Are Your Employees Engaged At Work?

According to the latest Gallup Poll on employee engagement “The percentage of ‘engaged’ workers in the U.S. — those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace — is now 34%, tying its highest level since Gallup began reporting the national figure in 2000.” Although this is good news — or at least, better news — the number of disengaged employees is still far too high.

The same poll places the percentage of “actively disengaged” workers (people with miserable work experiences) at 13%, leaving the majority at 53% “not engaged.” These workers don’t feel connected emotionally or cognitively and will be out the door at the first job opportunity that’s even marginally better.

Fifty-three percent. It boggles the mind. How are companies doing so many things so wrong that the majority of workers would rather do the minimum and punch a time clock than actively bring themselves to work alive, awake and ambitious for achieving greatness?

What is causing the disengagement, and what can we do as leaders to reduce it or eliminate it altogether? It’s an important puzzle to solve, because according to a report from Rapt Media, “Disengaged employees cost U.S. businesses $450-$550 billion in lost productivity annually.”

It’s incumbent upon leadership and management to actively confront the problem to get these numbers under control and re-engage their employees.

In its survey, Rapt Media found that 57% of employees “feel their leaders are detached from the workforce.” If managers spend most of their time in meetings or locked away in their offices, how will employees ever know if they understand or even care about what they do? Interpersonal connectivity is important in the workplace and goes a long way toward making employees feel valued by the company.

How many of your company’s managers, VPs and people in the C-suite know what their people do day to day? Do they have an idea of how the actual or virtual machinery works for the average worker on the line? If they don’t know, they ought to. The more distant a manager is from the front lines, the more of a disconnect their employees will feel from them and from their overall purpose in the organization.

If the company you work for has an open-door policy, encourage your employees to work within the system. Let them know you value their valid complaints, honest criticism, and ideas for improvement. Make them feel heard, and make a plan to incorporate some of the better ideas. When employees feel like they have some input at the company where they spend 40-plus hours of their lives every week, it makes a difference in their attitude.

If you’re committed to improving employee engagement in your company, a good place to start is by offering encouragement. Everyone likes to hear that they’re doing a good job. When was the last time you told an employee you were impressed with their project or presentation?

When your company or team is going through changes, do you keep your employees in the loop? When organizations don’t disseminate important information, rumor has a way of rearing its ugly head, and it’s a notorious productivity killer.

It’s not always better to give than receive, especially when it’s honest feedback. As a manager, you need to be open to feedback not only from your boss, but from your peers and your employees as well. In an environment where frequent feedback is the norm, engagement thrives.

Employees don’t want to be overworked, but they do want to be challenged. Constantly going back to your top employees with more of the same work because they’re good at it is a sure recipe for burnout. Instead, provide them with new tasks that will stretch their abilities. As Peter Kokkinos wrote for Inside HR, “Ambitious employees will want to remain innovative and grow their skill set. If they can develop new skills at your company, an offer to work elsewhere will be less appealing.”

Another way to create and maintain employee engagement is for the company to offer opportunities for professional development. Whether it’s cross-training with another department, training courses or certifications, these opportunities show employees that the company cares about their advancement and values knowledge building.

If your company is one that doesn’t put much stock in the idea that employee engagement is important, share this nugget of wisdom from the Gallup Poll: “Compared with business units in the bottom quartile, those in the top quartile of engagement realize substantially better customer engagement, higher productivity, better retention, fewer accidents, and 21% higher profitability.” You just might change their minds.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

Saving Time With Structured Thinking

We’re all busy. Our personal lives are stuffed full of appointments. Our business lives have seemingly endless reports, deadlines, meetings and problems to solve. Time management has never been so important.

Although we have an amazing array of electronic gizmos, apps and programs to help us with everything from A to Z, we still get behind on tasks to accomplish and glitches to solve. One of the more annoying issues in the corporate world is the problem you think is fixed but isn’t.

How often have you and your team spent hours of valuable time trying to solve an important problem only to end up back where you started? Not only is the initial problem not resolved, but you’ve spent hours not resolving it.

It can be easy to think that you’re approaching the task in a logical fashion when in actuality, it’s organized chaos. Oftentimes, the root cause of this common difficulty is not fully understanding the parameters of the issue in the first place.

If you’ve ever worked in a help desk environment, you already know what I’m talking about. Sally in accounting puts in a trouble ticket because “the printer isn’t working.” Bob in the next cubicle reports that he “can’t print his presentation.” Larry’s ticket says that “the printer sorter function isn’t working.” If you have multiple technicians responding to these three tickets, it compounds the challenge.

However, if the trouble ticket system were made to batch all issues relating to one piece of equipment together in a logical fashion, one technician could immediately see that the printer in accounting is affecting three users in a similar way. Instead of three different technicians trying different fixes at different times, the process becomes reframed in a more logical way.

There are different ways to address a problem using a structured method, and you might find that one way works better for you. You could use a flow chart, for example, or a “Who? What? Where? When?” approach, where you answer all these questions as they relate to your problem. You could even make a list with a statement of the problem you want to solve, followed by all the ways you think you could solve it. When you’ve finished the list, you can go back through it and eliminate the ideas that are less practical, which will allow you to focus on the ideas that are more practical. The important thing is to use a structure.

The goal is to attain clarity. Start at the top: What is the problem you’re trying to solve? It may help you to come at this from another angle: What are the problems you’re not trying to solve (at the moment)? Only work with one problem at a time, and use one diagram per problem.

Structured thinking is also helpful in business communications. You might be amazed by how much meeting time you can save if you stick to just one specific subject. Use a structured graph (or another structured visual aid) that the group can follow. Don’t allow anyone to stray off topic. Set a finite time for the meeting, and end when you have enough data and input to deal with the one problem. A different problem requires a separate structured visual aid and a separate meeting. Don’t let one topic bleed over into a related topic if it isn’t central to solving the problem you’re currently working on.

Structured communication can be especially important when you’re interacting with upper management. This group of people often has more on their plates than you might realize. Many of us have been conditioned to begin a conversation about a problem at the beginning and share the facts involved and the decision process that we followed before we ever get to the conclusion. We share the solution at the end of the conversation. By then, the vice president’s eyes have probably glazed over, and he’s probably thinking about the conference call he has in five minutes — not what you’re prattling on about.

Fight your instincts, and begin your interaction with the solution to the problem. Executives often want you to get to the point, and they often prefer to hear the answer first. Then, if necessary, you can provide your supporting research. Unbeknownst to you, the executive may already have come to the same conclusion and is just waiting for your corroboration — in which case, you may not even need to go into the reasons for your decision. How efficient is that?

Carry this idea over into your business writing as well. It may help your readers understand what you’re trying to convey with greater speed and accuracy. Most people hate rambling emails. They’re inefficient, and after the first paragraph, most people have zoned out. As Barbara Minto writes in her book The Pyramid Principle, “Controlling the sequence in which you present your ideas is the single most important act necessary to clear writing. The clearest sequence is always to give the summarizing idea before you give the individual ideas being summarized.”

Structured thinking and structured communication may not come easily to you right out of the gate. These skills, like any others, may require some practice, but the more time you put into perfecting your use of them, the more time you’ll likely save each and every day. That’s certainly worth the effort.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

Creating An Ethical Workplace May Not Be Easy, But Is It Critical? Yes, It Is

In today’s difficult business environment, it can be easy to overlook ethical dilemmas in the workplace out of sheer exasperation. But when a company makes the effort to treat employees in a fair and consistent manner, it can reap the benefits of having employees who internalize the company’s high ethical values as their own.

What would your employees do if they thought no one was watching? We’d like to believe that they would behave honestly, ethically and with the best interests of the company at heart. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, there’s always a chance that, when you’re not paying attention, a (hopefully) small percentage of people will try to get away with something on the company’s dime.

It may be something relatively benign, like adding an extra few minutes to their lunch break here and there, or it may be something much more serious, such as someone in accounting padding vendor checks to get kickbacks.

Unethical behavior isn’t just black and white.

There are many shades of gray, and there may be an entire spectrum of unethical behaviors plaguing your workplace.

You may have a manager who is pushing salespeople to peddle a shoddy product instead of reporting the known product faults to engineering. She might think she’s doing you a favor by getting rid of the merchandise languishing in the warehouse, or she might have her eye on a fat bonus check at the end of the quarter. Either way, her behavior can be defined as unethical.

Perhaps there’s a supervisor promising overtime to the loading dock employees just to get the job done, knowing full well that the overtime will not be paid. When a dock employee finds her week’s paycheck is short, she might start intentionally damaging shipments to retaliate. It’s easy for company morale and ethical behavior to tank faster than you’d think. It rarely stays static — it’s likely to fluctuate — or even snowball.

In an article for Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, Carmen Nobel wrote about the telephone conversations professor Eugene Soltes had with Bernie Madoff (who was serving a prison sentence for his giant Ponzi scheme). One of Madoff’s quotes reads, “It wasn’t like I was being blackmailed into doing something, or that I was afraid of getting caught doing it … I, sort of, you know, I sort of rationalized that what I was doing was OK, that it wasn’t going to hurt anybody.”

Ethical behavior is vital in organizational excellence.

Without ethical behavior, it’s much too easy for the slide down the slippery slope to begin.

To encourage ethical behavior in the workplace, it’s important to create a tangible definition of what ethical behavior is and what it is not. With mergers, transfers and new hires, there is no way to know what prior standard of ethical behavior was expected. Give some time and thought into how the company values are communicated to each and every employee.

The Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s 2018 report, “Building Companies Where Values and Ethical Conduct Matter,” found that “Employees who agree that their managers and supervisors talk about the importance of ethics are almost 12 times more likely to believe that their organization encourages them to speak up.”

No matter how honest you believe your staff to be, there is always the chance that someone will be tempted to push the limits of ethical behavior. However, when you embed a check-and-balance arrangement into critical procedures, the odds of anyone doing so diminish.

If an employee does manage to break your trust by acting unethically after being informed of the company’s code of behavior, carry through with the consequences. If Sally pads her expense report and nothing happens to her as a result, the message sent to her colleagues is that it’s OK to lie about the cost of their mileage, too. If instead, Sally is reprimanded for such an action, employees will know that your company is serious about upholding its ethical commitments.

Don’t forget to show appreciation for those who exemplify the values your company strives to live by. Recognition of these individuals reinforces to the group at large your commitment to ethical behavior.

One of the best ways to discourage unethical behavior is to lead by example. If the management team displays model behavior, the rest of the staff can readily see what is expected of them.

Ensure there is a written code of conduct for all employees that everyone, from the top down, is aware of. Have a company mission statement that specifically mentions the priority placed on ethical behavior and living the stated values.

It’s easy to simply hire the candidate that best matches the tangible qualifications for the job. He has a related degree, years of experience and has worked with the department’s software. But, what are the candidate’s values? Is he honest? Is he fair with customers and co-workers? Can he readily own up to his own errors? I believe it’s important, now more than ever, to hire with an eye towards applicants who show ethical tendencies.

Ethics training can be a valuable addition to the orientation presentation. In this forum, proper attention can be given to the company’s stance on nondisclosure of proprietary information, the posting of negative comments on social media and even on the particulars of the sexual harassment and interdepartmental dating policies.

The bottom line is that unethical behavior can and will eventually undo any company or any individual. It’s worth the time and effort to create an ethical workplace for everyone.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

 

Why Cultural Intelligence Matters (Even If You Never Leave Home)

Cultural intelligence, also known as CQ, is the ability to connect with others and work effectively in multicultural situations. Some people seem to have an innate ability to observe a new culture as an outsider, but act and react in a manner that shows they have been able to interpret the unfamiliar and successfully incorporate it into their own actions and behavior.

In 2003, P. Christopher Earley and Soon Ang brought this idea to the forefront with their book Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures, in which they explored effective ways to help companies and employees discover how to think globally and integrate themselves in the international arena. It espouses the benefits of being able to assimilate into new and various cultures harmoniously without the usual friction between people from disparate nations.

With effort, almost anyone with an open mind can expand their cultural intelligence. Some seem to be more suited for the task than others. Earley and Elaine Mosakowski explained in Harvard Business Review that “people who are somewhat detached from their own culture can more easily adopt the mores and even the body language of an unfamiliar host. They’re used to being observers and making a conscious effort to fit in.”

Even individuals without an innate talent for CQ can learn the skills that will allow them to participate more effectively on an international stage. The four main factors to consider when building your cultural intelligence capabilities are: CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, CQ Strategy and CQ Action. Your enthusiasm to acquire knowledge about a new culture is your CQ Drive (also known as motivation). People in each culture have had their beliefs, behaviors and values shaped by that culture. Learning these aspects of the nation and its philosophies relates to your CQ Knowledge (cognition). Taking into account what you have learned about the culture and factoring it into your strategy is an example of CQ Strategy (metacognition). Being able to act appropriately and accordingly in a range of culturally diverse situations is an example of CQ Action (behavior).

Why is this important to global performers, international companies and even companies who are solely based in one country? If your organization is international, it is obvious that the opportunities for personnel from different cultures to cooperate effectively will show measurable benefits in performance, employee satisfaction and the bottom line. According to Ang, having high cultural intelligence is associated with myriad outcomes for an individual, including a more culturally diverse network, boosted job performance, improved results in cross-cultural negotiations, and better decisions in cross-cultural situations.

For example, if you work for a company that is only based in the United States, you may not have to consider international cultural diversity. However, cultural intelligence will still give you a considerable edge in your performance. Consider your own location, division or department as a single culture. Although you may have a colleague working in a different office performing the same job, consider that while you are on the West Coast, he is on the East. Though the company you work for is the same, his location has a different culture than your own. Upper management at his location may have different behaviors, different time constraints and different expectations of their employees than your own office. You are effectively interacting in a cross-cultural situation. Once you apply your CQ skills, imagine how many differences could be ironed out and how many difficulties could be avoided simply by realizing that although every location is part of the same company, they are not cookie cutter versions of your location.

Now that you understand the concept, you can see with fresh eyes that even your own singular location is a cross-cultural enterprise. This has the potential to lead to misunderstandings, miscommunications and problems. Each department has its own culture, its own customs, its own language and its own hierarchy.

For example, consider that the engineering department wants to add a new feature to an existing product because they think it will make a vast improvement. They may not even have considered what the accounting department will have to say about it, such as “What cost will it add to the bottom line?” or “Can the company charge more per unit because of the improvement?” The sales department might be in a quandary on how to upsell the customer to this new and improved version. All the while, the manufacturing department is wondering how they will tackle the problem of integrating this “improvement” into the production line. They may even feel blindsided that their input wasn’t consulted at the beginning.

To drill down even further, one department in one location by itself can benefit from applying your improved cultural intelligence. Getting to know your teammates can be valuable for something as seemingly innocuous as ordering a group lunch. Do you know who on your team is vegetarian and why? Are there some members who have religious or allergen-related dietary restrictions? It really is important not to be the manager who just orders pepperoni pizza for everyone and thinks everything is fine.

Increasing cultural intelligence is a benefit to anyone. It takes effort to build your CQ skill set, but think of the positive benefits and the boost it can provide to your career. The more you understand the cultural differences between the parties participating in the business venture (and the more you can demonstrate your ability to be fluid between those parties), the more poised you are to become the company’s go-to person for cross-functional and, perhaps, international assignments.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

 

Leading with Ethics

In today’s high-visibility world with the constant social media avalanche, it’s more important than ever to ensure that, as a leader, your ethical message is consistent. Anyone out there can talk the talk, but if you don’t truly believe in the importance of ethical behavior in your business career, it will become apparent to your employees, your peers and to the people occupying the C-suite.

If you’re searching for the answer to the ongoing dilemma of how to nurture an environment of trust, accountability and respect in the workplace, start with practicing ethical leadership in all levels of management.

To be an ethical leader, you must demonstrate ethical behavior — not just when others are looking, but all the time and over time. Consistently doing what’s right, even when it’s difficult, should be an integral part of a leader’s makeup. If you behave in an ethical manner when you’re in the spotlight, but avoid responsibility, cut corners and value profit above people behind closed doors, it is inevitable you’ll be found out.

The negative effects of failing to uphold ethics-based leadership and behavior are legion. A recent example is longtime financial institution Wells Fargo. Because of years of unethical sales practices, they were ordered to pay $185 million in fines in 2016 for the creation of 2 million accounts that were unauthorized by customers. With a deeper investigation of the sales practices in place at the time, which were questionable at best, it was found that some employees were actually fired for reporting this egregious corporate behavior to the company’s own ethics hotline. This “cross-selling” fiasco not only cost the company in fines, but more importantly, in the loss of its ethical reputation.

If you model ethical behavior, you can have a positive effect on your organization — even if you only start with your own department or team. The trust that ethical leadership builds is infectious. When you consistently act in an ethical manner, you’ll earn respect, and your integrity will serve as a model for others in the organization.

Being an ethical leader isn’t easy, and sometimes it’s unpleasant. Terminating an employee who cuts corners or uses company property for personal projects is necessary, but not enjoyable. To maintain your integrity is paramount, and acting ethically across the board is essential. As Andrew Leigh, author of Ethical Leadership: Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Business Culture points out: “To be an ethical leader is indeed to be different. This kind of leader acknowledges the complexity of running a responsible business, yet tries to do it anyway.”

When you and your organization do the right thing consistently, employees know. They have proof that management acts with integrity, which makes them much more likely to feel heard when expressing concerns — a valid anxiety for those afraid to rock the boat. According to the 2018 Global Ethics Business Survey by the Ethics and Compliance Initiative, “Employees who see evidence of proactive communication and workplace trust are 15X more likely to think that their company measures and rewards ethical conduct.”

When a company effectively communicates the organization’s culture, values and beliefs, it tends to promote high standards for honesty, integrity and fairness. These concepts have to allow for open and honest feedback from your team, your division and even from your own managers. When leaders build that level of trust and camaraderie, colleagues can feel comfortable sharing the good and the bad. Ethical leaders should actively encourage candor, thoughtful dissent and diverse opinions from all sectors of the company.

Having a good and genuine example to follow gives employees the confidence to deal with their own ethical dilemmas, both work-related and personal. When they observe management promoting reward systems that are based on company values and ethical conduct, they understand the organization’s commitment to actually walk the walk.

As Ann Skeet, Senior Director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center of Applied Ethics, explains in an article, “Ethical leadership creates an environment where the goals and values of people working in the organization align with its mission.” If a leader is committed to ethical behavior, he or she should be able to make the decision that’s best for the company — even if that decision is against the leader’s best self-interest. It’s often a case of choosing the greater good and putting your own ego aside.

The path to being an ethical leader isn’t free of pitfalls. Skeet cautions, “Falsely identifying decisions as monetary or business decisions when they are ethical ones, working too quickly to allow for moral reasoning, or asking people to act when they are tired or scared are all tendencies that can lead to ethical missteps.” If leading with ethics is not something your prior employers valued highly, it may take practice on your part to become comfortable with this level of transparency, honesty, and collaboration, but the future benefits are well worth the effort.

As novelist, dramatist, critic, and essayist John Berger pointed out: “Without ethics, man has no future. This is to say, mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities.”

This article has previously been featured on Forbes