Culture to Engage

To Ask Is To Answer Is To Ask

Let's go back to communication. That's what I will always believe is the most important employee engagement tool a manager utilizes.

I remember one of my favorite managers. I reported to Tom for a couple of my 20+ years in the telecom industry, long time ago but still clear in my memory.

Tom could never be blamed for not ensuring his employees were fully informed. He talked with us. He brought outside resources in to talk with us. Here's what I think he did the very best: he asked questions.

Tom asked us lots of all sorts of questions. But the one that jumped up in my memory this morning was this:

Do you have any questions for me today?

Maybe Tom did not ask that every day, but often enough that it kept our communication with him--and his communication with us--wide open.

And because Tom wove more specific questions in to his answers to our questions, two-way conversation was always guaranteed.

Any questions

The Difference Difference Makes

I often hear manager's I support say, in effect, "the new generation just doesn't get it." Those managers are usually my counterpart Boomers. And to be sure, in management ranks, we are of visibly decreasing numbers, but I don't think it's just fear of being outnumbered that generates the misunderstandings.

The posting below is from Cheri Baker's The Enlightened Manager. Cheryl's insights, from the Gen X/Gen Y perspective(s), are valuable.

Communicating Across Generations - Words Matter.

Posted: 16 Jun 2008 10:15 AM CDT

I've attended a fair number of these so-called "generational" talks over the last couple years. Most of these talks focus on the differences between people based upon their relative ages. Generation Xers (my group) is supposed to be fiercely independent and hard working. Generation Y (also known as the Millenials) are said to have a different notion of "work ethic" than the rest of us - focusing on outputs instead of time at the desk.

So what happens when generations collide? Misunderstandings can occur. Let me highlight a point from a recent consulting assignment.

I was working with a local medical clinic on an employee development program, and one of the issues that surfaced was that the team felt like they didn't get enough recognition. This issue kept coming up, and it frankly baffled the clinic leadership. The organization in question did spend quite a bit of effort recognizing employees, including a service award program, an annual award dinner, regular performance feedback, and a generally friendly and welcoming culture.

So there was this gulf. The clinic employees (many of them younger) who felt under appreciated, and the clinic leadership (many of them older) were confused. What did these employees expect? Daily recognition parades?

We did a group dialog exercise, and one of the things that came out of the discussion was this notion that for many of the younger workers, when they said "recognition" what they meant was that they wanted small appreciative "touches" throughout the day. Saying "please and thank you" in an appreciative way meant more than getting fancy awards. Having a boss say "thanks for your hard work today" meant more than a fancy annual dinner.

Suddenly, the clinic leadership had a little 'ahah' moment. Our workers don't want parades, they want respect. They want us to know we see what they do - and they want feedback. That may be different than what we are used to doing, but it's not a hardship.

I mentioned this story to a employee recognition expert, the talented Teresa Chambers, and she said that yes, the younger generation is looking for regular verbal approval and appreciation.

The key here was that when the employees said "we want more recognition", that the word "recognition" had a different meaning than the leaders expected.

I suspect that when it comes down to generational differences, there is a lot that can be explored simply by clarifying what each group "means" by a particular set of words. When we get to the meaning behind the language, we may be closer to bridging the gap than we ever suspected.

If you have any thoughts to add to this post - please leave a comment so everyone can enjoy it!

Methods of recognizing and motivating employees are really not that different among the generations. Frederick Herzberg  published his research on dual factors of employee motivation almost 40 years ago. He pointed out that employees derived satisfaction from the presence of motivator "touches" as Baker mentions above:

• Achievement
• Recognition
• Job Opportunity

And on a less direct-link note, employees were dissatisfied by the absence or lack of hygiene factors such as:

• Salary
• Benefits
• Working Conditions

Industrial psychologists have not denied Herzberg's accuracy. My work with employees in all 3 generational groups convinces me that motivator touches: a compliment, public congratulations, signs of personal interest (without their being probing) have recognition value to those in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (like me, next year.)

The recognition touches Cheri distinguishes are the out-of-the-ordinary (but should not be too rewards for work well done). The hygiene factors are of-the-ordinary, presumed as part of the work package. The latter are expected, the former are appreciated...across generations, I would say.

Compliments to Cheri for making me think some more about the need for clarified communications.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10689546@N06/2209321754/

Simple Improvement Can Be the Best

Truth: How (well) a manager communicates with employees directly affects their engagement.

We're probably on the same page that just telling your employees to "get engaged!" only produces short-lived engagement, if any.

I'm confident, too, we agree that how you share ideas, opportunities, challenges, changes, assignments and more can affect how much they engage

Truth: How (well) a manager communicates with employees can be improved.

We learned to speak at an early age. We've done lots of it. We've gotten used to it. We know how to talk. We know what we want to say. We take it all for granted.

But simple efforts can improve that communication.

Conclusion (and pretty much a Truth): A little attention to how (well) you communicate information to engage your employees can have a big impact upon their engagement.

Situation: Your organization is increasing emphasis on customer satisfaction. You want your people to buy into the commitment, accept the responsibility, and engage in contributing to greater customer satisfaction.

 

Be Clear. Say what is true. Say it briefly. Say it simply. In the next quarter we want to increase client satisfaction scores by 5 points or more.

Be Uncluttered. Exclude opinion, qualification, and variation. Use simple examples that support only the main point. We want satisfaction increases in all areas on the survey: reception/waiting room, care staff, physicians, and office follow-up.

Be Energetic. Say it like you mean it. Say it like it means something. (Place your example here!)

Be Involving. Engage employees in the conversation from the get-go. Invite responses, thoughts, ideas. Ask questions and listen to answers. How might we contribute to this effort? What can you 'see' yourself doing to raise the scores? What can you project increased satisfaction looks/sounds like?

Remember, the intent is to improve how (well) your communication stimulates engagement. Try these three tips when planning what you'll say. These will help you include those Be's above.

• Say your message to yourself. Say it again.

• Ask, "What is the truth and nothing but the truth?" Now, say your message yet again.

• Plan specific questions. Put together what you know of your message, your individual people, and the current attitude-mosphere.

10 Hot-n-Heavy Ways Your Stories Can Serve

I've recently given lots of blogspace to storytelling as communication, engagement, and management tools in the past few weeks. I'm even offering an audio conference next week on the topic.

But where do the stories fit in all the communication that management produces? What are the stories to be about and what purpose do they serve?

Ryan Matthews, founder of Black Monk Consulting, has written What's Your Story? Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands. He also has a related  article in the May issue of Chief Learning Officer, about storytelling as a valuable management tool.

I believe Matthews' list of possible story functions is the most valuable part of the article. It's the list that can stimulate your and your people's thinking of where the stories can come from. Matthews writes:

Stories can be used to establish, renew or promote brands, help position corporations and build and communicate internal corporate culture. They can scale, too, doing everything from helping individuals demonstrate they’re the right person for a job to selling the value proposition of entire industries.

Storytelling has 10 essential functions or roles, any or all of which have application in the world of business. It can be used to:

• Explain origins.
• Define individual and group identity.
• Communicate tradition and delineate taboo.
• Simplify complex issues and provide perspective.
• Illustrate the natural order of things.
• Overview complex history in a concise way.
• Demonstrate moral and ethical positions and transfer and preserve core values.
• Illustrate relationships with authority.
• Describe appropriate responses to life or model behavior.
• Define rewards and detail the paths to salvation (or success) and damnation (or failure).

Each one of the 10 "functions" reveals how storytelling contributes to awareness and communication of the organization's culture. Such stories personify and personalize the organization.

Culture gives reason(s) for employee engagement. Employee engagement provides the ABC (attitude-behavior-commitment) for performance that leads to results. Results mark the organization's success.

Ready to start working on some of the story areas above? Don't forget to involve your team. Their insights and experiences may be invaluable.  Feel free to join me for my Manage Magic with Stories audio conference next Thursday, 5/22.

 

 

Story, Story. Who's Got a Story?

Uh, everyone! 

Everyone wants to share their story/stories.

Everyone wants to experience success.

Everyone wants to make a difference.

Those three facts definitely link to one another. The stories reflect successes--even/especially stories about failures that lead to later success. And a strong motive for sharing stories is to provide insights to others, to make a difference for them. Do you sense how engaging in a little story-sharing can unleash engagement among the participants?

All you have to do is provide opportunities for you and your team to unleash those desires.

Here is the first example (of who-knows-how-many) ways you can make sharing of people's stories a key part of your organization's culture. NOTE: Story-sharing is a specific form of engagement.

Introduce Story Power to your organization's culture. Here's a simple summary of the process you can follow:

1. Communicate the reasons for everyone having their own story or stories...and being willing to share them.
2. Provide ample time and resources for your people to develop (and become comfortable with) their stories.
3. Offer non-threatening opportunities for team members to share their stories.
4. Celebrate the infusion of stories and story-sharing in a variety of ways.

So, here's a bit more detail on the how-to of each of those 4 steps:

Communicate

• Review the reasons stories and sharing those stories make a difference in an organization.
• Develop your own story and be willing/eager to share it as a lead-off example.
• Invite informal, open-ended discussion from your team about values they know and have experienced from sharing stories with others.

Resources

• Provide every staff member a copy of the Build a Story tips.
• Make how-is-it-going discussion time available for people to discuss their success/difficulty in developing their stories. (A staff-meeting agenda item?)
• Make books and other information about the art and value of storytelling available. You may check this bibliography.

Opportunities

• The Story Hour: once a month hold a one-hour, informal reception in which just a few of your members share their stories. Refreshments are a good idea.
• The Story Magazine: stories can be written and shared as well. Invite members to write their stories, edit them, and submit them to an office publication.
• The Story Celebration: once story-sharing has become an accepted and practiced element of your organization's culture, build to major story-shares. Volunteers might share a holiday story at the holiday party. Individuals might recall and share stories brought to mind by memorable events such as moving to a new location, a change in leadership, the loss of a loved team member. These are only examples; your team's ideas will be much better.

Celebrate

• Encourage continuing reference to the stories shared. (Paul, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. I've enjoyed reflecting on it.)
• Express thanks that individuals are willing to share both personal and professional stories.
• Offer encouragement to stimulate more story-sharing. ($5 gift cards are good encouragers.)
• Post recognition on bulletin boards. (If you didn't hear Patsy's story about her childhood victory, ask her to tell it to you.)

And b/t/w...next Thursday, 5/22, 4-5:30 EDT, I'm offering my Manage Magic with Stories audio
conference. We'll cover so much more than is here!

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aprilbmoore/2266391264/