I’ll be speaking with Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown of Real Recognition Radio on April 6 at 1:00 PM Eastern. We have a lively discussion about employee engagement and the importance of connection in store so I hope you’ll join us. To hear the program just go to this link.
The Conference Board does excellent research work on employee engagement thanks in part to John Gibbons, a Senior Research Advisor at the organization. After examining the myriad definitions of employee engagement, The Conference Board concluded that employee engagement should be defined as follows:
“Employee engagement is a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that an employee has for his/her job, organization, manager, or coworkers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply additional discretionary effort to his/her work.”
I like this definition. It is consistent with our research where we heard respondents consistently use the terms “connect” or “feel connected” to describe the emotions they experience in relation to their organization’s identity, the people they work with and their day-to-day work.
In our book Fired Up or Burned Out and in The Connection Culture Manifesto, we identify and describe the “force of connection” as
“a bond based on shared identity, empathy and understanding that moves self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership.”
After defining connection, we identify the “Connection Culture” as the environment that produces emotional and rational connections that, as The Conference Board’s definition says “influence [people] to apply discretionary effort to [their] work.” The Connection Culture meets universal human needs. Learn more by reading the manifesto or go even deeper by reading our book.
On April 8, I’ll be speaking as part of the Organizational Development Network Long Island’s Conference in Plainview, New York. The title of the conference is “Building a Holistic Approach for Workforce Competitive Advantage.” For additional details and to receive a discount on admission click on this link: OD Network Long Island E-brochure.
Jason Pankau and I are delighted to announce we are presenting a webinar for Communitelligence entitled “Reenergizing Employees Amidst and Following the ‘Great Recession.’” The webinar will occur on May 5 from 2-3 PM Eastern. Here’s an overview:
Research insights on what differentiates communications from engagement,
The three factors that drive employee engagement,
How to develop an inspiring corporate identity that makes employees feel proud of their organization,
How to dial up the elements in the employee experience that make employees feel valued,
How to eliminate the elements in the employee experience that make employees feel devalued, and
Eight ways to keeping employees informed and give them a voice to share their ideas and opinions.
Additional details and registration information can be found at this link.
Duke men’s basketball team lead by Coach K are in The Final Four again. What’s their secret? According to Coach K, it’s what might be called the “Women K”: his wife Mickie and their three adult daughters. Read all about it in this fabulous article entitled “Follow Me” written by Michael Sokolove that appeared in the February 2006 edition of Play magazine, a supplement of The New York Times. If you read the article and Coach K’s books you’ll see that he clearly describes what we refer to as a Connection Culture, including its three elements: vision, value and voice.
Most leaders are intentional about developing task excellence but they are not intentional about developing relationship excellence. Not Coach K. Here are just a few of the quotes that appear in the article that show Coach K strives to develop relationship excellence via connection:
“Almost everything in leadership comes back to relationships”
“When he recruits a player, Krzyzewski tells him, ‘We’re developing a relationship here, and if you are not interested, tell me sooner rather than later.’ That word — relationship — os one he uses frequently. [He tells players] ‘If you come here, for however long, you’re going to unpack your suitcase. We’re going to form a bond, and you’re going to be part of this family.”
“Game day is not a day for long, drawn-out speeches. It is a time for interaction.”
“There’s an empathetic part of leadership, and this is what my wife and daughters have taught me. Read more »
Here’s a link to a New York Times article entitled “Talk Deeply, Be Happy.” The study cited is additional evidence that people need to connect during the workday in order to flourish. It is especially relevant today when workers do more work online. I like Dr. Edward Hallowell’s advice that human beings need face-to-face human moments of connection on average at least every four hours to perform at the top of their game.
Take a look at this article about Ursula Burns, the new CEO of Xerox, and her efforts to alter Xerox’s culture. Anne Mulachy, the former CEO did a remarkable job pulling the Xerox family together to save the company when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Mulcahy is a tough act to follow but I’m pulling for Ms. Burns to take Xerox to the next level. One way to look at Ms. Burns challenge is that she needs to frame Xerox’s success as being rooted in achieving both task excellence and relationship excellence. When a culture sacrifices truth to being nice (or more accurately to avoiding conflict) a company’s performance eventually suffer. Ms. Burns is performing a delicate dance. If she comes off too strong, people wil ear to spaek he truth. If she does nothing, it seems that the desire to avoid constructive conflict may eventually sabotage the companies performance.
If I were advising Ms. Burns, I would say “make it clear to your Xerox colleagues that we must be intentional about achieving BOTH task excellence AND relationship excellence in order to thrive. Sacrifice either and we will risk managerial failure for reasons I’ve written about in Fired Up or Burned Out.
In Fired Up or Burned Out I wrote about “high five moments” that are celebrated at Cranium, the games company. It turns out that new research reported in a New York Times article by Benedict Carey entitled “Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much” shows there is a correlation between touch and performance. Reading the article immediately made me think of the twin Jensen brothers who dominate men’s doubles in tennis. They must give each other a hundred fist bumps a set!
Like the Jensen brother in tennis, Craniun is a force to be reckoned with in games. Here’s what I wrote about them:
Day 19: High-Five Moments
In 1998, with $100,000 of their own money, Richard Tait and Whit Alexander, two former Microsoft employees, decided to create a new board game.1 Tait came up with the idea when he and his wife were playing games at the home of their friends. The couple easily won Pictionary and were trounced at Scrabble. Pondering how he felt as the winner of one game and loser of another, Tait thought it would be ideal to play a game that involved different skills so that everyone had a chance to shine. That type of game would be more fun, and it would bring people together rather than alienate them in a winner-take-all battle. Tait persuaded Alexander to join him, and together they created the game Cranium.
Cranium became the fastest-selling independent board game in history, selling more than either Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit had in its first year. The company (also named Cranium) went on to shatter industry records by creating games that won the Toy Industry Association’s Toy of the Year game award four out of the last five years. It has sold more than 15 million games in 10 languages and 30 countries. In 2005, while the toy industry’s unit sales were down 6 percent, Cranium’s sales were up 50 percent. Read more »
Looks can be deceiving. At first glance, Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier looks like yet another small, simple, beautifully-designed book. Oftentimes, books of this sort lack anything new or insightful. A few pages in, however, I realized this book was an exception. Do More Great Work gets to the heart of the work each of us should aspire to do — work that makes us feel fully alive and brings us joy. The author, who was named Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006, walks the reader through a series of maps and questions that provide valuable career guidance. As a result of reading this book, I made a change to my business so that I would do more great work and devote less time to merely good work. That’s the measure of a valuable book: it changes the reader in a positive way. I’m happy to report that Do More Great Work met that standard for me and, as such, I highly recommend it.
Note: There is a bonus if you buy the book by this Tuesday, February 23. Michael has an eBook Be Courageous (regularly $25) which he’s giving away with proof of purchase. If you’re curious, you can check it out just by sending a blank email to:
becourageous@domoregreatwork.com. For additional information click on this link.
Yesterday I wrote about the incivility and indifference low status workers experience and how it contributes to today’s widespread employee disengagement. Mawi Asgedom is a friend who I admire in part for his passion to connect with people regardless of their status. Mawi graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1999 and was voted by his fellow students to be one of the Harvard’s four commencement speakers.
Standing before an audience of 30,000 Mawi gave a remarkable speech entitled “Of Snakes, Butterfies and Small Acts of Kindness.” Read more »
Michael Lee Stallard is President of
E Pluribus Partners.
Find out about Michael's latest book, Fired Up or Burned Out.
