Employee Engagement Means Treating People As You'd Want to Be Treated

There is a lot of advice out there telling people what to do to engage employees. It ultimately boils down to something very simple. Engagement is about treating people as you would want to be treated.  It’s nothing more complex than that.

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Don't believe me? 

Consider this scenario. 

Imagine you're the head of a department at the company you work for and one of the directors has asked you to fetch the coffee. How do you feel? Do you ask your assistant to do it or would you be quite happy to do it yourself? 

Commands get results but at what cost?

What if that same director demanded you to get the coffee, making it seem like your job would be in jeopardy if you didn't obey the rules? 

You might do it, but how would you feel afterwards? Contempt? Mistrust? Desire to leave?

Ask me nicely and I'll do it, but...

What about if the director said to you: ‘we really need help today, Jason our assistant is off sick, and someone has to get the coffee. Please, can you do it?’

Perhaps you'd feel better at being asked rather than commanded, but you might still be a bit put out. At the end of the day, it’s not your job, and there are more junior people than you who could do it in place of Jason.

What if it was part of your job?

What if you had a rota where everyone in your organisation did the coffee run once a month. The ethos being that nothing is beneath any employee whatever role they get into. It keeps you grounded.

Perhaps this would feel more comfortable because it spreads the responsibility, but maybe you'd be thinking 'why do I have to waste my valuable time doing pointless things like getting the coffee?'

What if it was the norm...

What if the CEO said to you, Jason is off, and we really need coffee, but the marketing team are in the middle of getting that roadshow finished for kick off tomorrow. I’m off to get the coffee, but I could get it done in half the time with your help. Would you mind giving me a hand? 

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How do you feel? Motivated to get the job done? Happy to help? Inspired by the down to earth nature of your CEO? I know I'd be all of those things. 

Why does it work?

Sadly in today's working world senior employees who are prepared to muck in with anything that needs doing are hard to come by. Fortunately, these types of managers are on the rise but there is still a long way to go.

Luckily people are beginning to recognise that managers who get involved in the everyday running of the business have more engaged employees. People feel connected to the leadership, and because they see senior people getting involved they are more likely to do the same themselves when faced with a similar situation. The senior folk set the example for how others will be treated. 

Suddenly fetching the coffee doesn’t seem like such a big deal does it...

Treat people with respect and they will repay you in kind

• What would you do if no one collected your rubbish for eight weeks?
• What about if your local doctors surgery shut down and you had to wait six weeks for an appointment at the next nearest surgery 30 miles away?
• What if A&E no longer existed? Or it did but ambulances didn't? 

Without our public sectors workers, all of this could be a reality. 

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Public sectors workers get a raw deal

In the last few years, the outlook for local government workers has gone from upbeat to bleak. Due to vast reductions in public spending, workers have had the pensions they've worked their whole lives towards slashed, there are office and department closures left, right and centre, and pay deductions from already low salaries.

It doesn't stop there

So often we see power get the better of people; everything becomes urgent because it will save a buck or two here and there or because 'that's what the rules say'.

I remember a couple of stories I heard around Christmas time; firstly, a worker putting tinsel on top of their monitor and being asked to remove it because 'these are hot desks now, you can't get too comfortable'. Next, news received just before the Christmas break - 'we are making cuts in your department and so all of you will need to reapply for your jobs, you will find out if you still have a role the week after Christmas'. Happy yuletide everyone.

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What happened to a bit of festive cheer? What happened to caring about your staff, realising they have feelings, families, lives, just like you do? Perhaps the tinsel on the monitor would have been a nice surprise for the next person at that desk, was there a reason to squash the Christmas spirit? Couldn't the news of job cuts have been left until early Jan, allowing people to enjoy their Christmas? We have to ask ourselves...

"Are people truly delivering their best work when they are being treated in this way?"

Perhaps not. 

Our public services have never looked in a worse state, the NHS is in the papers almost daily, premature deaths here and huge waiting times there, not to mention the constant hospital closures and ward reviews. Our care services are flailing, with frequent reporting of mistreatment across both elderly care, with reports of closing care homes and shortages of nurses, and even further concerns for vulnerable children across fostering, adoption and front line social work services.

Without cash what can be done? 

As I write this I realise that there are no quick fixes here; no easy answers or one size fits all solutions. But, as people working in the engagement field, it's our job to look for the small actions that, if managers take on board, could help staff in the difficult times ahead. 

- Don't let power get the better of you. An adult being told that they must remove tinsel from the top of their monitor because it is 'against the rules', is completely unnecessary and is likely to make them feel threatened and utterly demotivated. With something as innocent as this example, just allow people to be; it'll do wonders for motivation.

- Say thank you. When people are doing the best they can in less than favourable conditions, a simple 'thank you, we really appreciate your work' can help people to feel they are making a difference to a broader cause despite difficulties in their personal situation. 

- Listen to people. So often, when times get tough, managers become power crazed bulldozing in with solutions they believe to be best for the team, or best for themselves, in difficult times. It's when times are tough that managers should listen most to their teams. Those that have helped you get to where you are today are those that will help you in the future. They have a lot of knowledge so don't exclude them, bring them on board to help you to make stronger decisions that can benefit everyone in the short and long term. 

Small changes can make a big difference

There are no easy solutions to huge cuts in spending and, therefore, less money to pay our public sector workers, but small changes can help to keep the people who provide essential services for society motivated. Without them, we'd be in dire straits.

Maybe if our public service leaders began to see the value in the people that deliver these vital services, by showing some respect and appreciation for workers in these vital professions, we would have less of the difficulties we have in our public services today. 

Have US insurance companies found the key to a more engaged workforce?

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My husband works for an American finance company that is based in two locations across the US - Greenwich CT and Austin TX - and here in London. The company is run by Americans and has, what I term, a very American feel. 

"I often here about little quirks that we don't adopt here in the UK, like Assistants Day where executive assistants (or PA's as we call them) get given flowers and gifts to celebrate their good work. A great way to engage!"

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The latest quirk

Everyone, in the 100 strong company, recently had the opportunity to take part in a fitness scheme, much like 'The Biggest Loser', to lose a defined amount of weight and get healthier.  

Of course, many companies adopt strategies like competitions and schemes to encourage their employees to be healthier, and ultimately to increase engagement at work, but this fitness scheme is a little different. 

Different how?

In the US, health insurance costs are through the roof, and in private companies, it is often the company that foots the bill. In an attempt to lower costs many companies are given money by their insurers to encourage their employees to live healthier lives and thereby reduce premiums. 

"My husbands company was given $50,000 by their insurer to invest in staff health and wellbeing."

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How did they invest the funds?

They chose to invest part of the funds in Fitbits for everyone who wanted to take part in the scheme. Out of the 100 people who could take part in the competition, 30 people took on the challenge. Each person had a maximum of 12 weeks to lose the weight they had agreed to lose, and they could track their progress using their Fitbit.  

Who benefits?

Everyone does. It's win-win all round.

• Companies who take part have an incentive to save on their insurance premium costs
• Employees benefit because they are encouraged to be healthy
• The health insurer may lose funds in premiums, but less insurance claims means more money in the bank. 

"Insurance claims for obesity in the US cost anywhere between an estimated $147 - $210 billion per year."

"The real question for us in the engagement field is, does it help to engage people at work?"

This scheme also has inadvertent benefits for both employer and employee. It means companies: 

• Take a bigger interest in their employees lives leading to increased understanding of their needs at work and how to meet them
• Facilitate stronger working relationships between employer and employee, and employee to employee
• Are encouraged to give their employees free time to exercise leading to more alert employees when at work and employees feeling fitter and healthier.

Since the Fitbit challenge, my husband has been eager to beat his number of steps per day and that of his colleagues. He's felt fitter, healthier and more motivated at work. He says his colleagues have had similar experiences. 

The right employee wellness programme can certainly help to get people more engaged at work, and have positive effects for health insurers, organisations, employees and society as a whole. 

Why start with Why?

I recently re-watched Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, ‘Start With Why?’. Simon's talk is one of the most popular Ted Talks of all time, according to Wikipedia it ranks 3rd in the list. This got me thinking; why is 'Start with Why' so popular? 

The Content

The talk is based on a theory Simon calls the 'golden circle'. The idea is that people are more likely to purchase your products if they are given the opportunity to understand why you do what you do, not only what you can sell them. People need to know the how you will provide something for them and what you will provide, but first they need to understand why you want to do so. 

Let's consider a hugely successful charitable event, Red Nose Day. The reason this charitable drive is so successful is that, from the outset, we are informed and given the information to help us to understand what a huge difference our donations will make. The 'why' we need to give to the charity is at the forefront. The what we need to give and how to give it is secondary. In addition, the presenters, usually comedians or popular TV hosts, are people who we already follow because they inspire us or make us laugh, so when they drive a cause we believe in that too. As Simon frequently says throughout his talk: 

"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it."  

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Effectively, what Simon is telling us, is the need for people to consider the importance of a sense of purpose; the why they do what they do. 

The same is true for employees in an organisation. To inspire people to act for the good of your organisation you need to help them to understand why it's important to you, to them, and to the wider world. 

The Delivery

So, Simon has a great message which people can relate to, but that's not all he has. He is also a great presenter, and this helps to keep his audience engaged throughout his talk. 

His speaker style is slow and considered, apart from when he is saying the phrase above when it feels as though he is repeating a mantra. By the end of the talk, it’s difficult to forget his message. He also provides lots of relevant and popular examples as evidence that his theory works. 

So why is 'Start with Why' so popular?

Simon brings an important topic to life in a memorable and exciting talk. He shows us through both content and delivery that engagement is not just a one trick pony. Engaging the people around you takes considered effort, with a drive to create a buzz about what you do and the added need to communicate it in a way that inspires and excites your audience.  

Are some people just unable to change?

A couple of days ago I came across a mini-film about a guy who used to be in the RAF. After many years serving he injured an injury that doctors said had left him permanently disabled. He was told he would never walk unaided again. He was obese and chronically depressed; there seemed to be no hope. The film showed his search for a yoga teacher who would take on his plight and help him to walk again. The film finished with him running in his local park. Somehow, he managed to turn his life around.

As I watched the video, I couldn't help wonder where he got his strength, both physical and mental. I wondered what made some people fight towards a goal and others give up and accept defeat.

I started to think about the things that stand in the way of us making changes in our lives; things like:

• Finances
• Education
• Confidence in yourself and your goal
• Support from those around you
• Environment - where you live or work.

There are likely many more reasons you or I could come up with, and every one of them would be a valid reason. 

The man in the film I described above had many obstacles in the way of his goal - to walk again - the major one being doctors telling him it was medically impossible. Somehow he overcame these obstacles. 

So what got him there? 

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When I was a student, I remember a tutor of mine saying to me "change isn't hard." I questioned him and said that change was hard and how could he think it wasn't? In organisations, we often see resistance to change and many times we struggle to help the people around us get past such resistance. 

He said to me: "it's not change per se that is hard, it's a particular element of change that is hard for that person." He meant that if we bundle all changes into one phenomenon we lose the nuances of what is actually causing the resistance to change. For example; an employee may have a resistance to using a new system in the workplace for many reasons:

• They don't know how to use the new system
• They have a fear of using particular parts of a system - perhaps a certain spreadsheet or application
• Changing their routine takes effort, and people don't see a value in why they need to change
• Changing means, they lose something they had by doing it the 'old way.

The point is, it's the detail about why the person is resistant to change that provides the insight into helping them get to the new destination. 

Think about a time when someone told you to change something, or you told yourself to make a change "I need to go to the gym more." When you told yourself to do these things was there an intrinsic reason attached to why you needed to change? Did you know how to make the change? E.g. what classes to take, or exercises to use? Did you feel sad when you thought about the time you'd lose with friends because three nights a week would be spent in the gym? 

All of these factors influence your motivation to change. If you have a goal in mind that makes your change effort worthwhile (and you gain the necessary skills to make the change possible) the change suddenly becomes a lot easier - and more enjoyable - to implement. 

The guy from the film so desperately wanted to walk again that he refused to accept his fate; he found a person to help him develop the skills he needed and his goal was so vitally important to him personally that he couldn't let it go. He had a sense of purpose.  

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In organisations, people often don't understand why change will benefit them, and often managers don't think about communicating the need for people to change in a way that brings them some sense of satisfaction. We all need to feel the effort we expend is giving us some sense of reward, and intrinsic rewards, namely: 

• Feeling they are committing to a broader meaningful purpose and
• Feeling that they are competent at their work, but are also significantly challenged for their ability,

 will always achieve longer lasting results and more satisfied employees. 

How to Unleash Your Creative Dragon

Yesterday I was chatting with a colleague about the conditions we need for our creativity to flow. In a time when I feel under constant pressure to achieve in life, this enlightened me and challenged me to shift focus.

Back in my undergraduate years I studied the concept of psychological flow theory. Flow theory states that to experience flow its vital to have, and believe in one's, ability to achieve, but also to feel challenged enough by a task that it stretches you. Even now, ten years later, I remember the conditions required to feel the desirable state, and I often notice myself falling into a flow state as I work. The problem is, as soon as I notice I am 'flowing' I lose the flow and revert to normal functioning.

When I am in a flow is when I feel I am being my best creative self. Over the years, I've learned that for flow to occur within me I need uninterrupted space, without external noise, self-acceptance and confidence in my abilities (or a lack of internal noise).

I was saying to my colleague that the time I often feel most creative is when I am laying in bed at night just before I go to sleep. This is the time when my mind is most quiet. I spend a lot of my waking day surrounded by external noise from everyday life. This includes the internet, email, social media, phone calls, people talking, all of which in turn creates noise in my head, or my internal voices so to speak. These are the voices of self-doubt, criticism and fear that often make me question my abilities. The noise is what disrupts my flow.

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So how can we ensure we leave space for creativity. Well, the other thing we discussed is that making a specific space to allow yourself to be creative can be disruptive to creativity because it forces the mind to do something it is potentially not ready to do.

What we need to do is give ourselves the freedom to think and be ourselves as we work. As soon as we forgive ourselves for being less than perfect and for not always meeting expectations placed on us by others or ourselves, suddenly the creativity flows. It may take time and hard to accept that a structured plan of 'must achieve' is not always the most productive way to create output. But if we do what we feel, and what we believe in, the rest will come. For creativity to flow we need to hush not only the external noise but the internal noise too.

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"When we stop thinking about what we should be doing and start doing what feels right, suddenly we find ourselves in the place we always wanted to be."

My friend used a great analogy, which may seem somewhat crude but is a very useful thing to consider when we look at the conditions required to be creative.

Do you ever make yourself need the toilet? If you say to yourself, right, I haven't been to the toilet today I must go, can you go? No! Of course not, your body will tell you when it's time to go. It's much to the same with what we create. Making the body do something does not mean it will oblige. Sometimes we just have to let nature take its course.

The Sign of Good Leaders

I'm not usually a fan of The Apprentice; my possibly short sighted view, based on experience over the years of watching a few episodes here and there, is that contestants often seem self centred and unwilling to learn. Last night I felt I had acted in haste.

The Apprentice is a 12-week show, with various tasks and milestones contestants must achieve over that time period. 

Just like the show, three months is about the period it takes for a new employee to learn the ropes of their new role and settle into their new surroundings. During that time the new employee ideally develops into a person who understands their role, their team and the organisation as a whole. Why would The Apprentice be any different? 

Watching the development of the winner and runner up showed me they had learned from their mistakes, were prepared to admit when they made mistakes, and had the realisation of the importance of having and managing a good team. The final two presented as well rounded, self aware, still as driven as ever, but people open to learning and giving the best they can. The signs of the great leaders Sir Alan was aiming to create. 

I was inspired by the winners and I'll certainly look out for what they do next. I'm a convert. Bring on the next series. 

Calling a Spade a Spade... Mistrust in Organisations

We all know the phrase 'honesty is the best policy' and I'm sure most of us have quoted said phrase when preaching to our loved ones or when raving about the latest promises from political parties. So why is it that when it comes to how we treat our people in business the phrase is all but forgotten and often blatantly ignored?

I've come across this many times in my work over the last few years and each time the topic of whether employees should be told the truth or spun a web of believable nonsense is treated as non important. "We'll just say it's a development centre but really we're looking to performance manage people out." Aside from the ethical and moral issues that come up around these sorts of actions, what impact does this have on the business and its bottom line?

By spinning a web of deceit for your people, you can create the following:

• Mistrust amongst your people; both those that are performance managed out and those that keep their jobs. 

• A feeling of worthlessness amongst employees; if people get the message that you feel it's ok to lie to them this will result in them feeling a sense being unworthy of the truth. 

These factors could result in employees having a lack of confidence to speak out at other mistruths they witness, and could encourage them to lie on other matters. Before you know it, you have created a culture based on lies and wrongdoings.

Being honest about the purpose of testing your people - if it's not there and we can't teach it, we need to find someone who can do what we need - will ensure they know where they stand. They will believe that telling the truth on other matters is what is expected of them and be working towards creating an open and honest feedback culture at the benefit of your organisational growth. 

Initially, this may seem completely unachievable, but it is possible. If you have a culture whereby people are working together towards the good of the organisation, generally people will understand if their skills do not contribute towards the end goal. Of course, this may not always be the case and people may respond badly to such honesty at first, but if you create a culture of trust and open feedback, people will always know where they are and what to expect. 

The Purpose of Purpose

The pieces of your employee engagement jigsaw puzzle can seem too edgy, have too many holes, or like bits of undistinguishable sky. If this is you, you're not alone.

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Many organisations realise they need to 'do HR differently' but often aren't sure what this means or exactly what is required to take them to a new reality.

Employee engagement - in theory - is really quite simple:

1. Performance Management (or 'Feedback and Reward' as I like to call it)
It's exactly what is says on my aptly named tin. Do your people receive enough feedback about their work - and by this I don't mean annual or by-annual reviews, I mean ongoing daily conversations about what is going well and what could be done differently. Do they receive the appropriate reward for the work they do? That's not just an annual salary and a bonus, that's recognition for good work in the form of non-monetary and/or monetary reward.

2. Leadership & Management 
Two very different things - naturally with some overlap - but both equally important. Do you people receive appropriate leadership and management?

Leadership is about inspiring your people to join you on an organisation journey. Building an empire around you that helps you to achieve the broader organisational goals while you continue to energise and support your people to deliver.

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Management is distinct from leadership in that it requires a more hands on role. Managers get into deeper detail about what to do and how to do it, in purpose of the broader organisational goals.

3. Trusted to take risks
To grow any organisation people need to take risks. Sometimes they pay off sometimes they don't. It's the chance we have to take to develop new products, services and ways of working. It's how we grow. Unfortunately, many people in organisations don't feel they can take those risks without reprimand if they go wrong.

It is important to develop a culture where people feel they can have a voice to say what they think. Whether that be about new ideas and processes or about the way the organisation is currently run; there is little room for growth if people can't speak out.

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4. Belief in the organisation
Would you fight for something you didn't believe in? I wouldn't. In fact, I'd probably fight for the opposite. If your people don't believe in what your organisation does, they will not have its best interests at heart. People need to believe in what the organisation stands for and feel that they can work each day towards achieving those goals.

This leads nicely to my last but most definitely not least point. In fact, without this all of your efforts will fall over:

5. A sense of purpose
Answer the simple question, why do you go to work every day?
If the answer is anything other than 'because you care about the work you do for the organisation you do it for', your sense of purpose is not aligned to the organisation and they are not getting the best from you.

Think about it. Most of the people who answer this question would say they work to make money; to feed their family, to pay for their weekly night out on the tiles, to pay the rent. And rightly so, that is one of the main reasons we work, but what if the people in your organisation actually wanted to be there because they cared about what happened to the company. Do you think you would get different behaviours from your people? Would they be more likely to put in that extra effort for no overtime payment? Would they be likely to take better care of your equipment and offices? Would they be keen to grow and develop personally to assist in the growth of the business? Probably. Of course, we don't want to exhaust people, people can only give so much so there has to be give and take, but getting that relationship right can take your business from good to great.

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Creating a sense of purpose that everyone in your organisation can buy into isn't easy. You need to dig deep to find the real, heartfelt reason you exist. All organisations exist to make money; that's a given. What you need to find is what is really at the heart of what you are trying to achieve. That's purpose. If you can get your people to join you on that journey - supported by the four other pieces of the engagement jigsaw - you'll be on your way to happy people, happy business and organisational growth.