer through the customer’s eyes?
[Based on the responses to these questions:] What does this say about how we serve our customers? … How can we do better?
2. Consider employee impact
Use notable quotes from the business press that will work well as discussion-starters to elicit employee reactions and ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:
“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
“If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honor their right to be treated fairly and honestly, everything else is much easier.” Doug Smith
“Brands are built from within … [they] have very little to do with promises made through advertising. They’re all about promises met by employees.” Ian Buckingham
3. Consider combining both of the above approaches
Depending on how much time you have for discussion, you can start with the empathetic perspective and close with an applicable quote that supports delivering a positive customer experience. Or you can start with a quote and segue to discussing the customer’s perspective. As for selecting quotes, you can even invite employees to share a favorite or create their own.
Helpful tips
When you engage employees in these special discussions — whether as part of orientation, customer service training, staff meetings or retreats — you can elicit their understanding and ideas to better serve customers as well as co-workers who are “internal customers.”
Regardless of which of setting or approach(es) you use, it’s essential to conduct such discussions in a positive, non-threatening, and respectful setting. Your objective is twofold:
to encourage employees to comfortably share stories and actionable ideas that enable them to better serve customers, and
avoid getting mired in a spiraling critique of complaints.
The key is to not dwell on negative barriers but focus on ways to overcome them.
And don’t forget the food (e.g., appropriate amounts of caffeine, water, sugar, healthy snacks, etc.) that can fuel the thinking and ideation process.
I’m proud to announce that I’m now a Certified Facilitator in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®.
That’s right, I can help companies “solve real problems in real time in 3D” using specially selected LEGO® bricks.
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a proven methodology based on extensive research from the fields of business, psychology, learning, and organizational development. It uses the power of “hand knowledge” that leverages the hand-brain connection: research shows the hands are connected to 70-80% of our brain cells. Using the neural connections in our hands, we can better “imagine, describe, and make sense of situations, initiate change and improvement, and even create something new.”
Participants engaged in this innovative approach “lean-in” to deal with business challenges in a safe environment. “Thinking through their fingers,” participants are fully engaged and empowered to unleash “insight, inspiration, and imagination.”
When is it helpful to use LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®?
Here is a sample of situations in which it works. Use it when you:
Are dealing with a complex challenge/issue that has no clear answers
Need to grasp the bigger picture, identify connections, and explore options/solutions
Want participants to equally contribute their respective knowledge and opinions on a topic/issue – with 100% engaged participation.
Its application is customized to each organization’s unique situation.
I’m excited to share this new addition to my facilitator tool kit. If your team or organization is ready to discover new insights and uncover fresh perspectives, let’s talk.
We know that people can show up for work fully engaged only to have their enthusiasm and energy chipped away over time; i.e., once engaged doesn’t mean always engaged.
That’s because numerous factors contribute to one’s engagement levels that include an employee’s personal situation (involving health, family, financial well-being, and support systems) and his/her workplace situation (the nature of the job, resources available, company culture, trust, etc.). This means individuals and the organizations they work for share responsibility for engagement: employees need to show up ready, willing, and able to do their best work in a positive environment in which management fully supports employees’ efforts to do their best.
I’ve worked with many people who are committed to doing their best regardless of personal challenges. Whether or not they’re able to maintain their engagement, however, depends on leadership and management effectiveness.
“The willingness of the employee culture can’t be demanded; it can only be inspired. … employee management is only the illusion of control. On their own, people will decide how tightly they’ll embrace a new strategy. Their decision will be affected by whether they’re inspired to do well, whether they have a role model of good performance, and whether they get reinforcement for their performance.” Stan Slap
An engaged workplace is not only inspired, it’s also intentional.
Have you ever found yourself in one of these situations?
Without warning, your position is eliminated due to restructuring
Your job security is at the mercy of company or government politics
Your job responsibility is minimized as a result of a management change or merger
Your competence and performance – reflected in stellar job evaluations – is questioned by a new boss.
Few people I know have been untouched by these situations. Their experience (and mine) leads me to describe the killer of employee engagement as “extraction” – i.e., “Let’s wring as much as possible out of employees until we no longer need them.”
“Don’t take it personally”
Company decision-makers and/or those delivering the bad news try to rationalize “It’s just business” so employees don’t take their dismissal to heart. But how can people feel otherwise with the pain of losing one’s job, credibility, or work identity? Those left behind wondering “who’s next?” can’t help but feel at risk.
Several people close to me have experienced this pain. Here’s what they – and anyone who is feeling undervalued in the course of “it’s-just-business” – need to keep in mind:
“Your inherent value stands regardless of others’ decisions. You are not a victim of your circumstances.”
[With Employee Appreciation Day approaching, I’m delighted to share this special post from my friends at myHR Partner. These HR professionals are serious about their work, yet also have a great sense of humor. I encourage you to visit their Modern Employer blog where you can find helpful and informative content.]
myHR Partner’s Cartoon Employee Hall of Fame
In recognition of Employee Appreciation Day, which falls on March 1stthis year, we would like to share our first Cartoon Employee Hall of Fame. It’s a short list right now, but we’ve included our expert commentary to make it special. We’ve also included suggestions for what to do to celebrate your workforce on their special day in honor of these inductees. Enjoy!
Homer Simpson With famous quotes like “Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They’re about to announce the lottery numbers” and “I think Smithers picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone says they have to work a lot harder when I’m around,” how could we not recognize Homer’s influence on legions of employees who seek to improve their work habits and have been encouraged to realize that at least they are not as bad as that guy.
Our HR commentary:Watching Homer Simpson at work, you have to wonder “Who the heck was that guy’s hiring manager?” Can you imagine what kind of antics would have turned up on his background check? The show’s writers are missing out on comic gold by not covering that in an episode. Talk about a company in need of help with its hiring process! Employee Appreciation Day idea inspired by Mr. Simpson: Donut buffet.
SpongeBob Square Pants SpongeBob loves his job as a short order cook at the Krusty Krab, and he’s good at it, too. We salute his positive attitude and work ethic, although his mannerism and overly outward personality can at times feel like an assault on the senses. What he lacks in workplace etiquette he does make up for in song-and-dance routines, however. Because he doesn’t ever intentionally mean to annoy anyone, it’s funny to us. For Squidward, not so much.
Our HR commentary:Could you have a more energetic or optimistic employee? That type of enthusiasm in the workplace is definitely needed — in moderation, of course. When it begins to become a distraction to his coworkers, that’s when a constructive conversation should occur. Maybe Mr. Krabs could conduct such conversations 2,000 leagues under the sea. Employee Appreciation Day idea inspired by the square-pantsed one: Karaoke and line dancing lunch hour.
Mike Wazowski and Sully In a world where monsters generate their city’s power by opening random doors and scaring children, the Monsters Inc. team of Mike Wazowski and Sully are the undisputed company champs. They always bring in the most screams and are hailed by management as the greatest thing since sliced bread. They are good guys and dedicated workers and deserve to be recognized and rewarded for their achievements, including induction into our Hall of Fame.
Our HR commentary: Mike and Sully rock, there’s no doubt, but their rock star status might have inadvertently worked against the larger team they belonged to at the company. Even putting creepy, evil Randall aside, when team leaders focus too much on just the brightest shining gems in the company, they miss out on the diamonds in the rough. Missing opportunities to build up the rest of your team can really stifle growth, create internal resentment and discourage other talented employees. Employee Appreciation Day idea inspired by Monsters Inc.’s most famous duo:Door prizes, of course.
Fred Flintstone The world’s most famous prehistoric “bronto crane operator” (we believe the more politically correct title “geological engineer”) is anything but your typical quarry employee. He works at Slate Rock and Gravel Company, and even though his boss, Mr. Slate, has fired him on many occasions, Fred’s better work traits always seem to win him his job back at the end.
Our HR commentary:Fred Flintstone may be loveable but he is definitely the kind of employee who needs help keeping his emotions in check on the job. If you have a lot of Freds on your team, you probably should have training for managers on how to work with “drama queens” and other distracting personalities, as well as some team training on how to communicate more effectively. Employee Appreciation Day idea inspired by our favorite caveman:Company bowling tournament.
George Jetson
He works at Spacely’s Sprockets turning the Referential Universal Digital Indexer (R.U.D.I.) on and off. It’s reassuring to know that in the future a nine-hour workweek full of button pushing may be the norm. We must also admit that the we like the idea of someday being able to come home from the office to find that housework consists of pressing more buttons, when it’s not being done by a robotic maid, of course.
Our HR commentary:More than 50 years after ‘The Jetsons’ first aired on TV, there are still so many workplace communication issues in those episodes that are relevant. Email, texting, social media and other technological advances haven’t cured the problems. In some cases these modern conveniences have actually made the communication problem worse. One accidental reply-all email or ill-worded voicemail can make you want to just scream “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!” Employee Appreciation Day idea inspired by the Mr. Spacely’s star button pusher: This is a tough one. Maybe a ’60s inspired lunch theme and serve moon pies all around?
After hearing from clients and colleagues undergoing organizational restructuring, I’m totally confounded by their descriptions of what’s happening. Managers are brought in from “corporate” or outside the organization and placed in positions to make changes without gathering any input from current managers who are running successful business units.
Yes, I get that company execs can change strategy and supporting structure(s) when and how they want to. It’s the processes they use that are most concerning – especially when they seem designed to disengage. Like changing job responsibilities with no consideration or input from the managers and employees in those roles. Or telling people they have to re-apply for their current jobs. While such an approach might be a way to eliminate under-performers, it’s insulting to those who perform at or above expected levels.
Executives who initiate strategic changes without engaging current managers in the process disrespect them by dismissing their institutional knowledge and experience working in their respective departments.
While organizational change isn’t easy. it doesn’t have to be made more painful by those in charge.
“The trick is to know what to change when. And to achieve that there is no substitute for a leadership with an intimate understanding of the organization working with a workforce that is respected and trusted.” Dr. Henry Mintzberg
Caspar-the-friendly-ghost may be harmless, but ghosting at work is not — for either the individual or employer brand.
The practice of “ghosting” – when one person ends a relationship without warning or explanation – has spread from the dating scene to the workplace. It occurs when people:
Don’t show up for job interviews
Don’t show up for their first day on the job or don’t return to work after starting a new job
Quit with no notice.
The term “ghosting” may be new but the phenomenon is not, as I recently learned. The long-time owner of a retail service business shared her experience with new employees who didn’t return to work after lunch their first day on the job. She attributed it to an inability to admit dislike of the work and/or an inflated sense of self-importance; i.e., “I don’t need to let the boss know I don’t care to work here anymore.”
According to HR professional Tina R. Hamilton, “Ghosting is the new word for an old problem.
“Since I entered the world of HR in the 1980’s, employees no-showed for work or seemed to drop off the face of the earth, and applicants suddenly disappeared just when you thought you had a good one. It is an unfortunate situation [and] I think that, in some cases, employers can look within and see if there is anything more they could have done to keep the employee/applicant more engaged in the process or in the job.”
The economy and some employers are also partly to blame Today’s low unemployment, in which employees have more job opportunities and companies are challenged to find and keep talent, is one reason for increased ghosting at work.
The quality of a company’s culture and leadership also impacts ghosting. Frustrated and/or burned out employees find it easier to disengage from a toxic situation by leaving without notice; i.e., “If the people in management don’t care about me, why should I care about them?”
Another contributing factor is the backlash to years of HR ghosting when prospective employees get no response to applying for jobs (with their resumes “falling into HR’s black hole”) and when serious job candidates hear nothing from a company after completing one or more interviews. Here’s Hamilton’s take on this:
“As far as employers notifying applicants, there are so many options with technology that can notify applicants automatically that there is almost no excuse to not notify applicants. Even if an employer does not have an applicant tracking system, they can save reject applicants with a simple email reply. It fairs poorly on the employer if they do not respond in some way, especially if it involves an applicant who has spent time in a live interview process.
“In a tight labor market like we have today, it is critical to have your company look its best in the eyes of the applicants.”
Regardless of the economy, employers and employees need to be professional and responsible when dealing with each other.
When it comes to communicating about applying for, starting, or leaving a job, any form of ghosting is unacceptable as it reflects poorly on the source. In this case, no news isn’t good news.
Here is a sample of situations in which it works. Use it when you:
