It's a thing: Employee Engagment

"It's a thing" is a series that highlights concepts that employers and managers use and sometimes evaluate employees with that the average employee may not be aware.

In a training meeting, I learned about employee engagement. Employee engagement is when employees are motivated to contribute to the success of an organization, they give the best of themselves each day, they are committed to the company goals and values, they exhibit a sense of teamwork, while they have an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Employees that are not engaged show the opposite of these qualities. Employee engagement is a quality that modern owners and managers are looking for in their employees. Employees that are engaged rise to the surface of the company and are promoted into the highest positions. Employee engagement is becoming part of the developmental matrix looked to for employee advancement.

After learning about employee engagement, I had an interesting conversation with an employee. I shared with them what I had learn (and was learning) about the benefits of having an engaged workforce and they responded, "I didn't even know it (employee engagement) was a thing." What we both realized was that some managers were measuring their employees on things that they might not even be aware. She went on to tell me, "If I know that my employee wants me to do something or be a certain way, then they should let me know so that I can develop it." I agree! There are many more things that business owners and managers are aware of that the average employee is not.

The primary reason for this blog is to educate employees to what many managers are seeking so that they can become better employees.

Why is employee engagement important?

Good Employees Hustle

There are only so many hours a day to get things done--taking advantage of these hours to succeed or get ahead is HUSTLE.

When I was a young man involved in sports, coaches encouraged (demanded) for us to hustle. Hustle was never defined or explained, but we all knew what the coaches wanted. They wanted us to move fast, work hard, be determined, and never give up. Our coaches would forgive mistakes if we hustled, but if we were not hustling and making mistakes we were relegated to the bench--and no one wanted to be on the bench.

Good employees bring that same drive and determination to their jobs. Hustle is an entrepreneurial trait. Hustle is about getting ahead. Hustle is about taking ownership in what brings career and personal success. Hustle will make you and your company a success.

Hustle is about focusing on success and taking advantage of the time you have.

Crucial Conversations

Crucial Conversations are critical for the health of an organizational. 

You cannot fix what you don't talk about!

I have witnessed organizations where the atmosphere was full of toxic energy. Managers have disputes with other managers and subordinates, employees don't get along with management and conflict abounds. Often groups begin to form around individuals and sides are made. If issues surrounding the negativity are not discussed, they will continue to fester until an amputation or severing of the organization's members is necessary. 

TO AVOID CONFLICT IN ORGANIZATIONS, CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS ARE NECESSARY!

Nonverbal Cues Tell the Whole Story

Nonverbal communication is as important as verbal communication in delivering a message in the workplace.

The boss strolls through the office assessing their employees work space. They notice that one desk is rather messy and has a sign that reads "I'd rather be fishing," while the desk next to it is immaculately ordered and has a copy of the company mission statement prominently displayed. This alone does not reveal much about the employee, but taken with other nonverbal cues such as punctuality, attitude, and work quality, it gives an employer a load of information. 

A good employee makes sure that their nonverbal communication sends a positive message to their employer.

Nonverbal communication is simply defined as all the behaviors and cues that are not verbal. Almost all voluntary intentional acts or signals that are not words are consistently thought to communicate meaning. Sometimes these acts or signals support the verbal communication, but many times the nonverbal cues contradict verbal messages. Communication experts say that nonverbal cues are responsible for 60 to 93% of the meaning. Splitting the difference, we could safely say that approximately 75% of the communication that takes place in the workplace is nonverbal.

75% OF ALL COMMUNICATION IS NONVERBAL.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Why does good communication break down?

The previous blog lists the elements of the communication process (communicator, message, encoder, medium, receiver/decoder, feedback, and noise). This is about identifying hindrances to good communication or noise. If noise exists in any of the elements in any way complete clarity of meaning and understanding is lost. Management has a responsibility to develop effective communications. Communication breakdown will cause inefficiency for the employer, but it can cost the employee their job. There are several common barriers to effective communication.

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

The two most obvious barriers to office communication are language and culture barriers. Both play important roles in today's diverse marketplace. Because they are obvious potential communication hindrances, most organizations pay close attention to these. Language and culture diversity is a powerful tool when the differences are worked out.

FRAME OF REFERENCE

Communication is the Key to Success!

Communication is the glue that holds organizations together.

Communication assists employees to accomplish personal and company goals, respond to organizational change, organize commercial activities, and participate in every relevant activity. As important as communication is, breakdowns in communication are pervasive.

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

When communication is less than it should be, the organization will not be what it can be. Communication within a company is unavoidable, but effective communication is.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

Employees Must Understand Change

The previous blog stated that employees must change or die. This may seem to be overstated, but the it is close to reality. Employees must understand change and the necessity for change.

Organizations do not change for the sake of changing. There are several factors that make change necessary.

First, technology is changing. There are many engineers and computer geeks sitting around thinking of innovations to make tasks easier and more efficient. Companies that embrace these changes will surge ahead of their competition. 

Second, markets are changing. Things that are popular and marketable yesterday are not popular today. Things that are popular and marketable today will not be popular tomorrow. Inventors and innovators will rule tomorrow's market.

Third, society is changing. We live in a very informed society. Companies must be in tuned with society and adapt. 

Fourth, there is more competition because of globalization and this will continue to increase resulting in an increasing need for change.

Finally, change will also be necessary to keep products and services relevant to the local and global markets.

You Must Change or Die!

This is overstated...or is it?

This may not apply to you personally, but it applies to the company for which you work.

There is a natural cycle to every organization.

• Beginning
• Growth
• Plateau
• Decline
• Death

Without intervention in the plateau phase, the organization will eventually decline and die. The intervention, more often than not, will require change. However, organizations are usually resistant to change. There are common reasons that people are reluctant to change. 

1. Fear of losing status or security. Employees work hard to get where they are and change can mean new technologies to learn, more employees to compete with, and many more real and imagined factors.

Good Employees Understand the Art of Service

Good employees serve. Service is the action of helping or doing work for someone.

Organizations serve other organizations and people in some capacity. In a 2016 Gartner CEO survey, CEOs rated customer service, after growth,  as their most important priority. It has been said that in today's knowledge sharing and hyper connected society customer service is marketing. The dissatisfaction of products or service is known throughout the local industry in lightning speed and can kill your business. Attention to service is paramount and is the responsibility of each employee, not just the management. We need to master the art of service.

BR: "Good to Great by Jim CollinsDisip

The sub-title of "Good to Great," Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't, reveals the purpose of this book. Collins determined to find out why some companies made the leap from good companies to great companies and others did not.

To find how companies go from good to great, he first needed to identify great companies. He looked for companies that had 15-year cumulative stock market returns at or below the general market with a transition point followed by a period of returns above the market over a 15-year period. The companies needed to exhibit a "good-to-great" pattern. All companies were compared to the other to ultimately determine what distinguished good-to-great companies from the others. Eleven good-to-great companies were identified: Abbott, Fannie Mae, Kimberly-Clark, Nucor, Pitney Bowes, Wells Fargo, Circuit City, Gillette, Kroger, Philip Morris, and Walgreens. Collins found numerous celebrated factors. I found that "Good to Great" is one of the most referred to books in leadership study.

Keys for Balancing Work and Life

We have all had the experience of working to finish an important assignment when the phone rings and the school nurse says that we must pick up our child from school. You are lucky if you can get your spouse to pick them up or have a relative that can stop what they are doing to help, but many of us are not fortunate enough to have that kind of support system. Thus we struggle with balancing work responsibilities with family responsibilities.

Recently, I read a story about Alan. Alan was told that he was going to be taking over his boss's job who had recently quit because of health reasons. They kept promising him that they would come down from the corporate office to meet regarding the job. In the mean time, he was doing his job as well as his boss's job hoping for the reward of the promotion and possible bonus pay. He was working late and on weekends and sacrificing family responsibilities just to keep the office running. He even started avoiding his wife at home because he did not want to listen to her complain about his long hours. Remarkably, he kept this up for eighteen months before the corporate office finally met with him, but not before the stress nearly led him to attempt suicide and drove him to drugs to help keep up the pace. Most Life Work Imbalances are not this extreme, but it can lead to similar results.

Good Employees Are Driven

The number one quality that employers want in an employee is DRIVE--whether they know it or not.

I recently read an article that stated that "drive" was the number one characteristic that companies look for in employees. This caused me to look back over my work experience. I realized that I was driven in some jobs, but not so driven in others. Analyzing why, I decided that personal interest in the work and confidence in my ability to do the job were my two determining factors for being driven at work. I can see from my own experience that when I showed drive, I was more successful and more satisfied with my job. Employers desire to see their employees driven to advance themselves and the company. If you are not satisfied at work or are not advancing in the job, examine your drive--you may need to step it up.

Good Employees Keep Developing

Employee Development is defined as a process where the employee, usually with the support of the employer, undertakes in training programs and procedures to enhance existing skills and to acquire new knowledge and skills.

In the competitive marketplace, employers are searching for the most talented employees. Knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced workers are "gold" to companies. It is not enough for a person to get a job, they must keep the job. Employee development is one of the most important aspects of Employeeship. 

Turn Your Job Into a Career

Are you working in a job because you must or are you working in a career that you love?

You may know the answer to this question immediately, or you may wonder the difference between jobs and careers. The dictionary defines a career as an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress, while a job is a paid position of regular employment. People work jobs just to make money, people work in careers to advance in status, importance, and financial rewards. People take jobs because they need them, people pursue careers to provide much more than basic needs. The difference for some is small, but for others the difference is very significant. The difference lies in motive and opportunity.

Working on Tasks You Don't Like To Do

The difference between tasks you like to do and tasks you do not like to do is your attitude.

Have you ever bagged potatoes? 

I worked in a grocery store where bagging potatoes was a daily task. Everyone hated to bag potatoes. The first day on the job, I was trained on how to bag potatoes. The potatoes came from the warehouse in huge 100 pound bags. The bags were heavy enough, but they were also bulky and hard to grab. The potatoes were dumped into the "bagger" which held 4 or 5 hundred pounds of potatoes. From the bagger, we would weigh out 5 and 10 pound bags, staple them closed, then stack them in the stock room for later use.

"Professionalism" Helps You Succeed

Professionalism in the workplace is important for success.

"Professionalism" or "being professional" is difficult to define. Years ago, I worked for a small nonprofit organization. The director's wife, who was also the treasurer, told the receptionist not to bring her infant daughter to the office because it was "unprofessional." While she was telling her not to bring her daughter to the office, the treasurer's poodle was running around the office like she owned the place. To me, having an infant child in the office is no more unprofessional than having a dog running through the office. That being said, "professionalism" does make a difference, so it needs to be understood and that the leaders (owners and managers) have the final say about professionalism.

BR: The 8th Habit

Book Review: The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (1989)

Please add this book to your development library.

 Stephen Covey follows his best selling book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by naming a 8th Habit. Covey wrote the 8th Habit to address changes in the world that took place in the 15 years after he wrote the 7 Habits. Coincidentally, the 7 Habits was released the same year that the Berlin Wall fell (1989). In 1989, the internet was in its adolescence and people were just beginning to use email.

Situational Employeeship

How to Effectively Lead and Be Led in the 21st Century...

Until recent decades, leadership was very hierarchical. Hierarchical organizations are where people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority. In these systems, leadership and authority resembled a pyramid with all of the power at the top. The bottom portion of the pyramid is the general worker with little or no authority. However, the past decade or so has seen a flattening of the leadership and authority pyramid (although many organization remain hierarchical).

BR: 7 Habits of Highly Successful People

Book Review: 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Steven Covey

Introduction

Stephen Covey wrote this best selling book in 1989. Twenty-eight years later it holds up and is as relevant today as it has ever been. I first read Covey's book about twenty years ago and have integrated many of the principles into personal development strategies. The purpose of this book review is to extract the main principles to be applied to employee development. However, no review can ever capture all of the information in a single book. It is suggested that this book be added to your personal development library.

Good Employees Display Loyalty

Good employeeship is about creating a company culture based on responsibility, commitment, loyalty, cooperation, and development.

The previous post highlighted the importance of initiative, it was stated that initiative cannot be achieved without a high amount of responsibility and loyalty. Organizational loyalty is defined as allegiance to the company above self, protecting and defending it against external threat and promoting its good reputation (Himanshu, 2012). Loyalty is also defined as being faithful to the one you have chosen to support. 

Good Employees Take Initiative

Initiative is not waiting to be told what to do, but it is being proactive in doing what it takes, within your ability, to accomplish the mission and vision of the organization.

Employeeship is noted by factors such as participation and the balance of ownership, authority, and responsibility. It is the leader's (employer's) role to realize when to share leadership and how to follow. However, employeeship is not a democracy where everyone shares an equal part. Different work contexts and situations call for a different balance in the authority and responsibility. Employeeship is also noted by employees being encouraged and allowed to take responsibility and initiative. 

Good Employees Assume Responsibility

Moller (1994) lists responsibility as the central element of employeeship without which a person cannot display loyalty and take initiative.

The employer employee relationship at its core, is a transaction. Burns (1979) describes this kind of leadership as transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is where an employee completes assigned tasks in exchange for rewards in the form of a paycheck, bonuses, and benefits. For years, transactional leadership was the norm--"If you do this, I will give you that." Transactional leadership is no longer thought of as the best way to run an organization (although many believe that it is a pipe dream to totally eliminate the transactional aspect of management). Leadership trends today advocates the benefits of self-leadership, shared leadership, and peer leadership. The focus is moving from the leader to the follower.

3 Aspects of Employeehip

Employeeship occurs at the intersection of the employees' responsibility, initiative, and loyalty.

When an employee makes a wholehearted and goal oriented effort within the three success areas (productivity, relations, quality) of the organization, a special kind of personal commitment is demonstrated – this commitment can be called “employeeship” (Moller, 1994). When all employees are deeply committed to the survival and development of the organization and thus demonstrate employeeship, the organization can be said to have an “employeeship culture”.

Employeeship: Why it Matters?

Bad employees are costly to a company.

A bad employee costs a company time, money, and morale. Employees that do not develop, do not take responsibility for their job, do not deliver in a professional manner, or do not have a good attitude cost companies in time, production, and money. Importantly, bad employees negatively affect the climate and the culture of an organization.

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Employeeship: A Construct

I used the term "employeeship" to describe what every employee needs to understand to become a "good" employee. However, "employeeship" is a construct that is sometimes used for research in leadership and organizational behavior. A construct is an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements, typically considered to be subjective and not based on empirical evidence. Constructs are important for research, but they are also important for practical application.

Employeeship: What is it?

Employeeship is a Term Describing What it Takes to be a Good Employee

Companies are faced with challenges unlike any time in history and leaders are looking for anything to give them a competitive edge. Since it has been acknowledged that people are a companies' greatest resource, this blog addresses topics about what it takes to be a good employee. Our purpose is to help develop employees, connect employer and employee, and bring a mutual understanding of the companies values and mission, the employer's expectations, and the employee's responsibilities.

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