Ready, Set, Engage!

Over the past several months I have written about the significance of learned and ‘unlearned’ behavior, and more the notion that how we are conditioned as children has unintended consequence on how we behave as adults in our professional lives.

The difference in a child’s excitement and wonderment is even more evident at holiday time.  I recently had the pleasure of spending time with my extended family over the holidays, and it reminded me just how easily children get excited and engaged in something new – and how contagious that can be for all that are around them.   When is the last time you experienced that level of excitement about something at work?

In some ways, as adults, we can tend to be less enthusiastic about getting involved in new things, perhaps as conditioned from past experience.  This, in turn, impacts how we view opportunity and risk, and how comfortable we are in stepping out of our ‘comfort zones’.   In my experience, this presents a danger of people getting ‘stuck in a rut’.   In fact I read recently that as many 26% of employees in US businesses are reported as being ‘disengaged’, with a subset of that being reported as ‘actively’ disengaged.   If that’s true, what are we missing in terms of organizational productivity? Imagine if you had 26% more resource available to accomplish your business objective….for free!  You do, you just have to figure out how to tap into it.

Engaged employees perform better and stay longer, and this, in turn, leads to greater productivity and higher customer satisfaction levels. So, tackling employee disengagement can create a lot of positive energy.  The problem is where do you start?  It’s not easy to get people to feel passionate about their work or connected to their employer, especially in a virtual workforce (an increasing reality for many of us).

Numerous studies indicate that the number one driver of employee engagement – or disengagement as it may be– is our relationship with our immediate supervisor. So improving that relationship, and specifically teaching our first line leaders how to motivate and excite employees to encourage engagement, seems a logical place to start.

You can go further though…I have recently witnessed as an exciting new piece of work drove higher levels of engagement in my team.  Just as importantly as the project, was the nature in which we decided to tackle it -- fast-paced and energetic, with everyone having an opportunity to pitch in using their strengths, regardless of formal role or assignment.   It was as if team members ‘caught the bug’.  Individuals that were disengaged became curious.  Folks that were already engaged became even more so.  Even people that were productive and working on other things, started to look at what they were doing by comparison and to make connections about how their products could be improved.  It seems you can also boost employee engagement by ensuring that they have projects to work on that challenge and inspire them, and by ensuring that you engage them in it fully from the start.

Best of all, these things cost little and not only improve organization productivity, but also make for a happier work atmosphere as well.

So, as we start 2014 remember the path to greater engagement has to be ignited somewhere, and could easily begin with some small steps.  Get your leaders ready, set yourself up for success, and look for opportunities to engage the wider organization more fully.

Don’t mind your own business

Many of us in the workplace today were taught, from an early age, to ‘mind your own business’. I am reminded any time I am around children, frankly, how many times they ask the question ‘why’, with each successive response from the adult eliciting another ‘why’.  In my experience, this toing and froing typically ends in one of 2 responses – ‘stop asking why’, or ‘because I said so’.  As children, curiosity might have led us to ask penetrating questions that were purposefully valid for our development, but unfortunately the responses we were conditioned to receive were ‘mind your own business’. It was as if those questions were considered rude or just not appropriate. The upshot was we began to hold our tongue. So, are we worse off because of this?

Possibly scarred by this kind of experience, many employees still ‘hold their tongues’ in the workplace. They’ve learned a behavior that might not be that great as a consequence… They simply accept the status quo. They don’t ask ‘why are things done this way’? They don’t question the received wisdom.  In the worst cases, they don’t even bother paying attention anymore.

My view is that sometimes we shouldn’t mind our own business. Individuals should be encouraged to ask and truly understand ‘why?’. They should feel able to challenge the current practice, protocols or behavior without feeling they will be criticised for it. They may understand ‘what’ they’re supposed to do and ‘how’ they’re supposed to do it, but maybe ‘why’ they should do it simply hasn’t been explained to them!?  Asking questions can give them a clearer perspective on their own purpose at work and ultimately will help them understand what is needed, engage and do a better job.

For those who have worked most closely with me, they know that I will often take an opposing view (sometimes even to my own thinking) just to ensure that challenge is being encouraged in the workplace.  I can even recall a social experiment that I ran years ago in a work setting, where I secretly asked an influential member of the team to only use the word ‘why’ in a particular meeting.  What happened was amazing, every time a point or decision was raised, an influential role model said ‘why’ and what ensued was a more interesting debate and, dare I say, outcome of the meeting.

Are people in your organization wearing blinkers? Do they avoid speaking up? If so, they’re missing out - and so is your business… Performance improvements can be sparked by questions from every level of staff and understanding ‘why’ can help everyone do a better job.  It also means employees have to have the courage to ask ‘why’ and be nurtured by a culture that accepts that not minding your own business brings diversity of thinking and input, greater buy-in to the eventual direction, and ultimately greater understanding and connectivity of individuals to the business.

Simon didn’t say… Are you giving permission to perform?

(I apologise for the gap in blog posts, I’ve just enjoyed some well-earned leave.)

Remember playing ‘Simon Says’ as a child? Sometimes fun and sometimes exasperating!? Not knowing if you have permission can be a bit like that…

It’s usually seen as a good thing to invest in customer service training. But actually you’re wasting your money if you don’t give employees permission to use their skills and to exercise their own judgment to do what’s right for customers.

I endured an example of this recently when my mobile phone died prior to the end of my contract. While I must admit I was enjoying the momentary respite from our connected world, I was also being prompted daily by my mother that a new phone was needed as she could no longer ‘facetime’ me or play ‘Words with Friends’.

A new mobile phone – how hard could it be?

Arriving at the flagship London store of my mobile provider, I was greeted promptly and courteously by a sales associate, who had clearly received the necessary technical training -- quickly spouting off details of the various phones, plans, and options. Upgrading 60 days early due to a maintenance issue, however, was not a straightforward situation, and as became obvious during a highly frustrating experience, his training fell down in one key area: he didn’t have ‘permission’ from his company to use his initiative.

While I won’t bore you with the finer details, the sales associate’s computer system was set up to penalize folks wishing to upgrade early, not taking into account other reasons why a client might find themselves in this situation. It was painfully clear to the associate (and his manager) that an insignificant fee, that they weren’t allowed to waive, was actually incentivising me to take my business elsewhere. In short, I left on a principle, and they lost a long-term client, simply because they had no permission.

I quickly found another provider.  Same phones and same phone plans – but they had permission, working creatively to ensure that the penalties being assessed by my old provider were negated in the new sale.

Even though renewing my phone contract took longer than it did to buy my car (seriously!), this experience taught me that you can’t create a customer service mentality if you don’t give people permission to perform. So, don’t make your team feel like they are playing ‘Simon Says’, give them permission to do a great job!

How would permission change things in your organization?  Do you have permission to even raise the topic of permission?  Challenge yourself and challenge others if this is an issue in your organization.

P.S.  I am happy with my new phone and service provider, but was particularly thrilled when calling back to officially cancel the old cell plan only to be greeted with the standard automated response “you are now eligible for an upgrade to your mobile phone…”  It turns out the computer didn’t have the permission either – it was in the phone all the time.

Seeing it their way

A lack of perspective can cause issues in any relationship, personal or professional, and lead to courses of action that no one envisioned or even wanted.

One of the most famous slogans to an American of my generation comes from Burger King’s famous 1970’s ad campaign, ‘have it your way’.  Indeed, probably no other slogan better sums up the American expectation for customer service.  Imagine for a moment if we were just as inspired by ‘see it their way’. What insights might we gain? How much more tolerant might we be?

So, when dealing with people, do you ever ask yourself: Why is this person reacting this way?

Years ago, I had the pleasure of working with a husband and wife executive coaching team, who were two of the funniest people I’ve ever encountered. They could have turned executive coaching into a successful Vegas show! One of their key lessons was an exercise called ‘the perspective of all perspectives’. The idea is to step outside of your own personal position on any subject and to think about it from the perspective of every other person or entity impacted.

Performing this ‘mental levitation’ forces you to be quiet, to listen, to pay greater attention to the detail and to think differently. In the process, you’ll start to see multiple angles, hidden motivators and different agendas which can help you to better understand someone’s reaction or viewpoint. This insight can help you frame questions to ensure absolute clarity.

My life has now placed me in a situation where the majority of my social and professional interactions are with individuals of different cultural background and upbringing.  ‘Seeing it their way’ is a whole new challenge, but one that ultimately enhances my perspective and effectiveness.

In your future exchanges, take a moment to imagine the perspectives of other people. ‘See it their way’; you may be amazed at what you discover.

Step out of line

A key challenge for anyone involved in learning and development is actually helping people to ‘unlearn’.

The problem is that, from an early age, we all become conditioned to respond in a certain way - and changing that conditioned behavior is not easy.

I recently encountered a prime example of this at London’s international train station, St Pancras. When you exit this very busy station, there’s a sign near the taxi rank that says: ‘Queue here’ - and everyone does. Every taxi stops precisely at the sign; every person queues the other side.  And consequently only one taxi loads at a time (despite there being hundreds of people waiting on an entire string of empty taxis right in front of them). By contrast to the long queue at St. Pancras, Paddington Station, another famous London train station, has nine taxi bays and an attendant ensures that each of them loads simultaneously – a seamless and efficient loading process. Someone has found a better way.

Why St. Pancras is set up this way I have no idea.  Why someone with any authority has never noticed the problem and addressed it, crazier still. But even more puzzling to me is the universal conformist human behavior that keeps everyone in line, even when the solution is so obvious. What is it that prevents a random collection of hundreds of people, from all walks of life, from stepping out of line?

From an early age we are taught – stay in line, toe the line, don’t cut in line. Hell, we’re not even allowed to color outside of the lines. Is it any wonder we are conditioned heavily against stepping out of line?

Are people in your organization rigidly adhering to a particular process because they’ve become conditioned to behave in a certain way? Do they continue that pattern even when a more efficient or logical solution is staring them in the face – just on the other side of the sign perhaps!

Step out of line occasionally. Noting that it is polite to explain to those around you why you are doing it.