How to reengage disengaged employees (even when it seems impossible) - Part 3
Can a disengaged employee reengage?
One of my first strengths-based consulting engagements was with the FAA. The consulting practice used Clifton Strengths Finder to assess 34 talents. While Clifton StrengthsFinder isn’t the only assessment system, it is the best at measuring the type of talents that go unnoticed. It has a specific vocabulary to highlight the gifts individuals bring to any group they are part of.
In the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, the “Deliberative” strength shows up in about 10% of the population. People with this strength are vigilant, careful, and often private. The beauty of the Deliberative strength is that it draws risks into the open and anticipates what might go wrong, even in situations where — on the surface — everything seems okay. People with the Deliberative strength tend to plan ahead, be fairly serious, and approach life with a certain reserve.
At this particular group in the FAA, the Deliberative strength showed up in 66% of employees. (You can imagine why the FAA would hire for this strength.) 45% of employees also had the “Analytical” strength. If you’ve ever worked with someone whose first response to everything was, “Prove it,” you were likely working with someone who had the Analytical strength. This strength is wired to see patterns and connections and insists that theories be sound.
Bob sat through our four-day meeting with his arms crossed and a “prove it” vibe. When we broke for lunch and I was finally able to speak with Bob directly, he showed all the signs of a toxic employee. Not only was he disengaged, he hated his job.
In addition to being Deliberative and Analytical, Bob had the “Futuristic” strength—which enabled him to see visions of what could be. But his job was supervising young employees. Bob had none of the strengths needed to deal with attitude, babysitting, or politics. Every day, he went to work and felt like he was failing. Worse, his leading strengths weren’t being used at all.
After our training, Bob had a conversation with his boss. The CliftonStrengths framework gave Bob and his supervisor a useful vocabulary for their conversation. The mismatch and reasons for Bob’s struggle were clear.
Bob was transferred to Research and Development — and his whole life changed. Not only did he reengage, but when I met Bob again 90 days later, he was lit from the inside. His motivation was contagious. He was no longer a disengaged employee, but fully there with all of his talents.
How do you reengage disengaged employees?
Bob Chapman (author of Everybody Matters) writes, “Rare are the leaders of organizations who will tell you that their people don’t matter. However, there is a big difference between understanding the value of the people inside an organization and actually making decisions that consider their needs.”
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to reversing a disengaged employee’s level of engagement. People are individual, so it requires a lot of investment from leaders and management to find the mismatch between an employee’s strengths and their job description.
Here are four questions to ask when dealing with a disengaged employee:
1. Does this employee have an opportunity to do what they do best every day by tapping into their talents?
It isn’t enough to understand the needs of the role the employee is in. Leaders also need an understanding of an employee’s individual strengths. While my team leverages Clifton StrengthsFinder, there are many others. Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and DISC assessments give feedback on an employee’s core wiring and reveal what resumes don’t show.
In my practice, when we adapt the job description to an employee’s strengths (or give them tools to understand how they can leverage their strengths in their job), I’ve seen a 90% success rate. Preparing someone to be in their role with their talents involves coaching them on how they can approach the tasks in a way that is authentic to them, rather than asking them to conform to a specific job description.
2. Is the disengaged employee clear on the expectations for the job?
Sometimes the barriers to employee success have nothing to do with strengths and alignment and everything to do with clarity.
“Clarity is the pathway to solid results,” shares Victor Lipman in an article for Forbes. Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, says it slightly differently: “The enemy of accountability is ambiguity.”
Without clarity, there is no way to measure success. And while goals and objectives may be clear to leaders and management, it is difficult to overcommunicate those expectations to the rest of the team. You will tire of the message long before it has completely permeated to the people with whom you are sharing it.
3. Does the disengaged employee’s superior seem to care about them as a person?
The human factor in the workplace is critical to engagement. Too often we see the workplace as a zone in which people must leave parts of themselves aside. Everyone must wear an employee “mask” —pretending to agree, to understand, to be on top of it, and to be having a good day—for eight hours or more. (No wonder the workplace can feel stressful and create disengagement.)
Rachel Druckenmiller, as quoted in The Healthy Workplace Nudge, says, “Most of us have a deep fear that who we are and what we have to offer is not enough, that we won’t measure up. That fear can drive and propel us to work hard and to strive, but the pressure to be ‘on’ and productive can be relentless and exhausting. Proving ourselves at work often means sacrificing some other area of our lives, especially our relationships, and our health and well-being.”
When leaders and managers bring their authentic selves to work and care about their employees, they create a space where it is safe to engage. Conversely, when employees have to arrive at work each day wearing emotional body armor, engagement isn’t even a consideration on the playing field. Humanizing the workplace — creating an atmosphere that is real, approachable, interested, and grateful — is key to supporting healthy engagement.
4. Do their opinions seem to count? Do they have a voice in their work?
Shawn Achor (in his book, The Happiness Advantage) writes, “The fastest way to disengage an employee is to tell him his work is meaningful only because of the paycheck.”
Money is only one factor in employee engagement, and it isn’t the most important one (as reported by Daniel Pink in his bestselling book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About what Motivates Us.) A certain amount of autonomy is required for employees to remain engaged in their work.
“Most people are generally reasonable and can rally around an idea that wasn’t their own as long as they know they’ve had a chance to weigh in,” Patrick Lencioni writes in The Advantage. “If people don’t weigh in, they can’t buy in.”
It takes committed action to reengage disengaged employees, but it isn’t impossible.
If you are tired of wasting time hoping that things will change, and want advice tailored to your specific context, our team specializes in the work of reengagement. We’d love to help.
You can schedule a free call to talk about how to eliminate the stress of working with CAVE dwellers and increase engagement > https://rexmiller.com/hire/