Performance Through People
Here we are at the final lesson in my Employee Engagement course, lesson 6. If you haven’t interacted with any of the other lessons, you can find lesson 1 here.
In this final lesson we learn about two skills that, in some ways, may summarize the others. We learn about the Challenge skill called “Optimize” (the right horse in the right spot on the team) and the Connect skill called “Love” (not office romance!).
Welcome back to my Employee Engagement course. This is lesson 5. If this is the first post you’ve seen in the series, you can find lesson 1 here.
Lesson 5 brings us to some skills that can be a little more challenging for leaders but pay huge dividends in Engagement. We learn about the Challenge skill called “Evaluate” (not that annual pencil whipped thing) and the Connect skill called “Trust” (HUGE!).
I have a new word for you in lesson 4 of my Employee Engagement Course. BTW … If this is the first post you’ve seen in this series, you can check out lesson 1 here.
The new word is the Challenge skill called “Qualitize” (it’s a word!) and our Connect skill in this lesson is “Recognize” (not one-size-fits-all).
Well Done! You’ve made it to lesson 3 in my Employee Engagement course. If you’re just getting this for the first time, you can find lesson 1 here.
We round out the first half of the course by learning the Challenge skill called “Inspire” and the Connect skill called “Solicit.”
Here’s lesson 2 in my Employee Engagement course. If you missed lesson 1, you can find it here.
In lesson 2 we learn the Challenge skill of “Equip” (How is that a challenge?), and the Connection skill of “Cultivate” (not actual gardening, but close).
As promised, here is lesson 1 of my course on Employee Engagement. This is the longest of the six lessons (1 Hour) because it includes an introduction to the whole subject from my perspective.
In this lesson, we cover the Challenge skill – Expect (having and setting expectations), and the Connecting skill – Train (really? A connecting skill?) along with our Change your BS and Change your habit sections. Enjoy!
Years ago I started learning about and practicing the art of Employee Engagement. I believe that if you are a business owner or a leader of any kind, engaging your people is the most important thing you should be thinking about in your work. Here’s why. Engaged people stay! Engaged people attract other people like themselves! Engaged people are the ones who give their discretionary time, talent, and energy to making work better.
But, engaged people don’t just happen. You can’t hire someone for their engagement. Engaged people become engaged because someone engaged them. That someone is their leader. That someone is you. But how do you do that? That’s what I’m going to share with you over the next six weeks.
I put together a training program that I’ve called different things over the years. At one time I called it “Best.Boss.Ever. – How to be the Best Boss Your People Will Ever Have.” Lately, I’ve just called it Engager Dynamics. Each of six lessons covers two specific skills. One of those skills teaches you how to challenge your people to become and achieve more than they ever thought possible. The other one teaches you how to connect with your people on a level beyond just the employer/employee relationship. Those two abilities, to challenge and to connect, are what I’ve found to be the essential abilities of a leader who knows how to engage their people.
Each lesson also has a section called “Change your B.S.” That’s belief system, and one called “Change your Habits.” Those sections get at the heart of how to make the skills we discuss part of your Leadership DNA. The lessons are between 30 and 60 minutes long and are in video format. I’ll post one per week starting next Monday. Until then, here are four 5 – 7 minute videos to get you thinking about Employee Engagement and why it matters to you.
Three Myths about Employee Engagement
Three Mistakes People Make about Employee Engagement
Three FAQs about Employee Engagement
Three Keys to Employee Engagement
I haven’t posted in awhile, but I had to comment on this experience. Suzi and I went to the Dairy Queen near the intersection of South Street and Normal Boulevard in Lincoln, NE where we live. It’s an old school walk-up DQ but they’ve enclosed the front where you order. We like this one for several reasons. It’s close to where we live, but it also has cute swings for customers to use while enjoying their treats, and the staff always seem friendly.
On this visit, I noticed their marquis which said, “We have the best employees!” On the door as I went in another sign said, “Employee Appreciation Month.” When I walked up to the counter I said with a big smile, “I appreciate the employees here. You guys are always friendly and you have the best buster bars in town.” There were no less than six young people working inside and they were all busy but every one of them heard me and looked up to smile or laugh.
When a young lady stepped to the register to take my order, I told her what we wanted and then asked, “So, is this a great place to work?”
“Yes it is!” She instantly replied.
“What makes it such a great place to work?” I asked.
One young man who was working at a machine nearby looked up and said, “She likes working with me!” Everyone laughed. That humor and banter told me something about the work culture of that Dairy Queen.
By this time all the staff was migrating to the front of the store as if they all wanted to answer my question. Again, that told me something. Not one of them said anything about the pay or even the hours. Another young man said, “I think the management does a good job.”
“Really?!” I responded, “What do you mean when you say they do a good job?”
His answer told the story. He said, “They get to know us and they care about us. They let us know that people are more important than money.”
Do you know what I didn’t see at that Dairy Queen that night? I didn’t see anyone slacking. Everyone was working. I didn’t see any frowns. Everyone was smiling and having a good time. And, I didn’t see a sign that said “Now Hiring.” Hmm, I wonder why.
It doesn’t matter what your widget is, every business is a people business. If you take care of the people, they will take care of the business.
That DQ is always busy and it’s no wonder. Customers love a place where the people who work there love being there. That happens only when “Management is doing a good job.”
How do your employees feel about working at your place? If you’d like to learn how to create that kind of work culture (even if you don’t sell ice cream), type the word “Happy” in the comments.
Every Thursday for the last few months I’ve attended “Perk Up Thursdays.” It’s a networking group that is sponsored by the “Focus Suites,” a project of Southeast Community Colleges Entrepreneurship Center. It’s a great time and I’ve met some wonderful people. There is always a “spotlight speaker” at the event and last Thursday I got to be that person. Here’s a video of my presentation.
I know! A lot of people don’t like the word “boss.” They think it sounds … well … “bossy,” as in “bossing people around” and “you’re not the boss of me!” and “I’m the boss so you have to do what I say.” I didn’t use to like the word either until I discovered that it can be used as a term of endearment.
When I was the director of an international school in China, many of the local Chinese staff referred to me as “Laoban” (boss). When leading teams in certain parts of the US many of my Spanish-speaking teammates would call me “Jefe” (boss). Even some of my English-speaking teammates have straight-up called me “boss.” None of those was being used derogatorily, they were used with genuine affection. So, I came to accept the word “boss” and even began to appreciate it because of what my teammates were communicating when using it.
Over the last 15 years or so I have used a specific question when I interview people regardless of the organizational level for which they were a candidate. That question is,
“Could you tell me about your best boss?”
I learned a lot about a person from their answer to that question. I learned, for example, how they like to be managed. But, I also learned a lot about great leadership from those answers. There are some pretty good bosses out there. There are some bad ones, too (I also asked people to tell me about them). But the good ones have these two things in common.
If you lay those two qualities down on a grid with CONNECT as the horizontal axis and CHALLENGE as the vertical axis, that will give you a 4-quadrant matrix that describes what kind of boss you are. The best bosses are well into the upper right quadrant of that matrix which is called “The Engager.” They CONNECT and they CHALLENGE.
When Leaders are Engagers, they have those qualities people use to describe their best boss. Do you want to be the best boss your people have ever had? Reply “boss” in the comments to let me know you do.