Beyond Engagement

A Guide to Building Healthy and Successful Organizations

Tim Schneider

• Publisher: Soaring Eagle Enterprises, Inc.
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781495188749
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Monthly potluck lunches. Company pep rallies. Focus groups. Birthday parties.

If you are not seeing any results from these and want to drive your organization to higher levels of health and performance, you need Beyond Engagement.

Jadedness for satisfaction and engagement surveys are on the rise. Team members are no longer interested in hollow solutions and lip service to their morale and needs. Beyond Engagement takes readers through a look at the role of your human resources function and how their recruitment philosophies and interviewing processes have a dramatic impact on organizational culture and engagement. "You catch what you go fishing for" is the line that will resonate with you for a long time.

Tim Schneider then takes us on an updated and workplace specific view of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. In Beyond Engagement, this needs pyramid assumes a new meaning and we see how meeting needs, at work, becomes a significant factor in organizational health. From the basics of providing for a team member's survival through creating satisfying and meaningful work, these sections provide solutions to many common organizational morale challenges.

Beyond Engagement continues with new views, supported by validated science, into real input. You will never conduct another brainstorming session again after reading this section and concentrate on providing your team members with real voice in the organization.

One of the most common failures in traditional engagement strategies is not having leaders that are truly people focused. Beyond Engagement tackles this issue in a straightforward manner and reasserts that leadership is a people function. Another important section deals with transparency and how an organization relays information in an honest and open way.

Schneider connects ethics, and specifically ethical congruence, to team member morale, spirit and engagement. Most engagement experts have not ventured down this path but Beyond Engagement takes it head on. Consistency in ethical practices, how team members are treated and the equal application of rules, will have substantive power in keeping morale, engagement and performance at high levels.

A final area of consideration is the adoption and execution of a service based culture. This section in Beyond Engagement is not the tired and worn discussion of how to treat customers but rather a critical look at how internal service providers like finance, information technology and human resources interact with your team members. Beyond Engagement connects those interactions directly with team performance and spirit.

Beyond Engagement is a powerful tool in building real performance through healthy organizational practices and motivating a world-class workforce.

Chapter 1

Why It Matters

	“The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it's usually lousy.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Answering the why is both pretty simple and a bit convoluted at the same time.

Repeat this mantra over and over again: “Happy team members work harder, produce quality, and deliver great service.” There it is in a nutshell. Why this whole thing matters.

Simple in that, since December 1990 when William Kahn published his groundbreaking work, Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work, there have been a huge number of studies related to the impact of engagement and healthy workplaces.

The convoluted and difficult part comes from differing definitions of engagement and organizational health cited in many studies. For our part, we will focus on the most straightforward research available.

First, let's get one thing straight. A healthy working environment and moving beyond engagement is not about all of the touchy, feely, makes them happy stuff. A healthy working environment is about results: sustained results. There is no other reason to work on these strategies.

In 2012, Gallup conducted the most cited and comprehensive study of its kind focusing on team member engagement and the impact engagement has on key results and success factors including customer service, turnover, productivity and profitability. Engagement At Work: Its Effect On Performance Continues In Tough Economic Times uses a sampling size of 1.4 million team members in 192 business units spanning all industry and size segments.

Their most indicative and important finds included this:

37% lower absenteeism, 25% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations), 65% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations), 28% less shrinkage, 48% fewer safety incidents, 41% fewer quality incidents (defects), 10% higher customer metrics, 21% higher productivity, 22% higher profitability

So let me summarize a bit here: everything you value and need to have happen in your organization can be improved and enhanced when you utilize a series of engagement strategies. The Gallup people said it best in their report:

The concept of employee engagement has become a common idea in the business world, as many studies have demonstrated its importance to organizational performance and shown how companies can measure and act on it. Many large-scale studies started in the late 1990s have demonstrated that business units with more engaged employees have better odds of achieving the outcomes their organizations desire such as revenue, profit, customer engagement, safety, quality work, and employee retention.

In Employee Engagement: Maximizing Organizational Performance, Right Management Consultants, a Manpower Company, summarizes their findings on engagement by saying:

Engaged employees are 7 times less likely to leave in the next year and 1.5 times more likely to stay for at least 5 years. Organizations need to protect their investments in their workforce by retaining employees and their intellectual capital to ensure business continuity and the ability to meet key business objectives. Does your organization know who is engaged and who isn’t? This can be the best starting point for addressing unwanted attrition that could lead to competitive weakness should your top performers leave.

Engaged employees lead to increased productivity, retention, customer loyalty and profitability.

Measurement without action can do more harm than good. Simply surveying for the current engagement level and then doing nothing with that information often leads to employees feeling that they aren’t being heard, which in turn can negatively impact morale and trust levels.

Likewise, the other primary factors associated with organizational health; ethical congruence, transparency, input and voice, service culture, and people focused leadership have similar, if a bit less documented, impact on results. When you combine all the factors, you are well on the way to building a high performance working environment.

Without going full-blown research thesis mode on you, the evidence is clear and compelling. Engagement strategies and healthy organization strategies work and provide a solid return on investment.

So, if increased profit, higher productivity, lower turnover, and greater service levels matter, you will begin the process of building a healthy organization.

Chapter 2

Talent Management as a Healthy Organization Driver

	“You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.” Norman Douglas, South Wind

You are no better than the people you hire and retain in your organization. Your regrets may be built on the people that have left you or the ones you were unable to hire.

Very clearly, Jim Collins in his iconic work Good to Great said:

“Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”

“For no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life. But if we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with.”

“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led–yes. But not tightly managed.”

Mr. Collins understood the role of talent management in the overall achievement of a healthy and high-performing organization.

This section will not tackle the entirety of the complex world of talent management but will really focus on one aspect: who we hire and how we find them. In this regard, talent management becomes an incredibly important part of overall organizational health. If you are not recruiting and retaining candidates that respond to healthy organization initiatives, your efforts will be for naught.

The litmus question that I have asked leaders for over two decades revolves around identifying the problem team members. Think for a moment about the thick-file team members who have consistently been on and off of document disciplinary actions, those who have filed grievances, those who have complained about you.

Are those team members difficult and problematic because of a lack of technical skills? Are they problematic because of a lack of educational level? Or is it something entirely different such as poor attitudes, poor fit within the culture, or poor interpersonal skills?

If you, like the vast plurality of those I ask, indicated they are problematic team members because of poor attitudes, poor cultural fit, or because of a lack of interpersonal skills, we will then progress on through the talent management conundrum involved.

Now look at your job advertisements, internal job announcements, and position descriptions. What do you see now? Do these highlight technical skills and education levels, or do they look closely at desired attitudes and interpersonal skills such as communication, customer service, team work, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution? Now you see the conundrum involved.

You Catch What You Go Fishing For

My dad was not a particularly well educated man (high school graduate but only to play basketball) (last in a class of eight) but he told me once that you catch what you go fishing for. And he was right. If your job bait is looking for a certain educational level or number of years of experience, then that is exactly what you will catch. And then we feign surprise when it turns out they don’t have the interpersonal skills needed to be successful, and they actually become a toxic team member that has an adverse effect on organizational health and team engagement.

As it relates to talent management, the solution here is really clear. In all job advertisements and announcements, highlight the needed communication, teamwork, and other interpersonal skills that relate directly to organizational health. Talk about your culture and how a team member's positive attitude is highly desirable. Use words like upbeat, motivated, engaged, involved, communicative, positive, and connected to describe a desired team member. Avoid any overemphasis on experience or education level.

Consider some of these examples:

Fast paced and very customer focused environmental engineering firm is seeking a professional engineer that works well with others, communicates effectively, and provides exceptional levels of customer service. Experience in infrastructure projects and PE certification is desirable but fit with our existing team is more important than all other factors.

OR

An internationally recognized five-star integrated resort is interested in adding a technology architect for our information and data department. This individual must demonstrate positivity, ability to work with others, commitment to stakeholder needs, and the desire to communicate constantly with key stakeholders. We are not interested in a run-of-the-mill candidate and will only consider those people who are exceptional supporters of our culture and values.

OR

If you enjoy interacting with customers and fellow team members, consistently maintain and display a positive attitude and work flexibly through a variety of issues, our automobile service company has a career path for you. We will provide an excellent working environment in return for your great efforts and ability to work within our system.

Interview and Test with an Eye on Organizational Health

No job interview should be a recap of someone's resume' or application. In fact, the items listed on those documents should be rarely discussed or referenced.

To make a dent in overall organizational health, leaders and talent managers must use behavioral interview questions related directly to those behaviors desired for a healthy environment. You will want to test for communication desire, ability to work well with others, willingness to provide internal and external service, skills associated with working through difficult and changing situations, and problem solving competencies.

You also want to get the pulse of a job candidate's attitude. This can be a little slippery at times but it is doable and must be done. Do you want consistent upbeat and engaged team members or do you want another of your thick-file team members?

In an age of extremely well prepared job applicants, throwing a curve in a behavioral interview is more difficult. Consider using some of the following questions to connect a candidate's skills to your desired outcomes in organizational health:

Describe how you would work with and diffuse a difficult customer.

Talk about how you have worked successfully with difficult or challenging co-workers.

Tell me what kind of things you do to ensure a high level of internal service to other departments and fellow team members.

Describe your desired approach to communication during a project.

What are the things that you do to work well with others?

How do you build consensus among team members or when competing deadlines exist?

How do you manage your own attitude and approach?

Describe, in some detail, your demeanor under pressure and when deadlines and customer demands are looming.

How do you react and respond when priorities change or when you have to manage multiple priorities?

How do you stay upbeat and positive when times are challenging?

When faced with a difficult co-worker, please describe your approach to working with them.

This is not an all-inclusive list but rather a set of examples that you can use to build your own questions. In each of the examples above, as well as behavioral interview questions that you construct, the importance does not rest with textbook answers. The importance is found in an applicant's comfort in discussing these situations and whether or not they appear uncomfortable with the subjects presented. A great organizational health fit will answer these scenarios with ease, while someone who is engagement challenged will struggle to find the words and concisely express their approach.

While we are talking about interviews, we may as well take a poke at some organization's sacred cows: the group interview.

Quite bluntly, group interviews, even the two-on-one variety do not work. They become an exercise in presentation skills and not a good approach to finding good organizational fit candidates. If you are looking for someone who will be good presenting to groups, great. However, if you are looking for a more balanced score card of skills and competencies, kill the group interview process. Replace it with multiple interviews held by different people who will all be asking the same questions.

Successful Organizations Never Compromise

Another important facet of successful organizations and those highly concerned with organizational health is that they never compromise their standards to get a position filled. When organizational health is foremost as a business strategy, you will never hear “he was not perfect but we need to get that job filled”.

No compromise means that you will not take a warm body or a pulse no matter what other pressures you face. A bad hiring decision...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Why It Matters
• Chapter 2: Talent Management as an Organization Driver
• Chapter 3: Needs Fulfillment
• Chapter 4: Needs Fulfillment-Compensation and Benefits
• Chapter 5: Needs Fulfillment-Security and Stability
• Chapter 6: Needs Fulfillment-Social Opportunities
• Chapter 7: Needs Fulfillment-Appreciation
• Chapter 8: Needs Fulfillment-Growth and Meaning
• Chapter 9: Input and Voice
• Chapter 10: People Focused Leadership
• Chapter 11: Ethical Congruence
• Chapter 12: Transparency and Openness
• Chapter 13: Service Based Culture
• Chapter 14: Freedom
• Chapter 15: Final Encouragement
• Prologue-Katie Meeks
• About the Author-Tim Schneider
• References and Footnotes