From 2008 to 2010, employee engagement dropped to 56%.  This was the largest rate of decline in 15 years, according to Aon Consulting. So how can you measure employee engagement within your organization?  Generally companies will deploy an employee engagement survey using an external company to administer the survey ensuring anonymity for employees. Others will develop their own internal surveys which  lack question validity and robust reporting features which can be drawbacks to developing an improvement plan.

But what if you don’t have the time or money and want to get a broad sense of overall engagement, what are your options?  My suggestion is to look for the top 10 clues that employees may be disengaging from their work.  And, the 10 clues are:

1. Quality of service and products is dropping–employees are not showing a geniuine level of concern for customer needs and the quality of their workmanship

2. Absenteeism is increasing–the amount of time employees are missing from work is affecting overall department or company performance and may be affecting the morale of those having to pick up a greater work load.

3. Employee complaints are on the rise–negative comments about management and the company from employees to other employees can be like a cancer and impact the performance of others. An analysis of where the complaints are coming from and the type of complaints may uncover some employment issues that should be addressed.

4. Employees don’t work as a team–there may be some great individual contributors but the environment doesn’t encourage cooperation and team work  which can lead to missed opportunities. Make sure that teams have the right members to be successful, that each member understands their role and how it fits into the team, and that the team understands what success looks like for them.

5. Shrinkage and theft rates are increasing–these issues can start small and then rise to levels of significance impacting profitability. Identify potential problem areas and address the issue as soon as you see an uptick before it becomes a bigger problem.

6. Lack of accountability–as the frequency of employees blaming others increases others will take the same attitude of avoiding personal responsibility for failures at work.

7.  Fewer employees are coming to you with concerns–don’t assume that this is good news and bury your head in the sand.  It often means employees don’t have a high level of trust and confidence in management. You may be missing the opportunity to hear about some good ideas and suggestions that can improve results for the company.

8. There are fewer times taken to recognize success–your organization may be struggling yet there is a team or an  individual who has been successful. Dont’ just get caught up with the big goals, remember to recognize and celebrate the smaller ones.

9. Turnover rates are too high–replacing good performers is expensive. Is it an isolated department or an overall company problem? Review exit interview results to determine any trends that should be addressed and then put a plan together.

10.  Key positions remain open longer–this may be a sign that your employer brand is suffering.  You may not have a good reputation as an employer in the market which impedes you from attracting top talent. With the internet and social media, employers bad practices and culture don’t remain a secret for very long.

So which one of these clues do you see in your organization? Ask some of your key managers for their input on these clues and sit down to determine what areas do you want to address first.  And remember that this technique is not a replacement for a professional engagement survey.  Make sure that this becomes a key initiative in the next 12 months!

We all have had to deal with conflict in the workplace.  It can be a real energy drain as people within and around the conflict focus on the negative and not the positive.  The result is decreased productivity and even worse,  potential danger for other employees.  As a leader, dealing with conflict is a key skill you must master.  So here are some recommended steps to take to resolve conflicts in a timely and efficient manner.

First, you must be able to recognize the conflict.  Some forms of conflict are subtle and not so blatant.  These subtle forms can include repeated negative attitudes or behaviors such as inappropriate use of humor-sarcasm or cynicism,  lack of care, empathy, and support of team members, interrupting others, appearing arrogant or a know it all, withholding of resources or information, etc.  These are all subtle because they are  interpreted by individuals who will interpret the behaviors based on their biases and experiences. Their interpretation will affect their relationship with the other person.  As a leader, you need to understand each of your team members’  behavior preferences so you can be alert to potential subtle conflicts which can ultimately escalate into much larger ones.  Then there is the more blatant behaviors such as yelling, intimidation, and continually not keeping commitments to others.

Second, research the situation by asking questions of those involved directly and indirectly.  Your questions should be data driven because the focus of your discussion with the individuals will be on the problem, not the individuals in conflict. Listen carefully to filter out opinions from facts. And be careful when asking questions to not “lead the witness”.  And finally, don’t share your opinions with those you are interviewing because of potential biases in their responses. Your job is to get all the necessary facts before facilitating a resolution.

Third, prior to a meeting with the team members in conflict establish meeting norms and guidelines with each member individually.  Get individual commitments from them that they will abide to the following: express themselves in an unemotional manner,  listen when another person is speaking-no interruptions, attempt to put themselves in the shoes of the other person, and commit to a certain date to make a final decision if you need to based on the meeting dialogue.

Fourth,  facilitate a meeting between the parties in conflict.  During this meeting acknowledge the problem you have identified during your research in a concise manner and communicate your role in the meeting as a facilitator. You are not there to solve the conflict but to facilitate the conversation so the conflicting parties can solve the problem themselves.  Remind them of the meeting guidelines they each agreed to before the conversation begins. And, set a time frame for the meeting and let them know that if the conflict can’t be resolved then a specific time will be set aside to pick up the conversation.  Be prepared to stop the meeting if someone isn’t abiding to their promise.

Coaching Tip:  When reminding them of the guidelines they agreed to add the following communication guidelines:

1. Have them use “I” not “You” when making a declarative statement
2. The words “never” and “always” should not be used

Fifth and final,  make your decision a timely one.  Your credibility and reputation as a leader is partially based on your decision making skills.  The inability to make a decisive decision during times of conflict can impact how you are viewed as a leader. Show your strength and you will build respect from those you lead.

In the end it is up to the leader to be skilled in questioning,  listening,  facilitating, and decision making to resolve conflicts in the workplace and insure that employees are both productive and safe.

Employee Engagement is a hot topic as the shortage of high performing talent increases.  A May study from McKinsey & Co. found that by 2018, the U.S. will face a shortage of 1.5 million managers who can use data to shape business decisions. And the shortage gets even larger for non management employees, especially knowledge workers in the areas of  healthcare, technology, and accounting.

Another study in June 2011 from Mercer, the global HR consulting firm, found that nearly  one third (32 percent) of American workers are considering leaving their organization, which is 40 percent increase since 2005. So not only is there a shortage but there is also a higher risk of losing the talent you already have on your team.

So what should you be doing to nurture and increase employee engagement on your team? Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Before hiring ask yourself does the candidate fit culturally with the organization. In other words, does the potential employee have the same set of values the company lives every day?  More often than not employees fail in the short term because they don’t “fit”  the culture of the organization, not because they don’t have the skills.

Coaching Tip: Devise several interview questions that can illuminate a candidate’s values and/or use an assessment that measures values such as the Hogan Leadership assessment.

2. Once you have the right person on board, you need to keep them challenged which means providing them with opportunities for growth and development.  Development plans are an integral part of the talent management system and should be updated on a quarterly basis. The types of development can include special projects, rotation to a lateral position, matching a mentor with the employee, structured learning, and executive coaching.

Coaching Tip: It is critical that the employee be a part of their development planning process. Too often managers assume that an employee wants certain opportunities when they either may not want the opportunity at all, or the timing isn’t right for them due to a personal situation.

3. Demonstrate that you care about your employees by recognizing their good work and showing appreciation. The number one reason good employees leave a company  is because they don’t feel appreciated. Many managers feel that if they show too much appreciation and recognition that it will make performance correction more difficult.  Studies show that it takes upwards of 5 acts of appreciation to equal one act of criticism.  Keep track of your appreciation for others over a week, be purposeful by looking for the sparks of good work, potential, and recognize it.

Coaching Tip: Make sure that when you do provide recognition and appreciation that it be done in a timely manner and with sincerity.  There is nothing worse than receiving insincere appreciation. If you can’t be sincere, then don’t even bother.

4.  Trust is a critical component to employee engagement.  Employees who trust their co-workers, managers, and company generally have a higher level of engagement than those who don’t.  And the one area that will impact trust the most is transparent leadership.  Organizational transparency requires among other things, open access to information, and participation in decision making.

Coaching tip:  A higher degree of transparency will exist if communications are timely and frequent.  And remember to use different communication channels to satisfy the preferences of the multiple generations in the workforce-email, text, hard copy, meetings, video, etc.

These are all techniques that can be implemented in a short period of time that can provide you with some insurance in retaining your key employees. Which one do you plan to implement first?

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Many individual contributors who have been successful at their jobs often get the opportunity to move up into a management position.  Because they have demonstrated an ability to handle additional responsibilities as a single contributor, the conclusion is that they can handle the additional responsibilities of leading people.

Before you step up, ask yourself these questions as a starting point. And if you are a manager about ready to promote, these are great questions to review with the potential promotion candidate.

1. What should I do during my first day as a manager? By the 30th and 90th days?

If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you need to sit down with your new boss BEFORE your first day and prioritize key success criteria for your new position.

Coaching Tip:  Managers who are promoting star performers should clearly define success and any areas of development and training the new manager should receive.  It is your job to make sure they have all the tools and resources to be successful.

2. How will I find out the strengths and challenges of each team member?

Ask to review your team member’s employee performance evaluations as a start but this should not be your only data point. Develop ways, projects or tasks, to determine if the performance evaluation, both strengths and challenges, are still valid. And if you have the resources, assessment tools will provide additional data points.  Some of the more common tools are DiSC, Myers Briggs and Strengths Finder.

Coaching Tip: Always try to focus on a person’s strengths and how they can use their strengths to overcome their limitations.

3. What should I do when someone misses a commitment?

First review your process for delegation.  When delegating, both you and the team member are accountable.  You are accountable for making sure the person is capable of making the promise i.e. they have the necessary skills and resources.  You are also accountable for getting a clear commitment from the person. A clear commitment requires an understanding of the task, the due date, and the impact the task has on you and/or the team.

Coaching Tip: When delegating, use the SMIT model: specific, measurable, impact, and time bound. And when the person is making her promise, listen for the use of the pronoun “I”.  The use of  ”we” is unacceptable and does not create accountability!

4. How should I be managing their performance?

Performance management is an ongoing process and not an annual event.  It may be that this is the process your company uses and here is your chance to take leadership in performance management. Make it part of your monthly routine to meet individually with each of your direct reports. This is their time not yours.  It should be all about what they need, what they are concerned about, and what they feel good about.  This time will show them that you care and give you an opportunity to practice your coaching skills.

Coaching Tip:  When you learn and become skilled at coaching your team members, you will be developing them to perform at a higher level which will free you up for doing the important and not the urgent. The core of coaching is asking really great questions to get them to explore their options and self-limiting beliefs.

5. What should I be doing to be successful in my new job?

Remember that success comes from influencing and inspiring others which builds trust and respect. Your success is dependent on many people’s success across many departments. Now that you are responsible for being the leader, it is about creating larger successes.  It is no longer about you!

Coaching Tip:  Identify the key people outside of your team that you need to influence and then determine how you can help them be successful.

6. What happens if I am not sure exactly what to do?

Ask your team first if it isn’t personnel related.  You probably have an idea of what you need to do or you may have some options that you need flushed out. What a great opportunity to have a brainstorming session and let your team members’ voices be heard! Make sure to let them know what direction you plan on taking and thank everyone for their input.

Coaching tip:  When facilitating brainstorming sessions, remember to use the “Yes I like that because, and” technique. This eliminates “yes, but” which totally negates the previous statement and shuts down the flow of ideas.

Answering these questions should provide you or the person you are promoting with a head start to success!

One of my clients recently returned from the Baptist Leadership Conference and during his management meeting he was reporting back on his learnings from the conference and what he intended on implementing.

As he ran down the list there was one technique that is so easy to implement and when done effectively, can provided a leadership team with valuable information. The technique is “Rounding with a Purpose”, and I wanted to share it with my readers.  In essence, it takes the traditional “Management by Walking Around” and develops a structure using questions that are thought out in advance based on the current challenges management is facing.

How  would you take this idea into your organization and implement it?  What information today, are you not receiving because you aren’t asking the right questions of employees working on the front lines, the workers closest to many challenges a company faces?

Here are two typical business situations along with questions you may want to use that can help you learn more about what you, as a leader, can do to increase the success of your people as well as your organization.

Situation 1: There has been a recent increase in customer complaints

Questions:

• If you could change one thing that can improve customer service, what would you do?
• What complaints have you been hearing recently from customers?
• What service policy is getting in the way of improved customer service?

As you will note, the situations are specific to a certain business function but don’t let the situations lead you into a familiar trap. Don’t ask the situational questions just of those in that department.  For instance, if the issue is sales, make sure you don’t just ask the sales department.  Make sure to get a good cross section of input.

Once you start gathering this information, it is time to share it with your management team and teach them the technique so they can implement as well.

So what questions are you not getting answers to from your management team? And if these questions were asked to your line workers, what hidden gems may be mined?  Asking good questions, can unearth some uncut diamonds that may provide you with some long awaited answers.

I would love to hear your ideas of how you have used this technique to your benefit and institutionalize it within your company so all managers are consistently listening to employees. And, what particular questions have you used to obtain information that you might not have obtained otherwise?

And if you are in the health care industry and haven’t heard about the Baptist Leadership Institute, check them out by clicking on this link. http://www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com/

The recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has many business owners and executives extremely concerned.  Using their unchecked powers, the NLRB is requiring all businesses, starting on November 1st, to have a mandatory posting reminding employees of their right to unionize.  This posting must also appear on any inter or intranet sites if personnel rules and policies are customarily posted there.

As a founder and entrepreneur the over reaching actions of the NLRB immediately make my blood boil.  In fact, why don’t we all send engraved invitations to union organizers!  The one big enemy of unions…happy and fully engaged employees.  I can guarantee that the employees of companies known for their strong culture and employee engagement aren’t sweating over this recent ruling because their employees have no reason to want a union.

So for any of you out there who are concerned that your employees maybe calling local union organizers after November 1st, I would start making changes now.

First watch this video from Air New Zealand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_xrPl_i9M8

Yes this is a bit extreme and you would probably never ask your employees to participate in a project like this.  But it should make you curious as to how far your employees would be willing to go for you and your company.

When was the last time that you asked them to commit to a project or initiative that was outside their comfort zone?  And what was their reaction?

If they pushed back on the idea, what strategy did you use to influence them into changing their minds so that they willingly and happily participated?

I would suspect that in the case of Air New Zealand, there was a mixture of leadership influence and personal motivation by the individual participants. The people that volunteered probably liked this type of attention and the opportunity to have “exposure” on a TV advertisement. While at the same time, there was a leader who had a vision and was able to passionately convey the vision and influence people to follow.

How effective are you at influencing others to follow? And are you creating an environment that encourages employee engagement?

As an update, the leader who had the vision is the silver haired guy, body painted as a baggage handler. He is the CEO of Air New Zealand  Now that’s leadership!

The other day I was facilitating a strategy meeting with a group of executives. During the meeting, I started to notice a familiar pattern of listening that you all have observed in the past. Of the 8 participants, two of them would ask questions of the others in the room, and shortly into the answers from others, these two would interrupt and throw in their opinions without letting the other person finish.

As facilitator, it was my job to redirect the conversation back to the person who was interrupted. During the break, I put on my executive coaching “hat” and took the two executives to the side and shared my observations with them. And not surprisingly, they were totally unaware of their behavior. Upon some further questions and dialog, it became clear that both of them had fallen into a similar trap.  Prior to asking the question, they both had decided what the answer should be and once answers to their questions started down a divergent path from their answer, they simply jumped in to prove that they were right.

They had started down the right path by asking some good powerful questions that provided the responders to dig deep for an answer.  Their questions generally started with “How could we….”? or  ”What would….”? And they started to listen, and then stopped.

The problem is that they never moved from listening to active listening. So what’s the difference and why is active listening so important? First of all active listening takes a lot more energy than listening because listening is more automatic. When we listen what we interpret is based on our mood, our personal experiences, biases, and preferences. Our listening is also impacted by the self-talk that is occurring within us which is a huge distraction. In the situation described, they were biased to their own answers and their internal voice started saying “they have it all wrong, the right answer is”

So are you one of those leaders who ask a question and then interrupt half way through the answer or do you know someone who is? I would argue that we all have interrupted another person’s thoughts. The question is, do you do it enough where it is impacting your team and your effectiveness. Has it become a de-railer for you, which could hold you back from future success?

Here are five techniques to move from listening to active listening.

1. When you ask a question which is going to lead to a complex answer, listen to your inner voice first.  Do you already have your own opinion? If so, before you become rude and interrupt, jot down your idea, and continue listening And next ask yourself, “what proof (actual data) do I have to support my opinion?” Then focus on what is being said, and ask more questions to fully understand the other person and gather additional data. When all your questions have been answered, before you jump in, ask others for their opinion if others are involved in the conversation.
2. Before going into a meeting or one on one conversation, make sure you write down anything that is currently on your mind that may distract you from staying focused on the current dialogue. This takes practice but the more you jot down those items/issues that can potentially distract you  the more time you can “stay with” the conversation.
3. Be conscious of your mind wandering during the conversation. If you find that you may have missed a point or are unclear about what was said, apologize and share with the person that you became distracted and ask for clarification from the person talking. This will demonstrate that you care about what they are saying.
4. Take a temperature of your mood and emotions while in an important conversation. If you are at an emotional point where you can’t listen without heavy filters, ask for a time out and regroup after your emotions have settled down.
5. Restate what you have heard to confirm your understanding of what has been discussed and reach agreement of the understanding.

Active listening will provide you with a deeper understanding of a situation and will show employees that you value their thoughts and opinions, ultimately driving better organizational results. It can also impact an organization’s innovation and competitive advantage. So the next time you are in an important conversation, remember the 5 tips for active listening.

One Response to “5 Techniques to Increase Your Active Listening”

For those of you who are interested in learning more about employee engagement for your organization, I would personally recommend the following reading:

Drive by Daniel Pink

First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham

The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly and Patrick Lencioni

I have read all of them and they are excellent. They provide different perspectives and insights into employee engagement.  In addition, the following books are on my Kindle waiting to be read in the following order:

The CEO Chief Engagement Officer by John Smythe

The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith

Managing the Gray Areas by Jerry Manas

Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

Here’s to all of you who embrace employee engagement as a key to organizational success and sustainability. Happy reading and learning.

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The talent obsessed are companies like GE, IBM, and Procter and Gamble who really know their people: what strengths they have, what they value as an individual, their personalities, and what drove them to their achievements. Their obsession in understanding and developing their people has brought their organizations a higher level of success than many of their competitors.

Many of you reading this are thinking, “I don’t have the resources that an IBM has”.  ”How can our company manage our talent like a Fortune 500 company?” The answer is by focusing on the important and not the urgent and taking a longer term view of your company’s human capital resources.

Here are four steps to starting on the road to becoming talent obsessed:

1. As a leader, take ownership for the development of your employees. Incorporate learning into your regular staff meetings. Delegate the learning process to your team members so that everyone is involved in the process. Be on the look out for best practices that individuals possess and have them share with their team mates. This is a great development opportunity for both the presenter and other team members.

2. Make development of employees a critical success factor for all managers within your company.  Employee development should be a significant factor in performance reviews for managers.  One great way for managers to develop others is through coaching. And if managers don’t have the coaching skills, provide them with training and become a coaching role model to them.

3. Peel back the onion and ask a lot of  quality questions to understand how a person achieved their results. The more questions you ask, the clearer you will understand the skills and talent an employee possesses.  If you identify a skill the employee has that you weren’t aware of, figure out ways that the employee can build on this skill.  This may include delegating something on your plate, or assigning her to a new project.

4. Ask others who were working with or around the individual for their feedback. Structure the questions based on what you learned in step 3, while also asking questions that can broaden your knowledge of the employee’s core talent.

Once you have gained enough knowledge of the employee’s core skills and strengths, start looking at your organization’s needs in the next 12-18 months.  Are there upcoming projects in other parts of the organization, where this employee’s talents can shine? Is there an opportunity that will stretch the person to a higher level of mastery in that talent, or will it be too much of a stretch that could frustrate him?

To become talent obsessed, the focus needs to come from the top.  Those companies who have a long term commitment to the talent inside their company will see greater long term business results because their employees will have reached their true potential and be fully engaged.

2 Responses to “Becoming Talent Obsessed”