5 minute read
LEADERSHIP
Bill “Roto” Reuter
served for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Navy as a test pilot and as commander for its premier training and development organization. He is now the president of R-Squared Solutions, where he and his team facilitate dynamic workshops that empower organizations to reach greater success. He can be reached at roto@r-squaredsolutions.net.
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— Bill “Roto” Reuter
Leadership
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF YOUR COMPANY’S CULTURE
If you ask someone to define a good job, you’ll get a variety of answers, depending on the person. For some, a good job is about being paid well. For others, it’s about the prestige of working for a well-known company. For others still, it might be about having the freedom to avoid sitting behind a desk all day in an office.
We also hear people say that so-and-so has a bad job, which can mean that person is underpaid, has to perform manual labor, or sits in an office without ventilation or natural light. It is almost entirely subjective.
What is not subjective is the definition of a miserable job, because it’s largely the same whether you are an executive, a waiter, a teacher or a professional football player. People who are miserable in their jobs dread going to work and come home frustrated, defeated and weary.
The Impact of Misery
The cost of job misery is very real, both for individuals who are miserable and for the families and friends of the people who must live with them. Scores of people suffer every day as they trudge off from their families and friends to jobs that make them more cynical, unhappy and frustrated than they were when they left. Over time, this dull pain can erode the self-confidence and passion of even the strongest people, which in turn affects their spouses, children and friends in subtle but profound ways.
Organizations are not immune to the effects of misery either. Some studies show as many as 77% of workers are dissatisfied with their work, and that the primary driver of job dissatisfaction is not pay or benefits but rather the relationship an employee has with his or her supervisor. Such widespread dissatisfaction kills morale and productivity within companies, and it increases the cost of recruiting, hiring and retraining new employees, all of which takes a huge toll. Gallup estimates that the annual cost to the American economy due to lost productivity is about $350 billion.
When competition for top talent is fierce, and the cost of training new hires is steep, you can’t afford to not engage your employees — especially when you consider the corollary benefits of innovation, higher profits and the sheer enjoyment of standing at the helm of a fully engaged workforce.
The Causes
The three causes of job misery are as simple as they are common. They are clearly defined in Patrick Lencioni’s bestselling book, The Truth About Employee Engagement:
1 ANONYMITY. People cannot be fulfilled or engaged in their work if they are not known. All human beings need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority. People who see themselves as invisible, generic or anonymous cannot love their jobs, no matter what they are doing. Ask most employees whether their managers really understand them, whether they are genuinely interested in them as human beings, and most will say “no.” Ask their managers the question, “Why don’t you get to know and understand your employees more?” Assuming they will admit there’s a problem, they will often say they are uncomfortable with the appearance of being overly familiar or they are too busy getting “real work” done. So many managers seem to forget what it was like when they were more junior employees. They don’t remember the impact a manager can have on an employee’s sense of self-esteem, enthusiasm and job fulfillment just by taking an interest in someone’s life outside of work.
2 IRRELEVANCE. Everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone. Anyone. Without seeing a connection between the work and the satisfaction of another person or group of people, an employee simply will not find lasting fulfillment. Even the most cynical employees need to know that their work matters to someone, even if it’s just the boss. When I was responsible for more than 1,200 people toward the end of my Navy career, I said three things every time I spoke before the workforce: “Leadership is a servant activity,” “Transparency breeds credibility and trust,” and “Seniority does not equate to superiority.” Not only was it an instrument of providing clarity, it was a call to action to engage others at a human level rather than as a commodity. As a leader, it is crucial that you overcommunicate a line of sight from their jobs to the results that matter for the company. Their understanding of their contribution to the whole is key to their investment in the overall outcomes.
3 IMMEASUREMENT. Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves. They cannot be fulfilled in their work if their success depends on the opinions or whims of another person, no matter how benevolent that person may be. Without tangible means of assessing success or failure, motivation eventually deteriorates as people see themselves as unable to control their own fate. Some companies do this by keeping score for team performance, which is useful, but it is a little trickier at the individual level. This requires managers and supervisors to work with each of their employees on goal setting and execution. Once those are in place, the supervisor and employee can clearly assess, and hopefully applaud, the individual’s contribution.
The pandemic has forced us to think differently when it comes to work. With many working remotely, it can be more difficult to maintain the alignment, appreciation and clarity that breeds employee engagement. Without the “osmosis” effect of being in the same spaces, leaders must proactively address the potential pitfalls associated with these causes by over-communicating the value their team brings and how it contributes to the company’s success — and each individual’s success. This shared vision is critical to keeping the team “on the bus.” b
