EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT- A GROWING THREAT

‘Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.’ – Forbes Magazine 

Last year, the Global Perspectives survey released by the research firm ORC International, placed the UK 18^thout of 20 countries with regards to the employee engagement.  In brief, the survey highlights that:

• Employee engagement still remains a deficit for the UK 
• A sharp decline in all the three major trends in employee engagement index as compared to  2013
• The UK ranks third lowest globally in employee engagement 
• A decline in all the key employee engagement drivers that influence the employee experience for the workforce 
• Relationship between managers and staff are generally not seen positive

If you have few minutes to spare, I would highly recommend reading the complete survey to get the detailed information, right here.

I truly believe that it’s time to change the mindset of the management leaders to meet the high expectations of the demanding workforce.  It involves commitment and  a team effort between HR, top management and line managers to customise engagement strategies to meet the high business demands.

Before, I get into the details regarding the strategies to improve engagement across  organisations, let’s first understand:

Why do companies in the UK fail to engage  the workforce?                    

I’m definitely not an expert in this field  but based on my insight and research, let me give you a brief overview:

• Organisations can’t meet the high expectations of the Gen Y workers as they enter the corporate sector
• The new attitudes of Gen Y lead to a cultural shift so, organisations find it difficult to engage them
•  Lack of  understanding of the diversity of the  workforce and individual needs
• Implementation of  engagement activities that appeal all the employees
• Millennials are not ready to compromise for their purpose. They don’t feel aligned with the vision of the organisation.
• Today, employees want much more than a career. They want to make a difference in the society 
• Millennials either want more creative work or they want to work for startups 

This might  paint a very alarming picture for the UK with regard to raising the level of engagement, but this issue needs to be addressed at different levels to find the appropriate solution.

I’ll definitely elaborate these thoughts further in the series of employee engagement.  In the meanwhile, if you want to get inspired  and network with forward thinking organisation in the engagement field, there is a fantastic conference happening in London on 10^th September 2015, focusing on ‘The employee engagement’. Fancy booking a seat at the event?

 

 

 

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OUT OF COMFORT ZONE

From my past experiences, I have learnt that we can vandalise our career by staying for years in our comfortable space. I have learned too that no job is secure and in today’s competitive environment, we need to continually upgrade ourselves. To be able to move further in the career of our choice, we need to do that ‘little bit’ more to help us move outside the borders of the areas we have become comfortable in. So, in this new year I have taken the first step to developing the skills and step out of my comfort zone.

A famous author and inspiring speaker Brain Tracey says:  ‘Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.’

Zoe Jackson, an entrepreneur was just 16 when she started her own performing arts company Living the Dream, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 2006. As a London business ambassador for Richard Branson’s Virgin Pioneer, she encouraged the start-ups. Zoe said that business owners needed to be on a constant lookout for new opportunities and also they needed to be confident about themselves being different.

Virgin group started as a record label. Richard Branson has led countless diversifications. Many projects have failed but they have established businesses in areas such as trains, airlines, cola and several more.

It definitely takes courage and determination to either work on a new project, take on a new business initiative or diversify within the existing career. If you are in a state, where you feel the need to do something different or else risk being pushed out, then I have some ideas that will help you do so.  These are mainly based on what I have learnt either myself or as part of interacting with my colleagues and friends. I sincerely hope that you can put some of these into your work life.

1. Doing different things every day: Try a different food, cycle to your office, try to take a different route to the supermarket. Even if the change is small but the idea is to make a change in your routine because trying new things will help in gaining new experiences and skills.
2. Evaluate the strengths and development areas: Conducting a SWOT analysis on a personal or on the organisational level can be a useful tool to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
3. Take small steps: After identifying the fears, face them one at a time because it takes a lot of courage to break out of your comfort zone. If you have a stage fear then start with talking to four or five people rather than a hundred, seated in a hall. This will motivate you to take further steps.
4. Re-train: A way to move on further in your career if you aren’t doing well is to re-train. If it isn’t happening at work, then look to get some training There are lots of training courses available, both class as well as online that can help you. Cambridge University offers several.  Open University is a popular choice amongst working professionals.
5. Self-Improvement courses: New technology, a new app or a new phone or a car is becoming a part of our daily lives. So, attending a webinar or doing an online course six monthly or yearly is a necessity today to keep on top of today’s fast-changing environment. There are several free online courses and lectures available on Alison, Coursera, Academic  Earth to explore a new topic or advance in the current field.

It’s also important to understand that everyone’s comfort zone is different, and what may expand your horizons may paralyse someone else.

When was the last time you left your comfort zone for achieving either your personal or professional goals?

 

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KEY TO CHANGE THE CULTURE – MINDSET

Long back, I heard a very interesting story about lots of monkeys and a banana. The story is written around five monkeys who were kept in a cage with a ladder and a banana was kept on top of the ladder. Whenever one of the monkeys would climb the ladder to get the banana, all the monkeys were sprayed with ice cold water. Soon, the monkeys learned the lesson and would prevent any other monkey from climbing the ladder. After the cultural prohibition against “going for the banana” was established, the cold water was turned off, but the monkeys kept policing themselves. Then, one monkey was removed, and another monkey was put in its place. The new monkey when tried to get the banana, the other monkeys would beat him up. Soon, the new monkey started policing the other monkeys too. Eventually, one by one all the monkeys were replaced in the group, but the monkeys kept policing themselves. This was in spite of the original monkeys not being around anymore and the reason for resisting themselves was not existent in itself.

It’s apparent to me that it was the behaviour of the monkeys that made them not get the banana without being aware of the underlying reason and they became the guardian of the ‘don’t go for the banana’ culture.

Isn’t it familiar with what happens in an organisation?

The organisational culture is also formed because of the patterns of behaviour over a period of time.

To understand it in detail, let’s first have a look at these questions:

What do we understand by the word ‘behaviour’?

According to the oxford dictionary, the meaning of the word is explained as follows:

The way in which an animal or person behaves in response to a particular situation or stimulus.

So, who drives these behaviour patterns?

These patterns of behaviours are driven by the mindset of the inhabitants. So, it’s the mindset that influences people to behave, communicate and take action in a specific way. The patterns of mindset are translated into actions through a set of behaviours and that is what designs the culture of an organisation.

Mindset →  Behaviour→ Action ⇒ CULTURE 

So, it symbolises that successful change in the culture of an organisation requires a specific growth mindset. It can give an organisation a competitive advantage because mindsets are specific to an organisation.

Catherine Rush, head of talent for technology at the media company also explained recently in the HR magazine that –

”Organisations are shifting towards a culture of ‘mindsets’  – a collection of assumptions, methods or beliefs that cause people to behave subconsciously when faced with certain situations.”

So, what are those fundamental methods that can help organisations to change the mindsets of people?

Please share your thoughts and ideas.

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ONE TEAM CULTURE- TO BREAKDOWN Silos

”Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

This symbolises One Team Culture and the only way to achieve such a culture is to break down Silos.

Why is it important to break down Silos?

• Resist change
• low efficiency
• Talent is isolated
• Lack of information flow
• Low morale
• Nonaligned objectives
• Paranoia is created

How to break down Silos?

There are many ways to break down Silos but a TASK model could work quite well too as per my experience in the previous organisation.

Team Games: leading to development of right attitude to enhance collaboration

Team building games played a vital role in building trust, easing conflict and improving synergy between different cross-functional and geographical teams.

Awareness: leading to better performance results and responsive to change.

To align all the business units towards a common vision, different communication channels were introduced such as video communication method helped to communicate the recent developments and any change in policy within an organisation.

Social Gatherings:  It included:

• Entertainment – leading to fun at work within different business units and engage teams. One get together was organised quarterly to celebrate the success of all the teams and socialise on an informal platform.
• Meet-ups: leading to comfortable and functional working environment. Half yearly staff meetups  were organised to hold common planning meetings and share success stories to honour collaboration.

Knowledge club: leading to  enhancement of knowledge across different business units

This was the theme based club, lead by the director of the organisation, for employee awakening, to work out best solutions regardless of the source  and to leverage the dynamic learning.

The above model helped the organisation to break down Silos because the whole process involved collaborative learning and inclusive communication. Today when I reflect back, I agree completely that ‘Teamwork makes a dream work’.

 A recent article in Forbes magazine also talks about breaking down silos in an organisation. Have a read, right here.

Do you think any of these ideas can help your organisation to break down  Silos?

 

 

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Customer Focussed Culture – A Strategic Necessity

In this series of Organisational Culture,  this time we will be looking at  –

The strategic necessity of Customer Centric Organisational Culture and a business model to support such a culture.

To survive in this fast changing environment, organisations need to focus on redefining their customer relationships for responding to evolving trends.

There are a few critical questions that need to be answered before we go into the details.

So, what are the questions that come to your mind?

In this article, I would like to address a few key questions which will allow us to understand the strategic necessity of customer-centric culture in today’s customer powered world.

1.  Are your employees aware of your current customer concerns?
2. Do you adapt yourselves to be a customer friendly organisation?
3. Do you have a formal customer satisfaction measurement programme?
4. Are your company’s training programmes in place to increase customer awareness and align people’s behaviour to the brand?
5. Are you developing a culture of Innovation to respond to evolving trends?

You all will agree with me that to develop a strong Customer centric culture is not an easy journey but  based on my experience, I will provide you with a  four-step  ‘CAST’ model to support this culture.

1.Communication- Lead to Internal and external Customer engagement

To demonstrate to all the teams how special services help an organisation generate increased revenue and achieve goals. The agenda of our monthly departmental meetings included learnings from past failures and concerns, which were then translated into improved services. Also, any new happenings within the company were communicated to all existing and potential customers on a regular frequency.

  2. Adaptability- lead to sustain in the competitive market

 To respond to evolving trends and thrive in today’s challenging environment. The organisation adopted policies to be transparent with their customers by incorporating their suggestions while revising annual corporate goals.

One such policy adopted was ‘Free Replacement of the spare parts- 2 years warranty’ which lead to repeat orders from existing customers and orders from potential customers too.

3. Surveys- lead to repeat business from existing customers

To improve the bottom line, Customer feedback surveys, carried out quarterly were imperative.

One such feedback received was to provide them with a little teaser of the upcoming and existing products. This was incorporated into the company training programme, leading to happy customers.

4. Training –lead to alignment of internal and external customers

To ensure everyone within the organisation understands the culture. Training was provided to new recruits to make them aware of the importance of a customer-focused an organisation and then refresher courses to existing employees at all levels.

So, in today’s environment of Innovation, customer- centric culture is not only essential but a strategic requirement.

This is my experience but one size doesn’t fit all so, it will be great to know:  What are your thoughts and experiences?

Do you think it should form a part of the organisation’s core strategy?

 

 

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Are mistakes a part of your Organisational culture?

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast, dinner and lunch”

  -Peter Drucker

 What do you think it means?

I think he wants to convey to us, not that strategy is not important  but it rather declares that any specific strategy a company employs  will only be successfully implemented, if supported by the  appropriate Organisational culture.

In early 2000, I was working for a manufacturing company .Today,  when I reflect back, I often ask myself the question, what is it that  appealed to me the most during that assignment?

I was fascinated by the corporate culture of that organisation, especially the fact that was drilled into the new entrants by this one liner, said by the management ‘We encourage mistakes’.  This translated to:

• Make, taking risks a part of your lives
• Experiment, Innovate and learn something new
• Learn from your and your colleague’s mistakes
• Come up with new emerging ideas, especially the fresh recruits
• Be enthusiastic

Don’t  you think that people would love to work for such an organisation?

I left working for that organisation years back but believe me, there is still  a strong bond with them and that’s only because of an Organisation’s culture which has helped me in my networking endeavours today.

How critical is Culture for the success of any organisation?

I was recently inspired  by the video of  Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos   who talks about the importance of Organisational Culture in detail.                     

To conclude,  my experience has taught me that Culture is not  a ‘HIPPO drone’, not just driven by the voice of Top Management,  but  something that is engrained within the DNA of the organisation,  through years of experience, insight and a deep desire to make a  difference.

 

Image Ref: @ MDY legal