engagement is personal - overcoming 5 engagement fallacies

Applied Culture Science

Avoiding Engagement Pitfalls RoundPegg, Inc.

03.18.14

Engagement is Personal Overcoming 5 Engagement Fallacies

Applied Culture Science

presented by

Brent Daily Co-Founder, COO

RoundPegg unleashes your organization’s

potential using real-time culture

science.RoundPegg Boulder, CO

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2008

-7.0%

-3.5%

0.0%

3.5%

7.0%

10.5%

14.0%

Gallup Kenexa Aon Hewitt Quantum

EngagementYear Over Year ‘Improvements’

5 Year Net Changes Gallup - 0.0% Kenexa - 7.5% Aon Hewitt 0.0% Quantum -4.1%

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Engagement Is A Static State Debunking the annual survey.

EngagementOvercoming 5 Fallacies*

Engagement Can Be Measured Variety Of Ways Not all surveys are created equal.

Survey Fatigue Exists Confronting the silence.

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Global Solutions Work Relinquishing control.

5Other General Misnomers Potpurri of all things engagement.

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Engagement

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Defined

Giving a damn.In exchange for money, people show up. In exchange for meeting personal goals, people put forth effort.

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Engagement

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Scary Statistics

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do the minimum or work against the company goals.

Source: RoundPegg

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Engagement

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480%

more committed to helping the company succeed

Scary Statistics

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Engagement

7Source: Employee Engagement Group

Disengaged managers are

3x

more likely to have disengaged reports

Scary Statistics

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Culture Defined

Culture !

How we do things around here.

Communication !

What are the norms for interaction?

Decisions !

How are decisions made?

Rewards !

What actions are rewarded?

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Communication !

What are the norms for interaction?

Decisions !

How are decisions made?

Rewards !

What actions are rewarded?

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Culture & EngagementThe Link Between

Procedural Justice Perceived fairness of resource allocation

Distributive Justice Perceived fairness of decision outcomes

Rewards & Recognition Frequency and appropriateness

Organizational & Supervisor Support Perception that organization cares about their well-being and manager creates a safe work environment

Job Characteristics Extent the role meets the employees goals, feedback is provided, provides variety and meaningfulness

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Photo by Rosmary

Fallacy1 Engagement is Static

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Antecedents Are Not Static Decisions, resource allocation, recognition, etc. happens every day. Each can influence one’s level of engagement.

EngagementFluid State

Measure 1x/Year Is Inadequate Workplace is fluid. Decisions, rewards and interactions occur daily. Each have the ability to throw a wrench in the works.

Restructuring Happens Frequently The percentage of engaged employees has not changed in over a decade. Doing the same thing will not produce new results.

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New Hires, Departures Change Dynamics New people change the dynamics, creates new ‘favorites’ altering engagement.

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Measurement in ActionEngagement is Fluid

New Class of Hires Start Bring new energy, mesh well within existing teams.

“Get It Together” Company Conversation Several teams not happy about delivery, message.

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Photo by Jennifer Cross

Fallacy2 Survey Fatigue Exists

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Inaction Fatigue Surveying is an act of listening. Inaction is an act of ignoring.

FatigueAction Trumps Hassle

Lack Of Manager Coaching Most managers are not trained to be managers. When presented with the problems their inexperience bely the best approach to remedy.

Time To Address The longer it takes to address issues the more lost those who have identified issues become. Silence enflames issues.

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Misdiagnosing Issues Every group will be motivated slightly differently. A one-sized fits all approach may help some, reinforce the us/them mentality of others.

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Measurement in ActionBritish Telecom

Act Quickly, Act Locally “Our current survey closes this Wednesday. Ten days later, we'll deliver the results to the board and to every manager whose team has responded. We'll be looking at what actions have had the most impact on engagement and what can we replicate elsewhere.” !

- Sharon Darwent, Head of Employee Engagement, BT

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Photo by Kenneth Lu

Fallacy3

Re-Engagement Can Be Tackled Globally.

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Global Rollups Are Meaningless To Workers Results will all trend toward a similar mean. Highly engaged groups will balance the disengaged.

EngagementMeasure Globally, Act Locally

Shared Services Doesn’t Scale These days most shared services groups have been cut to the bone. Addressing issues for thousands with a team of five is insurmountable.

Metrics Often Measure HR, Not Workers Culture and engagement are often (unfairly) owned by HR and the resulting metrics create unwanted incentives.

4Global Solutions Irrelevant For Many Every group is slightly different. Solving for global problems can often work against other groups.

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Measurement in ActionTeams are Different

Pay For Performance (Orange group) prefers monetary rewards over opportunities to grow

Growth Opportunities (Blue group) prefers new challenges over monetary rewards.

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Photo by Warm Sleepy

Fallacy4 Satisfaction Equals Engagement

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Happy, Not Always Helpful Workers can be satisfied/happy if the amount of hassle they face is less than the benefits they collect. It does not mean they are trying.

SurveysWhere Other Types Fail

Benefits Surveys Measure Ideal Benefits and improvement surveys often focus on perks. Perks can retain employees longer, but will not move the effort needle.

Opinions Identify Gaps, Not Engagement Negative gaps often dismissed due to disgruntled workers. Rewards and compensation too easily cited.

4NPSs Fail Referral bonuses, creating a safe outlet to commiserate, personal indictment all work against accurate readings of employment satisfaction.

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Measurement in ActionSurveys Are Not Equal

NPS Meets Bounty !Employees offered $10,000 for referring a new hire and then asked in the one-question ‘climate survey’ whether you would recommend a friend to work at Yahoo.

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Photo by Mark Strozier

Fallacy5 Other General Misnomers

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EngagementPeople Misnomers“Best Friends” Are Critical Only 14% of individuals value ‘developing friends at work.’ For the disengaged, ‘best friends’ reinforce, spread that disengagement.

Some People Can’t Be Engaged Some are more likely to be engaged, but nobody has a goal of working simply to go against the grain.

Engagement Is On/Off Confirmation bias is strong for disengaged employees. It takes many positive actions to remedy past perceived miscues.

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EngagementPerks & Metrics Misnomers

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Year Over Year Metrics Are Key Your workforce, goals, business conditions and the economy have changed. Annual metrics contain too much noise to be a true barometer.

Industry Benchmarking Is Critical The best companies compete against themselves. Knowing scores for your industry pits you against mediocrity.

Money Motivates A general assumption is that changing comp structures can re-engage workforces. Only 30% value money above other rewards.

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Perks Provide Quick Fix Change is often good, but perks rarely sustain. Too often new perks are identified as a solution rather than helping foster relationships.

Applied Culture Science

Avoiding Engagement Pitfalls RoundPegg, Inc.

03.18.14

Final Takeaways

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The Effort EquationEngagementa.

b.

The Employee Always Wins The employee wields all the power in the company - worker relationship. They will give as much or little as they deem necessary to balance the equation.

You Can Not Control Effort An employer can create a scenario to allow for maximum effort but it is up to the worker as to how much to give.

(Capabilities * Responsibilities)Effort ≤ Corporate Offerings Pay, challenges, recognition, perks, attitude towards workforce, treatment, etc.

Carrots Trump Sticks Firing is the only downside threat. Workers know it takes forever to get that done and can find a new job before the ink on the documentation dries.

c.

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Engagement

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5Engagement is NOT Static.

!Measure

Regularly.

Engagement is Local.

!Managers, Not Central Office,

Need to Address.

Engagement is Personal.

!Tailored Action

Required.

Speed is Critical.

!Act of Asking Sets

High Expectations.

Action Trumps Hassle

!Fatigue Sets In When Nothing

Changes.

Tenets for Success

Applied Culture Science

Avoiding Engagement Pitfalls RoundPegg, Inc.

03.18.14

Engagement is Personal by

Brent Daily COO, RoundPegg

!brentdaily@roundpegg.com

+1 (720) 663-7344 @roundpegg

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