Audience: Leaders
Overview: The second of a four-part series on the four factors that can devastate a culture when left unaddressed.
By: Cynthia Kyriazis, Chief Experience Officer, The Culture Think Tank
In this second part of my series, I’m going to talk about employee feelings of connectedness and how they impact the organization’s culture.
For many years we’ve heard and read quite a bit about employee engagement. And the woeful statistics of what happens when employees are deemed disengaged. I want to shift this paradigm a bit.
Understanding Definition and True Value
Behaviors of engagement and disengagement are not the root cause of a situation. They are the outcomes. I believe the root cause is how employees are feeling. And how employees feel is how they behave. Which is ultimately engaged or not.
I find much more value in learning how employees are feeling before
engagement/disengagement sets in. Using metrics and data, I can see how employees are either connecting or distancing from the organization and each other.
The higher the feelings of connectedness, the stronger and healthier the culture. Because how employees feel is how they behave.
Having strong relationships is vital to our well-being. When employees don’t feel a connection within their organization, getting work done on just about any initiative is difficult.
This can include executing on strategic plans, achieving goals, managing change, and driving growth. Companies ranked as Best Place to Work year after year don’t generally experience this. In those organizations, employees feel a connection and work together in the same direction toward goals they believe in.
The Importance of Input by Role
Of course, not everyone is always rowing in the same direction or feeling the same level of connectedness all the time. Situations shift, managers change, and issues of miscommunication and trust crop up. So seeing only summary data of the entire organization can be misleading.
That’s why I love segmented results. They show the feelings index of three separate roles such as staff/team, managers/supervisors and senior leaders. This level of detail shows how employees are feeling and who’s affected based on these interconnecting roles. This is important because it leads us to seeing the bigger picture.
Integration Into the Bigger Picture
Role segmentations are specific and shed light on a potentially bigger and more specific story of what may be going on within the organization.
I was working with a group that was in a fast-growth mode. Staff was working hard and fast over long hours, but over a period of a couple months, I noticed their summary report showed feelings of connectedness dropping.
I mentioned this to the CEO but no action was really taken. However, the following month I pointed out results by role and things became much more clear.
Staff was reporting feeling only 33% connected while the managers were feeling about 67% connected.
It seemed that managers were getting their work done through their staff and feeling good about it, while their staff was left feeling disconnected and under-appreciated.
If this trend continued, employees who were distancing would grow and their workplace culture would continue to suffer and stagnate.
Armed with this information, the CEO stepped in to more clearly understand the data and what it was telling us. She helped turn the situation around and with time everything got back on track as feelings of connectedness rose and the situation improved.
The more employee feelings are acknowledged, the more they feel listened and cared for, and the more connected they feel. It results in a corresponding rise in performance and productivity. Because how employees feel is how they behave – see the Unconscious Bias Case Study.
And one last thing…
An open discussion around employee feelings and mental health concerns is relatively new in the workplace.
It’s a different skill leaders need to learn and cultivate because it involves human-centered issues. And human issues impact goals, operations and finances.
One day a manager I was on the phone with said “he wasn’t a ‘therapist.’” I understand how someone might feel this way and I’m not someone who feels others should work outside of their expertise.
What I’m suggesting is simply stop and acknowledge and listen to an employee in distress or feeling distanced from everyone. This involves a show of compassion. And compassion means you heard the person, acknowledged their feeling and if needed offered assistance in ways the organization could offer.
Listening and showing compassion does not require ‘fixing’ a situation. It simply requires caring about the person and their current mindset.
Here are a few things to consider and some steps can you take and sidestep avoid employee distancing within in your own organization or team.
Feelings. Remember, how someone feels is how they behave. Take actions that show you recognize these feelings and open a discussion.
Roles. Learn how people at each level of your organization are feeling. Ask, listen, and do this often.
Nurture. Cultures are living relationships that need to be nurtured. Find unique ways to do this on a regular, on-going basis.
When all is said and done you need a tool to help identify and measure how employees are feeling. The key approach means following the data, having inclusive conversations, and demonstrating understanding and compassion. An organization that does this develops a culture that’s way ahead of others out there.
Next is part three of my series where I’ll be looking at what employees need from their leaders.
Four Factors That Impact Company Culture: Factor 1 – AnxietyFour Factors That Impact Company Culture: Factor 3 – Failure to Ask & Accept Staff Requested NeedsFour Factors that Impact Company Culture: Factor 4 – Failure to Ask & Accept Staff Requested Needs
Cynthia Kyriazis is the Chief Experience Officer at The Culture Think Tank. Her experience includes executive coaching, consulting, and training. Book a 15-minute chat to discuss your people, performance or profit challenges.