Want Employee Engagement?
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN A PANDEMIC
We have been through one helluva a year. Granted, the pandemic isn’t behind us yet, but clarity around workplace changes is certainly greater than it had been. Before COVID 19, Gallup reported that up to 70% of our workforce is not engaged.
Now we face the uncertainty of new workflow models, including remote options, and wondering about their impact on productivity. Many of us, maybe you, are wondering what the impact of this new reality will be on employee engagement.
How will innovation be affected? How will our culture be affected? Will it thrive? Will it collapse? So, while some things are more clear many others remain in a state of flux.
Any company not addressing these uncertainties by creating an intentional culture that emphasizes employee engagement is missing a huge opportunity.
Are masks becoming our new hats?
I’ll never forget a cartoon I saw early in my career depicting an older assistant sitting at a desk beside the new hire. Each was wearing the same silly Scottish hat. The young novice sheepishly asks her new mentor, “Why are we wearing these hats?” to which the older woman responds, “Because we’ve always worn these hats.”
The image was no doubt more impactful than my telling of it, but the message couldn’t be more clear. How often do we blindly go about our business without questioning the things we do? History is replete with case studies of companies that paid the ultimate price by making this mistake. Encyclopedia Britannica, A & P, and Kodak are but a few names on businesses' ash heap.
They, like others, failed to look up and question their answers and reconsider how they might operate differently in their current environment.
Maybe you should stir the pot.
I recently read an article by Jason LeClerc entitled Go ahead, stir the pot. Jason uses the metaphor nicely within the context of their holiday kitchen growing up. With family and friends gathered around the table, no one ever quite knew with certainty where the conversation might go. There is a decidedly political element to his tale, but there are sound lessons on the value of differing opinions. Thus, his reference to stirring the gravy pot.
I am intentionally hijacking Jason’s story and applying the point to our area of interest, business. After all, this is not a political forum, but one intended to get you to think about uncomfortable truths that get lost in the press of running our companies.
engaged employees lead innovation
So why do you do what you do? How has your market changed? Have you grown despite the challenges we’ve all faced over the last 15 months? How have the changes in the competitive landscape helped/hurt you? Have you resisted new ways of doing business to stay within your comfort zone? Or, have you pivoted to meet the new realities most, if not all of us, face in some way or another?
The challenges ahead of us take all hands-on deck. Engagement is at the heart of innovation.
Innovation is the mother’s milk of future growth, and predictable cash flow and predictable profits determine the value of your enterprise. It starts with engagement and being intentional about the culture you curate to support it.
Are Millennials disengaged, employees?
The same Gallup survey mentioned earlier tells us that millennials, the largest component of the upcoming workforce, want meaningful work that has a purpose provides career path opportunities for growth, and comes with a bit of autonomy.
They want honesty and transparency above all else. Answering the question, “Why are we doing it this way?” glibly with “We’ve always done it this way,” or “Why to change what’s working?” won’t cut it anymore--and it should never have.
I would advocate that increased employee engagement can start by:
Understanding where you are right now.
Being smart enough not to believe your own headlines.
Then sharing!
Employee engagement is about communication.
If you want to create a culture of engagement, communication is critical. There is no shortage of tools to help you through this process, but I like it a lot is PESTEL. PESTEL is an environmental scanning technique that seeks to ask questions about your operating environment's current state, how it has changed, and the direction it’s headed in.
PESTEL asks questions through the lens of the six perspectives symbolized by the acronym: Political, Environmental, Sociological, Technological, Economic, and Legal. With it, your organization might discover important market conditions that change the course of your current direction or confirm it.
In 2014, I wrote an article published by International City/County Management Association (ICMA). It addressed how PESTEL, often used in conjunction with marketing decisions, can be applied more broadly as a risk management tool.
Once you are clear on your current situation's nature, strategic planning can be a highly effective tool for communicating where you plan ongoing. This vision, shared, has enormous potential for elevating the level of employee engagement within your company. Try it. You will not be disappointed.
The tale of five monkeys
Finally, I will leave you with the tale of the Five Monkey’s Experiment as recounted by Working Out Loud. It is a cautionary tale that embellished a bit from the original experiment, but the message is sound, and I hope you hear it loudly.
For more on developing a culture of engagement, especially concerning working remotely, schedule a short call on my calendar.