Do yourself a favor and commit!

The first week of the New Year started with daily Linkedin notifications of people starting new jobs, deciding to change teams. Obviously, companies plan for the new year with all those “stretchy” targets, that require additional headcount or backfill. Retention risk for salespeople is high in a seller′s market after a long, strong business cycle; people know their market value and even average performers receive juicy OTE (“on-target” earnings) offers.

We discussed this in our recent territory management call to kick off 2022: are our strongest team members / peers committed to stay with us in 2022? Good to reflect on commitment.

Let′s start with three statements of organizational commitment:

• I am glad I chose to work for my organization rather than somewhere else
• I find it easy to identify myself with our organization
• I talk up our organization to my friends as a great company to work for

Your initial response - Yes / No? How would your team members reply?

It′s difficult and you get it – more and more employees question the value of their commitment to the organization. If companies cannot guarantee job security anymore and treat employees as “human resource” (i.e. an asset with costs), why should they be loyal and go the famous “extra mile”, having less time and energy for other important areas outside their job? Twitter, Instagram and the likes are full of influencers recommending to engage in mind games of reflection and seeking for passion, we all read about the “Great Resignation”.

But as a leader you really want to keep your team and the best talents together. You ask internally for higher commissions, recognizing performance, and celebrating success. Some of your best people seem to be at constant flight risk despite great pay-outs, acceptance in the team and strong recognition. Obviously, excellent people attract higher external offers, so losing some talents over time seems unavoidable.

At the same time, though, average performers, who constantly complain about the organization, stay with the team. Why are they staying despite such a hot hiring market?

Let′s illustrate what′s going on with the three different forms of commitment (“Three-Component Model of Commitment”), so you can reflect on your team / peers.

The three forms of organizational commitment

#1 Tim is fantastic. You love working with him, same is true for your team. Tim is not just a great individual contributor in your sales team, he is also very cooperative, interested in the business / product and takes initiative. Tim is always reaching out pro-actively to team members, organizing deal reviews, asking you for support in challenging negotiations. He stays with you and the team / organization because he wants to stay. There is an intrinsic motivation to continue, he is emotionally attached, identifies with the organization, yourself, and the team. This is what you need to excel - affective commitment.

#2 Claire not so much. She is performing somehow but shows zero extra initiative. On top, she complains a lot about her compensation, newly introduced processes, and other support functions. She was a strong performer in the past and is quite long with the organization, but opposite to Tim there is a lack of pro-active collaboration and attachment to the organization. She mentioned in reviews, that she receives offers in the market and is not happy; yet she is not leaving. The reason - she feels that she needs to stay, as the costs associated with leaving the organization would be too high. She is well paid, has a nice “Senior Account Executive” title and is not sure to receive much better offers in the market; on top she would lose the chance for a nice severance package as she was joining with an acquisition and many years of service. Very difficult situation – not easy to motivate, but also not clearly underperforming – continuance commitment. You also see this with long-standing executives – “VIPs” = vesting in peace.

#3 Finally, Louise – she is an effective contributor, but somehow feels she should move on, as you are not able nor willing to promote her further. Despite attractive offers from the competition she stays, although she is a bit frustrated about her career and role; she does not care much about the organization neither, but she feels very loyal to you as manager, as you have helped her in a very difficult, private situation – you basically backed her up when she was failing in the job, as her attention was on fixing private family issues. She is only a few years with the company, a young potential, so would not lose much by leaving. Why does she stay – well, she feels obligated to stay due to the loyalty to you as manager, she feels she would betray you by leaving. Louise is kept in the organization by her perception of normative expectations / socially accepted behavior - normative commitment.

So why are those forms of commitment important?

All three are negatively correlated with turnover intention. But there is a small problem - only affective and normative commitment leads to “good soldier” behavior (called “OCB” = Org citizenship behavior) like loyalty, helping, compliance, initiative, or self-development. While if you only stay to avoid losing future vesting stocks or severance (continuance commitment), why taking the high road – right, not gonna happen. With standard performance reviews and goals, you will not fix this.

Generally, desired behavior comes mainly from affective commitment, so you will need to focus on the emotional bond with your team to drive productivity, persistence, innovation. And only people who want to engage, as they are attached to the organization will show resilience instead of trying to get out of their commitment in the future (get those stocks somewhere else, focus on severance package).

The prime company tool for engagement is Talent Management

Provide opportunities for personal development (reciprocity for the skills and knowledge someone brings to the table). Focus on teamwork, create team standards of people focusing on goals and helping each other, which creates natural bonds. How do you get people to pursue the organizations course of action – involve them, share values, create intrinsic motivation. No corporate “value video” will be able to create this kind of bond; I believe that the often-neglected middle manager plays a very critical role.

Also, in your responsibility as company and leader you have a duty to care for your team members. Employees who feel trapped / non-committed show low levels of life satisfaction, so you should address the issue in your check-ins directly.

I inherited sales reps with a CV of five to six unsuccessful sales positions, who were clearly in the wrong role. They had problems to change career late in the game and suffer from commitment bias – the tendency to remain committed to the sales job due to public perception (saving face) or cognitive dissonance (choosing sales role in the past versus unfavorable outcome; self-justification).

They need to be made aware (check-ins, coaching, 360°) and accept that it′s Ok to disrupt this painful consistency and change jobs. Unfortunately, many will continue to chase for sales commissions, prioritizing (theoretical) income opportunity over individual skill set, but we can take the high road in providing candid feedback and then let people decide on next steps.

If you are in significant change, you will need a core of very committed people

In unstable conditions, if teams see even most loyal and effective contributors being made redundant, it′s not reasonable to expect employees to keep the same level of relationship and commitment to the organization. Corporate messaging (“cheerleading”) will not resolve this, you need to find smarter alternatives (tailored Talent Management strategies). And don′t entertain yourself in spreadsheet games by moving underperforming field people around as “Headcount” (often into overlay functions) – this will not work, until the root cause of non-commitment is being resolved.

In those times of change (and generally to find triggers for non-affective forms of commit-ment), you should identify individual areas of commitment for employees at risk that are not necessarily linked to “organizational” bonding. Help job/role-committed employees by providing opportunities to develop marketable skills, offer engaging projects, involve them in process implementation. Support direct line managers with the ability to reward behavior (RSU/boni and personal gratification gifts are preferred in sales vs corporate gym voucher or yoga classes) to improve the relationship levels.

Corporate initiatives do not reach non-committed employees. But organizational culture (trust) and compensation can support the commitment – behavior link (moderating).

My suggestion for you as individual – commit !

If you are generally fine – commit to another year 2022. Consciously decide to continue with your organization in 2022, which helps you to keep a clear head and focus for success. Don’t underestimate the mental health issues you create for yourself by sabotaging your own work and life satisfaction in reducing your efforts on purpose or being indecisive. Act with intention.

Also reflect on potential conflict of commitment: if you engage primarily in outside activities (hobbies, other business ventures, the new house etc.) that start to interfere with your primary employment, remember that “perception is reality” in organizations. You will easily damage your internal reputation and decrease support and career opportunities in the future; people do not forget easily.

How can you demonstrate commitment?

Recognize others, be optimistic and take initiative. Volunteer to help and come up with ideas. Be very responsive with team members and force your manager to actively plan the year together. Communicate a lot and create bonds by building relationships. Address barriers you face, so you can commit to the organization and / or your success, but don′t try to “change the organization”.

In sales this could include territory planning for 2022, pro-actively increasing the engagement with support functions (e.g. Inside Sales, Solution Consulting, Sales Ops, Alliances…), volunteer for internal projects and help with vacation cover. Look for best practices that you can share (e.g. personalized customer engagement, individually created CRM reports, analysis of leading indicators), clean your portfolio data and professionally set-up governance for all key accounts before your manager asks for it.

What if you are not committed?

If you are not committed or for the wrong reasons (see above), be truly honest with yourself and identify the root cause. Be rational and review your own path and situation, perhaps even discuss this with your manager (if appropriate and supportive) or peers. How do you believe others perceive your commitment and what is the actual impact on your job outcome and life satisfaction? This can be painful, but you will need to face reality at some point.

And finally - what if you do not feel emotionally attached to the organization, but to your direct manager, your team, your career? I have been myself in a situation, where the organizational bond was deteriorating due to unlucky mergers, change of direction or leadership changes. What kept me running was the commitment to my direct team, my peers, and the role itself. This is ok, no place will ever be perfect and if the set-up still supports your overall job and life satisfaction that′s a big value.

People with high commitment in different areas are happier and more successful, as their choices in life are clearer, allowing them to focus and find ways towards their goals instead of simply drifting through life. Try to be that person.

Have a great, successful 2022!

PS: the photo shows me with a Nepalese guide at Tilicho Lake in October 2021 - they are fully committed to their job and literally go the extra mile !