Culture to Engage

Do You Dare?

 As Independence Day approaches, I wonder how much freedom we can stand and how much we can stand to allow our employees.

Within appropriate limits (your definition) what would be your 5 answers to this question:

To make your work more interesting and more enjoyable, what changes would you make?

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .

Now, without any limits except that you fulfill expectations and time requirements, what 5 answers would you give the same question:

To make your work more interesting and more enjoyable, what changes would you make?

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .

Those questions were meant just to warm you up. Here are the real thinkers:

• Would you offer those two questions to your reporting employees?

• Would you discuss and consider their first set of answers? Their second set of answers?

• What benefits might come from this activity and its discussion...for you, your employees, your team?

I hope you'll comment...and comment on the comments.

It Seems So Simple

The tremendous stir of information, energy, enthusiasm, and ideas regarding "employee engagement" is

1. Exciting
2. Surprising
3. Valuable
4. Amazing
5. Puzzling
6. Enter your word here: _____________
7. All of the above

I wonder, though, if we might be making it more complex than it ought to be.

Below are several related conclusions, drawn from more than 300 hours of research conducted since 2005.

• A manager’s responsibility is to develop high-quality performers among her employees.

• The manager should balance his attention to engagement, performance, and results.

• Employees who are actively engaged in their work perform more favorably, more productively, and more positively.

• Employees' performance produces results like customer satisfaction and loyalty, error reduction, improved candidate recruitment, enhanced employee retention, greater employee satisfaction/morale/productivity.

• Complementary attention to Engagement, Performance, Results requires an innovative approach to management.

• Managers must convey clear job expectations and promote employees’ desire to engage in fulfilling those expectations.

• Managers need to give employees opportunities to engage in continuous development, that they may achieve expected results more readily.

• Managers coach and mentor employee performance; they also support engagement not only in one's job but in related areas such as company objectives, professional and functional networks, career achievement, and community support.

• Managers need continuous awareness of ways to infuse their everyday management tasks with communication, opportunities, and resources that stimulate engagement.

Talkin' Inspiration

A leader/manager can choose to be the continuous source of inspiration to her employees, or she can opt to provide inspiration they might own for themselves.

Given that you have a great deal of work to do, I'm betting the second option is more appealing.

Keeping in mind the distinction between inspiration and motivation, I offer you 4 conversation techniques you can use to plant the inspiration seed (or spark the inspiration flame?)...and then turn it over for your people to nurture (or fan) themselves.

These techniques are based entirely upon communication with your employees. The communication is very definitely two-way; it is not at all your telling them the inspirational.

Take a look:

Talk about the company. Whether it's early in one's time on board or not, it is never too late (or too often) to talk about the company, its goals and objectives, its plans, its structure, its policy and procedures, and more. Once the conversation is rolling, ask the employee for his insights, his observations, his perceptions of the company. This encourages his sense of ownership of the company's meaning and matter, and it provides you the opportunity to clarify and expand as necessary. Both an ownership sense and an increased awareness can fuel his inspired view of where he works.

Talk about expectations. A key to successful employee engagement is clear understanding of what is expected. You can move to inspired engagement by expanding employee perspectives on expectations. You may express what the job expectations are and what the general company expectations of those in its workforce are. Then ask the employee for her expectations. What does she expect from the company? What does she expect of herself and her performance? What expectations does she have of her manager/supervisor?  This, too, is not just an orientation conversation. This can happen any time (and more than once) in an individual's career.

Talk about can do. Don't allow the job, the job description, the job function to limit any individual. As manager/leader you have the power to engage an employee in discussion of what he can do to make his work more productive, to expand his performance parameters, to contribute more (or better) to the company. The individual who wishes to realize dreams as part of his job (or career) is part-way inspired already. You can stimulate similar dreams in other employees as well. Ask a variety of "what if" and "if you could" and "would you like to" questions. Allow/encourage the employee to voice without regard for the possible/impossible.

Talk about the good. Sometimes we get so accustomed to where we are, what we do, and with whom we do it that we lose track of what makes it good. The rediscovery of the good has greater value when one recalls it for herself, rather than being reminded of it. Open-ended discussion may begin with some praise or compliment to set the stage. Then all you have to do is ask for her reflections on the positives of the company, the team, the job, her performance. The answers of what is good allow you opportunity to offer additional support that continues--even increases--the positives.

You want to engage your people in these conversations. You want to draw them into the conversation by patiently inviting their input. And it may well require your patience to allow them to become comfortable elaborating their points of view, their desires and dreams, their appreciations.

But when it makes them feel inspired for the place where they work, the people with whom they work, and the work they do, your patience has paid off. Big time, I'll bet.  

Self-Inspiration, Minimal Perspiration

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.                   Leonardo Da Vinci

I'd say Da Vinci's statement above reflects on inspiration. Passion comes from the heart (not just the head). Moral sense validates what one does with that passion is appropriate. Bingo! Inspiration.

The idea of inspiring employees to take on the challenge of engaging in their work, their company, their career warrants more attention. Examples of how to inspire are much like training: you may understand the example but if you do not (or cannot) transfer the example to a workable scenario for you, it doesn't do much good.

So, I'd like to back up a couple of steps. I'd like us to look at this premise:

To inspire others you have to be inspired yourself.

It's the combination of authenticity and credibility. Your engaged behavior validates that something inspirational is at work. Your inspiration gives weight and merit to your message.

It's a pretty sure thing that if you try to inspire someone to get engaged in what they're doing while you're not truly inspired by your engagement, you will short-circuit any chance of their engagement.

So, how do you get arms around your inspired engagement...so you can convey that inspiration to your people? Here are three actions you might try:

What turns you on? Everyone enjoys specific parts of what they do. Spend time reflecting specifically on what comprises your work. What parts of that work are exciting, enjoyable, energizing for you? Allow yourself to know those specific elements and you can be more directly aware of how/why they offer you inspiration. HINT: Take 10 minutes a day for 5 days. Each day jot down--quickly and without editing--what you've really enjoyed doing at work today. After 5 days, review the list. Conclusions?

Examine the values. Everyone tunes in to what they see as having value. Most everyone appreciates the value that their work, their specific function, and so themselves bring to the world. Allow yourself to get a Big Picture look at your work, your company, your industry. Ask and answer,

• What value does this industry deliver to its customers? its community? the economy? the world?
• What value does my company deliver to customers, community, the world?
• What value does my job have for my company? And what value do I provide by filling this job?

Now allow yourself to enjoy the value you bring to your work, your company, your industry, your community. Spend some time savoring that value.

Draw comparisons. As you reflect on what turns you on about your work, what are you reminded of? What images can you think of--perhaps not at all similar to your work? (Go for images of beauty, energy, passion.) When listing values you bring to your work and value others receive from your work, what additional images come to mind? Allow your senses to enjoy sights, sounds, smells, flavors that do not just motivate your performance but actually inspire it.

These three actions are to give you the "inspired perspective" of engagement in what you do. By allowing yourself to identify and actually experience your own inspiration, you have a much better chance of offering inspirational leadership to the employees you want to see engaged.

NOTE: Suppose you make the time to do the three actions above. Suppose you draw blanks: no enjoyment, no sense of value, no beautiful comparisons. You may be having a true learning experience about your work, your career.

Five Cheers to EnCOREage Engagement

Let's look at the fourth component of the CORE of Employee Engagement: encouragement.

And, for sure, a few managers will ask, "Why does an employee need a cheerleader to help him get engaged or to help her stay engaged?"

Well, I have a list of answers:

• Humans are communal animals. Aristotle coined the phrase (in Greek), indicating that society-building is a central human characteristic. "Society" implies a combination of dependence, independence, and interdependence. Encouragement fits in there.
• Humans strive to please. Our makeup makes us want to give pleasure, do good, provide satisfaction to others. Encouragement in advance of our engagement stimulates that impulse. Encouragement to stick with engagement complements our efforts.
• Humans want self-appreciation. When we know we please others, we please ourselves. Encouragement tells us another is pleased and stirs self-satisfaction.

If the true(st) job of any manager is to develop each employee so

• He performs his job better,
• She develops new abilities for career advancement,
• He engages with contemporaries productively,
• She establishes greater ways to serve the company,
• He contributes positively to the company's community,

then even the most modest encouragement efforts by managers add value to the whole organization.

So what do we mean by encouragement of employee engagement? How do we (you) make it happen? Here are 5 suggestions:

1. Ask questions. The starting point from which you encourage is knowing engagement does (or does not) exist. The quickest way to know is to ask questions. Maybe you won't ask point blank, How engaged are you? Your base knowledge of the individual, the work, the goals and objectives allow you to draw valid conclusions from questions you may ask about one's work, one's experience, one's opinions, one's suggestions.(See this post.)
   
2. Watch what's going on. You can learn a great deal by paying attention to the "bodies language" among those on your teams. Notice the energy level of their interactions. Pay attention to posture and pace. What do you see in facial expressions?
3. Voice what you feel when you feel it. Encouragement comes from you. When what you see (or hear), "That's engagement," from suggestions 1 and 2,  be quick to comment. Rather than wait to think of what/how to encourage more of the same, be spontaneous. What you say matters less than that you say something. (Communal animals, remember?)
4. Share stories. A story makes your point. Your story triggers a similar story in the other person's memory. Her story hastens and heightens her registering your point. If your story gives example of encouraging engagement, tell it. Then find/remember others and tell them.
5. Express vision as "now". Your organization's goals/objectives (profitability? market share? customer satisfaction?) and your organization's culture (employee engagement?) are probably related distinctly to your organization's vision.  (If not, we should talk!)  If they are integrated, keep mention/discussion of the vision on the tip of your tongue. Refer to vision often..in the context of employee engagement and in the present tense.

Being this type cheerleader does not require gymnastic ability, a voice that reaches the top row of the bleachers, or pom poms to shake. All it takes is attention to letting employees know that you know about their engagement...and the good it does for all concerned.