Tag: quotes

Categories
Engagement

Favorite Quotes on Why Employee Engagement is Still a Challenge

“Employers, challenged by globalization, low productivity, wage pressure and talent shortages are not investing in people as they once did. They have gone from a traditional role of being builders of talent to consumers of work.” Jonas Prising, Human Age 2.0: Future Forces at Work

” … true employee engagement rests on building better leadership and approach to people. It’s not about picnics and awards.”  Deb Lavoy

“Why is demonstrating real respect and value for your employees so difficult? Maybe because it isn’t in the DNA of financially-focused CEOs and/or it’s not high in the list of outcome metrics for which they’re held accountable.” Bill McEwen

‘” … employees choose to engage when a company connects with them as human beings and not as resources.” Paul Hebert

“Enlightened employers know that committed and engaged employees are the critical resource for continuous innovation, effectiveness and productivity. They know that the people doing the actual work often know more than the people in the executive suite about what’s needed in order to succeed. Respect for employee flows from respect for their contributions.” Dr. Judith M. Bardwick

“The result of continually undermining employees’ efforts, particularly when they’re performing according to company standards, is increased employee frustration and disengagement.” Sybil F. Stershic

“People work just hard enough to not get fired, and companies pay employees just enough that they don’t quit.” Paul Kiewiet

Categories
Marketing

Revisiting the Old “New Different” for Marketers

It’s been nearly seven years since I featured excerpts from Chris Bonney‘s white paper, The View from the Front, about adapting to the recession in my post, Help For Marketers Dealing with the “New Different.”

Back then …

What’s amazing to me is how little conditions have actually changed since Chris described them in 2009:

  • “Consumers have become dangerously polarized over even the most innocuous of subjects. Political feelings have become so polarized among some people that this anxiety has spilled over into the consumer marketplace.”
  • “Trust in institutions isn’t what it used to be. Whether in religion, commerce, sports, government, science or technology, individual and institutional models of propriety and high ethical standards are, well, fewer.”
  • “There are not just new words in our vocabulary, but entire new ways of interacting with other people. [Social media] has its own patois and a different level of engagement and expectation than traditional verbal and written communications. Navigating this new way of communicating is more than just plugging your old communications techniques into ‘social media.'”
  • “We are undeniably part of a complex global economy. One of the biggest battles raging in the United States … is between the nationalists and the internationalists. The former thinks it’s as easy as throwing up a wall. The latter embrace the variety and connectedness of a wider world life.”
  • “We don’t use information like we used to … We’ve evolved from a nation that had fewer, but more reliable sources of news and information into a nation of self-selecting information consumers … News and information [also] has a much briefer half-life.

And now …

Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup CEO, reflects on the reality of today’s business environment in a more recent article, Human Age 2.0: Future Forces at Work:

“Many expected that as the recession subsided the world would return to business as usual. That hasn’t happened. The recovery is unlike any other and so is the business environment. Both are less stable and harder to predict, yielding new challenges and opportunities. Businesses will need to plan for uncertainty and be built for change. What is certain is the uncertainty that lies ahead and that we will see the effects of this acceleration of structural and cyclical forces.”

What’s a marketer to do?

How do you effectively compete in a continuing uncertain market? I agree with Chris, who advocates going back to the fundamentals in recognizing that consumers STILL:

  • “need reasons and confidence to spend.”
  • “need to know how products and services will enhance and integrate into their lives.”
  • “want something to get excited about.”

And we, as marketers, still “need to understand how to communicate with consumers in ways that are relevant and timely.”

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

“Hoping to Help” – Lessons in Global Health Volunteering

Whether providing relief after a natural disaster or rendering humanitarian aid to countries in need, we’re familiar with the importance of international medical missions. The inspirational stories told by returning volunteers describe the desperate and challenging needs of the people served and their deep gratitude in receiving medical aid. The volunteers, themselves, are forever changed as a result of their experiences.

Presumably everyone involved benefits from such missions – the countries in need and the volunteers. But to what extent? Beyond the obvious good-will, what’s really happening in these situations and what can we learn from them?

In her new book, Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering, Judith N. Lasker, N.E.H. Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University, explores the benefits and costs of such missions. She studied the impact of short-term (two weeks or less) medical missions through interviews and surveys with three key groups: the sponsoring organizations (religious, educational, non-faith based NGOs, and corporations); the people who volunteer (medical and non-medical); and the host communities. Lasker’s research covered the following:

  • the level of cultural training given to volunteers prior to their trip, ranging from thorough to insufficient background information on the host country’s situation and culture
  • how volunteer resources were deployed
  • the true costs involved, including travel, logistics, medical supplies and equipment etc., and their effects on donors, volunteers, and recipients
  • cultural sensitivity and the resulting impact on volunteers and host countries
  • needs assessments, program measurement, and outcome evaluations
  • capacity-building and the sustainability of such missions.

Was it good for you, too?
The importance of “mutuality,” in which all parties mutually benefit, is a major theme throughout the book. According to Lasker:

“Achieving mutuality is one of the many challenges sponsoring organizations must try to address. Host-community members want more than helpful visitors with skills and resources, although these are valuable and greatly appreciated. They want to be involved in the work programs undertaken by volunteer organizations, and they want to be respected. They want a relationship of equality in which each partner learns from and benefits from the other. … an ongoing relationship of respect, collaboration, and exchange, if not with individual volunteers, at least with the representatives of the [sponsoring] organizations.”

She also explored the elements of cultural sensitivity and understanding, respect, and empathy by volunteers and the sponsoring organizations participating in international missions. Lasker found that:

“to treat the volunteer’s experience or the organization’s reputation or religious priorities as on a par with, or even more important than, the benefits to hosts is to exploit poor communities for the benefit of people from wealthier countries.”

Lessons for other nonprofits
While “Hoping to Help” addresses global health volunteering, many of its recommended practices are applicable to other health and social services nonprofits:

  • Foster mutuality among ALL parties involved, including those who benefit from the mission and those who help support the mission (e.g., volunteers, employees, donors, etc.).
  • Conduct needs assessments with and among those benefiting from the services offered.
  • Strengthen volunteer training and preparation.
  • Maintain continuity of programming/services, as needed.
  • Evaluate process and outcomes, incorporating the results into continuous improvement.
  • Build capacity for the long term.

Sensitivity and empathy are also important for volunteers and nonprofit organizations. Lasker reinforces this by citing the following:

“Without the wisdom of humility, altruistic behavior can lead to self-delusion, compassion can become an obsession, and both may generate a damaging sense of hubris.”  Dr. Jack Coulehan, emeritus professor, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University.

A valuable reminder for everyone helping anyone.

Categories
Engagement

Favorite Volunteer Quotes

While anytime is a good time to acknowledge volunteers for their dedication to helping others, National Volunteer Week provides a special opportunity to celebrate their efforts.

In support of National Volunteer Week, here are my favorite quotes on the tremendous value of volunteers.

“Volunteering is so pervasive it’s invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.”  Susan J. Ellis

“Volunteers … work not for money but because they want to give back, make a difference, change the world.”  Sally Helgesen

“Volunteers are not servants. Volunteers are partners working together for improving America’s future.”  Mayor Richard J. Daly

“At the risk of oversimplifying, we should make it a habit to treat volunteers like donors. Just as we should be appreciative for every financial gift big or small, we should be just as appreciative for every single gift of time and talent.”  Vu Le

“A volunteer is like a rare gem. When placed in the right setting and cared for, they will shine and give pleasure to all who see them.”  Unknown

“Volunteerism is currency that appreciates.”  Susan J. Ellis

“Volunteers are precious resources. Treat them carefully and with the respect they deserve.”  Sybil F. Stershic

While this next quote doesn’t specifically mention volunteers, it could have been stated with them in mind.

“If you don’t believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”  Anita Roddick

Categories
Engagement Training & Development

What’s the Matter with Management? It’s Not What You Think

Actually, the question should be “What’s the matter with managing?” as I’m hearing from more colleagues who tell me they still love their work, but they dislike the managing people part.

I shared my concern about this with Mary Theresa Taglang (MT), who has a background in HR and is now the Director of Lehigh University’s Master of Science in Management program. We talked about what MT called “the seismic economic shift that began with outsourcing and hit its zenith in 2008 when the economy soured and many experienced managers were let go and replaced with younger, cheaper and inexperienced managers focusing only on the bottom line.”

We also discussed:

  • the decline and continued lack of corporate America’s investment in management development that’s still considered “soft-skills” training
  • technology that allows for more communication and task efficiency that also results in unrealistic demands of being available to work 24/7
  • mixed generations who multi-task and communicate differently
  • the ongoing stress of changing priorities, budget challenges, and internal politics
  • the resulting frustration of experienced managers who are tired of it all and not yet able to retire.

We could spend hours lamenting what’s the matter with managing these days, but my concern is the message we’re sending to young professionals. How do we keep from discouraging prospective managers? Based on her overall career experience, MT was both candid and realistic in her response: “Suck it up or go out on your own. That’s the only way to be in control of your own destiny.”

Yes, people interested in management roles need go in with their eyes wide open. In addition, what else can be done to better prepare people for the workplace – in both managerial and non-managerial roles? Your thoughts, please.

Categories
Customer service Engagement

Companies Get Lucky (?) with Partial Engagement

“I love working with my customers. They’re what keep me engaged. Can’t say I feel the same about the company I work for.”

“I’m upset by the lack of professionalism in my office. Co-workers dress sloppily. They curse in the office and don’t seem to take work seriously.  What keeps me going are the conversations I have with my counterparts in other offices.”

These highlight discussions I had recently with business professionals in different fields. I’ve heard similar sentiments from employees who stay engaged for the satisfaction of working with their customers and/or co-workers. According to a TINYPulse study on engagement and organizational culture, “Peers and camaraderie are the number one reason employees go the extra mile … not the money. Camaraderie plays the true motivating role in encouraging employees to outperform expectations.

Enjoying their work with co-workers and customers is key to employees being engaged, but it’s not enough. Total engagement happens when employees connect on three fundamental levels:

  • with the organization itself  – when employees understand the organization’s purpose and strategy, including knowing where they fit in and what’s expected of them.
  • with customers – when employees know who the customers are and what is important to them so employees can better serve them.
  • with fellow employees – when employees also understand and respect how everyone’s work is interconnected in achieving organizational goals.

The people I spoke to acknowledged they’re not disengaged, just partially engaged. How fortunate for their employers. But I can’t help wondering how much better they and their respective companies would be if they were fully engaged on all levels.

As Meatloaf sang, “two out of three ain’t bad.”  Or is it?

 

 

 

Categories
Engagement

There’s No “Me” in Leadership

I spoke recently with a colleague about the organizational damage done by CEOs whose egos outweigh their management and people skills. Rather than creating a legacy of their greatness, these executives often leave a toxic workplace in their wake.

“If a leader with a big ego and threatening manner takes over, employees become focused on satisfying the leader instead of focusing on the organization’s mission. … Big threatening egos produce apathy as they focus on the ‘me’ instead of ‘we.’  They refocus most people on protecting themselves from the wrath of egos. Hardly the path to success.”  Kate Nasser in a post about leadership.

Ultimately, as my colleague pointed out, “The organization’s culture should be bigger than any one person.” The good news is most organizations are resilient and can survive such executives.

But at what cost?

The fallout is low morale, high disengagement, and high turnover that result in a weakened internal brand struggling to retain or attract talent. With the right leader in place, however, the organization can recover.

It just takes a lot longer for employees who had to suffer through the former CEO’s reign of terror.

 

Categories
Engagement

Why You Can’t Dismiss Corporate Culture

Corporate culture is intangible, but you can feel it and see it in action. It’s evident in how employees work together, how they treat each other (and customers) in the process, and how effective the collective organization is in pursuing its goals.

Corporate culture is a true reflection of the real values of an organization. And it’s the proverbial “elephant in the room” in places where the company’s stated values don’t align with actual values. That’s why culture dominates strategic execution (“culture eats strategy”) and why it can’t be dismissed.  According to Edgar Schein, professor emeritus at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and author of several classic books on corporate culture:

“We tend to think we can separate strategy from culture, but we fail to notice that in most organizations strategic thinking is deeply colored by tacit assumptions about who they are and what their mission is.”

Here are more great quotes on corporate culture:

“I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” – Louis Gerstner

“The culture you create or the culture you destroy will determine the success of your business.” Rebecca L. Ray

“You can’t copy culture. …  Culture is very specific to an organization, the leadership, the employee mix and time. It’s not something you can just cut and paste into another organization.”  Tim Sackett

“A quick Google search on ‘how to create a great corporate culture’ reveals … really fantastic ideas, but they won’t ensure you a great culture. At best, they set the stage for great culture to (hopefully) arise and at worst, they are unsustainable gestures meant to game culture rather than create something genuine.” Susan Piver

“No matter how brilliant or insightful your business strategy is, a badly aligned culture will defeat it.” Don Peppers

Categories
Engagement

What Matters in Recognition and Employee Engagement: Interview with Zane Safrit

I met Zane Safrit by phone several years ago when he interviewed me on his radio show, and we’ve stayed in touch to share our work in employee engagement and organizational leadership. Our most recent conversation centered on employee happiness as a factor in employee engagement.

Zane has held numerous positions ranging from customer service rep to CEO over the course of his impressive career where he applied employee recognition and engagement for positive results. He’s now a successful business consultant helping companies do the same. He’s also the author of Recognize THEM!: 52 Ways to Recognize Your Employees In Ways They Value and The Engaged Hiring Process: A Simple Plan to Help You Hire the Best. Zane’s latest book, First, Engage Yourself, shares do-able steps that managers can use to create a culture of engagement. I’m honored to feature him on my blog.

QSM: Zane, let’s start with the of importance of recognizing employees. What matters in recognition that we’re not doing?

Zane: The “What” matters less in employee recognition than the “Who.” The employee in employee recognition matters most.

  • How do they like being recognized? A personal note, a conversation – informal or formal, a gift, a plaque.
  • When do they like being recognized? Are they a morning person or an afternoon person? That depends on their work demands and those who deserve recognition are very committed to their work – their team, their customers, their integrity. Choose the time when it interferes the least.
  • Where, in private or in a meeting, standing in front of the group or with the group?

Use their name, articulate what’s being recognized and why, communicate why and how it matters to you and those around you. Then find the right venue to share that recognition. The right venue is the one that matters most to the person being recognized.

Otherwise, they will have difficulties digesting this just dessert, and the recognition loses its impact at best and is counter-productive at worst. Like a politician popping up at an event for which they deserve no credit, you’ll give a speech, blah blah, leaving the recipient feeling awkward. You’ll have missed a great opportunity to honor that person and build a relationship with trust and engagement.

QSM: If employee recognition is so basic, why is it so difficult to apply/practice?

Zane: Employee recognition is built on the virtues of compassion and empathy. They’re innate, we’re born with them. Like seeds, they only need a chance to set roots in our behaviors and perceptions. After that we’ll find the means to nurture them or not.

Too much of our culture fails to nurture those qualities. That’s being generous to say it like that. Too much of our culture degrades, denigrates, demoralizes those who show empathy and compassion, patience, forgiveness.

In too many corporate cultures, careers are built and rewarded on the basis of denying compassion and empathy. The hard-charging, tough-minded, gets-things-done-no-matter-what manager is rewarded with perks and privileges and moves up the career ladder. Employees watch, learn and change. They change their behavior and attitudes to better emulate those they see moving ahead.

Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, wrote: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

So, as long as the rewards are weighted towards disengaging behaviors many people will change to deny their natural tendencies or they’ll favor the development of other, less healthy tendencies of narcissism, arrogance, betrayal. That will keep it difficult to engage in healthy, sustaining ways with each other.

We have the choice. We can create our own conversations which lead to cultures. It’s always a choice. And it’s understandable which choices are taken.

QSM: Do you think employee engagement is still relevant? Where do you see engagement 5-10 years from now?

Zane: I have a love/hate relationship with the term “employee engagement.”

I love it for serving as an umbrella under which we can gather to discuss, debate, create and clarify the many activities, issues and factors related to creating a place to work where we’re proud, happy and productive.

I hate it for its sterile academic tone and because it’s being co-opted by too many experts who’d rather you engage with them than with each other: your peers and colleagues and direct reports.

What happens 5-10 years from now? We’ll always have engagement and the best organizations – the ones with the highest purpose that are most sustaining and most profitable – will have the highest engagement. That being said, expectations of and definitions of best will change. We’ll see significant changes to institutions, social norms, organizational climate, the economy, politics. Those will change the expectations around what’s considered engaged, what’s our highest hopes for an engaged workplace or community and what we need to survive.

QSM: As a business professional, what do you think should be taught in schools (K-12 and college) to prepare students to be engaged, productive members of the workplace?

Zane: I love this question! It ties in with the question about if it’s so basic, why’s it so difficult to practice.

I think these negative reinforcements, rewards for the wrong behavior start as children enter school. No, this isn’t a diatribe about teachers or even common core and standardized tests. No, this started when John Dewey began lining kids up in rows of desks to sit silent and only raise a hand when called on and to work diligently, by themselves, to memorize only what’s presented and to never-ever ask Why, What if, Why Not? That prepared them, us, to sit in orderly rows of cubicles and look to the manager and bosses for direction and appropriate behaviors.

I’m not a childhood education expert. I don’t have kids. I don’t even have a pet. And I’ve never stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, either.

However, the skills of communication and collaboration, of team-work and team-building, of helping, of recognizing what makes each child unique as well as what commonalities are shared and, yes, of competition should be taught. Writing, debating, creating, art, theater, rhetoric, painting, drawing, music, athletics especially with team sports, those should be funded once again. These are all activities that help children learn to listen, to understand, to communicate ideas and find common ground, to collaborate and create together and to embrace diversity of ideas, even failures. These are activities that nurture those innate virtues of compassion and empathy.

Standardized tests work well with testing equipment not people.

Teachers, I believe, want the resources and mandates to teach to learn not to pass those tests.

I hope this stirs a discussion.

QSM: Thanks, Zane!

To continue the discussion, I invite you who are reading this post to comment: What do you think should be taught in schools to prepare students to be engaged and productive members of the workplace?

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Employees: Much More than Human Resources

As the face of your brand, employees are your organization’s key contributor to sustainable, competitive differentiation. Think of it this way: product and service innovation can be short-lived in a crowded and commoditized market, but the one thing technology cannot replace and competitors cannot copy is your employees’ relationship with customers.

Here are several great quotes on why employees are critical to an organization’s success.

“When employees are happy, they’re better ambassadors and advocates for the brand. They’re your first point of contact. When you’re at a cocktail party, and you’re talking to some, and they say, ‘I love my company,’ you can’t put a price on that.” Alison DaSilva

“Companies can ignore their internal audience – but that’s as short-sighted as ignoring the external one.” Bill McEwen

“If your organization values the individual, you will inspire the individual to value your organization.” Doug Conant

” … emphasis on people-related issues makes perfect sense in a still-uncertain economy. Building a culture that supports engagement, employee training, leadership development, and high performance is something companies can control, and can mean the difference between growing market share and simply surviving … ”  Rebecca Ray

“The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.”  Sybil Stershic

“Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.” – Francis Hesselbein

“Everyone wants to be part of something … everyone wants to feel that they are valued, that they made a difference. To the degree we can celebrate our people, that’s our greatest weapon, our greatest tool.” Bob Wood