So how do you do it?   Here’s a hint, why not simply imitate processes that they engage in during their time outside of the office?   In the very new future your company is going to have to shift to Enterprise 2.0 much like the internet shifted to Web 2.0.    Your employees are very good at sharing ideas, collaborating across functional lines, and engaging in valuable conversations with their peers.  The problem is that they’re doing this in their personal lives much more than their professional ones.   Take Facebook for instance.  In one week this year, and estimated 5 million people posted “25 Things about Me” to their profiles.  That’s literally 125 million facts that people shared in 7 days.  Were all of those items valuable?  Of course not, but what if Companies could harness that type of collaboration?  Do they even know 5 things about their People?  I’m not talking about their dog’s name, but do they know who speaks Mandarin, has a background in Investment Banking, or aspires to be a Chief Strategy Officer?   What would that type of knowledge sharing and collaboration do for team building?  Goal Setting?  Or just the overall ability to Execute?   The potential value is almost limitless, but only if companies start to realize that this level of collaboration only happens in an environment of transparency, one without the traditional barriers of silos and org charts that “compartmentalizes” their workforce.    The companies that understand Enterprise 2.0 are likely to be the “winners” in the coming decade.

I wanted to get his opinion on all things Engagement – What is it?  Why don’t companies understand it? What can they do about it?  He offered some great insight, even better sound bites, and a compelling argument as to why this is THE business challenge the will separate the winners from the losers during the economic recovery.

Seven questions and answers that will be sure to lead your organization to Engagement bliss, or simply scare you to death.   One thing is for sure, if your company wants better execution, then your organization better address the engagement issue now or it will address your organization later.

Take a look and let us know what you think.  I’ll make sure Brad responds to any questions that you may have.

Many books have been written about the topic of Employee Engagement.  What makes this one different?

(Answer) First, most books on Engagement tackle a piece of the subject, but do not take a holistic view providing the reader with a less than realistic view of what engagement really is.  It would be the equivalent of educating someone on small business loans and giving them the impression that they understand everything there is to know about the economy.  Second, this is not an HR book.  This is a business book for managers, leaders, and executives who want to grow their organization regardless of their function. 

Why do you think so many companies still have a problem grasping this concept?

(Answer) The entire economy has been turned upside down, the employer-employee relationship has been turned on its head, a generational shift is occurring in the workplace, technology has dramatically altered how we communicate and perceive one another, yet most of our tools, structures and research we use as well as the habits we live by come from the 80’s and 90’s.  We have yet to catch up to our current reality.  Some don’t recognize the changes, others hope things return to what they coin “normal”, and many that recognize and grasp our new reality struggle with how to act on it.

World at Work recently released a study stating that Engagement has decreased 9% worldwide and 20+% among high-performers.   Did this surprise you?   What do you think the implications are for companies trying to navigate what appears to be a slow moving economic recovery?

(Answer) No it does not surprise me about this study.  The implications are simple and straightforward.  Those that focus on engagement now will recover faster and stronger than those that do not.  Many organizations are still healthy because they never lost sight of engagement during this difficult period.  When the economy does recover, the floodgates will open at certain organizations and they will lose their intellectual capital.  But that is not the scariest part.  The scariest aspect is that that there are companies right now that do not realize the bad shape they are in with their business. They blame their ills on the economy.   My question for those organizations is…You may have the bodies, but how many souls have left the building?  Without spirit they don’t have a business. 

What do you consider the top three reasons for decreased engagement?

(Answer) Fear, Control, and Self Interest starting with senior leadership then cascading down from there.  The ingredients that create strong, productive relationships are also the same ingredients that create healthy, dynamic organizations – Trust, Transparency, Authenticity, Ownership (accountability), Creativity and Resourcefulness.  Unfortunately difficult circumstances cause many organizations, specifically senior leadership, to neglect what is important.  During difficult economic times people tend to act or make decisions based on fear, concerns, or anxiety.  All of us have fears, concerns, and anxiety but if we are able to admit when we are falling prey to them and work through those issues with others then we are able to make healthier decisions.  When stress and fear take over we look at the world in exclusive terms and in limiting ways.  We become focused on mitigating risk and lose sight of opportunity.  We decide to put in a number of controls to create predictability and political jockeying goes into overdrive because everyone wants to keep their job.  These types of behaviors not only spread and change the culture of an organization, but they hamstring the very people who can help us survive these challenges and come out of the other end.  Stress and fear can either be our jailor or our counselor.  It is our choice.  Too many leadership teams during downturns like this one choose, consciously or unconsciously, the jailor and then rationalize it to make themselves feel comfortable.

Many CEO’s still view Engagement as Soft and HR-ish.   Assuming one of them gave you 30 seconds to convince him/her that this is important, what would you say?

(Answer) First of all I would love to have more CEO’s give me 30 seconds.  Any takers?  More importantly, I would like to see a CEO convince me that it is not important.  But since you are asking the questions, here it goes…I would ask them “What factor(s) is most paramount to their success? “  Is the answer is product innovation, sales, service. My next question is going to be “How do your people impact service, sales, product innovation?” Then I would ask them “Why it is acceptable to only 11-24% of their employees proactively helping the organization toward that goal?”  Last I would ask them “What do they think the impact is?”  Seriously, we would not settle for a manufacturing plant at 70% capacity, so why would we settle with our people.   We shouldn’t. We should invest in them.  

Can you share a success story from a company that has made significant improvements in Engagement and the business impact of doing so?

(Answer) We worked with a high tech firm.  They were using a home grown survey that had too many questions, was not tied to research, and was not adding any value.  The survey was seen mainly as an HR activity.  They decided to make a change and they went with our survey the Engagement Index.  The first year that we worked with them the feedback illustrated very low levels of Engagement.  We were very clear with them about which issues were needed to be resolved in order to get an ROI from this process.  We also helped them with follow up, focus groups, and action planning.  Leadership was seen as a large portion of the issue.  There was a real lack of trust in their senior leadership.  First came a bit of shock, then regret, and then the excuses.  We helped them process the feedback and they came to the realization that not only did the organization have to make changes, but their leadership had to as well.  We have worked with them for four years now and their engagement levels have significantly improved.  There leadership is now trusted, and people believe in the mission and direction of the company.  Many employees shifted from being angry, complaining, sabotage – to pulling for the company even during difficult times.  Financials had been going south, but one year into our efforts they were able to create an 11M positive shift in profit and the engagement numbers and financial numbers have continued to go in the right direction.  They have taken the shackles off of their employee’s hands, allowed them to get back to work, and work passionately together along the way.  

Shameless Plug Time – Say anything you want here to convince readers as to why they should purchase this book.

(Answer) This is a book about business, but more importantly, it is a book about life.  The book will help you improve your relationships, team, division, organization, or strengthen customer relationships.  Any professional, manager, or executive would benefit from this read, but don’t take my word for it.  Here is what others have said:

“This will be the definitive book on employee engagement for years to come.”

“I know this sounds crazy, but this book has more to do with navigating life than improving employee loyalty, etc. I was surprised at how much I gleaned from this “business” book.”

“If you read one book on Engagement, make it this one!”

“Thoughtful. Brilliant. A genie in a bottle!”

“It will give you insight into the language and concerns of the decision-makers.”

Note to managers: Employees need a lot more feedback about their performance. According to a new study by Leadership IQ, 51% of employees don’t know whether their performance is where it should be. That’s pretty shocking, so I’ll say it again: We asked 3,611 workers across 291 companies to respond to a series of survey questions, including the question “I know whether my job performance is where it should be.” The results? 51% Disagreed while only 21% Agreed (27% were in the middle).
How is it possible that half of employees don’t know whether their performance is where it should be? Well, the other questions in our study provide some clues.

We asked employees about the amount of interaction they have with their boss, and a whopping 66% of employees said that they have too little interaction with their boss. Only 18% said they have just the right amount and even fewer (16%) said they have too much interaction with their boss.

Alright, so you might be tempted to think that you should walk the hallways giving your employees pats on the back to make them feel better. But not so fast. This study revealed that employees don’t just want warm-and-fuzzy interactions. While 67% of employees say they get too little positive feedback, 51% also say they get too little constructive criticism from their boss. That’s right: Employees are desperate for information about their performance—good, bad or otherwise.

Employees want to know how to improve and grow; they want to perform their best. Ultimately, employees know that the economic stakes are high, competition is intensifying, and that jobs (and even companies) are at risk. Smart employees know that as their performance improves, so too does their future (including bonuses, job security, choice assignments, and more). And thus they want lots of information about how to optimize their performance.

While we’ve been talking about the Quantity of feedback that employees get, this study also revealed just how poor the Quality of feedback can be. Employees not only said that they’re not getting enough feedback, they also said that the feedback they do get isn’t terribly effective. In our study, 53% of employees said that when their boss does praise excellent performance, the feedback does not provide enough useful information to help them repeat it. And 65% of employees say that when their boss criticizes poor performance, they don’t provide enough useful information to help employees correct the issue.

As we outline in our upcoming book “Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give It Their All and They’ll Give You Even More,” employees need information about their performance that is Timely, Specific and Candid (i.e. they need a little TSC). This means employees need real-time feedback that catches issues before they balloon and opportunities before they get missed. They need feedback that tells them exactly what to do more and less of, and they need that information truthfully.

Too many leaders delay feedback because they’re trying to figure out how to spin it, sugarcoat it, or bury it. For example, may managers try to squeeze a negative performance critique or correction between layers of positive reinforcement. In our upcoming book, we call this the Compliment Sandwich, and it doesn’t work. It’s like trying to tell your kid to get off drugs while praising him or her for mowing the lawn last Saturday. It’s a crazy mixed message that gets zero results.

A professional athlete can get dozens of bits of feedback during a practice or game. A student gets constant feedback throughout the day. But it’s not uncommon for a typical employee to go months without any meaningful feedback about their performance. We say we need our employees to perform at higher levels than ever before to help turn the economy around, but how are they supposed to perform when they’re not getting nearly enough feedback about what they’re doing right (which needs to be repeated) and wrong (which needs to be eliminated)?

One final note: Not only do employees need lots of great feedback to improve their performance, they also need it to stay engaged in their jobs. According to our study, employees who said they didn’t get enough feedback were 43% less likely to recommend their company to others as a great organization to work for.

Here are my 3 tips for an effective recovery:

1.  Strategic Agility does not equal Execution Agility

Many economists are predicting a U-Shaped (i.e., Slow) recovery as opposed to V-Shaped (where you crash and then immediately soar upwards).   U-Shaped recoveries require Companies to have tiered strategies  to take advantage of growth opportunities regardless of how slow/fast a rate they occur.    This means that your 1st Quarter strategy probably won’t apply in the 3rd Quarter.  Assuming that you have a plan (most companies do), then the next step is to make sure that your employee’s understand the plan, what they need to do to support the plan, and how to re-focus when the plan changes.  Put simply, it’s no good to have “Strategic Agility” if you don’t have “Execution Agility.”  If in Q3 of next year your employees are still executing against your Q1 plan, then you’re going to leave significant value on the table.   Companies with the best Business Alignment will win in the recovery.

2.   Let People Inform the Strategy

You should seriously consider taking a talent inventory of your current (often downsized) organization.  A lot has happened in the past 2 years:  Workforce Reductions,  slashed development budgets, and artificially high productivity (due to unemployment).   If your CFO and Head of Sales are the only two people attending strategic planning sessions, then you’re going to devise a plan with which you simply don’t have the resources to execute.  World-Class People Performance is still your best bet now and in the future.

3. It’s Time to Make Amends

If you’ve cut headcount, frozen pay, slashed benefits, decreased hours, etc… Then at some point in the near future you’re going to have to start to make amends.   People are grateful to just still have their jobs, but that simply won’t be enough over the long-term.  Your employees don’t just view work as a transactional relationship (a dollar’s pay for a dollar’s work) — According to David Rock, author of “Your Brain at Work,” what drives high performance is a person’s social and emotional connection to work.    The recession has in many cases forced a transactional relationship as people worry about their futures, their jobs, and their families.   According to Rock, Status and Fairness (equity) are two of the main drivers of performance.   I would argue that the economy has focused employees needs for status and equity outward (”Two of my neighbors lost their jobs, I’m just happy to have mine”), but at some point in the near future they’ll return their focus inside the four walls of your organization and you better be ready.  You’ll need to make sure you get ahead of the curve in terms of recognition and reward or you’ll likely lose many people as their employment options increase.   Put simply, you need to reengage the workforce.