The Workplace Engagement Solution

by David Harder

  Eventually Xerox opened new sales training to outsiders, and my company at the time sent me to learn and evaluate these new sales techniques for our industry. The psychologists that Xerox hired came up with a statement that drove all of my sales philosophy from that date forward. They said, “Human beings are capable of thinking of something other than themselves for a maximum of fifteen seconds.” This one insight turned my outlook on sales completely on its head. It effectively rendered our standard pitch selling completely irrelevant. People don’t care about your resume. They don’t care about the chemical makeup of your cleaning supplies. They care about one thing and that is their own fulfilled expectations.

  When I came back from the training, I immediately started teaching our sales people how to develop expertise in finding the unfulfilled needs and expectations of everyone in our market. Prior to that, we had more than 200 competitors, with sales people pouring into the streets of Los Angeles every single day. They made pitches. They overcame objections. They built relationships through sheer persistence and having a “winning personality.” It was dreadfully stressful work. It also lacked soul. It was a means to an end, period.

  After this discovery of a whole new approach, we sent our sales professionals into the field armed with Socratic sales questions. We asked questions that helped our prospects define for themselves how to do a better job. Our business soared. As importantly, we became more likeable. One of my clients told me, “You have the most charismatic sales people in the world.” I responded, “Isn’t it because they pay better attention to you than most anyone else?” She indicated that this was exactly the reason.

  For many years Tom Drucker, one of the country’s foremost management consultants, led Xerox Learning. We have become good friends during the past 10 years and regularly visit to trade stories and share trends. I treasure Tom for his well-developed wisdom. He lives on the beach just 6 miles south of my beach. His wife, Marcia, is an equally successful theatrical producer. I visited with Tom to discuss Socratic thought as a cultural foundation for work engagement and productivity.

  David: For me, what happened at Xerox represented a watershed change in how we sell products and services. Socratic-driven conversation became a far more sustainable way to influence the world. How would you describe your own learning process after Xerox?

  Tom: Shortly after leaving, I met Peter Senge at Esalen. We became fast friends. Peter had not yet written The 5th Discipline. The notion of a learning organization—in other words, an organization that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself—was very exciting to me. One of my responsibilities had been running the Xerox Learning Center, where we taught people how to ask questions and lead dialogue. In building a learning organization, this type of Socratic inquiry, connected to a collective...produces some of our most significant culture changes.

  David: It sounds as if you blew Socratic inquiry wide open.

  Tom: Absolutely. In addition to Peter, I was heavily influenced by Marilyn Ferguson, the author of The Brain Revolution: The Frontiers of Mind Research (Taplinger). Her studies brought science and research into human development where learning and behavioral change actually rewires our brains. Now, we could tie the benefits of our work to science.

  David: You also became heavily involved with the Word Café, the international organization devoted to question-driven learning forums. How did that impact your outlook?

  Tom: The purpose of a question-driven dialogue at Xerox was the sale or getting to know the customer. Here, there was no purpose to the dialogue except what emerged from the dialogue; we weren’t managing or pre-ordaining what we would find. This kind of interaction provides a lot more freedom for everyone else in how they responded. That freedom revealed unexpected insights into what we didn’t know.

  In the Word Café, we ask questions and apply no controls over the answers. We often move from one participant to the next so that everyone has the opportunity to engage in the conversation and the questions at hand.

  David: How can this technique apply to engagement?

  Tom: The wisdom emerges from the collective; you dig into topics. The learning is in the foreground. The process? People love it. You can extract such fabulous outcomes. I always timed these events so that feedback could be returned immediately. There is nothing more disrespectful than to ask people to participate in a communications process and then exclude them from the feedback. Here, they see the information from others and they also see their contributions are appreciated as well. The power of this type of process is you can invite customers, employees, leaders, vendors, all type of participants into the learning process. It is a great tool for overcoming isolation.

  David: Many business authors and leading management consultants have talked about the need for personalized mission, vision, and purpose, but in practice it rarely happens.

  Tom: It is critical for strong culture development and it is a matter of respect. No matter the environment, we need to find ways for every stakeholder to define what it is that they want out of their work, beyond the money. I was working with one organization where the ethos was all about the money and it was filled with young financial wizards. I asked them to go home and write out what they wanted beyond the income. What did they want to do with that income? What kind of lives did they want to lead? Many wanted the ability to marry and raise children. They began talking about a richness of life that was more connected to their spiritual and emotional well-being. Their answers changed the culture. We were able to introduce a 401K and use that as a platform for discussing their future.

  David: I know that you are working with several organizations that have large Millennial populations. It seems we have built a new consulting industry around generational differences, and it is complicating the conversation. Baby Boomers put down the Millennials as self-involved and irresponsible. In the end, it is simply about fighting for turf. Rather than talking about differences, what does everyone want and need?

  Tom: I am so in accord with this. First, everyone wants to be treated as we want others to treat us.

  There are studies that show Millennials are job hoppers. They are not. They want to be appreciated. They don’t need “atta boy” or “atta girl.” They want to be appreciated for their thoughts and ideas. The reason they leave jobs is their superiors often don’t see them as collaborative and fully formed adults. They treat them as children, as fungible units. They don’t take them into confidences.

  People need to be mentored. They need to be included. If they don’t live up to standards, they need to be taught how to behave. They want to be successful. They don’t want to come all this way and fail. They want adult bonds. They want an adult-to-adult relationship. When they feel that, they blossom. People thrive when they are connected. This is all about emotional intelligence and rather than complicating the narrative with differences; it is so important that we always remember the Golden (or even “platinum”) Rule.

  David: You are working on an ambitious project to transform the culture, customer service, and talent strategies for VCA, the country’s largest veterinarian group.

  Tom: They are devoted to building the finest customer and pet care experience in the industry, and with 25,000 employees, it is a very large project.

  David: Where did you begin?

  Tom: We begin with emotional intelligence. Yes, many of the customer-care and back-room areas are populated with young people who join the business because of their love for animals. The longer-term employees have found ways to take care of themselves through the extremes. The environment includes people coming in to let go of their companions with all the heartbreak that implies, and others coming in with the joyful rituals from having new pets. Their day includes difficult customers rattled with their dog’s health issues. We have the shock of critical injuries.

  We cannot expect employees to be their best if we don’t create the kinds of rituals and care that emotionally nourishes them. For example, w
e have a daily ritual that everyone uses called “the huddle.” One takes place in the front office, another in the back, and one with the vets. We gather together and check in with each member of the team with questions like, “How are you doing? You had the flu last week. How are you holding up?” “Jennifer, you sat with that lady early this morning who was too distraught to get up. You were so kind to her. How can we support you?” “Paul, what you did with that irate customer was awesome! How did you come up with that?”

  These ritualized bonds and conversations help nourish people to be their best. We can provide all of the techniques in the world but without watching each other’s back, being appreciative and kind, we will not get their best.

  David: If you are meeting with a CEO with significant cynicism and contempt around talent development and employer branding, how do you work with them?

  Tom: Well, first you acknowledge them for taking the meeting and even being willing to explore the questions. Usually, I suggest that we start with a small project or pilot program, an opportunity for “proof of concept.” The results will speak for themselves. In reality, CEOs and business owners who understand the truth about talent and the Golden Rule are not the norm. I had the great privilege of working for David Kearns at Xerox. He was one of those rare individuals who always did the right thing. Very much like your friend at the U.S. Marines, he led the company with values, he paid attention to the employees, and he treated everyone with dignity. He expected others to do the same. Other large companies were pouring poison into the river or cheating communities out of water. Many treated their employees like numbers. It feels so right but after moving on, I realized just how unusual it is to have a CEO who embraces those standards all of the time.

  Where do we now take the power of the Socratic process? It’s very simple. Start using the questions. Teach everyone to start using questions to access truth whether it is in a sales setting, personal career development journaling, connecting with stakeholders, or leading an organization through difficult change. There is a series of sample questions at the conclusion of The Workplace Engagement Solution. Better yet, develop a Socratic Question Library within your own organization and encourage employees to send in their best questions and the memorable breakthroughs they have had in helping each other live in the truth. The truth, after all, is what we need most in a world of rapidly accelerating change. Perhaps it is what we needed all along. Instead of living with a “barrenness of life,” we can develop richly flourishing lives filled with the kind of meaning and purpose that promotes enthusiasm and energy.

  5

  The Visibility Initiative

  Envision an environment filled with workers who pursue rather than run from change, one in which workers change their outlooks and connect with themselves, the people around them, and their customers. Imagine that, as a result, you are better able to grow their careers as well as your organization’s future. In this mentor-driven and truly democratic culture, it is pervasive gratitude, the single greatest fuel for high morale and performance, that has become the signature of your workplace.

  The wise holocaust survivor and philosopher Elie Wiesel said, “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”1 This dynamic that Mr. Wiesel describes can exponentially grow in its impact on an organization. Over the years, I have often been asked to help an employer decide between two top candidates. I usually respond, “Hire the one that is most grateful.” Why? These are the individuals that are inherently skilled in connecting with others; they bring positive energy to a team, and they demonstrate predictably strong and sustained performance.

  Building the skills of engagement and the capacity to change requires that we learn how to become comfortable and skilled in connecting with others in a wide variety of circumstances. Every single day, organizations in America spend about half a billion dollars on training. The value of this training is often diminished by the fact that giving one skills training session is rarely enough to change long-term behavior. In contrast, the skill building suggested in The Workplace Engagement Solution isn’t complicated, yet the long-term sustainability is guaranteed by marrying the suggested skill improvements to smart mentorship. Mentorship, when used consistently and broadly, provides the continuity that makes valuable behavioral changes a permanent part of the culture.

  We work towards building organizations filled with talented people who can also connect, look people in the eye, ask skilled questions, and demonstrate active listening. We seek to grow talent that explores the world of change around them, defines needed change within themselves, and speaks the truth. And as our talent develops the skills that build strong support systems, new intelligence flows in from the outside world, bringing innovation and critical improvements to organizational performance. As they build stronger relationships within and without, the culture becomes unstoppable. Employees develop an unparalleled sense of gratitude that stems from their ongoing personal growth, the precious quality of their work relationships, and the un-shakable confidence that they can deal with anything the world of change dishes out to them. Yes, the reality will be messier than this bold vision suggests, but it is where we set our intentions that is so very important. And why shouldn’t we aspire to this?

  Let’s start with the skills of drawing healthy attention to ourselves and, conversely, in giving high quality attention to others. Take a moment to think through this notion. With any customer contact role, learning how to draw healthy attention to ourselves and also to give that to others can never be over-applied. In fact, developing these skills within everyone is nothing short of transformative. How do we do this? We teach them the new skills and then we mentor them into sustained behavioral improvements. I call this the “Visibility Initiative” and it includes three specific skill development programs.

  Connecting (Sales Training)

  Good salespeople are masterful at connecting with others. They listen more actively and effectively. They methodically ask stakeholders the questions that uncover their needs and expectations. They are more aware of other people’s body language and tone of voice. Good sales-people put themselves into the mindset of giving and creating value. Skilled selling helps us to discover what makes people tick. It tends to connect us with passion and this makes us more effective in selling ideas, concepts, and innovations. This is the exact opposite of disengagement. In fact, it’s full engagement. It is a pervasive energy that awakens the team and larger environment. This is one of the many reasons why everyone benefits from sales training.

  An across-the-board, inclusive mentoring practice is also critical. When we build strong mentors, it isn’t necessary to send employees to extensive and expensive training programs. If we give our people particularly effective, brief, yet profound learning opportunities followed by consistent mentorship, no time is wasted and the embedded day-today support ensures that the new skills translate into lasting behavioral changes.

  The experience of selling can be very uncomfortable at first. Yet with consistent exposure and practice, it builds confidence and helps people become more comfortable in drawing attention to themselves as well as connecting with others. Sales training provides options and can increase income. Learning how to sell can even help someone move beyond their past.

  When I joined the staffing industry at 24, I was afraid of my own shadow. I grew up in an abusive household and attention, for me, produced almost-violent responses. I stuttered. I often trembled. My voice quavered. All this meant that learning to be good at selling at my new job was a big challenge, but in my head I believed that I had to stick with it if I was going to survive. Within months, I was making good money while also becoming more confident in every other aspect of my life. My career choices forced me into visibility. That journey changed who I became. And I have watched visibility change thousands of other people’s lives as well.

  I encourage selecting training pr
ograms that are consultative and question-driven versus solely pitch-driven. The world of making a pitch and overcoming objections is one of the reasons many people are frightened of selling. They have good reason to be. It is not a high integrity and satisfying method for engaging and influencing people. It rarely adds to the meaningfulness of our sales interactions or work. In our training programs, we find that many participants actually become enthusiasts when they realize that consultative selling is essentially good communications. It is the kind of human interaction that puts the buyer at ease. It leads to quality relationships.

  Speaking Up (Presentation Skills Training)

  As we continue, it is important to remember that the context for this conversation is about helping people get past the barriers they have in connecting with others. The skills of connecting are also the skills needed to gracefully move through change. Creating an environment that builds good presentation skills offers opportunities for people to present what is valuable to them. It opens doors to stronger career paths. It inspires colleagues to become more supportive of one another. It creates an environment that applauds the positive aspects within every employee. Strong presentation skills will create new brand ambassadors who are capable of articulating the multi-dimensional benefits of becoming a customer or an employee with your organization. The experience of becoming a better presenter also helps people become more comfortable in their own skin.

  This kind of cultural mojo is not only attractive within the organization, but is magnetic to the outside world. Even better, building this skill set produces more resilience during difficult times. I have often witnessed the strong bonds that grow from a broadly inclusive presentation skills initiative, and these are the very bonds that can help valued talent stay when the chips are down. What an asset for any organization.