Episode 49 – Employee Engagement: Getting the Right People on Your Team

Welcome to the TRSA podcast. Providing interviews and insights from the linen, uniform, and facility services industry. Most Americans might not realize it, but they benefit at least once per week from the cleanliness and safety of laundered, reusable linens, uniforms, towels, mats, and other products provided by various businesses and organizations. TRSA represents the companies that supply, launder, and maintain linens and uniforms. And in this podcast, we will bring the thought leaders of the industry to you.

 

We’re back with another episode of the Linen Uniform and Facility Services podcast interviews and insights by TRSA sponsored by 6 Disciplines Consulting Services. I’m your host, Jason Risley, the senior editor of digital and new media at TRSA. Joining us for part 2 of a series on organizational health is Dan Gonder, the chief operating officer and co owner of 6 Disciplines. If you haven’t listened to the first part of my talk with Dan yet, go back and listen to episode 48 of the podcast. In last month’s episode, Dan discussed proven teamwork strategies to ensure the success of your organization’s strategic plan.

 

On today’s episode, Dan will talk about ways to ensure your employees are engaged in their work. If you’re in the office, take a moment to download the anti misery work sheet from www.trsa.org/podcasts and work through it while you listen to the episode. If you’re listening to this recording on the go, check back in later to download the worksheet and review it. Dan, welcome back to the TRSA podcast. You’re returning for part 3 in the series that kicked off in January 2022.

 

During the first session, your business partner, Eric Kurgan, shared the importance of ensuring organizations are heading in the right direction through effective strategic planning. In particular, Eric shared many practices to build a road map for current and future success with organizations. Next, you joined us for part 2 of the series focused on ensuring organizations have an effective teamwork strategy to execute their strategic plans. Specifically, you guided our listeners on the importance of having the right people on the bus sitting in the right seats and going in the right direction. As we wrap the series up, you’ll be talking about keeping the right people on the bus through employee engagement.

 

Yes, Jason. This is an important topic and has been for a while. You know, with the continued challenges of hiring new employees, organizations of all sizes must ensure that leaders and managers are walking the talk regarding employee engagement. If you are experiencing turnover at any level within your organization, today’s podcast will focus on 3 things managers can start doing right now to impact engagement positively. You mentioned the importance of this topic, Dan.

 

What are you seeing regarding retention as you work with your clients and specifically with operators in our industry? Yeah, Jason. Well, certainly, turnover is is at higher levels across most organizations that we observe, but I’ll step back and and go to the macro level. And Gallup, for a very long time, has done some some very important research on retention, but but more importantly, employee engagement. And whether you go back to a formal study a little over a year ago, January 2021 that Gallup did, you know, updating and saying 61% of US employees are are either passively or actively disengaged.

 

You know, that’s concerning. And certainly their research says that those that are able to create higher levels of engagement within their organizations, They’re going to experience lower turnover, fewer quality issues, higher profitability, higher sales. All the things that are in the strategic plans we’ve been talking about in this series, you’re gonna get better performance from in most cases. So that’s from the macro level. Certainly, as we look with organizations that we work with and operators, having enough of the right people to both run your business, keep up with the day to day, and change your business with your strategic plan is a challenge.

 

You know, hear lots of discussions of combating the grass is greener, on the other side kind of thinking and engagement, culture, having healthy processes and structures is gonna help you combat that. Competition for wages and benefits. How do we create greater interest and desire for jobs that are physically demanding? Whatever the challenges, I believe it starts with creating a positive manager team member relationship, a spirit of teamwork to to make it a more complicated decision when when someone’s considering making that job change. Ultimately, and I’m sure your listeners have heard this before, many times when employee leaves an organization, they are leaving the manager.

 

Lots of research will show that. And that’s what we are going to focus on today. What can you do as a manager to change this scenario? That makes sense, Dan. So our targeted audience today is managers, and I’m sure many managers will listen to this podcast who want to make a difference when it comes to employee engagement.

 

However, amongst all their responsibilities, they’re not sure where to start. Do you have any suggestions? Yes, Jason. I find that employee engagement can be particularly hard for managers on those weeks when you’re facing another employee resignation or multiple employee resignations. This concept can be very daunting.

 

It can be tough to stay positive. I hear that a lot from managers. And I would encourage all managers listening today to connect to the the following vision, that everyone deserves to like their job, and, certainly, the goal is that they like their job working within your organization. And your organization deserves to have employees who care and want to do their best. And as we’ve gone through the past 2 years, I think many organizations are faced with lowering the bar, and it’s time to get back to this vision.

 

Again, that everyone deserves to like their job, and your organizations deserves to have employees who care and want to do their best. And what does it mean to have employee engagement and care and want to do your best? Well, my personal definition, involves these items. You know, when work achievements, when we’ve had that good day, we’ve accomplished some meaningful things in a day or a week, they’re exciting and bring pride. I know myself if I I’ve had one of those weeks, you might even catch me in my office at the end of the week giving a fist pump and just being excited about that.

 

Conversely, we all know that we have work frustrations, But when we’re engaged, those frustrations are seen as worth it. You know, the ideas of joy and fun is are part of the work experience fairly consistently. And that extra effort that that we all have to give at time comes naturally. And one of the most important, most of the organizations that are listening today, they have a vision. They have a plan of where they’re going, and engaged employees are gonna find meaning and purpose in that future.

 

And that’s that’s the focus of what engagement should look like. And so as we talk about what drives the that level of engagement, the 3 drivers, today, we’re gonna support you with an action plan to improve on these drivers. And the focus of today will include experiences from from my career and work experiences. It will also include the concepts from the book The Truth About Employee Engagement by Patrick Lencioni. And as I mentioned earlier, Gallup’s done a lot of good work on this in 50 plus years, around employee engagement and will align with what Gallup sees as the keys to driving employee engagement.

 

And before we go there, I know Jason mentioned at the start of the podcast, if you haven’t already, I’d invite everyone to pause the the podcast, go out to the main page, and download a copy of the anti misery worksheet because I’m gonna refer to that multiple times, and and that’s how you’re gonna create an action plan to improve employee engagement. Alright, Dan. Hopefully, everyone has been able to download a copy of the worksheet for our podcast. I’m excited to hear about your 3 drivers. I’m particularly interested to learn if any of the drivers deal with money or compensation.

 

Yeah. And that’s a great question. I get asked that often, Jason. And is it about the money? Well, yes.

 

It is. If you’re an organization that’s not paying competitively to either your market, your industry, types of roles, the geography you’re in, etcetera, you gotta ensure you’re paying competitively. But assuming you are, I believe that the money is just a satisfier. Meaning that at a certain point, if you get more of it, it won’t have a meaningful impact on your job fulfillment, your satisfaction, or engagement. So we’ll take that as kind of a a foundational element here that that that money is only a satisfier, but, remember that there may be an action, and I know a lot of organizations benchmark this and look at this to ensure that you’re paying competitively.

 

And I find that the answer to that question, needs to be assessed frequently in in our current hiring scenarios today to make sure you’re paying competitively. As I speak on this topic from time to time, I sometimes get challenged about, hey, I’d like to test that theory, Dan, to see if it’s not about the money. And the thought I would give you is think about someone who is high highly compensated but still miserable in their job. And my bet is many of you will be able to think of someone that. So money is just a satisfier, Jason.

 

Okay. It makes sense that money, compensation, and benefits only go so far. Let’s jump into the drivers. Yeah. So when we talk about the drivers and, pull out that anti misery worksheet that you downloaded when when we paused earlier, And there’s really three things that drive employee engagement.

 

And I’m gonna start by talking about the the negative that that people don’t wanna experience, and then I’ll accentuate the positive. So the first driver is anonymity. To be fulfilled in our work, we all need to be known and cared for, and we we can’t feel anonymous. The second driver is irrelevance. We all need to know that our work matters to someone, to anyone, and that’s gonna drive fulfillment.

 

Without knowing our work matters, it’s gonna be really challenged to be fulfilled in our jobs long term. And the 3rd is a measurement. And Lancione in his book, he he calls out that he didn’t make up this word and this term, but it really means each of us need to know how to win each day. We need to know what success looks like in a simple way. And I’m a drill into each of these, you know, starting with anonymity.

 

All of us need to be understood and appreciated for our unique qualities by someone in a position of authority. That’s why it’s so important, managers today as we think about this. People need to be known and cared for. Someone who sees themselves as invisible, generic, or anonymous cannot love their jobs no matter what they’re doing. And as we think about this, I mentioned Gallup’s research.

 

You know, Gallup’s done some work. They actually call it their their q twelve, and it’s the 12 key drivers of employee engagement. And this aligns very, very well with an anonymity in that 3 of their drivers of the 12 talk about things like someone at work seems to care about me as a person. Someone at work encourages my development. Even I have a friend at work.

 

So this importance of relationships and feel feeling known and cared for is key. So the action, again, looking at the top of that anti misery worksheet, think about the least engaged employee that works on your team managers and who do you need to get to know better? And if you’re having trouble connecting to that, think back in your careers, maybe times where you felt anonymous or generic and what caused that. And think about what could have done differently, and you can apply that to your least engaged employee as we’re building this action plan. And that may start with just a simple conversation, just taking a few minutes.

 

Hey. I know you’ve been working here for a while. I’m a little embarrassed that I don’t know you you better than I do. Start to introduce yourself. Tell it tell a little bit more, about yourself from that standpoint, and provide that opportunity, and then follow-up.

 

I know in my career, thinking back to my very first job out of college 20 plus years ago, I was very thankful to have someone, a leader, that took the time to get to know me. And that’s a relationship that went for a long time throughout my career and really impacted what I was able to experience, what I was able to to learn. And I oftentimes wonder if that individual, his name was John, didn’t invest in in me? Where might my career went without that? You know, another example that’s been enjoyable to observe a a client that I work with, they they have a new leader that has come from another industry.

 

And just watching some of her social media posts about the excitement of being part of a team, looking forward to seeing those that, they work with each day, it certainly shows that the value of that we all need to be known and cared for. So take a moment right now, put down an action plan. How are you gonna get to know someone better, especially that least engaged person on your team at this point? You’ve got me thinking about the importance of being known and cared for, specifically that question of when you have not felt cared for in your career. And you are right.

 

How could anyone feel fulfilled in their work without feeling cared for? So let’s move to the 2nd driver. So that’s that irrelevant piece. And if I would think about one of our key roles as managers, anyone who leads people, it’s your job in a genuine, truthful, meaningful way to regularly remind those that work for you that their job matters. Without seeing that connection between the work we do each day and the satisfaction of another person or group, whether that’s external customers or internal customers, someone on on the route working with a supplier, an employee simply will not find lasting fulfillment.

 

Even the most cynical employees need to know that their work matters to someone And and usually, their direct manager, their boss is key in that relationship. Again, Gallup, those 12 drivers, they call it the q 12, multiple connections to this concept of irrelevance. Am I important enough to the organization to have materials and equipment to do my work right? Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best each day? Have I received recognition or praise for doing good work in the last 7 days?

 

I think that that gives us a great bar of how frequently do we need to do this as managers. You know, at work, my opinion seem to count. The mission or purpose of our company, makes me feel my job is important, and I’ve had a chance to learn and grow. So what I always like to see is where one concept, in this case, the three truths about employee engagement that Patrick Lencioni writes about and Gallup’s research, it really brings it back to real life. And I’ve seen this in multiple experiences.

 

Working with a client years ago, we were in a leadership team meeting and this individual member of the leadership team, when we were talking about the importance of recognition, etcetera, proclaimed to the team that, hey. I really don’t need that. Doing the work is enough for me. I don’t need the recognition or the kudos, if you will. And then fast forward a few weeks later, I’m doing an individual coaching session with the same manager, and that manager shared with me that, hey, Dan.

 

It seems like no one appreciates me around here. And it was one of those scenarios that you couldn’t really make it up, but it reminded me that there’s such a fine line between, hey. I I don’t need that. The work is enough versus I need to hear about the importance of my job. And I believe it’s a principle.

 

No matter who we are, our personality styles, we need to be hearing that our work is important to someone, anyone to achieve that fulfillment. And periodically, I’ll get pushback from managers. Hey. I’m not gonna make things up. And, of course, you wouldn’t.

 

This needs to be genuine recognition. It needs to be based on real items. And I usually say, well, if you have trouble identifying things to create recognition for, maybe you’re dealing with another issue that from a performance standpoint. But assuming you’re not, there’s probably many opportunities to identify meaningful, relevant reminders of how someone’s work is important to someone else. And, I would actually say in my experience, reminding of the relevance of our work is just as important, quite possibly more important than the constructive feedback we give to our employees.

 

So make sure you have the right balance there. Everyone needs to be reminded of their relevance of their work. So going back to your anti misery worksheet, and you’re in the middle section there around irrelevance. Think about that least engaged employee. And do you have opportunities to remind them how their work impacts your end customer, impacts someone that that they work alongside with the process.

 

People who don’t know how their work impacts the lives of others will not be fulfilled. So what’s your action plan? That connection of ensuring everyone knows who and how their work is essential to someone is vital. At a previous job I held in collegiate athletics, it was unclear to me how my role fit into the overall structure of the athletics department. At the time, I was working on some of the nonrevenue sports and it seemed that those sports were an afterthought when compared to some of the major revenue generating sports such as basketball.

 

It was a real problem for morale to have that perception of your work, so I can attest to the fact that it is important to know the value of your work and how it benefits the organization and its stakeholders. I’m excited to hear the last driver. Yeah. So that last one is that term of measurement, but I’m gonna just redefine that as everyone needs to know how to win each day, what success looks like. Without that simple ability to gauge progress on their own, of level of contribution, did we hit the mark for the day?

 

We’re gonna really struggle being fulfilled in their work. And too oftentimes, without a tangible way of measuring it, we’re left to judging success by the whims of another person. Again, many times our boss. So think about that goal based means of accessing success or failure. I know many of the organizations listening today, they’ll have nice visual dashboards out on the floor and their production areas.

 

They’ll have nice scorecards in the routes and field service. And it’s so important to make sure those aren’t just tools, but people can understand how their work impacts that. When they see green, yellow, or red, what does that mean? And it it might be a good checkpoint from that standpoint to make sure it’s simple, it’s understandable, and it helps people gauge was today a good day, an an okay day, or a not so good day. And, again, this aligns with Gallup’s q twelve so well also, this idea of a measurement, because, their research calls out, hey.

 

If someone doesn’t know what is expected of them at work, engagement’s gonna suffer. It’s gonna create those 61% actively or passively disengaged workers. If the people around me aren’t committed to doing a quality work, that’s gonna impact engagement. And it also says, hey. In the last 6 months, has someone talked to me about my progress on my work?

 

All of those aligns up with, we need to know how to win each day. And, you know, particularly in our strategy work and going back to the first podcast in the series, it really comes down to, do we know what success looks like in our organizations within our teams? And bringing that down to the individual level in the simplest way. That’s what strategy is. So make sure that you have that in place.

 

And so when I think about knowing what success looks like, I often share this joke with with clients and, it connects to what success looks like. So a college professor and it’s midterm exam time is contacted by by 4 of their students and said, sorry, professor. We couldn’t make it to the midterm exam. We were carpooling there, and we got a flat tire. The professor was very accommodating, said, no problem.

 

We’ll create a makeup time to take that exam. So the students arrive for the makeup. The professor asked them to go into 4 separate rooms, and each of them have a makeup exam with 1 question on it. The question of which tire. So the importance of those 4 students being on the same page and knowing what success looks like when it comes to a tire was what tire it was was paramount in that moment.

 

It’s similar as you think about your team. If I visited and did the very same thing, asked you to go into your office and then, your team member into a conference room and make a list of the 2 or 3 things that are most important in their work right now, how aligned would your answers be? And think about that. And that may be one of the most important things you can do as part of, the action plan is, are you aligned with your team on what winning or success looks like each day? If not, what conversations do you need to have in your next 1 on 1 or your next check-in with your team?

 

And again, I would focus with your least engaged employee as part of that call to action. Thanks, Dan. I’m thinking about the various aspects of my job right now to ensure I know what winning looks like. As we conclude, listeners have hopefully been filling out their action plans throughout the podcast. What final words of encouragement would you provide managers?

 

Yeah. So if you think about it, this retention, having enough staff to cover your day to day requirements is so important. And it’s the biggest challenge out there in addition to to supply chain that that we observe. And by putting an action plan in place, what if you cause just one person to stay that plans to leave this month? And then maybe next month, you impacted another.

 

And it’s those small incremental gains that are gonna have a positive impact on your retention. So it does take intention. It does take building an action plan like the anti misery worksheet, and you need to commit to that action plan. What are you gonna do this week to move forward, to reduce the anonymity? What are you gonna do this week to reduce irrelevance?

 

And what are you gonna do to eliminate a measurement so that each of your team members know what winning looks like each and every day? Remember, everyone deserves to like and be filled fulfilled by their job, and you and your organizations deserve to have employees who care and want the best for your team. So look forward to, you filling out your anti misery worksheets and taking meaningful steps right now to improve employee engagement in your organization. Thanks again for joining us today, Dan. If any of our listeners have any questions about the worksheet or anything from today’s podcast, how can they reach out to you?

 

Yeah. So you can reach out to me at, my email address, gonderc0nder@6dconsulting.com, or you can go to our website at 6d consulting.com. Thanks, Jason. If you’d like more information about the topics Dan discussed on today’s podcast, visit www.trsa.org/podcast and download, review, and fill out the anti misery worksheet that Dan referenced on the show. If you have any comments on today’s show or suggestions for future episodes, send an email to podcast attrsa dotorg.

 

Thanks again to our sponsor, 6 Disciplines Consulting Services, and please subscribe, rate, and review our show on Apple Itunes, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. For the latest news and information from the linen, uniform, and facility services industry, subscribe to our newsletter, Textile Services Weekly, and monthly print publication, Textile Services Magazine. Additionally, don’t forget to follow TRSA on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.