WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:03.960 Hey, everyone, this is Chris with Hacking your Leadership. On today's discussion 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.160 on employee engagement, we're going to be talking about another reason that employees decide 3 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:11.000 that it's time to move on from an organization. The last couple of weeks, 4 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:13.880 we've talked about some of these reasons, starting with it they don't feel 5 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:17.239 like their company invests in them, and then followed up with that they don't 6 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.760 feel happy and what that means to feel happy at your job. The next 7 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:24.600 reason I want to talk about about why employees tend to leave their organization is 8 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.960 that they don't feel important. And when I talk about feeling important, you 9 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:35.079 know, everybody wants to feel like the work that they're doing matters in the 10 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:38.159 context of whatever the mission of the organization is, So, you know, 11 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.719 they want to feel like they're making a difference, not just that their organization 12 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:47.000 makes a difference, but that they make a difference in service of that broader 13 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:51.719 mission or purpose. And if a person doesn't feel that way, I think 14 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:55.600 they're a lot more likely to leave the organization. And data from employee engagement 15 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.439 surveys and Gallop polls and Deloitte polls, they all say this same thing. 16 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.319 It's one of the primary reasons people leave organizations as they don't feel important. 17 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.480 Yeah, I hear that, and I immediately think of like feeling valued seeing 18 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.439 heard, you know, like the things that matter on like kind of the 19 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:12.920 local personal level. But to your point, I like the fact that you're 20 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.480 kind of calling out like the idea of, you know, the importance of 21 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:19.159 the job and of the role and of the impact that it has on the 22 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:26.319 greater organization. And again I think that there's like there's personal value that you 23 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:27.840 have around like how do you feel that you're being treated? And then there's 24 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:33.359 also like professional value that you have around like is my job really important? 25 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.799 Is the thing that I do making a difference? Is it something that's being 26 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:40.840 recognized? And I think that that's such an important piece of the work if 27 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:45.120 you're really talking about why people stay, or on the flip side, why 28 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.680 people leave if they feel that their job is not important and that it can 29 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.519 just be replaced by anybody else for any other reason, it can it's hard 30 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:56.560 to have an intrinsic motivation to want to continue to invest your time and effort 31 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.719 and passion into the role that you have, right, So I think if 32 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.799 you're listening right now. And you ever watched the TV show Lost, and 33 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.719 I did. It was like appointment viewing for my wife and I. We 34 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:12.199 loved Lost. Don't get me started on how it ended, but you know, 35 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:15.360 during during the watching of the show, it was very good and we 36 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:17.919 were enthralled with it. We just loved it. And one of the plot 37 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:24.039 lines is the guy sitting at the computer who has to type in the code 38 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.280 and hit enter and push the button, you know, once every hour in 39 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.319 order for the island to not blow up, or once every twelve or I 40 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:35.000 have forgot how how long it was, once every eight hours in order for 41 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:39.120 the island to not blow up. And that person made sure that no matter 42 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:43.319 what they did to go find water or food, they were right back where 43 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.719 they needed to be in order to type that code in to make sure that 44 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.479 the island didn't blow up. And if you had to do something every day 45 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:53.599 in order to make sure that you know, people didn't die, or or 46 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:57.800 even more that you didn't die, that would be a very you would feel 47 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:00.520 like what you were doing was pretty significant. I would think that'd be really 48 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:05.120 easy to make that tie in. But the moment if you if you take 49 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:07.080 that same person and you tell them no, no, nothing, nothing would 50 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.199 happen if you didn't do it. We just we just need you to do 51 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.479 it. You know, how how long would that person do that same thing? 52 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.439 How long would that person type in that code and hit enter if they 53 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:21.719 didn't feel like the outcome of it mattered at all, like that the action 54 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.360 was significant. And you know, that's a very extreme example of it from 55 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:28.719 a TV show, but this happens all the time in organizations, where a 56 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.479 person doesn't feel that the work they're being asked to do every day actually matters, 57 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:37.000 that if they stopped doing it, it wouldn't matter. And this is 58 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:40.479 this is really difficult to do in a lot of organizations because not everybody in 59 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.759 every organization does work that impacts the world every single day. You have to 60 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.719 be able to tie that in and make sure that if you're a leader of 61 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.439 people, that you know that you can make sure your people feel like the 62 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:59.199 work that they're doing is significant and that it matters, even when it may 63 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:00.800 be a lot harder to do so, or even when the work they're being 64 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.840 asked to do maybe doesn't matter, you know, in terms of the grand 65 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.520 scheme of things, maybe it is easily replaceable. But it doesn't mean it's 66 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:11.199 not important. It doesn't mean they can't feel significant. Yeah. No, 67 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.280 it's a great call out. It's funny because I was thinking about the same 68 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:15.199 thing as like, what if that guy was told like, hey, all 69 00:04:15.279 --> 00:04:18.439 right, you need to enter this code in by five o'clock every day. 70 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:23.680 Well, why doesn't matter why you need to do it. Don't ask questions, 71 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.279 right, don't ask questions? Yeah? Yeah, And she's like, 72 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:28.360 well, I guess, okay, fine, all right, Well you know 73 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:30.079 I'm not feeling well today. You know, maybe I won't make it a 74 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.680 little bit delayed. You know, like if you don't know, if you 75 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:36.720 don't have a direct you know, correlation to the outcome like that, then 76 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.720 it can it can. It feels a lot less motivating, And I think 77 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.720 to your point when it comes to things like leadership and the impact that can 78 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.360 have. You know, you talked about feel and how do people feel about 79 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:50.560 it and how do we recognize it? Sometimes like yeah, some of these 80 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:55.639 things are you know, not not the most exciting, or you don't have 81 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.639 the pressure of the world on your shoulders. You're not worried about the island 82 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.959 blowing up, but for a leadership standpoint, there's a way to make sure 83 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:06.120 that people do feel important and they feel valued, and they feel appreciated for 84 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:12.959 the things that they do. As maybe as repetitive or basic as they might 85 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.560 be, there is something that's happening as a result of their work. And 86 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:20.199 you know when we talk about vision and helping people to tie what they do 87 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:24.040 to the greater vision, that's a big part of leadership, right right. 88 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.800 So I'm looking at things like, you know, companies that have high ESG 89 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.680 scores, you know, environmental, social and governance scores, and so these 90 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:35.439 are this score obviously is very important if you are looking at how you are 91 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:41.279 you know, a sustainable organization, a company that has governed well and ethical 92 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:45.360 organization. If a company ends up on this list of the of the top 93 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.519 ESG scoring companies, it's not by accident. It means that they're actually taking 94 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:53.240 steps that it's it's important to them to do these kinds of things now. 95 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:56.160 Whether or not they're doing it because they know people are more likely to buy 96 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.199 from them because they're doing it, or the companies or employees are more likely 97 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:03.040 to stay with them, that's a less relevant. The fact that they're taking 98 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:06.079 these steps is a good thing. If I look at the companies that are 99 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:10.720 at the top of this list, you know, some of them are applied 100 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.519 Materials, Wouldward, Varisk Analytics. You know, these are companies. I 101 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:18.240 don't think I've ever heard of them before I saw them on this list, 102 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:23.920 and yet they're high on this list. Now, are there people who work 103 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:29.600 for these organizations who aren't doing things every single day? Are that would impact 104 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:32.079 the company's ESG score every single day? Of course, of course there are. 105 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:38.360 But the leaders there are at some point have to tie in what they're 106 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.759 doing to the importance of this in a way that leads them to believe that 107 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.720 their work does matter in the context of this. Whatever they're doing to give 108 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:47.519 back, whatever the organization is doing to leave the world a better place, 109 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.800 or to become sustainable, the sacrifices that the employees are asked to make in 110 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.879 order to make sure that they are, you know, working sustainably, whatever 111 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:59.199 that looks like. For an employee to buy into that, they have to 112 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:01.879 feel like the work they're being asked to do is significant enough to be worth 113 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:05.959 whatever that effort or that sacrifice is. I want to go into some advice 114 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.959 for leaders on what they can do to make sure this is happening in your 115 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.680 own organizations. But first I want to give up toward to one of our 116 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.040 sponsors. All Right, if you're a leader of people and you're trying to 117 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:19.319 make sure that your employees feel important and significant and like the work that they're 118 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:24.160 doing makes a difference, you need to make sure that the tasks that they're 119 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:29.199 being asked to do that might feel mundane or tedious or repetitive, and that 120 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.319 it is harder to tie in to the broader mission or goal or purpose of 121 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:38.439 the organization, that you do a good job of articulating that to those employees. 122 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.040 If you're having a hard time doing that on your own, partner with 123 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.680 your leaders and partner with your peers to figure out how they're doing it. 124 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:47.720 But it's important that employees don't feel like a lot of the work they're being 125 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:50.279 asked to do, or a significant part of the work they're being asked to 126 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:55.519 do, doesn't tie in to the broader purpose or mission of the organization. 127 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.360 It doesn't have to be one hundred percent, but it needs to be enough 128 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:01.000 of it to where they feel like they are engaged in the work every single 129 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.959 day. If you look at these companies on the ESG lists, somebody still 130 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.720 has to make sure that the plants get watered in the in the lobby, 131 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.959 Like there's there are things that have to get done that individually may not seem 132 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:20.439 like they matter or that they are significant in a moment, but together they 133 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.800 do support the broader mission of the organization. And as a leader at your 134 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.399 job, to make sure that your employees understand how that happens in a way 135 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:31.040 that resonates with them and so they can come to work every day feeling significant. 136 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:33.639 Otherwise they're not going to have the level of engagement that you need out 137 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.600 of them to do good work. Yeah, I think it's so important to 138 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.960 connect those dots a lot of times for teams around you know, here's the 139 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.399 work that you're doing, and then kind of here's where that works, here's 140 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.600 where that work goes, and then here's what that kind of work you know, 141 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.840 allows to happen or or or is a part of a larger piece of 142 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:54.919 the puzzle that's needed to get us the results that we have. Because like 143 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:58.440 again it's one thing to say, like you know, hey, we did 144 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.240 this everybody here. I don't want to thank every single person as result like 145 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:05.879 that's one way to do it right. And again it might feel good when 146 00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:09.679 it's addressed. That kind of like that largely, but really from a leadership 147 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:16.320 standpoint, like having individuals know and feel appreciated for that work and for those 148 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:22.679 things and feel important and feel seen and feel valued, that leadership capability is 149 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:30.200 so important because again, many times the work itself can feel like I just 150 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.600 don't know what happens after this, or I have an idea of what this 151 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:39.639 does. But if I'm not getting you recognized for the milestones that are happening, 152 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.440 for the things that I am directly impacting, for the timeliness of the 153 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:45.679 work that I do, for the quality of the work that I do, 154 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.200 like, those things matter so much in making people feel good and feel important 155 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:52.279 in the job that they do right right. The last thing I'll say about 156 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:58.799 this is that sometimes it's enough to just say it. Sometimes it's enough to 157 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:05.840 say thank you for this work that you did. You don't know how much 158 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.879 this helps and is in service and of the purpose of the organization, but 159 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.279 it does. These are the people that were impacted by it. These are 160 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.320 the numbers that remove because of it, And this is what we're able to 161 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:20.120 do. These are the doors that are able to open because of the work 162 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:22.919 that you're doing. A thank you can go a long way. And if 163 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.960 you assume that it's not needed, or that your employees are being able to 164 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.240 tie these things together on their own without you, you're wrong. They are 165 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.200 not able to, at least on a long term basis. So you need 166 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.159 to get out there and do that. It's part of your role as a 167 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:39.840 leader. Make your employees feel significant and they will come to work engaged. 168 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:43.440 And with that it brings us into this discussion of employee engagement. Please join 169 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.919 us next week for another one. You have a great day.