Employee Engagement | Connect to HR | Strategic HR Advisors & Executive Coaching

Archive for Employee Engagement

Keeping Employees Engaged During a Transition

I work with all types of organizations. While my main focus is small to medium sized companies, at least once a year I engage on a project with a larger organization. This enables me to update my knowledge about employee and leadership challenges and best practices in those environments so I can transfer those learnings to my work with smaller organizations.

I recently worked on a project where there was significant change occurring in the organization. Change can be difficult. Especially when those impacted by the change, e.g., employees during an organizational transition, don’t understand the reason for the change or how it will affect them. This lack of knowledge translates into fear: Will I still have a job? Will I have a new boss? How will our way of working change?

That fear often pushes people toward the exit. Better start looking for a new job now. Even those employees who decide to wait it out may be less motivated and engaged in their work as they worry about what’s to come. My main take-away from this recent project as well as my many years of experience helping clients big and small through change is communication and transparency are key!

Below are a few best practices to follow if you know your organization is planning to change, whether it’s at the departmental level or more broadly as part of a large company-wide initiative.

Communication Plan

Most effective organizational change efforts begin with having a solid communication plan. But the quality, delivery, and implementation of that plan can make all the difference in whether employees adapt to the change or not. This is especially true in today’s hybrid environment where it takes effort and intention to deliver the message in multiple ways. Without clear, frequent communication about what’s going on in the organization, employees may fill in the gaps with worst-case scenarios of their own.

Quality

Employees will most likely know something is up even before you announce the change. They’ve observed the closed-door meetings if working in the office. Even in remote working environments, employees will hear rumors from others. As soon as possible, communicate the impending change and the reasons for it. Provide as much information as you can and be honest about what you anticipate the journey to be like and any bumps you might encounter along the way (transparency). Encourage employees to ask questions. You won’t have all the answers but enabling two-way communication is a start in getting them onboard. Explain that you are sharing as much as you can/know at that point in time. Set (and fulfill) the expectation that you will keep them updated as things progress and change. Organizational transitions, especially mergers and acquisitions, can take a long time to complete. Many things can change during that period and employees need to be kept informed.

Delivery

Communication of the change should be delivered from the top down. The CEO or business owner should make the initial announcement to employees. Prior to this meeting all leaders should be briefed on the change and aligned with the messaging. As much as possible meetings regarding the change should be held in person or via virtual town halls, if working in a remote environment. What’s most important is a forum with opportunities for employees to ask questions. After meeting with employees, continue to update them in a variety of ways e.g., Slack, emails, blog posts in your company portal, etc. Make it easy for the employees to learn about the change and what to expect.

Implementation

Communicating change is not a one and done activity. Business conditions/environments can change at any time. The pandemic is a recent example of businesses having to pivot quickly and plans having to be altered. In the current business environment, the outcomes you initially anticipated as business leaders may change. The reduction in force you hoped to avoid may now be unavoidable. Without updates along the transition journey, employees will be relying on what they were initially told. Having those expectations suddenly altered will impair trust, impact engagement, and propel them toward the door. Repeating the message is key! It is more effective to communicate the message in multiple ways/methods and multiple times then to under communicate.

“Data shows that leaders are 9x more likely to be criticized for under-communicating than for over-communicating. Those who say too little come across as unclear and uncaring. When you’re tiring of your message, it’s just starting to land.” – Adam Grant

If you or someone you know is embarking on an organizational transition, I’d love to help. You can reach me at michelle@connecttohr.com.

For These Companies, Giving is a Year-Round Event

As I discussed in my last blog, consumers and job candidates are increasingly looking to do business with and/or work for companies that demonstrate they care about their communities. Do they give back? How do they treat their employees, customers, suppliers and partners? What are the company values and are they adhered to?

For many, these factors are key in their decision process. Companies that are socially responsible have a better public image – with consumers and in the media; have more engaged employees, are able to recruit higher quality talent; and are better able to attract and retain investors. In fact, 55% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies. And, according to a study by Cone Communications, 62% of Millennials would be willing to take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company.

Here are some examples of companies that practice giving and social responsibility year-round.

Kendra Scott. Kendra Scott grew her jewelry company from a $500 home project to a billion-dollar fashion brand, all the while keeping philanthropy as one of her core values. The company’s annual impact includes more than $4.5 million in monetary donations, $10 million in in-kind contributions, 2,000 employee volunteer hours and more than 10,000 philanthropic partnerships.

cuddle + kind. cuddle+ kind is a family-run business that sells handmade knitted dolls. For every doll sold, the company gives 10 meals to children in need. Not only that, each doll is handcrafted by women artisans in Peru, providing them with a sustainable, fair trade income.

TOMS Shoes. TOMS’ social responsibility model started with them giving a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair of shoes sold. TOMS’ giveback model has since expanded to include coffee (providing water where needed), bags, eyewear and apparel. “With every product you purchase, TOMS will help a person in need. One for One®.”

Glassybaby. Glassbaby provides glassblower artisans the opportunity to continue their craft, and donates 10% of every glassbaby to the Glassbaby White Light Fund to help people, animals, and the planet. Glassbaby gives back almost $2 million annually. Glassbaby employs more than 80 glassblowers at their locations in Seattle and Berkeley.

As you think about your organization’s plans and strategies for next year, give some thought to how you can create and maintain a culture of giving.

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Creating a Culture of Giving and Kindness

This is the time of year when many organizations and their employees open their checkbooks and contribute their time to help those in need. There are multiple opportunities to volunteer and streamlined processes to donate during this traditional season of giving.

But here’s the thing: Need isn’t seasonal. It’s an equal opportunity to give, all 12 months of the year.

I’d like to suggest that instead of focusing all your organizational and employee giving efforts just in the months of November and December, you instead create a culture of giving all year round.

How do you do that? Here are some ideas.

At the beginning of the year, select a charity to support through donations and/or volunteering for the year; encourage employees to make individual donations to the charity selected
Ask employees to recommend charities to support and then select a different one each month or quarter to contribute to
Set a company fundraising goal for a particular cause and ask employees to help you reach it
Match employee individual donations
Give employees a set number of hours per year that they can use to volunteer
Have a team competition to see who can raise the most money for a cause or charity

Many people make their buying decisions and their job decisions based on a company’s reputation for giving back. This means that in addition to a giving culture helping those in need, it also provides many intrinsic benefits for your company and your employees.

Consumers want to buy from you
Job candidates want to work for you
Employees feel good working for a company that cares

Another thing about a giving culture is that giving is usually a demonstration of kindness. And it’s clear that in our current divided and often mean environment we can all use a lot more kindness. To those in need and among ourselves.

Leaders, it starts with you. Set the example by treating your individual employees, your team, your customers, your vendors, your job candidates, everyone, for that matter, with kindness. Lead with the question, “How can I help you?” instead of “How will this transaction help me?” Encourage employees to be proactive in helping each other and recognize those who consistently demonstrate that spirit.

Just think about it. Giving and kindness within the organization and giving and kindness to others. What a wonderful world it would be.

5 Key Characteristics of an Effective Leader

For an organization to succeed, it needs quality products or services, engaged employees, and effective leaders – at every level.

But what makes a leader effective?

In the work I’ve done with leaders over the years in both corporate roles and as a consultant, I’ve identified five common characteristics among those whom I consider to be effective leaders. That is, whose employees are engaged and loyal, whose teams are high-functioning, and whose organizations are thriving.

Effective leaders communicate often and well. One of the key causes of poor employee engagement is the lack of communication from leadership. Effective leaders share information and knowledge on a regular basis with their teams and individual employees. Through town halls, one-on-ones or casual conversations, they keep employees in the loop. They share successes and they share problems (and their solutions) openly and honestly.

Effective leaders are good listeners. They know that to build trust and loyalty communication needs to be a two-way street. They seek feedback from employees on issues and they solicit ideas for solutions. They provide opportunities for employees to express concerns, share ideas, ask questions and they listen to and, whenever possible, act on employee input.

Effective leaders are inspirational. They create and communicate a vision and inspire others to follow. They articulate how each employee’s role ties to the vision and to the overall success of the organization. They recognize the achievements of individuals and teams on a regular basis. They create a culture that is diverse, inclusive and that encourages employees to take risks and learn from mistakes.

Effective leaders are emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. It is made up of four core skills: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management. Emotional intelligence is the foundation for critical skills like empathy, stress tolerance, decision making, anger management, flexibility, social skills and others.

Effective leaders grow their people. Jack Welch said: “Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others.” Effective leaders know that to keep their employees engaged and happy, they need to help them learn and grow. They need to provide employees with opportunities that build on their strengths and that nurture new skills and capabilities.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

Improve Company Performance Through Diversity and Inclusion

There has been much discussion recently about the disparity in pay and opportunity for women and minorities across a variety of industries. And although Silicon Valley companies have created many initiatives over the years to close the gap, the gap in hi-tech remains. But here’s the thing. Those companies who have successfully increased diversity and inclusion – especially at the senior management level – are significantly outperforming those who haven’t.

According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, companies that ranked in the top quartile on executive-level gender diversity outperformed their less diverse peers by 21%. Companies with the most ethnically diverse executive teams outperformed their peers by 33%. Conversely, the report showed that the least diverse companies underperformed their industry peers by 29%. Clearly there’s a correlation between diversity and the bottom line.

In addition to improving financial performance, proactively creating a culture of diversity and inclusion improves employee engagement and helps attract new talent. Companies that embrace differences and provide opportunities for all are far more attractive and motivating workplaces. This is important for leaders to remember, especially now that we’re in an environment where there’s competition for talent.

Although the McKinsey report looked at diversity primarily through the lens of gender and ethnicity, I think it’s important to consider a broader definition. All too often leaders fall into the trap of hiring someone very much like them – similar personality, similar background, similar way of approaching a problem or decision. Yet there is so much to be learned and gained from building a team and organization that includes a variety of personalities, backgrounds, and approaches. When different viewpoints and approaches are brought to the table it spurs innovation, which contributes to the organization’s competitive edge.

Creating a culture of diversity and inclusion can also help attract customers. Today’s consumers have myriad choices, and many are looking to do business with companies that demonstrate they care by providing opportunities, development and advancement for all.

Next time we’ll talk about some things you can do to promote diversity and inclusion in your culture and hiring practices.

Motivate Employees Through Cascading Goals

Once you’ve decided on your theme and overall goals for the organization, as I spoke about in my last blog, the next step is defining the specific objectives and activities (with due dates) that will help you achieve those goals. A critical activity in this process is communicating company goals and what needs to be done to achieve them to employees. Employees are, after all, the engine that will help drive the organization toward those goals.

As you work with your employees to set their goals, be sure they understand how their individual and team goals tie to the organizational goals. Employees are more likely to be motivated and engaged when they can see how their work impacts the organization as a whole.

When you set goals, be sure they are SMART goals. Effective goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. In our dynamic work environments, organizational goals (and team goals) may shift as priorities change during the year, so be sure to have periodic reviews with employees to update goals as needed. This also gives you the opportunity to understand cause and effect if something slips.

It’s important to keep goals visible. Too often they get tucked away in a PowerPoint – out of sight and out of mind. Consider giving employees a chart or graphic of organizational goals that they keep at their desks to remind them of the destination and inspire them to engage in the journey.

Provide employees with support in terms of resources and guidance as they work on their goals. Are they having trouble getting the input, effort or approvals needed from others in order to complete the goal? Are there roadblocks? Use this as a coaching opportunity and work together to develop a path forward.

When goals are achieved, recognize the achievement. For especially challenging or stretch goals, spend some time with the employee discussing his or her approach, lessons learned, and/or things that could have been done differently.

Cascading and communicating goals may seem like a no brainer, yet so many organizations fail to do so. In his book The 8th Habit, Stephen Covey shared the results of a survey of 23,000 employees drawn from various companies and industries:

Only 37% said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why
Only 1 in 5 was enthusiastic about their team’s and their organization’s goals
Only 1 in 5 said they had a clear “line of sight” between their tasks and their team’s and the organization’s goals
Only 15% felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals

Be ahead of the curve and motivate your employees by cascading goals!

Let’s Normalize Kindness

It’s been so heartwarming to see the outpouring of kindness and generosity from neighbors near and far in the wake of the fire disasters in the North Bay. There’s something about disasters that makes people set aside their differences and come together in the spirit of compassion for their fellow human beings.

Why can’t we always be this way? How can we change the bad behavior that is increasingly becoming normalized in the workplace, and normalize kindness instead?

Leaders, it starts with you. Set the example by treating your individual employees, your team, your customers, your vendors, your job candidates, everyone, for that matter, with kindness. Express your feedback – even when negative – in a positive, constructive way. The command and control style of leadership, although we see it in the news every day, should be a thing of the past.

Remember that the number one reason employees leave is because of their boss. With an improved job market, good talent has plenty of options. Don’t lose that talent by normalizing bad behavior. Be kind.

Encourage your employees to be kind by rewarding people for helping others and demonstrating kindness. The seasoned employee who makes an extra effort to help a new employee feel welcome and get acclimated. The leader who inspires his/her team to volunteer for community service. The employee who goes above and beyond to help a customer have a good experience. The leader who consistently models positive behavior in word and deed.

Caution employees not to get caught up in the rumor mill, and to seek the truth, in person, before making assumptions about a situation. All too often conflicts get blown out of proportion because too many people are brought into the loop via emails that are over-copied and over-shared. Remember, emails are one-way communication and you have no control over where that email goes once you send it. Create an environment where employees know that the first step in a conflict is to try to resolve it face to face with the other person, and if that doesn’t work then to involve you, as their leader.

These sayings are old, but definitely apply today: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything,” and, “Words, once they are printed have a life of their own.”

Let’s all try to be kinder, EVERY day.

“No act of kindness is ever wasted.” – Aesop

Enhancing Personal Growth Through Affinity Groups

As I wrote in my last blog, mentoring programs provide myriad benefits to mentees, mentors and organizations. There’s a specific type of mentoring program I’d like to discuss this time – Affinity Groups.

A workplace affinity group is a group of employees with similar backgrounds, characteristics, or life experiences, such as: women, people of color, or Veterans. The purpose of an affinity group is to provide diverse populations within an organization the opportunity to share ideas and experiences. Often these groups are under-represented in a particular career path and/or leadership. Matching experienced mentors with mentees within the affinity group can help break down barriers and enhance mentees’ personal growth. For example, matching a Veteran who’s been back in the workforce for several years with a Veteran who’s just re-entering it. Their shared experience accelerates rapport, and the mentor can provide insight that a non-Veteran might not be able to.

In the affinity group mentoring program I worked with, we created what we called “mentoring circles” for the groups that had fewer than 10 people. Two mentors met with the groups twice a month. We encouraged the groups to schedule group activities in addition to the meetings, and to broaden their knowledge and exposure to different parts of the company so they could identify potential opportunities. Participant feedback indicated that getting input from mentors in the same affinity was very helpful.

Whether you create a general mentoring program or one based on affinity groups, best practices for your mentors and mentees are the same. Both mentor and mentees should be reminded of basic relationship skills: open and honest communication, active listening, being accessible, building trust, sharing knowledge and ideas, and working together to resolve differences. Here are some additional tips.

Mentor success tips:

Handle the awe factor. Make the mentee feel comfortable. Share times when you’ve made mistakes. Be enthusiastic and patient. Invite feedback.
Set expectations. Share your availability, preferred ways of communicating, and what you expect from the mentee in order for them to get the most out of the partnership.
Help with specific goals and plans. Encourage the mentee to develop a personal vision. Help them think of concrete goals based on their vision and a plan of how they’ll reach those goals.
Give feedback. Provide the mentee with frequent feedback, both positive and constructive. Help them measure progress.

Mentee success tips:

Ask questions. Ask for what you need in terms of knowledge, advice, guidance and information.
Keep your commitments. Arrive at meetings on time and prepared. Complete your action items.
Build trust. Communicate open and honestly. Respect confidentiality. Demonstrate a willingness to learn. Follow up and follow through.
Make the experience count. Keep a mentoring journal. Capture and reflect upon what you’ve learned and how you will apply the learning.

Mentoring Programs Benefit Both Employees and Organizations

One of the most frequent comments that comes up on employee surveys is that employees want more opportunities for growth and development. And studies show that companies who provide those opportunities have more engaged employees, higher retention rates, and better business results.

Providing your employees with learning and development doesn’t have to involve costly training programs. It can be as simple and cost-effective as transferring knowledge through mentoring relationships.

A mentoring program involves matching a less experienced employee or manager (mentee) with a more experienced employee or manager (mentor) for guidance and development. In most mentoring programs mentees do not report to their mentor, which often allows the mentee to be more candid about issues and concerns. Mentoring relationships provide development for the mentee and also benefit the mentor by helping them develop or enhance their leadership skills. Often the experience helps the mentor regain passion around his/her work and thus become more engaged and productive.

There are also myriad benefits to the organization. A mentoring program:

Shows employees that the company is willing to invest in its people
Conveys to the outside world that the company values its employees
Reduces turnover by increasing loyalty among employees (saving replacement costs)
Creates a more positive work environment
Helps mentors develop leadership skills
Provides growth opportunities for employees
Promotes a sense of cooperation and harmony within the organization

There are different schools of thought about the process for matching mentors and mentees. Some recommend that the pairings be allowed to evolve naturally. Others ask for volunteers to participate and then manually match mentors and mentees based on function and/or location. Others use software tools to do the match.

If you are thinking about developing a mentoring program, here are some tips to help it succeed:

Select mentors who are positive role models and enthusiastic about the program.
Establish clear expectations for the mentoring partnership, such as minimum number of meetings, length of partnership, who is responsible for initiating meetings and driving the relationship, etc.
Include at least one check-point to evaluate the relationship.
Encourage mentors and mentees to create specific goals for the partnership.
Orient mentors with best practices and guidelines around goal setting, giving feedback and basic relationship skills such as open communication, active listening, being accessible, building trust, sharing knowledge and ideas, and working together to resolve differences.
Develop a process for obtaining and incorporating feedback from both mentors and mentees about the program to ensure continuous improvement.

I had the privilege of starting a mentoring program for a large organization some years ago. We established it initially for 6 months, with a kick-off, mid-term event, and Mentor/Mentee luncheon with all participants at the end of the period. The program was very successful, and we were able to track the progress of participants. Several of the mentees received promotions. Another mentee decided to go back to school to obtain an advanced degree. Another mentee decided to make a lateral transfer to a different position that would provide the experience he needed to achieve a promotion. The mentors also benefited from the program. They felt more engaged and motivated in their jobs. They were very proud of their mentees and the progress they saw. Several of the mentoring pairs continued their mentoring relationship beyond the end of the pilot.

If you need help initiating a mentoring program at your company, please feel free to contact me. In my next blog, I’ll talk about establishing affinity group mentoring programs and give you some success tips for mentors and mentees.

Conducting a Great Coaching Conversation

One of your roles as a leader is to develop your employees. This includes giving regular feedback, providing opportunities that help them stretch and grow, and allowing them to learn from their mistakes. It’s called coaching. And putting yourself in the role of coach (positive) instead of boss (often negative) will go a long way to improving employee engagement and, by extension, improving company performance.

A survey by Corporate Executive Board found that firms whose culture encourages open communication outperform peers by more than 270% in terms of 10-year total shareholder return. Good coaching and an open, honest communication environment go hand in hand.

Key to an effective coaching process is the coaching conversation. This is where the leader (coach) does more asking than telling, and where the coach and coachee (employee) co-create a solution and next steps. This model works for both performance coaching and career development. Although the content will be different, the basic structure is the same – two-way, honest communication resulting in clarity and specific next steps.

Performance conversations should happen as close to when the performance issue is observed as possible. Unlike wine, poor performance does not improve with age. And unless the employee is made aware of the issue, he/she may assume everything is OK. Give employees the opportunity to learn from mistakes and to improve. Career development conversations should be held on a regular basis.

Here’s how a performance coaching conversation might look:

Set the stage. Explain that the goal of the conversation is to provide feedback to help them improve.
Describe the issue. Be sure that the issue is something you have personally observed, not something you were told by others. “I’ve observed that you came in late three times this week.”
Get them thinking. Ask, “What do you think the impact of your being late is?” “How could this have been avoided?”
Confirm expectations. “When do we need to be in the office and available for customer calls?”
Gain commitment. “What are the new behaviors you will practice?” “What are the benefits of those new behaviors?”
Follow up. If the behavior changes as promised, be sure to have another conversation where you give them positive feedback, including the positive impact of their actions. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been on time or even early for the past two weeks. We have consistently gotten orders out on time as a result. Thank you!”

Remember that, as a coach, you need to be providing regular feedback for both performance and career development. Catch your employees being good, and let them know how much you appreciate them. Praise them when they turn around a performance issue. When they come to you with a work issue, avoid the temptation to tell them how to solve it. Ask good questions to help them come up with a solution. “What have you tried so far?” “What’s another approach that might work that you haven’t tried yet?” “How have you handled something like this in the past?” “What was the outcome?”

If you’d like to learn more about giving effective feedback, please contact me about my one-hour performance feedback training.