Dear Springboard:
As this challenging period lingers on, I’m finding it hard to get my team fired up. And, pushing them to come in to the office is running into resistance. How do I get them to be more engaged?
Sign me,
Feeling Stymied
Dear Feeling Stymied:
My take is that if the Great Resignation has shown us anything, it is the importance of employees to be connected to their work and their colleagues in a way that feels generative of appreciation, meaning, and purpose.
The best-selling author of Now, Discover Your Strengths Marcus Buckingham makes a case for the importance of employees’ loving their work in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review.
He points to the shift in behavior when our brain chemistry experiences changes as when someone is in love. We are more open to changes and new ideas; remember details better; perform tasks faster and better. We’re more optimistic, loyal and forgiving.
It’s greater than just being more effective. We’re “on fire without the burnout,” says Buckingham.
Put another way, we’re engaged – intensely.
Employee engagement is a measurement of how involved we are with our work; how enthusiastic we are to recommend employment at our company to friends and family; and how inclined we are to put in discretionary effort beyond what is required of us.
“Finding love in work is not self-indulgent or narcissistic; it is a precursor and amplifier of performance,” proposes Buckingham.
From a long article, which you can access here if you like, I am highlighting a few nuggets below.
The assertion of the importance of people to love at least some of their work is supported by data from the Mayo Clinic that found that it is optimal for people to love at least 20% of their daily work. Interestingly, there is no clear advantage for more than 20%.
It seems doable to assign responsibilities so employees match up at least 20% of their time with the kind of work they love most. Note that this leverage is facilitated through working on a team. (More on this later.)
Buckingham underscores the positive impact of being part of a team. His research found that workers who were a part of a team were 2.7 times more likely to be fully engaged; 3 times as likely to be highly resilient and 2 times as likely to report a strong sense of belonging to their organization.
He points to teams making a home for idiosyncrasy as a core reason for this powerful impact.
”The most important part of being on a team is developing trust with the individuals who constitute it,” proposes Buckingham.
The nature of teams offers an opportunity for task distribution so that people can do more of the work they enjoy. He also notes that a team can deliver bigger impact than an individual ever could.
An ADP Research Institute survey of 50,000 global participants found dramatic links between trust among colleagues and the positives of engagement and resilience.
When asked “If they trusted their teammates, their team leader and their senior leaders, those who strongly agreed that they trusted people in two of the three categories, were three times as likely to be fully engaged and highly resilient. Those who strongly agreed that they trusted all three were 15 times as likely to be fully engaged and 42 times as likely to be highly resilient.”
Buckingham believes this powerful impact is because “Trust drives the ability of employees to discover and do what they love.”
I would add the positive psychological impact of trust in providing a safe space for being vulnerable, taking risks, making mistakes all while feeling implicit support.
The last nugget is the importance of a once-a-week check-in between employees and their team leader (which I think would also apply to someone’s boss).
Buckingham notes these research findings: “Team leaders who check in every week drive their team members’ engagement scores up by 77% and their team members’ voluntary turnover in the following six months down by 67%.”
Employees want time with their leaders and these stats underscore how important it is.
The proposed agenda for these meetings is not about assessing performance but instead asking,
- What did you love about last week?
- What did you loathe?
- What are your priorities this coming week?
- How can I best help?
At the core of these nuggets is treating people as individuals and with respect and appreciation.