Team challenge 1 - Employee Experience

Do you work with amazing people?

I do.

I was looking for some inspiration for future articles and I needed to look no further than my team, who when I asked, opened the flood gates to a torrent of creative suggestions, so for the next series of articles I’ll be getting UP on my soapbox talking about topics submitted by them.

Mr Mike Robson – this one’s from you, thank you!

Q: How can a business BE/continue to be, employee experience focused?

1.      Businesses must be aware of the need/benefit of delivering a terrific employee experience.

If the culture of the company doesn’t “get” and live it, daily – it’s going nowhere. Sounds simple, but you and I both know businesses who aren’t concerned with the experience their employees receive or endure day after day. Some start well with a “candidate experience”, all that glory goes up on Glassdoor then sadly it’s downhill after that. SO, from the top, down – it’s about endorsing it because a) it’s the right thing to do and b) it builds the kind of work place, great colleagues want to spend their week in.

If you run a business, my advice from a people perspective is BE unapologetic about getting it right for your people. They’ll see that, and as a result, you’re already on to a winner.

2.      Listen. Daily. Especially to the bad stuff.

In decades gone by, you hired people, expected them to do a job, go home and enjoy life without Netflix. The world we live in now, doesn’t just offer superb TV streaming services, employees have a voice through social media, internal comms, employee engagement surveys, skip level meetings, 121’s etc. These platforms exist as part of life and people LAP them up! Rightly so. Everyone has the capacity to carry around their own virtual soap box, so employers get to hear the great and the ghastly. That’s good! Simply, we celebrate and acknowledge the good (lather, rinse, repeat) and as 'rip your own face off' evil as it is, you must hear the criticisms, the bad stuff, whether it’s founded or not. As leaders, that gives us OUR platform to be accountable and DO something about it. I always say, “the truth is the truth”, so whatever it is – better to hear it and then choose what you do about it. Right?

PS: employees love to know they’ve been listened to and really heard.

3.      AB test.

Look at what other people, gurus, companies in your field are doing for their employees, grab a meeting room, some creative colleagues & Krispy Kreme’s and get talking!

Do something different, plan a calendar of events across a week, month or quarter that you think your colleagues will connect to. Compare the KPI’s before and after – then, see what you see.

This idea is older than Napoléon, but is overlooked because:

• Staying in a traditional comfort zone is way too comfortable to rock THAT boat.
• People think they’re doing OK as leaders so why do we need to change or, Buddha forbid, be creative?
• We convince ourselves that colleagues are happy as they are, and they may be – but, could it be better? #rhetoricalquestion
• We pay a work force, so we don’t need to show we appreciate them or how valued they are. Do we? #mentality

Let me put it this way, if no one in your life ever told you, they loved you – how would you know you were loved?

Look for opportunities when you can try to do something different and tailored to your business. Measure the before and after, then grab your learnings from that.

4.      Stay in the know.

As a business, you should know your employee demographics and culture, that makes it easy to spot any shifts (one way or the other) and gives you the heads up that any kind of action is called for. Not being connected and not staying in touch with your people, and them with their people = road to disaster IMO. Connection to people through your company network is EVERYTHING and I genuinely feel, makes the difference and sets apart company’s who care and prioritize “experience” vs. those who don’t. They can be spotted right the way across personal/professional social media, and why would anyone want to work THERE?

#knowledgeispowerforthegood

5.      Retention is the future.

We all want to retain the diamonds we hired.

It’s a competitive, wee shark fest out there, so no matter what else you can write on a cheque or add in as “benefits”, if the experience, your people “experience” each week overall is unsatisfactory, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to having those people, those skill sets and experts be tempted away by the sirens of the workplace sea.

WHY would you do that?

As someone who has recruited for the last million years, nothing’s been more frustrating in my career than members of the “A” team walking away for pastures new; but you know what? Sometimes I totally have got why. Being valued and knowing you’re appreciated with small gestures/words/support (or 3 weeks in the Maldives) makes a huge difference and instigates a loyalty which road blocks any thoughts of an offer from elsewhere.

This is a fact - so why wouldn’t you, as a leader, take the wheel and safe guard your businesses future, from the people angle? If it was my business, I know I’d make it my business to…

You could write a book on employee experience! Some have and one day, maybe I will, but mean time, let’s conclude with the here & now of the real world:

• Basic BAU doesn’t always intimate “employee experience” – it should. And it’s on you, as a people leader to see that it’s in your corner of the sky. Daily.
• Listening and having those you trust, keeping you updated with the current buzz of the biz is priceless. You can’t be everywhere, the good news is, you don’t have to be.
• Try new things, inspiration IS everywhere – then compare your very own A B test.
• Think about the return on this kind of investment. If you aren’t already doing this, I promise you, other leaders ARE.

I hope I’ve managed to give some answers to Mr Robson’s question, “how can a business BE/continue to be, employee experience focused?”

Fundamentally the secret comes in two halves:

1.      As a people leader, claim your own accountability for this.

2.      Do something and KEEP on keeping on.

More writing challenges set by my beloved team to follow soon ??