Raising engagement at work can be simple and free!

Insights & simple tools to raise engagement in your workplace!

How engaged are you in your job?

How about your co-workers?

What actions could you take to shift your motivation and theirs to the next level?

It obviously matters to your happiness, and to your business too, as companies with high employee engagement have less staff turnover and remarkably higher percentages of customer loyalty, profitability and revenues (as shown in Gallup International surveys).

And so I'd like to share a few insights and simple, practical tip, which make raising engagement-levels rather easy and much fun!

What matters most, in the end?

Imagine... You are 100 year-old... A much younger family-member asks you: 'Hey wise grand-parent, I am a bit lost, could you please give me some advice about how to lead a fulfilling Life?'

Why not take a minute to reflect and pen 3 recommendations you would offer :)

American researchers asked that same question to real 100-years old people. The answers were remarkably similar...

1. Be happy NOW
2. Enjoy your time with those you love
3. Try your dreams

... as Dr. Marshall Goldsmith reported in “What got you here won’t get you there”

What matters most, now at work?

Imagine (or rather acknowledge!) that you are a high-potential executive courted by executive search companies. What would make you stay with your current company?

Dr. Goldsmith asked 200 high-potential leaders and found out their answers were very much alike:

1. ‘I am happy with my work’,
2. 'I like the people, they are my friends, we are family’, and
3. ‘I enjoy my freedom to take initiatives’.

The similarity between 100-years old people's advice and high-potential leaders' retention factors highlights a few fundamental satisfaction-drivers at work.

Could you further leverage those satisfaction-drivers around you at work?

How would you do so...?

How good do you want to be?

Before we review a few insights and tools that may help you, let's confront a serious question...

What is the #1 reason why people leave their job?

It isn't about money... it is because 'they don't feel appreciated', according to the US Department of Labor...

Whilst it is critical to regularly pause and express your gratitude for an employee's contribution and dedication, it's not enough. Your focus shouldn't be just about 'how good the subordinate is' but also about 'how good he/she can and want to be'. It helps to endorse the approach of sports-coaches with athletes: measure without judgment, stretch and motivate.

How about that old and simple 'sandwich-feedback' recipe?

Whilst much criticized, it can be handy, if used sincerely in the moment... and not overused!

How could it sound like with a subordinate of yours?

(For the following example, let's call her Jane)

Firstly, choose one achievement or strength, and one area for improvement of Jane's.

Open the discussion - "Jane, I'd like to talk with you about 2 things today" - and offer the 'first layer of the sandwich': a sincere and very specific recognition of the achievement or strength. Support it by more than one evidence, so that Jane fully appreciates and believes in the compliment, and starts to really listen to you.

Secondly, serve the central layer of the sandwich (the meat!) about Jane's area for improvement.

Let's choose it as 'delivering projects on-time'. You launch a non-judgmental discussion about how to enhance Jane's performance in this matter.

For example - "Now, Jane the second topic I want to discuss with you is about delivering your projects within deadlines. I would like to brainstorm and find out with you a few concrete actions you can implement, to take your performance to the next level in that matter. Before we do that, please take five minutes to reflect and identify 3 challenges you are struggling with and 3 things you could do differently, to speed-up your delivery."

Thirdly (and finally), the top layer of the sandwich comes after 'concrete actions' have been set-up for improvement.

It is all about motivating Jane to go all the way.

For example - "I think the actions you have defined will go a long way, and I trust you can implement them quickly. You are clear about what you want to do, and it is your call - I am pretty sure you will impress me! And you know I am here to support you anytime."

How much salary increase would you ask from a new employer?

Let's now consider other engagement drivers, beyond appreciating employees' contribution and stretching them towards higher performance.

Imagine... Your compensation and benefits are fair, just at market average. Your company seems to have a safe future, you feel you belong there, you are recognized in the workplace and you learn quite a lot in your job.

Another organization wishes to hire you. You don't know anyone working for it. How much salary increase would you demand, to compensate for the risk of leaving your employer?

I have been raising that question in countless workshops across Asia-Pacific for a decade. Invariably, answers range from 35% to 50%... A cynic would see through the plot and comment - "companies can save so much on compensation if they just meet the basic human needs listed by Maslow!"

By the way, how are those fundamental needs met at your company, in your opinion?

Here is a simple exercise to investigate what motivates your subordinates and how well their needs are met.

1. Just ask them (one-on-one) to rate their satisfaction-level at work on a scale from 1 ('not at all') to 5 ('absolutely') for Belonging, Self-Esteem/Status, Learning and other things they find important
2. Then discuss what can reasonably be done to move-up one notch on each topic (discard salary and job-security because they are not so easily controllable)
3. Formalize actions which will strengthen your subordinates' engagement and loyalty, for which they can take ownership

To engage your subordinates further, you may also like to apply the 6 tips I offered in this previous article - Inspire Your Employees

Motiv-Actions when the going gets rough

Let's now raise the bar and consider boosting employees' motivation in a really difficult situation over which you don't have much control...

Imagine… last year was a great year for your company, profit exceeded budget-forecast and your team performed very well… Now is the start of the new year and the time for salary review.

Your Chief HR Officer calls you: ‘this new year is highly uncertain, competitors are getting fierce, we must freeze salaries, even though we heard our rivals will increase their employees’ pay. Please share the information with your colleagues and find a way to motivate them to over-perform in this new year anyway, because we critically need it.’ 

What speech would you make to re-engage your employees?

Another motivation-model with the acronym “S.C.A.R.F.” could help you build your arduous pep-talk. David Rock - in “Quiet Leadership” - reports that neuroscience has identified five major factors controlling our brain’s responses and motivation: 

1. Status
2. Certainty
3. Autonomy
4. Relatedness
5. Fairness

Here is how your re-motivation speech could be structured:

• Empathize with employees’ disappointment in the face of such bad news
• Tackle the perceived ‘unfairness’ of the salary-freeze (emphasize that the company doesn’t intend to abuse its employees, doesn’t feel good about implementing a salary freeze, but has carefully studied all options and found no other way)
• Highlight what is ‘certain’ (no lay-off, lower fixed costs than competitors, etc…), to bolster confidence in the company’s future (certainty)
• Praise employees’ performance and value (‘status’ / self-esteem) and the new possibilities they can enable to make the company come out of the crisis stronger than its competitors
• Highlight the degree of autonomy/initiative available and the opportunities to strengthen relationships between employees, to further grow a sense that getting stronger and winning together through austerity is possible.

For another kind of inspiration, you may enjoy watching Al Pacino re-motivating his team - as the coach of a sports-team in the movie Any Given Sunday.

Whilst equitable compensation and fairness in the workplace are fundamental, they obviously won’t alone engage people into achieving Greatness. But we, as leaders, can make that happen - and grow in the process - by employing simple tools to - as Stephen Covey said - “light fire from within”.

Here are some recommended resources

• Watch - ‘Simple actions with highest boost on motivation’
• Read: ‘How full is your bucket?’ - (Tom Rath, Gallup Press, 2005)
• Read: ‘What got you here won’t get you there’ - (Marshall Goldsmith, Hyperion, 2007)
• Read: ‘Quiet Leadership’ - (David Rock, HarperCollins, 2007)
• Watch inspirational videos on the Greatness Leadership YouTube Channel

______________________________________________________________________

Jean-Francois Cousin

Speaker, Author and Master Certified Coach

Director at the Global Board of the International Coach Federation

Chair of Program and Speakers Committee, APAC Coaching

Greatness Leadership Coaching

______________________________________________________________________