The Workplace Engagement Solution

by David Harder

  “I’m too young, too old, too fat, too thin, too stuck, too angry....”

  “I can’t take care of my own desires and needs; I have three kids to get through college.”

  “We don’t have the resources to change, so why should we bother?”

  Resignation is the file cabinet that stores all of the “evidence” we have compiled to prove we cannot and will not change.

  Some of us would characterize resignation as a lack of hope, but it is actually a lack of optimism, an unwillingness to believe in ourselves or that positive action will make things better. Many times, the experience of failure blossoms into a belief that we simply don’t have what it takes to pursue vision or success. Often, we present our problem as a form of bias: “These companies are only hiring young people. You know how it is when you turn 60.” That form of resignation overlooks the fact there are scores of people in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s who are making a big difference in the workplace. Resignation is the filter of giving up.

  Frenzy

  For 20 years, Inspired Work discussed these previous four filters. Societal change, however, has introduced a fifth filter and we call it “frenzy.”

  According to Dean Schabner of ABC Television, today’s full-time employees work an average of 49 hours per week, about six days out of seven days.2 Since 1993, the average full-time American worker has given up over a month of leisure activity because they are now investing part of the weekend to work. We work harder than any other industrialized nation, including Japan, where workers who used to die from stress received a hero’s funeral. About 3.6 million workers in the United States spend more than three hours per day commuting. According to Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post, our annual commute time for just one year, if added up nationally, could have built the Great Pyramid of Giza 26 times over.3

  Smartphones have opened the door for employers to reach employees at all hours of the day and night. In many cases and with increasing frequency, we are not allowing employees to renew themselves and replenish their energy. France has recognized the problem and even passed a law making it illegal for employers to email employees during off hours.

  Many employers mindlessly push people to the edge of crashing and burning. Between commute times, taking care of children, making the mortgage payment, getting groceries, and trying to get enough sleep, frenzy has become a state of mind that shields us from change because we simply don’t have the time to reflect on it, let alone pursue it.

  • • • • •

  How do we deal with these destructive filters?

  In our program, we point them out and discuss them; in most cases, that will get them out of the way. Recognize that they reside in all of us and in every organization to some degree. Ask stakeholders to recognize them and help you work through them. Be vigilant. Humans have a particularly creative way of running the filters and biases at a completely unconscious level. Dig into these filters. You then can better anticipate and understand pushback when an announcement of change is made, except you’ll be ready for it this time. Understand that identifying, managing, and overcoming these filters are an incredibly valuable skills for your managers and mentors, but also for everyone in the work culture.

  Mission, Vision, and Purpose

  As we have established, survival and predictability were the primary career standards in the industrial-based past. In that setting, it wasn’t necessary to adopt a vision beyond getting a job that provided these basic requirements. This mindset continues to haunt today’s workforce to a significant degree and serves to undermine the potential for greater engagement. Additionally, because we now live in a world of constant and accelerating change, we especially need a personal and compelling vision to snap out of the trance, rise above aimlessness, and motivate through the uncertainty and chaos we are now so often finding ourselves in.

  During the disruptions of the past few years, most workers didn’t see the point of defining personalized vision. However, vision is often the most effective thing to fuel our willingness to change. Without it, we just keep on doing the same things that have thrown people under the bus as the world moves on. It is no longer enough to rely on organizational missions or statements of “what we do here.” We are getting lost and we must inspire our people to reconnect with their desires, their will, and their unique voice. We need a way out of the woods.

  Many of us laud the extraordinary talent that has driven Apple to become the world’s most powerful and masterful consumer products company. Like many other category leaders, it isn’t a company that emerged from disengagement. Lore has it that one of the worst or best events that could happen to you as an Apple employee would be to find yourself unexpectedly in an elevator with Steve Jobs. He would ask employees what they were working on and what they were doing. If your response was clear and compelling, your initiative could be immediately funded. If you didn’t have much to say, you could be fired by the time the door opened.

  Without a clear sense of why we are here personally, relying only on corporate vision to guide our actions results in a high probability that we are not fully present, awake, or deeply involved in our work. We may only get our meaning from somewhere outside our work lives. This is no longer enough to stay in the game successfully. Simply creating shareholder value was never enough. More on this subject shortly.

  Transparency = Accountability

  Whether we believe it or not, extreme transparency has already been thrust upon us. No one can hide their emails, hide corruption, or hide unhealthy behavior. Transparency has expanded tremendously in the age of sophisticated technologies, and it is delusional for any individual or organization to believe that covertness can be maintained. The most egregious examples of mistreating employees and customers often stem from the belief that no one is watching. Think of all the business and political leaders who have been brought down because they believed no one would find out what they were actually up to. In short, the jig is up.

  As the information age advances, many of us have complained about the loss of privacy, but the overall story is actually much bigger and filled with many positive outcomes. We have entered the era of almost total transparency. This reality, by itself, will force our hand and result in vast behavioral changes in how employers are behaving and operating. Clairvoyant CEOs who understand and adapt to this new landscape will reap great rewards. Here is just one example of the new transparency.

  Today’s savvy employment candidates now often know a great deal about the hiring manager before the first interview—and vice versa. They know his or her reputation, values, and ethics. They know why the last person left the job. They know if the community service initiative is for real or just a stunt designed to check a box. If outsiders have this degree of awareness, consider how quickly actual employees know if a proposed change in the organization is real or just another round of manipulating communications toward phony results. All is revealed through a little electronic sleuthing or advanced social networking, whether it’s out by the juice truck or rapid exchanges via text message.

  The good news is that this new level of transparency also represents a cornerstone resource for engaging people. Developing full transparency shines a spotlight on all of us. Of course, there may be waves of initial discomfort. It is a bit like pulling everyone out of the closet with all of the attendant awkwardness, fears, and ultimate rewards. I say, bring everyone into the light and stand with them. In this new landscape, we no longer ask workers to take on more responsibility without demonstrating the same in ourselves. We should stop demanding that people simply “get used to it.” In truth, disengagement has nothing to do with role, rank, or economic power. If CEOs are in fact just as disengaged as the rest of us, what we need is a new model that creates a surging wave of engagement throughout all of us. Trying to hide the truth will only become more difficult with time. Wouldn’t it be healthier to build organizations that have nothing to hide, where progress is best achieved when led with stronger ethi
cs and with heart?

  Decision Toolbox is one of the world’s most innovative recruitment firms. It has more than 100 recruitment professionals tied to state-of-art technology. There are no offices and everyone works from their home. The employees tell the company when they are going to work. The firm has less than 5-percent turnover and has twice received the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Workplace Excellence. One of the fundamental reasons this virtual company is so effective is its complete transparency. Any employee can go online and see the performance metrics for every other employee in the company. These metrics include profitability, accuracy, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and speed. This tribal candor leads to collective pride and high quality work. Rather than inspiring fierce competition, the transparency inspires employees to measure up to a team that is one of the best in their industry.

  Transparency has also grown in how our leaders communicate. Not long after 9/11, I was asked to design a new leadership program for Disney Consumer Products. At the time, most leadership programs involved sending expensive consultants out to stakeholders to conduct 360 interviews. I felt this rather mindless pattern represented a lost learning opportunity and proposed that we design highly customized 360 assessments by asking the leaders to go out and conduct the interviews themselves. Through the years, organizations often reacted to this idea with shock and the fear that managers would retaliate if given unpleasant feedback or, more likely, that employees would just not be candid. However, we provided a protocol that avoided such outcomes.

  Graduates of these very different 360 processes typically told us that it was one of the most life-changing experiences they have had and it occurred from the direct asking and hearing of people’s truth. Great leaders also ask great questions and they really listen to the answers. They make it safe to tell the truth. By immersing leaders in this experience and having them directly experience the benefits of candid communication, they can become the kind of modern leaders that effectively deal with change and skillfully connect others to a more collective vision.

  Accountability, like transparency, has been a selective force in corporate culture over the years. Without across-the-board accountability, the organization’s execution, productivity, and culture always suffer. For example, mid-level managers often continue to pull their own workload while also being responsible for large numbers of workers. The problem is that many are unable to effectively hold their people accountable.

  Accountability and transparency are directly linked. We cannot have one without the other. And the lack of them predictably leads to shocking examples of poor quality, low productivity, and bad customer service. Without them, we act like no one will discover the truth and we can get away with all sorts of things. I cannot emphasize enough: it is now totally delusional to believe you can exist without radical transparency moving forward. That is why it is wise to go consider going “all in.”

  In our programs, the single most common need is for developing managers who live up to new expectations. In the mid-management arena, deepening the breakthroughs in engagement requires significant behavioral change, and it begins with recognizing how frenzy has distracted them from being connected to their workers. In the end, if we want a fully awakened culture, nobody is “off the hook.” The bright light must shine on everyone. Living in that light with the kind of integrity that shows we have nothing to hide can bring forth immense power that can fuel new levels of success.

  Today’s technology offers organizations unprecedented access to employee performance and behavior. If we use it within a truly democratic approach, visibility and transparency become a vital platform for employee engagement.

  Value-Driven Cultures

  The United States Marine Corps has a leadership development process that isn’t just reserved for the high potentials. It is given to everyone. The Executive Council, Forbes, and McKinsey have all named the Marine Corps as the number-one leadership organization on the face of the earth. This is because everyone lives by the values of the organization. One of my clients is Mel Spiese, the Major General who led training and development for the U.S. Marines. He prepared more than 300,000 soldiers for combat. When I asked Mel about employee engagement in the Marine Corps, he chuckled and simply said, “Employee engagement has never been a problem for us.” I asked Mel if that was because their lives depended on being engaged. He responded, “Sure. But we give everyone the same training, everyone embraces the same values, and because everyone is on the same page, we can trust our lives with the individuals standing next to us.”

  Everyone is accountable. Everyone “gets it” and everyone buys in. Perhaps most importantly, the Marines teach a series of values that transform anyone, at any level, into a true leader. A values-based culture does not rely on reading a mission statement once or twice per year. Everyone participates in a daily practice of the values and a code of conduct that has essentially developed the Marines into perhaps the most integrity-driven organization anywhere.

  Mel says:

  Marines are not born; they are made. They earn the role through practicing our values. The values are identified, codified, taught, and lived, in the form of articulated dynamic traits and principles. They become the identity of the individual, and the collective of the individuals, in their practice, becomes the culture of the organization. The identity of the individual and culture of organization are at once synonymous and inseparable. Those values are ubiquitous throughout—the basis of counsel, development, evaluation, and advancement. They are the unspoken, but clearly understood, expectation of behavior and performance, with the individual and team/unit. More than anything, they link the individual to the institution over time, frankly over the centuries, and are the foundation for individual and organization success under the most demanding of circumstances.

  A democracy-based culture implies that everyone is equally responsible. The U.S. Marines is a particularly compelling example because the organization has developed an enduring legacy of building leaders out of individuals many employers would dismiss because they have none of the characteristics of a “high potential.” If living by a code can turn someone without a good education and with limited standards into a exemplary leader, why wouldn’t any organization run with this relatively simple culture change? Consider how that “non-high-potential” is the same description Mel Spiese uses to describe himself as a young man.

  What are the values of an engagement-driven culture? Envision what would happen to your organization if it embraced this code of conduct:

  • Routinely engage in self-inquiry to update mission, vision, and purpose.

  • Pursue personal change before change impacts you.

  • Demonstrate and practice enthusiasm for learning and growth.

  • Communicate praise toward colleagues, customers, and direct reports.

  • Give high-quality attention to everyone and draw healthy attention to yourself.

  • Graciously accept praise from others.

  • Tell the truth and seek the truth.

  • Support and practice full transparency.

  • Foster courage as the correct and healthy response to fear.

  • Build effective support systems for success, learning, and feedback.

  • When a colleague is frightened, provide comfort and guidance.

  • Take nothing personally.

  • Help others build the skills for their success.

  • Have each other’s back.

  • Be aware and supportive of your colleague’s mission, vision, and purpose.

  • No matter what, always be kind.

  In essence, values such as these bring about heart in an organization’s culture. Heart produces sustainable engagement and has a direct and powerfully positive impact on customers. Heart is our greatest engine. And, it is always already right there, just waiting for the circumstances to come out and flourish.

  Our culture is filled with great examples. For years, Southwest Airlines has been recognized
for its great customer service and a culture that fosters fun, lightheartedness, and heart. It’s even represented in their now-famous logo. In 2013, its CEO, Gary Kelly, realized that it was time to give employees new aspirations, which included the following revisions to their strategic statements: “Our vision is to become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline.... We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”4

  Employees of Southwest Airlines are expected to engage in storytelling to reflect how they improve the lives of their passengers by showing interest in their stories and personal lives. In reviewing many of the case studies, I found this letter from a woman named Nancy. She said, “Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.” Her husband had to get to his daughter as quickly as possible. He was on a business trip. In Los Angeles, the crowds were so backed up that he was going to miss the plane. TSA was oblivious, but a flight attendant from the first leg of the journey had already called ahead to the pilot of the last plane. The pilot and ticketing agent were waiting for him. They both said, “Are you Mark? We held the plane for you, and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”5

  This is how it’s done.

  Mentor-Driven Cultures

  With more than two million members, Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, is the world’s largest recovery fellowship. AA has no leaders and little in the form of an organizational structure. And yet, millions of alcoholics and drug addicts have achieved long-term sobriety within its community during the past 80 years. There are two fundamental reasons. First, like the Marines, AA is a values-based program. Everyone that expects to succeed for any length of time is expected to learn and live by the values of recovery. Second, successful program adopters teach the principles and values of the program to the new members. In other words, people who have learned and used “the steps” mentor new people and show them the way. The relationship offers rewards and reinforcement for the mentor and the mentee because it deepens the skills and outlook necessary for long-term success. Employers would do well to pay attention to this example. Why? The model is inexpensive, sustainable, and effective, and it creates a culture of caring.