Quality Service Marketing

Employee Engagement Limbo: How Low Will They Go?

Why do so many organizations claim to embrace employee engagement, yet stop short of actually doing anything about it?

Employee engagement author and consultant Leigh Branham explains:

“The main reason most CEOs don’t aggressively tackle the employee disengagement issue … is that it appears ‘soft’ and overwhelmingly difficult (soft = hard) to do so. After all, in many cases it would mean a complete overhauling of the culture. Most CEOs, especially in public companies, would much rather, in their board room discussions, deal with the nearer-term topic of how to increase quarterly profits. The irony is, of course, that the surest way to increase profits is to build a culture where engaged employees consistently exceed customer expectations.”

In organizations where employee engagement garners more lip service than action, employees find themselves doing a workplace limbo dance. They get under management’s limbo stick by doing the minimum to appear engaged without breaking their backs. At the same time, they may be craning their necks to see what other jobs are available in the market. It’s a difficult balancing act.

As the limbo song asks, “How low can you go?” For employees, the answer depends on their tolerance levels. Employees can bend backwards for only so long before decide to withdraw and quit the game … and the organization.

 

 

What Do You Plan to Draw in 2012?

To start off the new year, here's a gem I found in David Zinger’s book of poems on workplace engagement, Assorted Zingers. (Note: David's book - with great cartoons by John Junson - is now available in both print and e-book editions.)

Napkin futures
by David Zinger 

Tabling strategy.
Gel pens drawn
during fast food lunch
sparking napkin artistry.
Ink bleeds
arrows, word, and stick figures
into thin paper.
Absorbing both
strategic thinking
and mustard drips
oozing from the overflowing cheeseburger.
It is going to be a good year. 

 

Don't Forget What's Really Important

In the midst of the holiday shopping frenzy and over-the-top consumerism, I wanted to share this message from business & life coach Steve Davis. Instead of accumulating more “stuff” and being overwhelmed by it all, Steve advocates that we learn how to better use what we really need. He says:

"Unconscious compulsions for “more input” seldom satisfy our true needs. Nor will having piles of unread books and magazines ringing our desks reduce the nagging sense that there is some piece of information that will really change everything for us.

Satisfaction comes from fully digesting and extracting the fine nutrients from what we already have, and making choices for new input based on our true values and passions, not our casual likes and vague interests."

This is an excerpt from his excellent article, Assimilation vs. Accumulation - The practice of getting full nourishment from everything in your life. It’s worth reading to learn how we can better assimilate what’s important such as: relationships, customers, ideas, information, and experience. While Steve wrote the article for facilitators, his message is applicable to everyone.

Best wishes to all for a happy & safe holiday! 

What Can Nonprofit Leaders Do to Keep Volunteers and Employees Engaged?

I’ve heard from numerous nonprofit professionals and volunteers in response to my recent posts on “When Passion for the Mission Isn’t Enough.” The following comments are representative of the feedback I received. I wanted to share them with you to stimulate discussion and ideas on how to better engage employees and volunteers.

One volunteer shared her current take on volunteer disengagement:

“Volunteers are readily distracted by the demands of paying jobs, which in this day and age are onerous and leave little time for charity. If they don’t feel appreciated, and feel like they have no power in the volunteer environment, they will bolt.”

Even nonprofits that foster an engaging workplace are concerned about operating in economic and political uncertainty. An executive director described her frustration:

“When I get together with other nonprofit executive directors, we all look at a dismal funding future, and wonder how long we can hang on. Personally, I will continue to work to do the most with what we have, as long as we are funded, but I do sense an exhaustion in my peers. While our board is wonderful about contacting legislators, I can’t help but think that they would be more engaged if we weren’t regularly threatened with a cut-off of funds.”

The challenge of striving to meet growing mission-related needs with scarce resources has long existed in the nonprofit sector. But employees, volunteers and board members have grown weary of being asked to “do more with less” and “work smarter, not harder.” Sadly, the risk of burnout is greater than ever.

How Are You Coping?

We can all dream of finding a magic lamp with a genie who can take care of funding and resource issues (if only!). Seriously though, how are your dealing with the situation?

I welcome your ideas on what works to keep your volunteers and employees engaged these days.

A Thanksgiving Tribute

It’s appropriate this Thanksgiving that I share the following story from Carol Henn, soon-to-be-retiring Executive Director of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. Reflecting on a successful career in community philanthropy, Carol recently shared her experience about visiting Central Europe in 2000 where she met with government and community leaders to assist them in establishing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public-private partnerships. The trip was sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency and the Foundation for a Civil Society.

Among her reminiscences, Carol described:

“… guards with rifles at border crossings, gruffly demanding to see our passports and papers, then taking those documents away and causing me to wonder if I would ever see those records again. ‘Toto … we’re not in Kansas anymore.’

“… business and civic leaders at a luncheon, telling me that it was unheard of to offer time, work, or financial assistance for community or non-profit projects. They wanted me to assure them that this would become acceptable over time and that they would not be punished for it. The concept of a Chamber of Commerce astonished them.

“… leading late night planning sessions for community activists in a grim industrial area known as Petrazhalka. Participants meet in secret because of the stranglehold that crime syndicates and former Communist ‘enforcers’ have on the thousands of poor, blue collar workers in the area. The doors to our meeting room burst open and a big, brawny man with an ill-fitting wool jacket walks slowly down the row of seats, making sure that we see his shoulder holster and revolver. The room is numb and silent. No one dares speak. Most heads are lowered, some women are whimpering. If he won this confrontation, my work would be in vain and the group might never attempt to meet again. My anger is overwhelming. I walk over to the man. My translator is too afraid to follow me. Eventually she stands behind me and relays my words:

‘If you have come to participate and help us to make this a better community, you can stay. If you have come to frighten or intimidate us, you might as well leave because I am not afraid of you or your gun. We are not  afraid of you. Your days of power and brutality are over. You can stay and understand that this is a new day or you can leave.’”

Carol continued:

“He stayed. A few brave souls responded to my questions and continued with the planning we were outlining on flip charts. Within a year, the presence of a strong community council and its committees dramatically reduces crime and drug trafficking, improves the look of the concrete apartment buildings, establishes youth centers, and plants community gardens. ‘We are not afraid anymore,’ they write to me. I never told them that I shook with fear that night all the way back to Bratislava.”

We truly have a lot to be thankful for in our country, including the courage and conviction of people like Carol Henn and the many freedoms we enjoy to improve our local and global community.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Lament of the Disengaged

Here’s another one of my favorite engagement poems from David Zinger’s book, Assorted Zingers. Many of us have experienced these feelings at one time or another in our work lives.

Payday
by David Zinger

When did it become
the way of work
to hate
our work
our organization
and our peers?

The daily distaste for work
crumbled our contributions
into gritty crumbs
lacking nourishment
for body, soul and self.

Is this what we get paid for?

Tribute to Bob Wood

This weekend, I lost a hero. I share my sorrow with the Lehigh Valley PA community in the loss of a beloved friend and philanthropist: Bob Wood.

Bob was the former Chairman of Wood Dining Services, a large regional food service management company based in Allentown PA.  Prior to becoming part of Sodexho, Wood Dining Services employed more than 15,000 people serving more than 500 accounts in 28 states – with an impressive 99% client retention rate!

I had the privilege of working for The Wood Company many years ago as a training consultant and learned of the company’s people-first commitment. Bob was the epitome of an engaged and engaging leader who truly cared about his employees and customers. He maintained a corporate culture that was best described on the back of one of the birthday cards it sent to employees:

“The Wood Company’s recipe for success is developing and nurturing its people. We value and understand the difference they can make in pleasing our customers. We believe in celebrating our people’s success and important events in their lives.”

Making people feel valued

I interviewed Bob for my first book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee Customer Care.  Bob & company were featured in a chapter on how internal marketing could be woven through “ordinary, everyday activities rather than extraordinary events.” Internal marketing wasn’t a distinctive approach practiced at The Wood Company - it was something Bob did intuitively.

Here is one of my favorite stories about Bob and the power of employee recognition. Bob spent a lot of time in the field visiting clients and staff. In his pocket he carried a handful of small gold plastic pins in the shape of pineapples, the international symbol for hospitality that was also part of the Wood Company's brand. Whenever he saw an employee doing something right, he gave that person a gold pineapple pin. Bob said he never ceased to be amazed at the employees' reaction when he gave out the pineapple pins. 

"I think these pins cost 47 cents ... but these people think you gave them a pile of gold. Everyone wants to be part of something ... everyone wants to feel that they are valued, that they made a difference. To the degree we can celebrate our people, that's our greatest tool."

In making people feel that they mattered, Bob, you made an incredible difference. I am honored to have known you and will continue to celebrate your memory in my book and workshops.

Volunteers: When Passion for the Mission Isn't Enough

Like nonprofit employees, volunteers can also exit when they get frustrated and fed up. The reasons for disengagement are similar, and while it might seem easier for volunteers to leave a nonprofit since they’re not held to an employment contract, that doesn’t mean it’s any less painful when they’re passionate about the mission. As Sally Helgesen described, “Volunteers … work not for money but because they want to give back, make a difference, change the world. They work because they want to matter. Volunteers can, and will, quit the moment they feel undervalued.”

This would be a great place to work if it weren’t for the [expletive] volunteers!

Example #1. A nonprofit board member described frustration with an executive director’s lack of respect for volunteers. “It makes me feel that my personal contributions of time and talent are not valued, even though I am a top donor. The executive is stuck in a rut, verbally… [focusing] on perceived staff board shortfalls. Why have I stayed?… I am passionate about the organization’s mission and continue to hope that eventually… with the staff changeover, we’ll be able to use the enthusiasm and ideas [to make a difference] that the Board has proposed.”

Example #2. In response to increasing volunteer disengagement, a member-based organization set up a volunteer engagement task force comprised of volunteers and senior staff. Under the task force’s direction, a survey was conducted of current and past volunteer leaders to gain better understanding of volunteer perceptions and expectations. Resulting recommendations called for more intentional volunteer management and oversight. Staff responded by developing a volunteer philosophy and creating a volunteer leader advocacy position to implement a volunteer engagement and recognition plan – all done without volunteer input!

Volunteer Talent or Disposable Commodity?

The difference in how your volunteers are treated depends on the tone set by the person in charge. People have to matter as much as the mission.

“Eliciting superior performance from people requires making them feel as if they matter, as if they’re contributing, as if they’re making a difference. ...Only an inspiring, trustworthy, respectful, and inclusive leader can attract and retain volunteers over the long run.” [Source: Sally Helgesen, “Why Mattering Matters,” Shine a Light, Leader to Leader Institute, 2005]

 

Nonprofit Employees: When Passion for the Mission isn't Enough

I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately, especially working on my book about nonprofit employee and volunteer engagement. Despite their well-intentioned commitment, sometimes staff members (and volunteers) get frustrated with a nonprofit organization and reach the point where passion for the mission and meaningful connection are no longer enough to convince them to stay. In other words, once engaged doesn’t mean always engaged. 

Why People Become Disengaged

People don’t stay committed to an organization when they:

1. Feel overwhelmed with too many or conflicting management directives

2. Don’t understand what the organization is all about and what is expected of them

3. Are afraid that their work isn’t valued

4. Don’t see how the various parts of the organization connect in the “big picture”

5. Don’t share a sense of ownership in the organization, including being involved in solving problems and offering ideas. [Source: The Art of Engagement]

High turnover and low morale are signs of a disconnected, disengaged workplace run by complacent management or the clueless-in-charge. And the damage isn’t confined to the internal organization – customers, donors, volunteers and other external stakeholders are aware of, and possibly affected by, employees who disengage at work.

Can you hear me now?

A nonprofit professional and her colleagues were increasingly frustrated, discouraged, and disheartened about their work situation which they described as “toxic.” Managers issued frequent conflicting directives and set unrealistic expectations while providing little guidance and insufficient resources to enable staff members to achieve their goals. Management also paid scant attention to staff concerns until a consultant was hired to address the issue of high turnover. At the consultant’s recommendation, management set up a “suggestion box” system to solicit employee feedback and ideas. More than 135 suggestions were turned in the first week, and there were only 30 employees on staff!

If you’re thinking about a “quick fix,” think again

Disengagement and burnout don’t suddenly happen. Most people start off engaged and excited about their work; the erosion occurs gradually based on one or more of the reasons mentioned above. According to Dr. Judith M. Bardwick: “When people are perceived as a cost and not a resource, when they are treated as a liability and not an asset, when no one seems to know or care that they are there, they don’t work well, and they don’t stay.”

 

Which Engagement Path Will You Take?

The following poem was written by David Zinger and is one of my favorites in his new book, Assorted Zingers (with great cartoons by John Junson).

Two roads diverged
by David Zinger

Let me tell you a tale
about the disengaged.
A tell tale sign is
you are told not asked,
you are fringed not foreground,
work is an energy drain,
not an energy gain.
You would rather be anywhere else,
yet you seem stuck in place.
And you have to stray
because of the pension, economy, fear, benefits
or just the plain inertia of it all.

It is time to tell a different tale
where you are connected
in the foreground
gaining energy
and making contributions.
If that tale cannot be told
get your tail out of there.
You only have so many days to work
and when you work in those days
and those days work for you
it makes all the difference.