You're supposed to be the role model for learning from your mistake and then growing from it.
That's a mighty big saw to swallow when you're the manager. Aren't you supposed to be a role model? Yes. You're supposed to be the role model for learning from your mistake and then growing from it.
If you're managing people in a company that's serious about cultivating an engaged workplace, you're going to be expected to develop your own ways of keeping your employees passionate and excited about the work they do. And you're going to make a mistake now and then. The engagement-specific blunders that you'll make won't be technical; they'll be behavioral. Those mistakes are harder to measure. (You always know if you made deadline or plan, but are you really sure you didn't just hurt your assistant's feelings?)
This should make you feel better: Top leaders who are sincerely committed to creating engaged workplace cultures are also sincerely interested in your engagement. And they know that it's a never-ending learning process up and down the org chart. People don't expect you to be perfect; they just want you to learn from the last time that you weren't. You build your power as a leader with your ability to say, "I'm sorry."
Some companies that conduct annual engagement surveys offer their managers post-survey coaching and suggested action plans to improve those weaknesses that alienate their employees. Some even require you to post your new resolutions online so the entire company knows your plan. You know that dream where you suddenly discover that you're naked? It's sort of like that.
Maybe your company doesn't even have an engagement survey process. You can still work on your people skills. Your task is to be clear yourself on what your issues are and then make it clear to your employees that you "get it" and are working on them.
Hold a departmental meeting to go over your employees' issues as a group. Make the meeting as congenial as possible, putting yourself in the hot seat and reassuring your employees that you're here to learn from them.
You build your power as a leader with your ability to say, "I'm sorry."
Make their comfort with the process paramount. That way you'll get honest feedback. Never, for instance, make a single employee feel busted for making a complaint. If you want to see a resignation letter really fast, begin your meeting with, "Aw, com'on, let's get real here. I know it was you who..." That, by the way, could also generate a termination letter. Just wait a day or two.
Let everyone in your group know that you sincerely want to improve the way you do your job and that you welcome their thoughts. Set this up as, in effect, a reverse performance appraisal meeting, in which your direct reports can discuss your performance and then provide a clear picture of how you can improve the way you do your job.
Calmly ask questions that will help both you and your employees understand their own feelings about the issue. Before they've had this chance to talk it out—that is, not behind your back—the issues may have gotten so emotionalized that your employees forgot exactly what started bothering them in the first place.
Conclude the meeting with some agreements on changes you can make—preferably a few that you can measure. If one of the complaints is, for instance, "You never let us know what's going on," accept the objection evenly (forcing yourself to swallow any "yeah, buts" that are screaming to be let out of your mouth), and own the responsibility of keeping them more informed. Then together decide on a plan on what you can reasonably do to keep them in the loop. Perhaps you and your team can agree on a Monday morning weekly kickoff meeting. Or maybe they'll be happy with a weekly email.
Your number-one role as their manager is to help them do their jobs better.
The main point of these meetings is to let your employees know that your number-one role as their manager is to help them do their jobs better. The more you give yourself permission to be imperfect, the more these meetings will conclude with everyone thinking the same thing: "Phew! That was easy."
Part III: The Truth About Engaged Cultures
Truth 12
Employee happiness is serious business
Is it really your job as a manager to worry about whether employees are happy? If you only care about bodies showing up and just pushing buttons and levers all day without special thought behind quality or safety, their happiness is irrelevant. If your high turnover is acceptable, employee happiness isn't essential. If you can tolerate vandalism or workplace violence, go ahead and skip this chapter.
Employee happiness isn't a nice-to-do. It's a must-do.
Let's say, however, you prefer a workplace where people get along, voluntarily help each other, think independently and creatively, take safety practices personally, show up dependably, and take pride in the company they work for. Then employee happiness is essential. Employee happiness isn't a nice-to-do. It's a must-do. Here's why.
Barbara Fredrickson, University of North Carolina professor of psychology, has shown that emotions associated with happiness actually expand a person's ability to respond positively to stresses of everyday life. Negative emotions, in contrast, narrow a person's "thought-action repertoire" to one simple thought: "Gee, I'd like to survive this bad moment" and the accompanying action, which is to skedaddle (or preempt anticipated violence with real violence of one's own). But positive emotions offer what Fredrickson calls the broaden-and-build ability to think creatively and use a variety of resources to cope with the moment.
Let's say, for instance, that an employee is facing down a mountain lion (or has spotted you heading straight for his cubicle). He first must decide what his chances of surviving this encounter are going to be. If he's steeped in negative emotions, there's going to be only one set of responses, gathered under the general category of run [or fight] for your life! If his emotions are generally positive, he might say instead, "I just love this job. The report's already on your desk. Let's grab some coffee so we can talk about opening that new market I was telling you about." Happiness expands your employees' options.
Fredrickson identifies three general categories of emotional states that spark happiness. Even though they're typically personal, they also have a direct impact on the workplace.
Joy—We experience joy when we're feeling safe and that we're moving closer to our goals. Joy prompts us to feel playful and experiment with new ideas and skills. Joy also encourages us to be more social, which in turn helps us build healthy relationships. Joy makes us physically, intellectually, and socially more powerful to contribute to the world around us.
Happiness expands your employees' options.
Interest—Interest sparks curiosity, wonder, excitement, intrinsic motivation, and flow that sense of being thoroughly absorbed in a pleasurable activity. It also prompts people to build their resources simply because they, well, are interested enough to want to. People then know more and can do more.
Contentment—In addition to being a sense of serenity or relief, this is also, Fredrickson says, the secure feeling of being accepted and cared for by others. Contentment allows individuals to appreciate the moment and feel connected with the people and world around them. Contentment also gives people the chance to reflect on a recent experience and integrate the resulting new growth into their personalities and view of the world around them (including their job). It allows for more development, more understanding, and more personal resources to positively take on the next challenge that awaits them.
Being responsible for your employees' happiness isn't about creating a line item in the budget of unlimited miniature golf or a free-flowing chocolate fountain. It's about creating a workplace culture that allows your people to sustain a positive and flexible attitude about themselves, their coworkers, and the work they're doing. When you're able to offer an environment that encourages optimism, challenge, and the time to process the learning that comes from every experience good or bad, you'll have a team that works together well. It will be one that is innovative rather than defensive, driven by the positive meaning behind the work it does and that cares about each other's w
ell-being and safety.
Truth 13
Authentic is better than clever
In 1950, movie actor James Stewart played Elwood P. Dowd, the pixilated best friend of a 6 foot...well, 6 foot, 3 inch (and a half) imaginary (as if you needed to be told that part) white rabbit named Harvey. Dowd's charm is not the companionship of the bunny, though; it's the exceedingly, consistently guileless, open-faced, courteous way he treats people. In the movie's key moment he says, "My mother told me, 'Elwood, you must be oh so smart. Or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."
Every day you are faced with a similar choice in the way you lead your people. How you make that choice reflects your personal values and what you believe is the essential foundation of a healthy, functioning relationship. Only this choice isn't between pleasant and smart; it's between authentic and clever. And what's cool about this choice is that if you make it right, you won't have to make it at all.
Choose authenticity every time. Authenticity gives you huge returns on your investment of courage and backbone. It gives you clarity in uncertain, confusing times. It helps you be consistent in the way you establish your expectations from your people. And your people know what they can consistently expect from you. You are believed and trusted without suspicion of subtext and subterfuge. And when you make a mistake (and you will), you will be forgiven.
Sure, authenticity may seem like the obvious choice, especially while you're sitting there, all comfortable in your chair, reading this book. Authenticity is actually scary. It is the adventurous choice demanding courage, the ability to meet painful decisions head on, the willingness not to be in control all the time, and the faith to trust your people to do the right thing with the truth and reality that you give them unfailingly. Authenticity demands honesty, even when it means that you might not be fair or popular. You stand to lose a lot, at times, by being real with your people. But if your reputation is being more clever than authentic, you stand to lose much more, much more often.
Choose authenticity every time.
It's sometimes difficult, though, to resist the temptation to choose the clever way. As a manager, you're being paid to think a couple of steps ahead, and that requires cleverness. But the wrong kind of cleverness can erode the healthy, open environment that authenticity has built. Then maybe you don't communicate as much as you know as often as you can with your employees as you once did. Management fads start looking like fun experiments to see if you can boost your group's productivity a couple of notches, which is especially attractive if you're in a highly competitive environment. Little games, overt and covert, start seeping into your group's culture. People start wondering what you're really up to. And then they start wondering what each other is up to. And they start getting competitive with each other. Then no one's happy. And it stays that way.
The wrong kind of cleverness can erode the healthy, open environment that authenticity has built.
Here's the fun part: A track record for authentic leadership buys you permission to be clever. Your reputation for straightforward dealings and honest communication will help you bank the trust currency you can then use to think several steps ahead and creatively (and honestly and legally) work the system to your business's advantage.
Here's how to know when authenticity is essential: You use it to lead your people.
Here's how to know when clever is okay: You use it to serve your people.
Keep that distinction in mind, and you'll be oh, so trusted. And I recommend trusted.
Truth 14
Retention begins with hello
There's a time machine that will take you right back to those wacky, wonderful teenage years. You remember: You were painfully aware of every single thing you did, afraid that one little misstep would reveal to the world the geek that you were afraid you really were. This agonizing self-consciousness was only compounded if you were the new kid in school. You didn't know your way around. There was a secret code that divided the cool from the un-cool. Most people were standoffish. But just as bad: Some people seemed too eager to be your friend. You could fall in with the wrong crowd without realizing it.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, we've got your time machine right here. Step right up and take a look. But don't get too close, or you'll get sucked into the vortex known as First Week on a New Job! See how the funny mirrors distort your self-esteem! Marvel at how the floor plans change under your very feet, making you lost and late for every appointment. No! Don't let Overly Friendly Guy touch you! You'll be marked as a Loser forever! Listen to the whispers and the laughter! Hear that? It's you they're talking about. Doomed to eat lunch alone for the rest of your life! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
You've had First Weeks yourself. And, unless you have the self-regard of granite, you know how it feels to be the insecure new hire. But you must have done okay, because now you're the manager. And now newcomers are worried about what you're thinking about them. With all the stress and emotions swirling around a new hire's first week on the job, you can be confident that perceptions are skewed and, without your guidance and attention, she may be coming to some strange conclusions about your team, its culture, and who really has the power to get things done.
Unless there's a death in the family, there's nothing more important on your schedule than your new hire's first week.
Your job is to help your new hire get the right start. Otherwise, someone else will step in to fill that need—someone who may not have your team's best interests at heart. If you do it, you'll know that it will get done right.
Don't assign a buddy. Be the buddy—Unless there's a death in the family, there's nothing more important on your schedule than your new hire's first week. If you're there for the insignificant questions (like, "Do we pay for our own coffee, or is it free?"), your new employee will feel more comfortable going to you for questions like, "Doesn't Joe's request violate the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?" You don't want anyone else to have the chance to answer that.
Fill her lunch docket—If you have a tightly knit team, book the big table at the best restaurant your budget allows and have a welcome-aboard lunch her very first day as your team member. Then make sure every lunch hour that first week is booked with individuals from your team, starting with you. If your team isn't so tight, start and end the week with lunch with you, and ask your most positive employees to eat with her during the middle three days.
Give her a project to complete that first week—Give her something meaningful and moderately challenging to do, so she closes out the first five days with the satisfaction of accomplishment. Make sure the project makes her circulate throughout the team and even the organization as a whole, so she can meet more people and get a better understanding of how all the pieces work together.
Cut her a break—Remember that your employee is under tremendous emotional pressure during the first few days—even months—on the job. She may have landed the job of her dreams that she competed mightily for. But still, with so much at stake, she's going to be self-conscious and nervous. And that could show up in weird ways. She's not herself yet.
Don't rush this process—Your new hire represents the best choice among all the applicants for that position. So take the time now to welcome her well. Otherwise, you may have to do it again. And that will be with your second choice.
Truth 15
The bad will do you good
You may not believe in divine retribution, but you have an employee who makes you wonder what you did in the past—or past life—to deserve this nightmare now. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad.
He gets the job done, and then some, so you can't ding him on performance. Darn it. But he has zero respect for authority, not to mention lesser social conventions like, say, socks. His work schedule seems to be synchronized to a time zone on the other side of the planet. So you can just forget about him showing up to any regular meetings, which is just fine by you anyway.
He's subversive, sarcastic, h
ard to motivate, and impossible to threaten. When your more gentle creative employees come up with a good idea, they politely propose it to the group asking, "...why not?" But when he comes up with an idea, he's in your face, demanding to know, "Why the hell not?"
He clearly thinks you're a doofus. And worse yet, he has the power to make you think that maybe he's right. He's a walking poke-in-the-eye, dastardly disguised—but just barely—as a human being. Ah...mavericks. You gotta love them.
No. Really. You have to love him. He could be the best thing that has happened to you. Mavericks are passionate, revolutionary, ingenious, independent, and completely dependable. (You just have to figure out what they're dependable for and then go with that.) They're the ones who take nice little companies and transform them into roaring change-machines that write not only the new code but also the new vocabulary and rules.
Great or beloved companies are started or spun on the ideas of mavericks. Apple, of course. Whole Foods. ING Direct. Patagonia. Pixar. FedEx. Industrial Light and Magic. Cirque du Soleil. Wikipedia. Craig's List. If you have a maverick in your group, whisper a silent prayer of thanks, and then hang on tight.
He could be the best thing that has happened to you.
Your main job is to keep mavericks on your team—and to keep your team from wringing their necks when you're not looking.
Give them a goat—In horseracing, high-strung horses used to be assigned pet goats to keep them placid in their stalls (hence the saboteur's expression: "to get one's goat"). Everyone needs a friend, even mavericks. And mavericks especially could use a trusted counterpart to bounce ideas off of and to share insecurities and questions with. If you notice your maverick congenially pairing off with another coworker, find ways to keep them together. Don't try to engineer the relationship according to preconceived ideas of what a good goat is. You're not necessarily looking for someone who's meek to complement the one who's wild. Even if you're looking at two mavericks who have found each other, great! Put them together. At least they'll stop bugging everyone else. Maybe.
The Truth About Getting the Best From People Page 4