Month: July 2020

Think You Have Problems Motivating and Engaging Your Team? Surprising Ideas From a Manager of 100 Teenagers in an Amusement Park

An Engagement Challenge! I have coached and presented workshops to managers in many challenging environments – from factories to Playboy — but never in an amusement park. I would think that managing 100 teens who are working for the summer in the games area of the park might be one of the thorniest management tests. They are usually untrained, unfocused and working in hot, dusty places, trying to sell to park patrons who have no interest in paying $5.00 to try to win a stuffed animal. Yet the host of This American Life, Ira Glass, profiles a super-successful young boss, Cole Lindbergh, who manages to turn raw talent into sales success in a segment entitled “Amusement Park”. And even more amazing, Cole’s staff loves working for him and returns summer after summer. (The story originally ran, of course, in 2011, when we could still have summer fun in places like amusement parks!)

WHAT Cole Does Different: Unlike most managers, Cole seems to love working at the park and motivating his team so much that his enthusiasm is infectious. Far from following any corporate employee engagement blueprint, Cole invents his own weird and wonderful training videos, music videos featuring his staff, and wacky new contests and competitions to increase sales. In one contest, for example, the winning team gets to throw Cole into a slimy pond. He then posts the video on YouTube.

How Cole’s Staff Responds: In response to all this lunacy, both Cole’s sales numbers and his staff retention rates soar. His staff comes in early, stays late, skips breaks and voluntarily works double shifts. They also engage their own creativity to make costumes, generate their own contests, invent creative ways to encourage customers and enthusiastically sell, sell, sell

What Should You Do?

Beg, Borrow or Steal: Don’t assume that you can do nothing about your employees’ motivation and engagement. Look at examples of other leaders who may be very different from you and work in different industries yet have great ideas about keeping your staff engaged. Don’t dismiss other programs as inapplicable to your situation.

Be Creative: Now more than ever, we all need to reimagine our work and our lives. Draw inspiration from funny movies, rap songs, art, your kids or pets. Brainstorm with other leaders and don’t dismiss their ideas as too far out. Try something new. Even if your idea fails, at least you’ll know what doesn’t work and what might work next time.

Rules? Of course, you DO have to follow your organization’s policies if they conflict with your plans but, if you’re not doing anything illegal, immoral or fattening, you’re probably okay running an experiment.

For more ideas about employee engagement in challenging times, go to:

New Rules for Employee Engagement: What Works Now
Want More Employee Engagement Now? Try Corporate Social Responsibility
Do You Know One of the Best Ways to Build Up Employee Engagement and Loyalty Right Now?

What Do You Think?

What do you think? What is your theory about the current anger in our culture? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Why is Everyone So Angry? How to Respond to Bias Rage 

Understanding the Current Protests: As I have written before, we all need to realize the unconscious roots of our own and others’ biases, be they racial, gender, sexual orientation or any other stereotype based on protected characteristics. Yet many are left wondering: why have the current issues erupted into fury?

Latinxs Protests Join the Mix: In addition to the recent Black Lives Matter protests, the killing of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen has led to many Latinx and their allies forming their own protests.

Understanding the Current Anger: A well-meaning and sincere white male friend asked me this week: “I don’t want to sound racist, but why do all these protestors have to be so angry?”

Of course, I don’t pretend to know the reason behind everyone’s individual rage, but as we have worked on diversity, inclusion and bias issues for many years, we always emphasize the concept of cumulative impact. Anyone who experiences racial bias or discrimination has most likely been the target of racist actions or attitudes many times before. They have probably also seen their families and friends of similar racial or ethnic backgrounds experience the same problems. At some point, everyone has their limits where they say: “enough is enough.”

Old Wounds: The current events are triggering old wounds for many members of the affected groups. As my friend said after I explained cumulative impact: “Oh, you mean the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Indeed, whatever outburst you see from someone most likely falls into poking an old wound. Understandably, they may erupt in a way that seems — to unaffected observers – to be an overreaction.

What Should You Do?

Educate Yourself and Your Staff: Make sure that you educate yourself and your staff about the roots and affects of bias and discrimination in the workplace.

Seek First to Understand: If someone who is normally quiet and calm in your workplace starts to erupt over events in the news or what you believe are small slights in your workplace, try to ask them in an open-ended and respectful way about their experience and needs. Don’t assume that you know what is going on but provide appropriate opportunities for them to clarify how they feel. Realize that their experience may be very different from your own: don’t judge their reactions by your standards or expectations.

Provide a Complaint Friendly Environment: If you are a leader, make sure that your processes and procedures encourage your staff to come forward with all their challenges, but especially those they believe relate to bias and discrimination. Unless you are an expert in these areas, be neutral if someone comes to you and seek advice from your own HR experts or attorneys before you respond.

What Do You Think?

What do you think? What is your theory about the current anger in our culture? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Do You Know One of the Best Ways to Build Up Employee Engagement and Loyalty Right Now?

Follow the Money: Many of us found ourselves addicted to new steaming series during the lockdown and beyond. My own guilty pleasure was Money Heist, a Spanish caper series on Netflix. This cult show follows a diverse group of robbers who take on a heist of the Spanish Mint. The show is somewhat like Ocean’s Eleven, only even better. You can use the show to practice your Spanish or view it with subtitles and/or dubbing. Usually, dubbing drives me nuts, but the English-speaking actors on this series are so good, and the show so engrossing, I forgot that’s what was happening.

After they take on the mint, they scatter around the world to avoid various international police groups and live out their fantasies. However, they return to crime in order to rescue one of their own who was nabbed by the cops. The second heist is even more elaborate and outrageous: they decide to rob the gold from the bank of Spain – the equivalent to our Fort Knox!

What I found striking was that they returned because of their captured colleague, not at the behest of their brilliant leader or because they needed the money.

Cohesive Teams Are Engaged Teams: Both soldiers in foxholes and successful sports teams work harder for their cohorts than for their leaders. If you can build up gang loyalty – even during this painful time – you will create more engagement and productivity.

What the Research Reveals: Of course, effective leadership is important, as are skillful direct supervisors. The saying that employees leave supervisors, not organizations, still holds true, but peers have even more impact.

For even more research and case studies on employee engagement and loyalty, go to https://www.workplacesthatwork.com/

What Should You Do?

Don’t Count on Desperation: Yes, of course, many of your workers are now desperate to hold on to their jobs, if they are lucky enough to have one. The question is — are they truly engaged or simply frozen in shock like deer-in-the-headlights mode? You want people who are involved in their work, not just going through the motions. Simply having bodies in place will NOT give you what you need to make things work in this challenging time.

Remove Problem Children: Even if everyone is working remotely, your problem children can still create mischief and worse: online harassment, rude emails and lack of cooperation can sink the best teams. Don’t let things slide if you are aware that someone is a slacker, hacker or harasser. Do your best to coach, warn, place them on a performance improvement plan, or even terminate them if you need to do that. As a wise sage said: It’s not the people you fire who cause you the most problems, it’s the people you don’t fire!”

Don’t Neglect Team-Rebuilding: After the disasters of the last few months, most teams have lost members, their confidence, and good cheer, and perhaps even loved ones. I am generally not a fan of team building events because my experience is that building team loyalty is best accomplished at work — through work. DO pay attention to group cohesion, especially if you are managing remotely. It’s easy to focus on your communications with individuals and their individual results. When you do, you miss the more subtle signs you could have observed with face-to-face interactions that they are not a functioning group. Allow time and space for your workers to speak with you privately and gently probe how well they believe the group is working together.

What Do You Think?

Do people in your organization really know how to listen well? What skills do they use? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Are You Listening to Me? If Not, You’re Probably Limiting Your Advancement

Good Communication is Rare: And everyone thinks they do it well! Whether you are a leader or an associate, one of the fastest ways to improve your skills is to really learn how to communicate.

Start with Listening: Even if you think you don’t know how to talk to a group, an executive or an important customer, you can always gain points by listening well. Asking open-ended questions and then really listening to the answers is so rare that people at every level will appreciate your effort.

Listening Has Three Parts: We like to think that listening is simple but it’s a complex skill. One of the reasons people don’t feel heard is if we don’t understand what part of listening, we may be missing.

What Should You Do?

Make sure that you understand and practice all three parts of listening:

1)     First, there is the question of whether the sound has made it into your ears. Do you have decent hearing? Was the room too noisy? Were you distracted by your phone? Some people have poor listening skills because they have auditory processing problems, which can be an actual learning disability. If you are one of those people, you may need to ask the speaker to repeat what they said or request a visual explanation.

2)     Second, did you have the bandwidth and storage capacity for the information you just heard? If you have too much on your mind, you devalue the person speaking, or you were busy formulating your response, the sounds probably went “in one ear and out the other”.

3)     Third, did you clarify what the speaker wanted from you and did you agree with any request that the speaker made? It took me many years to learn when my former husband said “OL”, he simply meant that he heard me, not that he was agreeing to deal with my overwhelm about the kids, walk the dog that night, or whatever. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the listener who always wants to fix your perceived problem, even if you never requested unsolicited advice or problem solving. For a hilarious take on stereotypical gender issues on this defect, watch the short video “It’s Not About the Nail”.

Of course, both men and women can be “fixers” and/or poor listeners. I tend to fall into the category of those who try to solve problems immediately, while one of the members of my team, Effley Brooks, with whom I frequently co-facilitate, tends to build relationships through developing rapport first. I have had to learn to listen well and clarify what the speaker wants before I jump into action.

What Do You Think?

Do people in your organization really know how to listen well? What skills do they use? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Want More Employee Engagement Now? Try Corporate Social Responsibility

Employee Engagement in Challenging Times: As I wrote in a recent Monday Memo, there are at least eight factors that contribute to employee engagement in challenging times. One of those is the vital issue of creating meaning and community for your associates.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Economists have found that one of the most effective ways to create meaning and community is to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. In fact, more than 90% of the G250 (the world’s 250 largest companies) publish social responsibility reports. They do so, of course, for many reasons including improving their reputation with the public, tax advantages, and so on. Yet economists tell us that CSR also helps you attract better and more productive employees. For a good overview of this topic go to Freakonomics Radio podcast: Does Doing Good Give You License to Be Bad?

Yes, There’s Also a Downside: As Freakonomics Radio put it:

“Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. Don’t laugh – you too probably engage in “moral licensing,” even if you don’t know it.”

Surprisingly, behavioral economists tell us, that those who feel they are engaged in an enterprise that’s doing good may feel a license to do something (usually a small thing) bad! This so-called “moral licensing”, is part of the reason that employees steal billions of dollars from their employers every year, pilfering more money than bank robbers.

What Should You Do?

Do Good Anyway: The bottom line is that the increase in better employees and productivity is worth the risk. In one study profiled by Freakonomics, the employer attracted 33% more applicants by emphasizing their CSR and the increase in productivity was approximately the same as an increase in wages from $11/hour to $15/hour. In addition, of course, it is always important to do good whenever you can for many reasons.

Monitor Employee Theft: Make sure you have effective controls to monitor employee theft, shrinkage and other malfeasance. When I conduct investigations into these issues, I am always surprised by how easily the alleged wrongdoer was able to conduct their scheme. Trust, but verify.

Involve Employees: Providing opportunities for employees to contribute to the cause with their own time, talent and treasure has been shown to create dividends. If you can also allow them to help with devising the CSR, you will create even more involvement, community, and meaning for your people. All of this leads to increased loyalty and engagement.

What Do You Think?

What CSR measures have you seen pay off in terms of employee engagement? Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Bias, Police Shootings and What You Should Do

IMPLICIT BIAS: Most of us would like to think we’re not biased. Yet it is almost impossible to grow up in our culture without absorbing unconscious attitudes that – like the air we breathe – may play out in our actions. In order to measure your own level of unconscious (or implicit) bias, you may want to take the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Developed by a group of Harvard researchers, the test is free and anonymous — Project Implicit. Also, in my experience, it’s hard to “game” the test. For an useful explanation of the test and the follow-up studies, go to: NPR’s Hidden Brain Podcast: The Air We Breathe: Implicit Bias And Police Shootings 

ARE PEOPLE “BAD” OR UNCONSCIOUS? While in the past we may have focused on labeling people as racist, sexist and so on, we now know, that — even those of us with the best intentions — may act in unconscious ways that exhibit bias. I was shocked to discover, for example, the first time I took the IAT, that I exhibited a bias toward men as family breadwinners, even though I had worked since my children were six months old and was a single mother for ten years.

CAN A TEST REVEAL BIAS? Follow-up studies to the IAT have found that there is indeed a strong correlation between unconscious bias and actions in the real world. Yet while recognizing our own unconscious biases is a good first step, we need to do more to overcome our tendencies to unconscious action. Studies have found for example, that to overcome the biases of doctors to prescribe more pain pills for white patients than black patients, simple reminders that pop up on their computer screen before they write a script can help stop unconscious thoughts from becoming acts.

What Should You Do?

1)  Take the test: And encourage those you lead to do the same.

2)  Utilize implicit bias sessions: These cannot be a one-time event. What works is to understand that overcoming our biases is a life-long process, not an event.

3)  Help with control: Follow-up studies to the IAT have indicated that giving people time to think before they act, may help people act with less bias. In addition, reminders, such as telling doctors that a hospital has prescribed less pain medication to black patients than to white patients, may help them stop and think before they write a script.

4)  Use reminders and study what works: While we now know that just testing and training sessions alone do not work, what does work is to remind people to stop and think about whether they may be acting out of bias. Keeping track of the number of black versus white citizens who are arrested, for example. Reminders, measuring, and tracking can help.

What Do You Think?

What efforts to eliminate unconscious bias have you seen be effective? Call or write us at: Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

New Rules for Employee Engagement: What Works Now

MOVING PAST GRIEF:  As I wrote in my May 26 Monday Memo, many of your people are grieving the loss of what we all thought was “normal.”

While it may seem like an effective strategy to just tell everyone to “get back to work” as many organizations reopen, that’s unlikely to be successful. Instead, while we help our associates process and release the loss of their old lives, we need to offer more.

ENGAGEMENT DURING “NORMAL” TIMES:  Even during the best of times, surveys consistently show that around 45% of employees are not engaged, only 29% are engaged, and 26% are actively disengaged. These depressing numbers haven’t budged for years.

NEW DISENGAGEMENT FACTORS:  While many employees are afraid of losing their jobs or the lurking virus, those fears are unlikely to translate into engagement. Even though fear may sometimes motivate, more often fear leads to paralysis or depression. In addition, the recent protests and movements over police practices have thrown many workers into a state of distress. Also, more remote work may motivate some yet distract others who are coping with kids, pets, or the laundry while they attempt to work. Read some of my tips for effective remote working: The Three Best Ways to Use Remote Tools to Lead Your People Now

While many of us like to think we’re effective multi-taskers, recent brain research shows that’s a myth.

What Should You Do?

Follow these eight new rules for employee engagement:  

1)  ALLOW APPROPRIATE EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTIONS: There is no one-size-fits-all right now that reflects what people are feeling, but help your employees use emotional intelligence to express whatever they are experiencing.

2)  FIND THE FACTS: Pricey and yearly employee engagement surveys have swept the market in recent years but many of them ignore two factors: 1) things change quickly; and 2) different parts of your organization have different drivers. My experience shows that shorter and more frequent “pulse” surveys that reveal these subtleties are more successful. Also, make sure that your leaders practice deep listening to find out what is really going on for your associates.

3)  RAMP UP INCLUSION AND UNCONSCIOUS BIAS EFFORTS: Recent news events have shaken the nation and your employees are not exempt. People of color, as well as their numerous allies, will need to know that you support change.

4)  FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS:  While not everyone zones out at work because of problems with their direct supervisor, many do. Make sure that your leaders understand and utilize the best practices of performance management and coaching.

5)  LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT:  Surveys consistently show that opportunities for learning and development rank second only to compensation when employees assess their feelings about their work. While many of those efforts came to a screeching halt during lockdown, now is the time to renew these efforts.

6)  DEVELOP STRONG LEADERS:  While leadership is always important, now more than ever, people are looking for models and leadership in order to feel safe and engaged.

7)  BUILD UP GANG LOYALTY: Cohesive teams are engaged teams. Both soldiers in foxholes and successful sports teams work harder for their cohorts than for their leaders. Don’t neglect this step.

8)  MEANING AND COMMUNITY: The most engaged employees are also those who can find the most meaning in their work. Especially after what most people have experienced in the past few months, they are hungry for meaning and understanding in their lives. That meaning may come from a feeling that they are an essential part of the whole organization and that they support the mission, or pride in their group’s contribution to the community. Help people find and sustain meaning.

What Do You Think?

What is your experience right now with employee engagement? Call or write us at: Call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Leadership Lessons You Can Learn From the Current Riots

Weeping or Raging? That seems to be our sad choice as we are still grieving all the Corona fallout, and now watch much of the country go up in flames as riots erupt because of police action (or inaction) that caused the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd. While it may seem easier to avoid the news or start screaming at our screens, perhaps there is a deeper and more useful choice.

What Can We Learn? The author James Baldwin wrote that to be black in this country is “To Be in a Rage, Almost All The Time” . While I don’t ever condone violent protests, I can understand how they arise. If we listen to black history and sociology experts, they may provide us with surprising insights into why these uprisings occur.

The Leadership Lesson: If you are a leader or an influencer in your organization, consider whether you can make a difference in moving the needle on race and other inclusion issues. Many experts have shown how diverse and well-trained leaders in police organizations make a difference in outcomes. In fact, other surprising studies have shown that black doctors treating black patients, black teachers instructing black children, and even black retail clerks interacting with black customers have astonishingly better results. The same holds true for other ethnic groups, as well as gender and other identity groups. Listen to Hidden Brain podcast, “The People Like Us”.

I am not, of course, advocating a return to segregation or quotas in hospitals, schools, colleges or elsewhere. What I am suggesting, however, is that you consider whether a more diverse and inclusive leadership team could lead to better results in your organization. As I have written before, diverse teams are more creative and have better profit results. Read my Monday Memo: How Can You Increase Profit and Creativity? Increase the Diversity on Your Teams

There is also a benefit in attracting, mentoring and retaining a diverse talent pool – a necessity in an age where the demographics of our customer base, as well as the pool of available employees, is growing more and more diverse.

What Should You Do?

EDUCATE YOURSELF: As a leader, you need to start with your own education. A good place to begin is with the two podcasts noted above, as well as the other articles on my website.

EDUCATE YOUR STAFF: Diversity and inclusion sessions, as well as other kinds of bias work and organizational audits on these issues, can go a long way to helping your employees understand. Be sure you understand, however, that this kind of education is not a quick fix: diversity and inclusion is a process, not an event.

       Should Leaders Call Someone a Racist?
       As a Leader, What’s Your Responsibility for Diversity and Inclusion?  Do You Know Our History?

LOOK HONESTLY AT YOUR LEADERSHIP: Have you missed opportunities to attract a more diverse and inclusive pool of leaders? Do you hold your managers accountable for considering these issues in hiring and advancement?

Employee Engagement Now: What Works

ENGAGING YOUR PEOPLE RIGHT NOW: One June 18, 2020, I’m giving a virtual presentation for a human resource organization on employee engagement. (Go to BAHRA to register). With everything else on your plate as a leader, you may think that this is the last thing you need to worry about, but I don’t believe that’s true. Certainly, the economics of your organization, strategy and your own health and safety are important, but if you don’t have motivated and loyal employees to carry out those efforts, they will fail. While I’ve written before about managing through this crisis — Leading Through Crisis: Four New Rules; Crisis Management: What Works? Tight Rules or Loose Rules? — what’s important for engagement right now is listening to your employees and responding to their new feelings.

MOVING YOUR STAFF THROUGH GRIEF: While we may all be feeling afraid, sad, angry and so on now, we may be surprised to learn that we are also grieving. In a useful Harvard Business Review article recently, “That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief“, David Kessler, the world’s foremost expert on the grieving process, explained that most of us are grieving the loss of the lives we once lived. The kind of grieving we are experiencing, however, may feel different than the past. As he explains: “The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we’re grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.”

Anticipatory Grief: Kessler argues that we are also experiencing “anticipatory grief”, the loss of control overand fear for the future. We may not know what the future holds, but we are increasingly sure it is going to be something negative, and we are focused on that. The problem, as humanities professor Dr. Mark Lilla, wrote in this Sunday’s New York Times is that we keep asking pundits what is going to happen, but no one knows what is going to happen so we should just stop asking: “At some level, people must be thinking that the more they learn about what is predetermined, the more control they will have. This is an illusion. Human beings want to feel that they are on a power walk into the future, when in fact we are always just tapping our canes on the pavement in the fog.”

What Should You Do?

1. LISTEN TO AND ACKNOWLEDGE FEELINGS: Understand that your people may be cycling through all the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, acceptance and ultimately, meaning. As anyone who’s gone through the stages of grieving knows, the process is not linear, people can go back and forth through the various stages. Encourage your staff to express what they are feeling – if they do so appropriately. Educate them about the grieving process. If they know what they are feeling and why, that helps.HELP THEM FIND MEANING: While the future is always uncertain, you can find meaning in the present, the next breath, the next project, doing the next right thing. Make sure that they know they are a part of the whole effort of the organization and that you notice and appreciate their contribution.

   CALL THE EXPERTS: Encourage your people to reach out to employee assistance programs or other mental health professionals. Make sure that they understand that you encourage that kind of support and that they will not be judged for doing so. Bring in – remotely or otherwise – change management experts to help with what’s ahead.