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Organizational development articles on topics like change management, human resources, transformational leadership, customer service and more.

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27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Change Management Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

No, It’s Not Okay For You To Play Devil’s Advocate

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Dear Meeting Colleague,
 
We are sorry to inform you that your request to play devil’s advocate cannot be accepted at this time. You’ve done a great job trying to identify everything that could go wrong with almost every idea that comes up in any meeting that you attend. That is commendable. You go above and beyond in your effort to make sure that we “see all sides.”

We applaud your knack for finding the flaws in any idea, but must deny your request at this time.

We know that the market is challenging, and it’s very likely that we haven’t thought of every single aspect of what could go wrong. Therefore, we are in dire need of a role we call “Ark Builder.”

The description is as follows:

• Nice to have:
◦ Sees that storm clouds are coming and can predict, or at least have some inkling, of what could happen when it rains
◦ Understands, and can articulate, what the problem might be when the rain does fall
◦ Can articulate the challenges and risks if substantial rain falls, and what the issues will arise
• Must have:
◦ Be able to clearly articulate their ideas on how to address the issues of the oncoming rain, such as building a large water floatation vehicle, developing a sandbagging plan, or other flood prevention/aversion plans
◦ Be willing to take on the work entailed in implementing such plans
◦ Understand that ideas may or may not be taken
◦ Be willing to take coaching and input from others
 
If this is a role that interests you, we welcome your application.

Unfortunately, this role has gone unfilled for too long. There is no increase in pay, but a vast increase in satisfaction and engagement for you – and everyone around you. For the company, you’ll actually be helping maintain productivity and minimize losses.
 
• •According to one survey, 78% of employees reported a loss of at least 3 hours a week because of complainers
• 11% of respondents said they’ve left a job because they couldn’t stand working with someone perpetually negative
• Unproductive time spent on problems (without finding solutions) can costs companies thousands of dollars per year, per employee
(Source)
 
In fact, there’s really no application or interview process. Any time you want the job, it is yours for the taking…
As of now, however, the Devil’s Advocate role has been permanently filled. Your requests now – and all future requests – will be denied. We’re no longer interested in fielding complaints and criticism without proposed solutions.
 
Thank you…
 
Are there people you’d like to share this rejection letter with? Why?
 
What more might be possible if we took on the Ark Builder role, and focused on finding solutions instead of just highlighting potential problems?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles Permalink

Can There Be Too Much Review?

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Review sessions are important of course, so managers and teams can make sure requirements are being fulfilled, but is there such thing as too much review?
 
REVIEW-A-GO-ROUND

On a recent very time sensitive client project there were 5 reviews of the final product:
• Round 1 “Final Review”
◦ The group that created the final product
• Round 2 “Final Review”
◦ The group’s bosses
• Round 3 Final Review
◦ HR
• Round 4 “Final Review”
◦ Group of consultants
• Round 5 “Final Review”
◦ Another internal “cross-functional” review board.
 
At each round of reviews:
• People found small things to change.
• Rehashed decisions that were made previously.

“Organizations that develop a culture of continually reopening decisions that were previously made almost never thrive.” – Jonathan Poisner
 
• Second-guessed the group that created the final product.
• Wordsmithed…. a lot.
 
In the end the final product is not very different than the “original” final product. The only difference is that the end product was delayed by months, literally.
 
The group “empowered” to create the final product felt undermined and demoralized.
 
Sure, there will be the need for review and changes – it can help prevent dissatisfied customers, lawsuits, and even embarrassment, but putting every project through the review wringer only damages the overall quality of the project. Little by little, the original idea is chipped away, leaving some barely recognizable version of everyone’s best intentions – instead of the goal of the original project.
 
ANTI-AUTONOMY
Don’t add extra checks that don’t actually add something of value to the end product (as in make it better).   Not only does this slow down productivity and add all kinds of unnecessary delays to a project, it also takes autonomy away from the people doing the actual work. As Daniel Pink stated in Drive – “Autonomy – the desire to direct our own lives” is one of the key elements in highly productive workers.

Without it productivity, creativity and overall quality suffers
 
If the project team knows that no matter what they do, the project will be scrutinized from all angles, with seemingly endless proposals for change, their interpretations of a client or project manager’s vision becomes less and less important, and the end product suffers.

That group creating the final product shifts from “owners” to “just workers” when autonomy is taken away.
 
When putting a project in the hands of a project team, trust their expertise! There’s a reason they are the designers, writers, developers, subject matter experts – let them do what they do best.
 
A project may never be perfect, but it doesn’t need to be passed over by every single set of eyes in a company. Grant the skilled professionals the autonomy they deserve, and the work will reflect the personal care they put into it.
 
What does your organization do to instill autonomy?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles Permalink

The Most Critical Leadership Development Question

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Do you want to create a team of high performers that exceed expectations that are highly motivated?  If the answer is yes (and why wouldn’t it be) there is a simple question that should drive every development conversation a leader has.

“What do you do better than 90% of everyone else?”

WHY DOES THIS QUESTION WORK?

This simple question allows for deep learning, insight and creates a path for accelerated development.

• It gives you a window into the mind of your teammates.
◦       What are their motivations?
◦       What makes them passionate?
◦       What are skills they have you didn’t know about?
• It gives your team insight into themselves
◦       What are they honestly really good at doing?
◦       Where could they be focusing their time to help the team out more?

THERE IS AN EASY TWO-PART PROCESS TO LEVERAGE THIS CRITICAL QUESTION.

1. Give feedback in the moment, both positive and constructive.
◦ Feedback shouldn’t be held to a weekly one-on-one or a quarterly check in.  It should be given in the moment (or as soon as possible) that it is warranted.
◦ There is an easy 5-step method to deliver positive and constructive feedback.

Positive

Constructive

Provide Context for Feedback

Provide Context for Feedback

Explain specifically what went well

Explain specifically and objectively what went wrong

Focus on their identity and skills

Let them know what they did well

Congratulate and give them the opportunity to explain why they chose to act that way

Ask them what they can do improve? What help do they need from you?

◦ Do this frequently to give you practice
◦ Give just as much, if not more, positive feedback as constructive.

Corporate Leadership Council conducted a study 19,000 employees from 34 companies, in 7 industry groups in 20 countries and asked them what impact certain actions had on their performance.  This was carried out in 2002.

Key findings:

▪ Fair and accurate informal feedback increases performance by 39%!
▪ Formal reviews with emphasis on strengths increases performance by 37%!
 
2. During regularly scheduled development conversations ask one question to drive the conversation:
“What do you do better than 90% of everyone else?”

Based on the answer you can then help them look for:

• Training courses to deepen their areas of expertise
• Opportunities to leverage their ability as a mentor to other teammates in their expertise
• Projects where s/he can leverage their expertise
 
That’s it.  Keep it simple and straightforward. What do you think?  Would this work for your organization?
 
What have you seen as the best process for managing performance and development?
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Instructional Design Articles Permalink

Corporate Retreats Are Important!

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Proponents of traditional training programs and corporate penny pinchers might share a certain skeptical sentiment: what’s so special about company retreats?

Are they really worth the cost? Are they really that different from on-site training? Is it worth the time commitment?
 
The short answer to all of those questions: YES.
 
Here’s why:

When you need to make a big change in a company, restructure a department, get a new team up to speed, or redefine the responsibilities of a certain job title, you’re looking at a pretty serious investment of time and effort.
 
This investment is even more costly when it interferes with daily operations – you end up with trainers trying to wear two hats at once, disengagement from the group because of outside distractions, and general confusion as people try to navigate new responsibilities when they haven’t fully shed the old ones.
 
All of those problems underscore the value of a retreat. Think about it: if you can effectively remove the employees/trainees (and those doing the training) from the workplace, no one has to juggle the company’s daily operations. Instead, everyone can focus on the task at hand.

Focus is also a huge factor by itself, even beyond the potential to be distracted by the daily goings on of business. Simply changing the scenery can have a massive impact on engagement. This is especially true for existing employees, but even for new hires, getting away from day-to-day reality has a way of priming people for new experiences – and more importantly, for retaining what happens when they venture away from “home.”
 
And that’s really the most important point: retreats are immersive experiences. It’s not something you punch into for a little while, walk away from, and come back to after the break or the next day. When you’re there, you’re there!
This isn’t to say that a retreat can’t be full of fun, or that there aren’t breaks or periods of time focused elsewhere. The value is in the physical presence, the understanding that everyone there has a common goal, and that you’re all there together to make it happen!
 
There’s a camaraderie that occurs when people are together for business, and that time spent carries over into other aspects of their lives. Retreats foster this kind of collaboration and “getting to know each other.” These, in turn, help people build the trust and teamwork that boost effectiveness, help training stick, and ultimately create company culture.
 
When people are free from distractions, unburdened by their daily workload, and whisked away to a new and interesting place to spend time with peers working toward a common goal, a lot of magic can happen!

Employee retreats take away a lot of the variables, as well as many of the elements that can turn in-house training and efforts to change into failures.

Want to learn more about how to turn your next retreat into an opportunity to transform? Read more here

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Human Resources Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

When Does Your Workforce Need A Transformation?

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

When Does Your Workforce Need a Transformation?

Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about employee retreats – and why they are so effective in bringing about transformations for your workforce. But why does your company need a transformation in the first place? What unique scenarios require transformations?
 
Specific needs will be different for every business, but there are some certain situations where this idea of “transformation” is so much more important than training alone – or, maybe more accurately, regular training just won’t cut it.
 
Transformations, as discussed in the last post, are major changes to ways of thinking, not just ways of doing things – so when would this kind of change be most necessary? Here are a few examples:

1. New Leadership
 
When a new leader comes on board, it can be tough to gain the respect of existing team members. Additionally, it can be difficult for those employees to fully understand the necessity of bringing in this new leader, changing the group dynamic, and relatively upsetting the “natural order” they’ve gotten used to.
 
In a situation like this, the desired transformation is from an attitude of adversity to an attitude of acceptance, respect, and collaboration.
 
Through an effective retreat, the team would have a chance to get to know this new leader, address concerns in an open and supportive environment, and hopefully get on the same page about why this leader has been brought on board.
 
By taking the time to alleviate any apprehension from the team before normal “workday” operations are affected by the presence of a new leader, the team is transformed without taking a toll on productivity.
 
2. Merger/Acquisition
 
When two companies come together through a merger or acquisition, there’s plenty of room for difficulty. Operations and expectations within the two companies will certainly have some variation, and the necessary “transformation” involves finding a new standard that everyone can agree on.
 
Achieving this kind of transformation takes significant preparation, as well as some clear-cut standards for how you want the final, “combined” operations to look like.
 
The change in thinking involves letting go of “the way things used to be” and internalizing the need for operations that meet the new goals of the merged company.

3. Broad Restructuring
 
Sometimes companies have to go through massive changes. It could be an entire shift in products or services offered, an update in systems that affects the entire company, new employee standards, or anything else that impacts many people across different departments.
 
The transformation(s) involved might be as large and complicated as the company changes themselves, but much like in a merger, it’s important that everyone understands and internalizes the need for the changes, and overcomes any resistance they might have to the new ways of doing things.
 
4. Creating New Energy
 
Over time, people can get complacent. They may settle into a less-than-ideal pattern of thinking or behavior, and they need a bit of a transformation to refresh their enthusiasm and/or focus.
 
These kind of transformations will happen a little differently for every team or individual, but no matter what, it’s all about getting down the essential principles the company operates by, and getting everyone excited about their individual contributions – and the successes they can achieve as a group.
 
These are just a few examples that could necessitate the transformations that retreats provide. In any scenario that requires a large-scale change not just to the way employees operate, but also the way they think, transformation is essential.
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Human Resources Articles Permalink

HR Leaders, What Grade Would You Give Yourself?

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Let’s be honest here. HR people aren’t always the most popular people in the company. That’s not that big of a surprise, really, since they are usually the face of performance improvement processes, layoffs, annual reviews, and all those other fun processes.

Plenty of the time, they have to be the bad guy.
 
What about all the other things that HR is supposed to handle though? Have we forgotten all about the real purpose of “Human Resources” and turned the job into the office’s keeper of the process?  Between the mandatory employee engagement action plans and completed performance management forms, is that so hard to believe?
 
HR leaders aren’t supposed to be some militant watchdog – they’re the driver of talent management. They’re supposed to be the group responsible shaping future leaders and ensuring that its current leaders are agents of change.  In the age of knowledge workers, there is probably not a part of the organization that is more important than HR.
This is NOT the position of a bad guy or the “People Process Police”. In fact, HR leaders should be looking for ways to unleash the organization’s leaders not miring them in process.
 
So let’s get real – are you helping the organization to be their best, or just instituting programs? If you had to give yourself an honest assessment, a letter grade even, how would you rank your own performance?
 
Seriously – what is the letter grade you would give HR in your organization if the criteria were the following:
 
• Impact to business goals
• Impact on engagement
• Impact on being ready for change
 
IMPACT ON BUSINESS GOALS

HR’s programs, practices and initiatives should be designed to positively impact business goals.  Not just “cost of hire” or “cost of attrition” type of metrics.  Those are passive measures.  HR needs to link each and every program to a specific business goal.  It is likely that the success of the goal will not be solely impact by HR, but that’s not really the point.
 
No HR program should be started or continued unless it’s connected to a business outcome or goal.
 
How many of your programs have a direct impact on business goals?
 
According to SHRM’s “Future of the HR Profession” white paper one of the most critical areas of focus (and improvement) for HR is to

“quantify in dollar terms the value HR initiatives bring to the bottom line, is the best way to ensure future investment in the HR function.”
 
If you had to give a grade for your organization on impact, what would it be?
 
IMPACT ON ENGAGEMENT

There has been a lot of talk over the past years about employee engagement. The problem is not that organizations aren’t concerned about it.  They are spending countless hours and dollars on it.  Unfortunately, the results have been less than stellar.
 

“A recent national study by Dale Carnegie Training placed the number of “fully engaged” employees at 29%, and “disengaged” employees at 26% – meaning nearly three-quarters of employees are not fully engaged (aka productive)” – Victor Lipman(@VictorLipman1)
 
With all of the measuring and talking about engagement, very little of significant impact is being done.  Study after study shows that there are a handful of methods to drive employee engagement:

1. Get results to people quickly
2. Empower teams, managers and employees to take action immediately
3. Connect employee engagement to business goals/outcomes that matter
4. Make sure that the business owns engagement, not HR
5. Make engagement part of the every day, part of a leader’s routine
 
How many of these does your organization enact?  If you had to grade your organization on how it impact’s employee engagement, what would it be?
 
IMPACT ON CHANGE READINESS
One of the most important roles of HR is to ensure the organization is ready for and looking forward to change.
 

“Forces at work in … business — increased competition, rapidly shifting technologies, and emerging disruptive business models — are the forces that are reshaping many parts of the global economy “ – Scott Anthony
 
It’s cliché, but true – change is the new normal. Organizations that are not constantly ready and even looking for change are doomed to failure.  It’s HR job to make sure its leaders are agents of change.

Is HR in your organization looked upon as change experts?  Do other parts of the organization regularly call upon HR to lead or facilitate change?

If you had to grade yourself on how well you’re preparing the organization for change, what would it be?
There are many areas that require HR’s expertise and wisdom.  HR can push organizations to greater impact or fight mightily for the status quo.  If you were grading HR for your organization, which role would you say they play?
 
I’d be curious to hear about other areas of grading for HR.  What are critical factors that HR plays on an organization’s success.  Please let me know your thoughts!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Don’t Call It A Program

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

What’s the best way to make sure leadership development, employee engagement, or any other people initiative will fail?
Call it a program. 
 
Programs are to employees with kryptonite is to Superman. They scream of formalized, over complicated initiatives that may or may not apply to the goals of the group, but must be followed to the letter. Things that are engrained in the culture aren’t called programs…they just happen.
 
Can you imagine (fill in the blank holiday) dinner at Mom’s being a program. No!

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE SURE THAT EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DOESN’T TURN INTO ANOTHER PROGRAM:
 
LINK ENGAGEMENT TO BUSINESS OUTCOMES
It is vital that employee engagement (or any people program) be linked DIRECTLY to a business or organizational goal   Without that link, the idea of working on engagement will be akin to using the ab master that was bought at 2:30AM when watching an infomercial.  It sounds like a great idea.  Heck, it even has some science and data behind it.  But no link to business goals = no long term engagement

MAKE ENGAGEMENT PART OF THE CONVERSATION ALL THE TIME

Look for any opportunity to discuss engagement or maybe (gasp) to engage people.  Engagement should be at the forefront of senior leadership communication, part of the objective of every management training and the driving force of every new initiative regarding employees.  Engagement once or twice a year is similar to the new year’s resolution phenomenon.
 

“A New Year’s Resolution is something that goes in one year and comes out the other” – Oscar Wilde.
 
Don’t fall into that trap.  
 
MAKE ENGAGEMENT EASY
Employee Engagement the program is a long hard slog.  It starts with a survey that takes too long to fill out.  Then there are reports and data that are hard to decipher and take months (and months) to see.  Finally, there is some grandiose action that is to be taken based on said results that is supposed to target the “area of opportunity”.  In between there is a little training for managers and a lot of hand wringing to get people to take surveys and turn in action plans.  Why can’t engagement be easy?
 
• Keep the survey short
◦ Don’t have more than 20 questions.  Large unfocused surveys make people believe the organization doesn’t really know what its asking for.  Also, questions that are targeted on what is actionable by managers makes engagement real for everyone
• Get data back to managers and teams within a month or less from the time a survey is taken.
◦ Long periods of time between surveys doesn’t bode well for action.  It also makes people think there is something to hide.  Turn data around quickly to start the conversation
• Give managers constant training
◦ Set up training on a regular basis that managers can access new insight or tools about engagement regularly.  Also, provide a forum for them to share ideas with each other.
• Make action plans living
◦ Put action plans into a system that can be updated and is easily accessible.  Don’t put a lot of restrictions on them either.  Let teams do what they think is best.
• Take action at the organizational level right away
◦ Use aggregate data to put new programs or enhance programs right away and link it to engagement.  Its important for folks to see results right away.
 
What else can be done to shift employee engagement from a program?  How can we make sure that it doesn’t turn into “have to”?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Human Resources Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Your Employee Engagement Isn’t Going To Work

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

“After five years of doing engagement, I’ve not seen a real impact.  The sad part is that I feel like I can predict the results before they happen,” stated a senior level executive.  He looked at me and asked, “Why do we keep doing this?”
 
As a former Gallup consultant, Employee Engagement is near and dear to me.  I have led engagement initiatives and witnessed the power of their impact on organizations.  Yet, far too often I hear this same concern.
 
There has been a great deal written about the power of employee engagement.  After the landmark study that launched employee engagement in Coffman and Buckingham’s First Break All the Rules, there have been hundreds of studies showing the impact of engagement. Every year all of the major employee engagement providers put out their annual “state of the state” regarding engagement.  Each year, there are many examples of companies leveraging engagement to be even more successful – Campbell’s Soup, Toyota, and Apple just to name a few.
 
But, the sad truth is that there are many more examples where employee engagement is not having the impact that it could.
 

“The latest findings indicate that 70% of American workers are ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’ and are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less likely to be productive. These actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity. They are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away.” – Gallup State of the American Workplace
 
I discussed why this is so with leaders and employee engagement practitioners. According to them (and my experience) there are three prominent reasons Employee Engagement fails to produce the results intended.
 
ENGAGEMENT NOT CONNECTED TO THE BUSINESS

Time and time again, Employee Engagement is brought into an organization with a great deal of promise.  Senior executives are sold on the notion that Employee Engagement is a panacea that will make their business better, faster, stronger.  That somehow, just by taking this magical survey

1. Employees will sing the praises of the company
2. Customers will line up to buy and will actively sell without compensation
3. Competitors will fall by the wayside
 
Either it is said and executives don’t listen or it is not explicit that just like the ab machine bought on QVC at 2 AM if engagement is not linked to impacting business or organizational goals it will be largely ignored.  Employee Engagement is a powerful measure that can anticipate the performance of an organization.  Unlike revenue or profit or compliance, it is a predictive measure of performance (get quote or link) IF IT IS LINKED TO BUSINESS OUTCOMES.  Just taking the survey, rolling out reports and doing action plans will do little in the long term to impact business results.
 
In order for engagement to have impact, employees can’t just be engaged they have to be engaged to something.  Prior to rolling out an employee engagement survey, there has to be work done to link engagement to some measure that is important to the business.
 

“Researchers studied 49,928 work units, including nearly 1.4 million employees. This latest iteration of the meta-analysis further confirmed the well-established connection between employee engagement and key performance outcomes:
 
• Customer ratings
• Profitability
• Productivity
• Turnover (for high-turnover and low-turnover organizations)
• Safety incidents
• Shrinkage (theft)
• Absenteeism
• Patient safety incidents
• Quality (defects)

Work units in the top quartile in employee engagement outperformed bottom-quartile units by 10% on customer ratings, 22% in profitability, and 21% in productivity. Work units in the top quartile also saw significantly less turnover (25% in high-turnover organizations and 65% in low-turnover organizations), shrinkage (28%), and absenteeism (37%) and fewer safety incidents (48%), patient safety incidents (41%), and quality defects (41%).” – Gallup Business Journal

 
Any of these measures can be linked to engagement because what impacts them the most is PEOPLE.  But without that causal link, eventually engagement will be a “program” that managers and leaders “have to do”.  There will be less and less emphasis put on it.  Eventually leaders will only give it lip service.  Then a new Employee Engagement vendor will be selected and the cycle will start anew.
 
HR IS ADMINISTRATOR, OWNER AND CHAMPION OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

HR is the very best place for Employee Engagement to “live”.  However, HR being its owner and champion is misplaced.  In order to ensure that Employee Engagement carries its required weight, the owner must be a senior leader from the business, preferably someone that is in charge of a revenue generating part of the organization.  It is impossible for HR to be administrator, facilitator, coach AND enforcer.  At some point those roles will be indistinguishable.
 
In order for Employee Engagement to be seen as a business initiative, it has to be owned by the business.  It also means they are accountable for its success.  But, a business leader won’t take on owning an initiative that isn’t tied to business outcomes they care about.  Hence the reason #1 is so important.
 
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IS AN EVENT NOT A MINDSET

The drumbeat from thought leaders in Employee Engagement is it cannot be a “once a year event”.  It is doomed to insignificance if the focus is on survey, report and action plan.  That makes it a program with checkoffs.  It undermines the most important part, conversation.  Employee engagement must be a mindset.
 

“Employee engagement will not thrive when it’s handled like an event. But when it is vigilantly cultivated and purposefully spread through the interactions between managers and employees, it becomes a way of working. It becomes part of a company’s culture.” – Shawn Murphy (@shawmu)
 
The survey and all that is part of it are only a portion of actually creating an engaged workplace.  It is not enough to talk about engagement or promote being more engaged.  Developing an engaged workforce takes ENGAGING THEM.
 
Employee engagement has been proven to improve organizational performance.  What is your organization doing to increase the impact of Employee Engagement?
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Employee Engagement Strategies – Give Employees The Accountability To Manage Their Own Engagement

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

Culture and operations are a little different for every company, and because of that, finding ways to spur employee engagement takes a unique and fresh approach for each individual business.

To get a sense for what drives real engagement (at real companies), I want to share some lessons that depend directly on “outside the box” thinking and a disruptive approach to typical engagement efforts.

You see the principles all over the place, but so many people ask me how they can actually use this stuff in their own businesses – here is the first of an irregular series of real life examples:
 
GIVE EMPLOYEES THE ACCOUNTABILITY TO MANAGE THEIR OWN ENGAGEMENT

The supervisor of a large manufacturing company in the Northeast told me how turning over the reins of engagement to his staff really made a huge impact on the team’s performance.
 
Here’s his story:
 
– The first year we did an employee engagement survey, we scored in the 13th percentile. I gathered my group together and asked them what I could do to help them be more engaged. They gave great ideas:
 
• Doing things together outside of work
• Taking some training classes
• Hearing directly from senior leaders on the state of the business
 
The following year, the employee engagement survey scores doubled to the 26th percentile. A great improvement, but still far below where I thought my long-standing employees should be.
 
In the following year’s meeting to talk about employee engagement actions, I did something completely off script:
 
I opened the meeting by saying how proud I was to work with them, and then I asked them what they were doing to be more engaged…
 
There was silence in the room. A gentleman who had been working with me for almost 20 years spoke up and said:
 

“I am more engaged when I learn more about what we’re doing, and research the industry myself.”
 
There’s something particularly remarkable about that: these are all front-line workers on a manufacturing line. They are not college students or recent graduates of an MBA program, but what that gentleman told me resonated with everyone…
 
So, I decided that this year, engagement was going to be their riddle to solve. Our action plan as a team was no action plan at all. The only thing that people were going to be working on was answering this question:
 
“WHAT AM I DOING TO BE MORE ENGAGED“

During each daily team meeting, someone was designated with answering this tough  question. The rest of the team’s job was to ask questions, give advice, and blatantly steal really good ideas. I asked one of my employees to take notes, just to capture all of the best ideas.
 
By the end of the first three months, we had over 400 ideas and actions noted!
 
My team was talking about how to be more engaged, how to learn more about the business, understanding more about the impact of what they did, and showing their passion more than I had ever seen. It was truly amazing!
 
By the time the next engagement survey was conducted, our team scored in the 80th percentile – a massive improvement.
 
But even more remarkable was that other teams in our area were beginning to copy our “non-action action plan.” People across the organization were becoming more engaged – not by the team taking action, but by each person owning their own engagement.
 
If that was the end of the story, that would be a pretty happy ending… But by the following year:
 
• Four of my front-line employees, who had never taken an interest in managing, learning, or really anything to do with the company, decided that they wanted to become supervisors
• A group of my employees started a new employee orientation program, utilizing the 1200-some ideas that were collected in that first year
 
The biggest lesson I learned about engagement was to turn the reins over to employees. Ask them to figure out how they could be more engaged!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While this might not be an exact match to your organization or unique situation, you can see how some creative thinking (and a willingness to collaborate within an organization) led to BIG results. Hopefully, you can use this as a starting point for making engagement “real” for your team.  Stay tuned, there are more of these practical, tactical engagement lessons on their way.

What engagement strategies have you seen work in the “real” world (and not just on paper)? Let me know, and I’d be glad to share your story!
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

27 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Customer Service Articles Permalink

Employee Engagement Strategies – Help Your People See Their Impact On Gaining / Retaining Customers

Sticky Post By On August 27, 2015

CONTINUING SERIES OF REAL LIFE PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES:

Lesson #2 – Help Your People See The Impact They Have On Gaining or Retaining Customers

Culture and operations are a little different for every company, and because of that, finding ways to spur employee engagement takes a unique and fresh approach for each individual business.

To get a sense for what drives real engagement (at real companies), here is the second lesson that depend directly on “outside the box” thinking and a disruptive approach to typical engagement efforts.

You see the principles all over the place, but so many people ask me how they can actually use this stuff in their own businesses – here are the second of two real life examples:
  
A powerful method of improving engagement and driving employee passion is summed up in one simple concept: impact.
 
In a discussion with a senior accounting manager, she related some difficulty helping her employees with engagement.
 
She felt like her folks were really great – they were actually exceptional accountants, saving the company millions of dollars a year – but they felt like they could do the very same job anywhere, like it wouldn’t really make a difference where they worked. In many cases, they were just going through the motions. 
 
She told me the following story:
 
– So, the question I began to ponder was, what if it did make a difference? What if what we did in this accounting department made life better or easier for customers? What if we played a really large role in gaining and retaining customers?
 
At an employee meeting the following day, I asked them if they felt like what they did made a difference. After a long bit of silence, some responded that they certainly save the company money.
 
I agreed with them and asked, “How do we help gain and retain customers?”
 
There was silence in the room. I said, “We play a huge role in making sure the customers are well taken care of, ensuring that they get the very best service. I’d like you all think about the impact that we make. Come to our next meeting prepared to talk about how.
 
During the next meeting, two employees (who have been with the company the longest) seemed to be percolating with energy. It was as if they couldn’t wait to start talking. If you know any accountants, unless it has something to do with debits and credits, jumping to start a conversation just isn’t usually in their nature.
 
I asked who wanted to answer the question from our last meeting, and Bob just started talking!
 

“I came to realize that the process I’m in charge of – the process that helps find how and where we might overcharge customers – goes a long way in retaining them. I know that some of our operations and sales people don’t necessarily like the work that I do, but if I were a customer and received a check as a refund for charges, that would make me pretty happy about working with our company!”
 
What a great answer!
 
Then it was Sally’s turn to answer…
 
“I work with our vendors, and try to negotiate with them to reduce their fees. In turn, we pass those savings on to our customers in the form of lower rates, or sometimes just an overall reduced bill. Recognizing that helps me see that what I do really does help us retain our larger customers, which helps to make sure that I get a paycheck.”
 
I asked the team if they would consider how their jobs help the company gain and retain customers. I asked them to look at what they are doing now – if it’s not helping to gain or retain customers, we should discuss whether it can be altered to meet that goal – or removed from the process entirely.
 
In that moment, we shifted from “just” an accounting team to a team responsible for gaining and retaining customers. We supported the folks that sold to and dealt with our customers.
 
In that year, we:
 
• Eliminated over 15 different processes that had been in place for years, simply because they either hindered gaining customers or made it difficult to retain customers.
• Streamlined the reimbursement policy for travel and entertainment
• Made it easier for customers to dispute charges
• Maybe most importantly, we identified when sales people made improvements to our process, actually incorporating their workarounds into our standing processes. This not only helped to make their jobs easier, but also reduced the amount of time we spent on the phone trying to get unnecessary paperwork or approvals. We still had to make sure that we used proper expenditure documentation for tax reasons, of course, but when our partners in the business saw that we were interested in working with the sales team for efficiency, they were much more supportive of what we were trying to do.
 
The following year, our engagement scores went from the 35th percentile to the 75th percentile. But more importantly, our accounting team went from focusing on overhead to thinking about gaining and retaining customers. So, the biggest lesson I learned about employee engagement was to help our team (and myself) see our impact throughout the entire business.
 
Uncover the link between what your team does and gaining/retaining customers. Understanding that direct line of sight to the customer increases profit, productivity, AND engagement.
____________________
 
While these might not be an exact match to your organization or unique situation, you can see how some creative thinking (and a willingness to collaborate within an organization) led to BIG results. Hopefully, you can use this as a starting point for making engagement “real” for your team.

What engagement strategies have you seen work in the “real” world (and not just on paper)? Let me know, and I’d be glad to share your story!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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