Management Archives - The Third Zone

Employee engagement within any business organization has always and remains a key aspect of overall success. And, it has taken on a new importance in our post-COVID world. Whereas COVID has not been declared a thing of the past by any means, it has been the basis for major changes. How an organization functions … how and where the needed work is accomplished … what employees demand and need from their leaders. These are all issues that have and will impact the extent and degree of employee engagement that exists in any organization.

Companies have been forced to evaluate and alter several aspects of doing business. Making certain that a top priority includes how to increase the reality of employee’s desire and drive to be enthusiastic, productive contributors has become foundational. Within a company it is felt that the engagement of employees was excellent in the past. However, in today’s changed environment … the new normal … it deserves and needs ‘front-burner’ evaluation and focus.

For the sake of clarity, employee engagement refers to the level of emotional commitment an employee has to their organization and the others within it. It is not about employee satisfaction or high salaries or being shown appreciation after completing a long day at work. Rather than this being a focus and issue related to human resources, it is actually a business one. Thus, it demands attention and is the job of upper management. It is management who must employ work methods and policies that further emotional connections between employees and the workplace.

There were several ways in which the pandemic affected employee engagement:

A forced shift to remote work … something that remains at least part-time for a significant percentage of businesses.
- Isolation from co-workers and disconnected from the company’s mission was real
- Distractions at home have made it challenging to maintain consistent focus on work
Distractions in the home environment
- From other family members also working remotely
- From children who return from school well before one’s workday is complete
Economic uncertainty
- Furthered with actual or anticipated pay cuts
- Having a partner who has lost their job creates critical concern and worry
Bringing meaningful stress into the lives of many
- The need to juggle things that simply were not an automatic part of one’s workday like juggling parenting and teaching responsibilities. The impact is on the employee’s accomplished work and the company’s bottom line.

According to a recent Gallup poll, two key realities were revealed:

The extent to which employees are happy at their jobs really matters. Engaged employees work harder, put in longer hours and stick with a company longer which offers increased expertise and efficiency. These employees are more likely to go the extra mile for customers, drive teams to accomplish more and be mentors and train new employees.

Companies who poll in the top 25 percent of organizations having engaged employees enjoy 21% higher profitability than those in the lowest 25%. This is of major significance Less engagement translates to working less, experiencing more workplace accidents and greater likelihood of leaving.

There appears to be little disagreement around the importance of seriously evaluating the current state of employee engagement in one’s organization. And, along with that, believe in the value of conducting a review of the extent to which your team is truly engaged for all the related benefits. Here are some areas worthy of evaluation and potential change:

Focus on the company culture
A strong and positive culture improves morale and engagement and makes workers feel like their company cares about them. It builds and sustains both enthusiasm and optimism.
Provide both growth and learning opportunities
Offering a culture that promotes continuous development helps build the skills needed for the employee to be successful in their job. However, it also communicates that the organization values that person and believes in their potential.
Offer flexible schedules

The initial challenges that remote work carried have clearly been improved upon and employees do remember the advantages that working remotely included. Thus, developing a system of bringing various teams into the office together and not necessarily daily combines the best of both worlds. Productive efficiency of working with teammates while able to maintain the convenience and advantages of remote work is both beneficial and attractive.
Timely recognitions
Employee appreciation is extremely important in our ‘new normal’ era. Providing time recognition will continue to remain one of the most motivating factors to drive engagement and commitment. Incentives and bonus programs impact one’s productivity. Recognition programs i.e. star of the month appreciating one’s effort reinforces bonding with the company and further motives employees to perform better and meet goals.
Touch base with employees with periodic check-ins
Showing personal caring and interest in everyone goes a long way in building goodwill between you. Interest in how they are doing overall or what challenges they are experiencing will go a long way to build and maintain goodwill. It will also help the leader gain insight of changes they want to make that will have a positive effect on others as well.

As Gautam Kumar has expressed, modern workplace culture demands an innovative approach and flexible mindset. With time, employees have adapted themselves to the new ways of working and technologies. The key is to understand employee needs through constant engagement, feedback, conversations on managerial levels, better interpersonal communication, and driving a sense of belonging and call to action. By focusing on effective practices around employee satisfaction, wellness, and productivity, companies can nurture a sense of pride in their employees, which in turn will encourage them to contribute towards sustainable growth.

The pandemic disrupted life, but it also created an inflection point for organizations to redefine what they want to be and where they want to go. Organizations must seize this moment to transform ambiguity into opportunity across their work, workforce, and workplace. To succeed in the future of work, the time for change is now.
Mike Dorman

Sources:
1.What Employee Engagement Looks Like In The New Normal Workplace –TenSpot
2. How To Build Employee Engagement In The ‘New Normal’ – Roy Lipton
3. The 2022 Guide To Employee Engagement – Gallop
4. 4 Tips To Increase Employee Engagement in the Organization – Gautam Kumar in Voices

Much has been written about the inefficiencies of so many business meetings in this era of ongoing and advancing technology. Meetings that used to take an hour or a morning have too often lengthened. A key culprit is the varied technological advances that allow us all to bring greater speed and efficiencies to the way we work. Specifically, the speed of being able to respond to customers or coworkers who need our input to move forward themselves.

And yet, we have learned that such advances have come with a price. Longer meetings because of the need to repeat valuable information because someone absolutely needed to step outside and answer a customer’s call. Or someone just wanted to get back to a fellow team member and it would only take a couple of minutes. Therefore, we too often are spending valuable time waiting on others who have found something else more important in a certain moment.

Multi-tasking was once the thing that many strived to be able to do. It was seen as a way to enhance the amount of work one could manage and that would supposedly make that person more valuable. Not so fast … as it has since been shown that the multi-tasker is less productive and less efficient. So, to the extent that meeting behaviors are a form of this it explains the need for extended meeting time … and waste.

Professor Patrick Winston taught at MIT for almost 50 years. Although he died in 2019 one of his lectures entitled “How to Speak” was posted on YouTube shortly thereafter. It has now been viewed close to five million times. It was Justin Bariso … an author and Emotional Intelligence guru … who came upon the article and although it is of value, it was what Professor Winston said in the first 5 minutes that provided an invaluable lesson. It is Justin Bariso’s article from INC. on-line magazine that I relate here.

Winston put forth what is considered a ‘priceless gem’ he refers to as the ”rule of engagement.” It’s a simple, non-negotiable policy and it’s just five words long. “No laptops. No cell phones.” Although simple, this is a rule that almost no one today follows, and that is what makes it extremely valuable. Winston’s rule of engagement is also a perfect example of emotional intelligence in real life: the ability to make emotions work for you, instead of against you.

HOW THE ‘RULE of ENGAGEMENT’ MAKES YOU a BETTER LISTENER

Winston goes on to explain the reasoning behind his rule of engagement. “Some people ask why no laptops no cell phones is a rule of engagement,” says Winston. “The answer is, we humans only have one language processor,” explains Winston. “And if your language processor is engaged…you’re distracted. And worse yet, you distract all the people around you.” We can only listen to one voice at a time. And the question becomes how can the “no laptops, no cell phones” rule of engagement helps you and your organization? We, as people are accustomed to and in the habit of responding immediately to electronic messages and that’s good. In doing so you provide information they need to move their work forward. Additionally, you show that you value them. However, in your efforts to respond quickly, you might also be making a big mistake.

By constantly checking your phone, even when you’re in a meeting or conversation with others, you leave your conversation partner feeling that you aren’t really “present”–and that you don’t care about them or the conversation. Also, just think of all the lost time in meetings in which someone repeats something that’s already said or goes off on a tangent because they were distracted and missed a key point. True listening and collaboration require complete attention. And if you’re speaking with another person, that person thought you were important enough to give you their time and attention. Why not return the honor?

In fact, because so many people are in the constant habit of checking phones, imagine what happens when someone comes to you, and you ask them for a second to put your phone away or put it on silent so you can focus on them. That gesture alone will signal how important they are to you. A “no phone” rule can be applied for specific times or places. No additional devices for collaboration meetings, for example. Or certain meetings (or parts of meetings) where all devices are put away.

A FAIRLY SIMPLE FIX

So, if you’d like to increase the quality of your meetings, conversations, and even your relationships, take a page out of Patrick Winston’s playbook: No cell phones, no laptops. And the reason? Because you can only listen to one voice at a time. You’d be surprised at the positive benefits these actions reap and the depth and quality it adds to your relationships.
Mike Dorman

References:
Inc. On-line Magazine … A Respected MIT Professor Had a Simple 5-Word Rule for His Classroom, and Every Company Should Follow It – by Justin Bariso

The ‘New Normal’ and Redefining Employee Engagement

5 Words Define a Rule for Engagement and Our Capacity to Listen to Just 1 Voice at a Time

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