Is staff engagement causing sleepless nights?

No wonder you're losing sleep - lying awake in bed anxiously wondering how to get staff connected and switched on to the business.

"I want more money"

Does money figure prominently with your people? Wealth accumulation does motivate people, but not as much as you might think. If the only reason your people turn up for work is to pay off their mortgage, you have the wrong people. Or the wrong environment. Unfortunately it's
an ideal breeding ground for Disengagementitis©, the antithesis of engagement and the scourge of modern-day business.

Most of us catch this bug during our careers, reporting to a more experienced practitioner ("the boss") and complaining of its effects. Somewhat discomforting, he/she alleviates the irritant ("you") by nodding and gently murmuring "Yes, let's see how things look in 6 months," while guiding you out the door. Sometimes the complaint escalates into Acute Disengagementitis, where the disease proves terminal and the patient resigns. In the worst case scenarios, Chronic Acute Disengagementitis appears. Here, the employee is easily inflamed, complains loudly year after year while actively working against the company, infecting everyone around them but worst of all, doesn't resign!

Money, Money, Money

Let's assume that in your organisation, salaries are dispensed at market rates, plus-or-minus a few per cent. Salary surveys and benchmarking should be a continuing part of your organisation's intelligence, shared with employees to demonstrate that scales-of-pay are aligned with market forces. Raising the issue of salary levels might seem to instill fever but it's an effective remedy - regular reports to staff that their salary is in line with industry standards helps neutralise any disquiet.

This calming effect allows employees to focus on other issues. Apart from "difficult economic circumstances", if an employee chooses to resign over a small increase in salary at a competitor, what's their level of commitment to you anyway? {By the way, organisations paying well-above or below market rates reveal more about their working conditions than pay structures, but that's a story for another webpage.}

In this same line of thinking, it makes sense to openly promote staff rewards, incentives and bonuses. Within pre-set boundaries, ask staff to design what they want and discover what they really need (we can show you how). You'll find having input into the future distribution of a pre-approved pool of money generates enormous interest - and higher levels of engagement.

One of the major roles of your accounting team should be to ensure that every employee's salary packaging - flexibility, employee choice, and work-cost savings - is working in the employee's favour. Don't think in terms of it being "a nice thing to do" - it is essential. Stop individual staff being distracted by how their salary is divided up and instead, focus everyone's complete attention on how the organisation delivers the total package ie business results.

Meetings should reveal and regularly state your organisation's needs, encouraging each staff member to accept responsibility for specific monthly outcomes. Staff who share a sense of connection to your company readily make commitments. Those suffering Disengagementitis will not, with associated costs to your company's health.

Encourage staff engagement by continually demonstrating that your organisation actively meets and responds to all employees' monetary needs. By looking after their personal needs, you expect them to look after our business needs. One hand washes the other, so to speak.

Perhaps it's time for a check-up

We need to get people involved again because "turning up" isn't "switching on". To gain the full involvement of our staff, apply a practical two-step remedy:

1.  Repair relationships

Most employees understand the causal link between trust and performance. Alas, when trust is broken, staff disengage and their performance suffers. If you've ever wondered why staff wish to comment anonymously when expressing grievances, it's summed up in 3 words - Fear Of Reprisals. What does that tell you?

Here's a simple test to check for the presence of Disengagementitis. Walk around your group, smiling at each colleague until they notice you. Anyone who returns your gaze and smiles is clear - anyone who averts their eyes is contagious. Divide the number of carriers by healthy personnel to determine your group's health. For example, 20 Carriers divided by 80 Healthy People equals 20/80 or 75%. Recent opinion suggests a result of less than 80% indicates an outbreak of Disengagementitis.

Too simple? Sure. Poor results may be due to recent stress, cultural issues, introversion/extraversion, hierarchical differences, that people are too busy or that work isn't a popularity contest. Seems logical until you realise some people would rather ignore you than engage with you.

For Senior Managers, this Litmus test indicates the pH balance of our relationships and gives surprisingly accurate results about each person's connectedness with our organisation. When staff deliberately prefer not to engage with us, why on Earth would they engage with our company?

Many of our existing professional relationships could use a little therapy. In our 2-day Negotiation Seminars, modules on Staff Engagement are included which help all our patients to:

        *  identify which relationships are important to them;
        *  define which relationships aren't working, and why; and
        *  apply simple tactics to positively change the relationship for
            the better.

Repairing relationships promotes a higher level of connectedness and delivers improved performance. As a result, those patients who follow the recommended course of treatment often make a full recovery.

        2.  Reveal true needs

Disengagementitis also thrives in sub-optimal conditions of ignorance, such as when one group is largely unaware of the needs of others.

Do you know what your staff really want? Or really need? The two are quite different - a want is like a whim, whereas a need motivates us to do something. Our deeper, human needs are what really drive us, even at work. Across different age groups, cultures, and genders, these can appear quite different. If we really want to understand others and their needs - to gain engagement with our organisation - we need to work at revealing their true needs. It's one of the major pieces of our work and we can show you how to discover what others want and need.

May we suggest the 5 Point Method, which describes the case history of Frank, a 40's-something father, who resolves the timeless issue of staying out late with his teenage daughter, Denise. Recommended reading for all.

The doctor will see you now

If you notice your workmates suffering from the debilitating symptoms of Disengagementitis, call us for an appointment immediately. After all, we are fully qualified to prescribe a course of Negotiation Skills training.

When taken together, repairing relationships and revealing needs does wonders for organisational health by fully engaging staff. And at the end of the day, ensures you get a good night's sleep, every night.