Confronting the Ugly Truth of Poor Employee Engagement - How to Modernize Your Business Practices

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Ray GillenwaterCEO, SpeakUp

Confronting the Ugly Truth of Poor Employee EngagementHow to Modernize Your Business Practices

Who Am I?

Co-Founder and CEO of SpeakUp getspeakup.comEx Managing Director at BlackBerry Student of CommunicationsContributor to Entrepreneur.com Host of the Work Smart podcast

Todays Objective:Commit to implementing at least two new changes

Lets start with definitionsEmployee engagement is quite simply:The emotional connection you have to your job

Just like in other relationships, it is made clearly apparent by:The level of discretionary effort you invest

An intrinsically rewarding experience creates engagementThings like: Money, surveys and events dont (on their own)

Now lets quantify the problemWeve all heard the stats, and theyre an indictment:Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work24% are actively disengaged undermining everyone elses work

Which equates to an opportunity cost of:Over a TRILLION DOLLARS in the U.S. alone

But, theres another reason to care about engagement: People are spending the majority of their waking hours doing work they dont care about

The impact is clearBut why is it happening?

Does your company have a problem? Lets look at the symptoms (you dont even need a survey):Average results, even from your most exceptional talent

People have a vanilla, boring and safe work-persona And completely different energy levels, language and behaviors outside of the office

Most dont speak up to share new ideas or challenge bad ones

But wait, theres moreThe team is in the office when asked to be, no more and no less

Dozens of meetings per month, many with ill-defined agendas

Stale products, customer happiness at mediocre levels

People accept their fate when things dont make senseA new policy, a bad product, software that doesnt workVenting behind closed doors, no open/constructive debate

Lets evaluate root causesAnd some potential solutions

Common root causes: Work is not a good place to be1) 20th Century workplace rulesRigid office hours, grey cubiclesStrict dress codes (even for non customer-facing staff)Too many things that have always been done this way

What you can do about itPoll the team let them decide which practices to killDo a self-assessmentWhat changes would make you markedly happier and equally or more productive?

Common root causes: Work lacks meaning2) The why behind your companys existence is missingWith no why, there is no emotion no connection, no sense of purposePeople feel like a cog in the wheelEmployee employer relationship is transactional

What you can do about itThe company exists to _________ Define itSimon Sineks Start With Why is a good place to startCommunicate it. Refer back to it. Use it as a rallying cry!Everyone needs to know how they contribute to the why

Common root causes: Employees cant make real change3) Bottom-up communication is broken Even those that want to speak up, dont have permissionFront-line input isnt systematically captured and curatedWhen was the last time a product innovation or process change happened due to team input?

What you can do about itDeploy software that suits your needs Hint: SpeakUpRollout a process to match: Toyota has 40M new ideas!Dont forget asking people to speak up and then failing to respond shows a lack of engagement from leadership

Common root causes: Getting work done is frustrating4) Software is slow, outdated and not user-friendlyIT makes decisions without considering user-experienceSales, marketing, etc dont have input into what SW is usedCloud services and/or BYOD are limited or not allowed

What you can do about itUpdate your IT policies employee experience is #1Include teams in setting requirements, software selection and piloting new toolsAllow people to use hardware and software that they like, if and when its feasible

Common root causes: People cant see the finish line 5) People are operating without a planNot everyone is clear on the objectiveThere are no (or too many) prioritiesPeople arent being measured on what matters

What you can do about itAdopt an objective setting process: Google uses OKRsEnsure everyone has priorities and can say noSetup simple metrics so that everyone can reach for excellence and feel good about achieving it

Common root causes: Progress is left to chance6) Decision making is unclear, too slow, or is ineffectiveThe same agenda items are discussed ad-nauseumSolutions are agreed upon but not implementedTwo departments decide on the same thing - differently

What you can do about itAdopt a decision making framework such as RAPIDRecommend, Approve, Perform, Input, DecideDocument when decisions are made, make it public

Common root causes: Not respecting everyones time7) Everyones too busy to focus on quality workMeetings are common, random and unproductiveEmails are out of control and undisciplined The office is distracting and noisy

What you can do about itSetup meeting guidelines:Defined objective, clear agenda, adequate notice, approved timeslot and documented next stepsSetup email rules: Not for IM! CC only when necessary Make sure people have a quiet area to focus

A quick video to reinforce the importance of that point

Common root causes: Fear of failure, or worse, belittlement8) Team members regularly undermine each otherYelling, berating and bullying are commonplace Its safest to go unnoticed and do whats required of youIdeas are criticized or discredited instead of evaluated

What you can do about itLead by example treat everyone with respectCorrect those that dont. Fire repeat offendersValue ideas, even the bad onesAllow anonymous feedback

Common root causes: Command and control leadership9) The management culture is militaristic Marching orders flow downhillDecisions happen at the top-levels onlyYour importance correlates to your spot on the org chart

What you can do about itEnable bottom-up & lateral communicationProvide autonomy and empower teams to make decisionsAct like a flatter organization value input from all levels of the org recognize and rewards all superstars

Common root causes: Lack of employee focus10) Customers, products or revenue are the #1 priorityNo measures for employee happinessPoor reviews on Glassdoor Declining revenues, stale products

What you can do about itClearly define employees as the first priority Even above customers, products and revenue!Regularly survey the teamWhats making them mad, sad or glad?

Common root causes: The company culture grew on its own11) There are no real values, which meansHiring is random (lack of focus on personality fit)Toxic people and bad attitudes are ignoredPeople are unsure which behavior is encouraged they just do what works (or what others do)

What you can do about itDefine the behaviors and attitudes you valueSet rigorous hiring standards (again, Google)How much of your day is spent on people?Give people time to adjust

The most successful companies of the 21st century will succeed by how well they engage their teams to make the best products and happiest customers

Thank you!Ray GillenwaterCEO, SpeakUpgetspeakup.com@[email protected] free to contact me with questions