In this episode of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, Brandon Laws sits down with Pamela Hackett, author of Manage to Engage: How Great Managers Create Remarkable Results, to discuss the ins and outs of employee engagement in the post-COVID workplace. Whether the team is working in the office, from home, or a combination of the two, learn how managers can better motivate and connect with their teams.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Pamela Hackett is the CEO of Proudfoot, an international operations consulting firm having successfully coached over one million leaders. With expertise in driving change in operating models, results, and culture, Pamela is passionate about seeing leaders connect meaningfully with their teams to create a productive and engaging work environment.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
PANDEMIC ENGAGEMENT
“I actually think that [the pandemic] gave people a cause. Despite the great human tragedy, it rallied people to come together,” Pamela explained. Of course, in the business world, we know that this type of unique banding together is a natural catalyst for employee engagement. “We all stepped up and we all did our bit, and it taught us some lessons about the so-called under-engaged, disengaged, and those resistant to change.”
But when the newfound purpose wears off, will we fall back into our old pre-pandemic ways? According to Pamela, that’s exactly what is already happening: “Engagement scores have dropped down again, and that’s because the new reality has set in and people are getting on with life in this new world. So I think that we have this huge opportunity to take that spike that we experienced, make it a plateau, and then continue to work on it.”
All in all, managers have taken a big step forward in understanding how important it is to engage, but there’s always more to learn. Now, it’s time to ask the important questions: What are the solutions to disengagement? How can we keep moving forward in a post-pandemic workplace? How can we make engagement a priority?
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
The Boss’s Role in Disengagement
“The biggest impact on engagement is whoever your direct boss is. If you don’t have a great relationship with them, if you don’t have that sense of camaraderie with them where you can connect with them routinely, if you don’t have that great boss that can engage you, then you’re probably going to be under-engaged or disengaged. It’s like that old saying: People don’t leave companies; they leave bosses.”
Finding Humanity at Work
“I think it boils down to actually making that human connection. So if you think about the average day of a manager — particularly the frontline guys — […] they’ve got so much coming at them, so many plates spinning and balls in the air. And at the same time, they’ve got to really engage with people. They’ve got to make that connection. They’ve got to routinely check in with them, not check up. Because there’s no amount of paperwork, reporting technology, devices that will make up for that human context. So as simple as that sounds, one of the starting points is to connect routinely with your people and check in on them.”
The Human Ice Age
“The planet is warming up, but the people-side is icing up because, again, everybody’s got their noses in their technology, into their reporting, and into the next crisis. And they’re not actually raising their heads up out of that technology. They’re not connecting with people. The more disconnected people are from one another, particularly between the boss and the rest of the team, the less comfortable they are and the less warm they are to each other.”
Making Two Critical Changes
“A couple of weeks ago, I had a senior executive team and one of them was the big boss — the big cheese. And he said that there is just so much coming at him and he’s got so many crises going on that he just doesn’t have time to connect with his people every day. And I told him that two things have to change. One of them is to make sure you’ve got the right people on the bus. The second is the more you connect with them, the less you’re going to have to worry about a crisis.”
Confidence is a Multiplier
“Confidence is one of those things that, when you’ve got it, you can rule the world and, when you don’t, you really can’t do anything right. And so it is a case of building that confidence. The first thing you have to do is get rid of the doubt that’s in business. Are we really going to be able to make our numbers this month? And will that leader really do his job? Are these new guys really going to help me? Is this equipment really going to be the answer to all our prayers?”
A Spike in Engagement
“The biggest thing with connection is to actually get to know your people so that you can connect. It’s like getting to know your next-door neighbor or the guy down the road. You want to learn more about them so that you can have a meaningful connection with them. In the old world, people said, ‘oh, you don’t want to get to know people too much. You don’t want to get too personal.’ Yes, you do. You want to know what their kids are doing. You want to know the kinds of things that are happening at home — because a lot of the time what happens at home comes to work.”
LEARN MORE
To find out more about how leaders can effectively engage their teams, grab a copy of Pamela’s book, Manage to Engage, wherever books are sold. You can also connect with Pamel through proudfoot.com or pamelahackett.com.