Six Easy Tips to Keep Your Employees Engaged

We like to think of employee engagement in organizational terms; however, if we're honest, an employee's direct manager has the most influence when creating an atmosphere that breeds engagement. 

There are a few tips that leaders can do daily to help engage workers, even during this chaotic time. Use these six guidelines to create the right experiences that foster employee engagement. 

  • Greet your people with a smile every day. - Yes, even if you're not a morning person. 

  • Say thank you and goodbye at the end of the day. - If your end-of-day doesn't correspond with theirs, that's okay, find whatever works.

  • Catch them doing things right. - I like to say, we traditionally do a great job of catching people doing "things" wrong, but we don't do a good enough job of catching them doing "things" right.

  • Ask them about themselves and their families, if appropriate. - Sometimes a simple "how's it going" at the right time can spark insight you weren't aware of before.

  • Ask them about the job. - Asking them things like, "How's the job going? What's working? Where are you getting stuck? 

  • Finally, and most importantly, ask them, "is there anything you need from me and/or what can I do to help?"

Even if you're not in the same location or manage a virtual team, you can still do these six things via text, email, or a phone call or two. Show your people that you care about them; it's the easiest way to build engagement. I promise, if you do these six things consistently every day for the next 30 business days, you'll have a more engaged, happy, and productive team. 

Front Liners

I love that our front line workers are finally getting the attention they deserve. All too often, we take for granted the simple things in our lives that are kept together by the complexity in theirs. Whether it's the food on the grocery store shelf, the clean pots and pans used to cook the food at your favorite take-out place, or the security you feel knowing the bravest, finest, and best, have your back in a jam, we should be grateful and say thank you. It's important.

Further, I believe the support provided by their leadership teams is essential in keeping together that social contract. Good leaders say thank you. Great leaders will step up, say thank you and support you, both now and for the future. Great leaders will plan when and how they intend to reward the selflessness that is "putting one's life on the line for the greater good." Great leaders shoulder the burdens so their teams can be successful and know that we all have their backs when the going get's tough.

So a simple message - serve your people, support them, and find ways to make their work easier. The easier it is for them to do their job well, the more successful they will be. Earn their trust by making a promise and following through, no matter how big the burden for you. You'll have the commitment, investment, and lasting gratitude of your people and a prosperous nation. 

From my family and me - Thank you to all the front line workers!

Millennials in the workplace - how different are they, really?

A lot has been written over the last several years on generations in the workplace. The last 4-5 years has led American businesses to see something that has never witnessed: up to five generations working together at the same time.

From HBR’s article: (Click Here to View) They include:

  • Traditionalists, born prior to 1946

  • Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964

  • Gen X, born between 1965 and 1976

  • Millennials, born between 1977 and 1997

  • Gen 2020, born after 1997

*Note there are varying thoughts on the “born between/after dates” associated with each generation.

Faced with this unprecedented occurrence, organizations have been scrambling to get their arms around how to better understand the needs and goals of those different generations. There is another great article from HBR.org with some insights into some principles to remember. (Click Here to View) For those curious, I’m a student of Brad Szollose, and have adopted several his ideas in my own work on understanding the “21st Century Workforce Culture and Customer.”

In this article, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on a video making it’s rounds on social media. “Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace”

In the interest of full disclosure, two quick points: 1) I am a huge Simon Sinek fan and have been since his 2010 TED Talk on How Great Leaders Inspire Action. 2) I’m going to be “painting” with a very broad brush with my comments and while it should be understood, I will say, there are certainly people and situations where my thoughts might not apply.

Onto Millennials – shocker, I couldn’t agree more with some of the thoughts expressed by Simon in his “millennial” video. The one caveat I would insert is that much of what he discussed can also be applied to multiple generations.

In this video, Simon constructs his lesson around 4 main pieces that he describes as key to understanding the disconnect between business and millennials. (Those born 1984 and after, according to the video.) Those four are:

  • Parenting

  • Technology

  • Impatience

  • Environment

As I mentioned above, while characteristics can be imposed on broader groups, we can most certainly find outliers within each generational group that these lessons can be applied.

For example – Technology – While Millennials are said to be the first truly “Digital Native” generation, the impact that technology has played on all the generations, more specifically Baby Boomers and Gen X, is far reaching.

Simon goes on to draw the parallel between the dopamine induced high an addict experiences when they get their “fix”, to the experience we all feel when we get a “text”, a “snap” or a “like” on social media. Here is where I think the overlap is in our generations, or really anyone who is “addicted” to technology. Whether you’re a digital native or not, you can easily become addicted. I know plenty of senior leaders who fall strongly in the Baby Boomer or Gen X range that can’t or won’t stop staring at their devices.

I think we can all learn something from Simon’s message, in some cases we must learn for the first time and in other cases we need to re-learn how to interact with people on a deeper less superficial way. That said, my own thoughts diverge slightly. When it comes to customers, (and make no mistake about it, we are all in sales, and everyone is our customer, no matter what we do for a living - See Dan Pink’s work in his book “To Sell Is Human”) I’m a big proponent of the idea that we need to go where the customer/audience is or where they are going to be, but certainly not where they were 10-15 years ago. While these social skills may be lacking and I do agree that we should do our part as organizations to help develop those skills, I think we also need to learn to engage people where they are, and within their comfort zones.

Engaging people in the spaces where they are comfortable is the first step in making this transition. Does it “really” make sense to force someone who is use to, and comfortable with, texting to stop and engage face-to-face. Certainly not, I think. However if you can utilize that modality to begin the engagement process, it can be a jumping off point for deeper more long term connection.

The third area that Simon discusses is impatience. Sure, there are millennials that are riddled with this scourge of a trait.  But I ask you, who among us wasn’t when they were in their early 20’s, filled with optimism and vigor. I think it may be exacerbated by many of the factors that Simon mentions, but I’m going to chalk a big portion of this up to immaturity on a business level or lack of business experience. As a whole however, I do think that impatience is a real problem in today’s organizations and I’ll try here to connect the concepts of impatience and environment from Simon’s talk.

Since the recession of 2008-09, many organizations bowed to their lesser instincts (fight or flight) and have become more reactive than proactive in nature (pardon my anthropomorphizing of companies). Monetary constraints along with a deeply lowered tolerance for risk has created an environment that is represented by cultures of “CYA”, find cost cutting at any expense, if you act it should have a profound, deep, and immediate impact. Now, while in the thick of it almost 9 years ago, this mindset was needed if you were going to come out intact on the other side of the recession. But something was lost in the intervening years. The idea that a project, initiative or employee might require investment, development, tolerance and most of all time to produce a tangible ROI, has almost vanished. Today’s leaders want results at all costs and they want them now. However what most don’t see is how at odds these two stories are with each other. On one hand, they want what they want and now, but in the same breath say that Millennials are unrealistic and want too much too quick. The hypocritical nature of the two is lost on them.

I believe, similar to what we’ve seen in politics, a race to the extremes has occurred in business since 2008. And what any good political scientist will tell you is that very little progress is made at the extremes. If we want five generations in the workforce to work together, we have to stop focusing on the little that divides us and learn to build on the vast majority of things that unites us. Companies with good leadership that have the tolerance for long term planning and execution can easily win the war for top talent. Establishing a clear vision, purpose and values and taking the longer term approach to executing on these will propel an organization deeper into the 21st Century. Those that simply react in the marketplace and look for short term gains will lose talent at a furious pace and will ultimately languish and die with their purse strings clutched tightly in their hands. 

Are You Creating Your Own Reality Distortion Field?

Tech enthusiasts will recognize the term “reality distortion field” (RDF) as a term used by Bud Tribble, an Apple employee, to describe the bubble Steve Jobs often worked in and projected onto others, where “in his presence, reality is malleable.” (See Here for More Info) It was said that Steve could bend perception to fit and meet his desires. As is such with many powerful leaders.

In the weeks since the 2016 election, hundreds of articles have been written about how the confluence of “fake news”, “algorithmic anomalies” and an individual’s own RDF may have affected the outcome. (Stratechery.com wrote a great article in November that explains the concept. Click here for the article.) When we curate our own news, it’s almost impossible to acknowledge that there may be another equally valid view on subjects.

Politics aside, these forces have and continue to play a major role in business today. All too often the power elite of an organization create their own RDF and refuse to see the simple truths that often are staring them in the face. Sure, good leaders often surround themselves with valued opponents, differing views, mounds of research from employee and customer surveys. But what good are those data points if solely viewed through the lens of their personal reality distortion field.

Some senior executives attempt to remedy the situation and even go out of their way to understand what is truly happening at the ground level. (Think Undercover Boss) But even then, it takes a disciplined leader to make lasting change. One of the main roles of a leader is to help remove the obstacles that inhibit their employees from being successful. Unfortunately, most don’t follow that simple idiom. Rather than do the hard work of looking internally at themselves, they find every reason to fault their employees. Rather than listen to their employees, they find justification in their own decision making and hear what they want to hear. For example:

What was said –

“We’re burning out our employees, we’re running too lean, we need to add headcount to achieve our goals.”

What they hear –

“Our people aren’t going above and beyond as they should and are doing the bare minimum. Apparently, we don’t have the “right” people and you need to learn to motivate your team better.”

I’m not suggesting that it’s all the leaderships fault. It’s hard when your surrounded by like-minded individuals, with the same viewpoints, talking about the same topics, with the same solutions. It becomes an echo chamber and it’s difficult to break out. Difficult, but not impossible.

True leaders understand that running a business is like steering a ship. It takes a lot of time and effort to make the smallest of impact. But even a small 1° change in trajectory can take you miles off course. Small impacts can make dramatic changes in your business over time.

No business leader can see the future. The key to success often comes down to understanding what’s happening, removing any obstacles and course correcting early and often. All the while remembering that sometime you might be that obstacle.

How Do We Drive Results?

Companies, and more often, leaders ask: "How do we drive results?" The main problem with the inquiry is, most are hesitant to do the hard work necessary to create the change that will give them the results they desire.

In Change the Culture, Change the Game, Connors and Smith discuss the results pyramid. If you've read it you understand it all starts with the experiences we create for our employees. I'll attempt to paraphrase: the experiences we create for our employees form the beliefs they have about the organization, it's people and it's focus. Those experiences drive the employee's beliefs around what is important, what takes priority along with what and where they should focus. As a result, those beliefs drive where and how employees take action along with the decisions they make day to day. Collectively, the actions of all employees produce the results organizations attain.

When looked at as a whole, the task can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. The simple answer is start with the results. Organizations need to ask themselves: "What are the results that we want?" Start there and work your way backwards. Create an action plan that is precisely aligned with those goals. Then create the accountability that Connors and Smith discuss in almost every book they've published. That accountability starts with communication.

It is my belief, that if you look hard enough, almost every single business problem can be traced back to some sort of communication issue. For now though, let's focus on results. Here is some insight from Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC. He wrote an article a few months ago titled: Driving Accountability Through Incentives and Consequences. In that article he says:

Lay out those metrics in a very clear and concise way, and then help them understand: if you meet that metric or exceed it, here’s the reward, and if you miss it, here’s the consequence.

Even here, when focusing on one piece of driving for results, Figliuolo expresses the importance of communication.

In the leadership sessions I deliver I like to say: It's your job as a leader to help make your people successful; your job to remove any obstacles that might prevent those employees from getting the results we all want. That includes making sure everyone knows "what to expect" and "what is expected" of them. The only way this happens is if you talk to your employees. Communication is crucial.

To bring back Connor and Smith's words, you can't expect different results, without taking different actions. Those actions are driven and fueled by the beliefs of our employees, which are a direct result of the experiences we create for them. So, when someone asks me "how do I drive my employees for results", I ask them to look inward first. What can you change about how you lead, communicate and support your people? What different actions can you take to get the new result you're looking for?

Mentors - How Important Are They?

Bill Gentry and Rich Walsh provide some sobering statistics in their white paper titled "Mentoring First-Time Managers - Proven Strategies HR Leaders Can Use". Here are a few they shared:

58% of new managers receive no formal management training or development at all before transitioning into leadership roles
20% of FTMs do a poor job, according to their subordinates
26% of FTMs felt they were not ready to lead others
A survey by Manchester International said 40% of newly promoted managers fail within the first 18 months.

With these kinds of statistics, it's uncertain why more organizations don't offer a formalized mentorship program for their management team - especially first time managers.

Gentry and Walsh provide some great tips on starting and strengthening a formal mentorship program. Check out the full white paper for details.

Bill, Rich - thanks for another great piece.

Click Here For The Full Article

Are you overloading your top talent?

Thanks to Greg Pryor for passing this article along earlier this year.

HBR continues to deliver on its promise to expose real problems facing real organizations. In this article, Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, Adam Grant are at their best - sharing research-based insights to help real people address the major issues of today.

One of my favorite stats from the article:

"...20% to 35% of value-added collaborations come from only 3% to 5% of employees."

And if you're still not convinced this applies to your organization, I'll share one excerpt regarding people's performance as they are asked to do more and more:

"Performance suffers as they are buried under an avalanche of requests for input or advice, access to resources, or attendance at a meeting. They take assignments home, and soon, according to a large body of evidence on stress, burnout and turnover become real risks."

Check out the article here: https://hbr.org/2016/01/collaborative-overload

Proud!

Proud to be part of the largest building materials company in North America. "We believe that optimism is the strongest building material on earth – Nothing get’s build without it.

We don't build things, we build people, relationships and connections…it’s the foundation of our future. Through hard work, determination and grit…we crush doubt, distrust, disbelief…

Handshake by Handshake, we make and move materials that build tomorrow – and together we forge a stronger, safer world."

https://lnkd.in/emytbjR

https://lnkd.in/emytbjR

from LinkedIn

, , ,

Selling for the Big Leagues: A Comparison of Baseball and Sales By Craig Basta

, , ,

A colleague of mine wrote a great article that I wanted to share. Craig Bata is one of our top value providers in the Northeast market. Craig works out of our Bridgeport, CT location and is a great resource. Craig's article does a great job of explaining basic sales concepts in easy, relatable terms. A couple of key take-a-ways for me:

  • Practice, practice, practice - the key to honing your skills and staying on top of your game.
  • Everyone goes through "slumps" - if you are consistent and keep at it, a slump will turn into a "STREAK".
  • Coaching is a valuable tool. Embrace it, use it, live it. Even the elite need coaching.
  • Home Runs (landing big deals) aren't all they're cracked up to be. Focus on getting on base, you'll win more often, and contribute more to the overall success of yourself and the team.

Thanks for sharing your insight Craig, we all appreciate it.

Read it in it's entirety below. - (Reprinted with permission from the author.)

_________________________________________

Selling for the Big Leagues: A Comparison of the MLB and Sales

By Craig Basta

Those of you who know me know I am an avid sports fan. I enjoy many different sports including football, basketball, hockey, and baseball. When it comes to baseball however, there is no other sport which compares. Anyone can pick up a basketball and shoot some baskets. Not anyone can pick up a bat and hit a curveball. This is where my comparison starts. Sales may not be a sport but it certainly takes a lot of skill, and it certainly isn’t for everyone. If you can highlight your skills and work your tail off you can have a long successful career. Secondly you have to realize it isn’t all about you. Baseball is a team sport and if you’re out there for your own well being you are going to limit your success. You may be the pitcher and the ball is in your hands, however, if you have no defense behind you, you don’t have a chance. Everyone on the team has a position and you can only find success if everyone knows their position and works together to achieve the same goals. Each person is as important to the team as the next and you have to be able to trust and rely on your teammates. Team work makes the dream work. You need the advice and guidance of the coaches (bosses and managers) and you need the effort and support of your team mates (fellow salesmen).

Competition

There is a lot of competition out there and they are going after the same goals you are. They may be using different tactics but in the long run everyone is out for the same thing. The most important thing here is to know your competition. You have to know how they operate, and know how they play the game. Study the competition and you can learn from them, realize their strengths and weaknesses and you can find ways to beat them. You don’t have to always be the strongest and you don’t have to win every game but it is important to stay relevant, compete, and keep yourself in the mix. You may have no shot at winning the division but as long as you stay in position to win the wildcard you always have a shot to go all the way.

Season

The major league season is a long grueling season. If you sprint you will run out of breath and when you take time to catch your breath the competition will pass you. It’s a marathon not a dash. The important thing here is to keep a steady pace. As I said before it would be impossible for you to win every game, but by winning more games than you lose you can keep yourself in the mix and make it to the World Series. I find there to be many similarities between the baseball season and our sales season.

The winter is always going to be our off season/slow season. Although we don’t have sales going out the door all day or games going on, this is one of the most important parts of the year. Why you ask? Well, this is where it’s important to keep yourself in shape. If you don’t keep yourself in the position to succeed once the actual season begins you are going to come in to training camp out of shape and someone else may be busting their butt to take your spot. Make phone calls, remind people why you are who you are and what you have to offer them. It may seem like everything is dormant and there isn’t much going on but this winter season is crucial to the success of your year. This is where you set up for the season and get an idea on what you have in store.

Spring training finally arrives! The season is just around the corner. You will have some scrimmage games and practice every day. The harder you worked in the off season the easier you will roll through spring training and in to the season. Still preparing for the season here and feeling out how successful the team is. This is an exciting part of the year and it’s nice when old man winter is out of the picture.

Spring/Summer the season is here! Now we are going full steam ahead and pushing towards our goals as a team. It’s a busy season and it’s a long season. Keep yourself alive in games and you will win games. If you win games you will keep yourself alive to make the playoffs and help the team find this success. You are going to lose and there is going to be streaks where you lose a couple in a row and can’t find a win. It’s important not to get frustrated and keep pushing. The losing streak will end you will find some wins and hopefully go on a winning streak! Stay strong and stay healthy, use your team mates and you will have a better chance to survive the season. Again, it’s a long one.

Fall arrives and now it’s getting exciting. This is crunch time. The end of the year is coming and you want to go out on top. You need to be Mr. October and win as many games as you can to achieve what you set out to do so many months ago. At this point you are in top form and it’s win or go home. End the season on a high note and go home with the trophy!

Hitting

Hitting is one of the toughest things to do in baseball and it’s vital. If you don’t hit you won’t score runs and if you don’t score runs you can’t win games. The most important thing here is realizing it isn’t all about the homerun (big job). It’s more important and helps the team more if you can hit for average. I’ll take 3 doubles, and 3 singles over 1 homerun and 5 strikeouts. Odds are the singles and 2 baggers will amount to more runs scored or batted in for the team. People like to see homeruns and when you hit them you can feel like a king but they come far less often. If you hit for average and mix in a homerun here and there it’ll feel even better when you hit the homerun. This is what the team wants and this is how you will find a long successful year.

While batting it’s important to stay alive at the plate. You are going to get fastballs and you are going to get curveballs mixed in. Not every pitch is worth going after. It’s very important to have control and a keen eye at the plate. Know which pitches are worth swinging at. You will have to foul off some pitches that are close but you know they aren’t yours. If you keep yourself alive your pitch will come and this is where you connect and drive through the ball. It’s very important to follow through!

Run everything out because you never know. You just miss and catch one off the end of the bat and now it’s dribbling towards the pitcher as he’s charging to pick it up. Odds are you are going to get thrown out well before you touch first base safely, however, there is always a chance if you run it out and hustle you can turn the last out of an inning in to a few more runs! Hustle is very important so play every play with 100% of your effort.

Get yourself in to scoring position. Get a single and look to steal second. If you don’t put yourself in to scoring position you will have a tougher time scoring runs. Put yourself in the best spot to come around and touch that plate. Smart base running (account management) is huge. A blunder can end the inning but a smart move and a good play can lead to the go ahead run and win the game for the team.

Pitching

Pitching is probably the most crucial part of baseball. As I said before the pitcher needs the players behind him but he is the only player on the field involved in every play and has the biggest impact on the game. The ball is in his hands and he needs to go out there and get it done. This pitcher needs to use trick pitches and smart pitches and manage the game. If he keeps his composure and confidence he can find tons of success.

Sometimes you have to let a guy walk. The big man steps in at the plate and it’s a tight game late in the 9th. This guy can do more harm than good and isn’t worth facing off against. Don’t give him the opportunity to beat you. Let him walk to first and battle the next guy. Don’t forget him over there on first base always keep an eye on him, but some guys just aren’t worth battling. If you keep an eye on him you may catch him and pick him off so it’s important even after letting him walk to maintain that keen eye.

Closing is all that matters. You can have a lead the whole game but if you blow it in the 9th all of that goes out the window. It’s sales, it’s baseball, it’s closing! You have to be able to come in with the game on the line during crunch time and shut it down to go home with the W. It shouldn’t matter if you’re facing the heart of the line up or the 7-8-9 hitters you’re there for one reason and one reason only. Get in there and do your job so we can put it in the books!

Our season kicks off in a few weeks and so does the season of our favorite baseball teams. It’s an exciting time of year. Make sure you’ve done everything you can to set yourself up for a successful season and work together in this pennant race. We need each other. Good luck to all my teammates this season and I know I’ll be seeing all of you in the World Series this year!

Your teammate,

Craig Basta

PS: Go Mets!

, , , , ,

The secret to success is hard work achieved through Practice, Preparation, Positive Attitude and Personal Pride. What have you done today to ensure your success?

, , , , ,

The secret to success is hard work achieved through Practice, Preparation, Positive Attitude and Personal Pride. What have you done today to ensure your success? IMG_0616