WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.719 Hey, this is Christian Macumut Leadership on today's discussion on employee engagement. I 2 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:09.560 want to talk about predictability from a standpoint of what it does to employee engagement 3 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:15.839 and how employees react when they have a predictable job, predictable space, predictable 4 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:21.719 company culture, predictable leadership versus when it's not that way. Gallup recently released 5 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:28.239 numbers showing that for the first time since pre pandemic, the percentage of actively 6 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:34.399 disengaged employees dropped, So it was on a steady increase from twenty twenty all 7 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.640 the way up through twenty twenty two, and then in twenty twenty three it 8 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:41.679 dropped just a little bit, and a lot of the reason for that is 9 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:46.520 related to predictability of their job. When people feel like things are kind of 10 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:50.960 up in the air, they are more likely to be a disengaged from their 11 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.560 job, less likely to kind of think outside the box as far as what 12 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:59.799 they can do to help the company get better, do more than just whatever 13 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:06.439 job is versus when things are predictable, it allows people to feel safe enough 14 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.599 to kind of step outside what their daily work is and think about things they 15 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.640 can do on top of that to help further the organization or or make things 16 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.719 better as opposed to just kind of keeping their head down and focusing and kind 17 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:23.560 of being almost like a like one track mind. This is really interesting data, 18 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:27.840 and I think it falls in line with what we're talking about and the 19 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.840 importance of predictability in a workplace. Yeah, I think it's a great topic, 20 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.280 and I think honestly, like we we're all hungry for it, you 21 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.359 know what I mean, Like there's an element of wanting to know, like 22 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:41.200 what's expected, what's going on, what does the normal kind of look like, 23 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.079 you know, can you can you not be distracted by changes and stuff 24 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:48.439 that's happening, kind of in the opposite of like, if it's an unpredictable 25 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:51.719 space to work in, you don't really know what's always going on, or 26 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:55.280 you're not exactly sure what the direction is or what might be impacting you, 27 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.480 so it's hard to focus and stay really committed to the work that you're doing. 28 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:02.719 So I think it's very very you know, timely topic, especially as 29 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:07.039 we're continuing to kind of now distance ourselves by a handful of years now from 30 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:12.000 kind of the you know, the pandemic and shutdowns and all the stuff that 31 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.719 had happened back then to kind of give back into this now, this kind 32 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:19.439 of this newer normal of what this looks like. So it is it's interesting 33 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.360 to see the data continue to change, but I think it's such an important 34 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:25.159 thing to talk about because it's always something in my mind that's always relevant, 35 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:29.639 but probably more now than ever before. Right, So, there's been there's 36 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:31.120 been data out there for a long time that says that, you know, 37 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:36.919 if you're an organization and you and you need to make cuts to jobs, 38 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:38.639 if you need to lay people off, that the right way to do it 39 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:45.319 is to really consider everything that needs to be done or that might need to 40 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:47.520 be done in the you know, upcoming six months or a year, and 41 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:52.759 to cut once, very deep, you know, all at the same time. 42 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:57.840 It might hurt more to do that all at once from an organizational standpoint, 43 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.520 but if you if you commit to only doing that once and then knowing 44 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:07.120 that you're done making those cuts, what it does is it sends a sense 45 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.680 of permanence to the people who did not get cut, to kind of say, 46 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:15.159 okay, I survived this, let's get through this, and let's let's 47 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:19.280 move forward. That they can they can move forward with a greater sense of 48 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:22.479 job security in order to kind of do the work that needs to be done 49 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.639 to help the organization get out of whatever rut it is in. It's a 50 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.159 lot of organizations kind of a tendency to, you know, kind of you 51 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:31.080 know, pepper it out a little bit. You know, we want to 52 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.560 we don't want to cut too much, so let's do a little bit here 53 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:36.400 and then a little bit there, and you know, and it and it 54 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:38.639 takes place over the course of two years as opposed to one time. And 55 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:42.800 then what you have is you have employees who they don't They never know when 56 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:46.000 the next next shoe is gonna drop, right They they they wonder, Okay, 57 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:47.039 I survive that round, but what about the next one? What about 58 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.800 the one after that? If they can. If they're thinking that, it 59 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.759 means that they're not focused on anything besides surviving. They're they're trying to figure 60 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:59.879 out what can I do to survive or or they're already actively looking for employment 61 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:02.199 with their place because they don't like living that way where they're wondering whether or 62 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.599 they're going to survive the next round of layoffs. So, you know, 63 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:10.080 cut once, cut deep, and then move on. This predictability that helps 64 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.000 with employee engagement. From an overall job perspective, I think it's equally as 65 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.040 important if you are a leader of people to be predictable and so you know. 66 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:23.199 I think this is important because even if your your organization provides some level 67 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:29.560 of predictability with regard to, you know, the job expectations and job stability 68 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:32.600 and security, if you, as a leader aren't predictable, Meaning if your 69 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:38.959 employees are going to make a decision on something and you would ask them, 70 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:44.240 how will I react to this situation, if they can't immediately give you an 71 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:46.680 answer, that's a problem. You as a leader need to be predictable to 72 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.519 the point where your employees know how you're going to react based on your values, 73 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:55.199 based on your previous decisions, and the transparency of why you made those 74 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:59.720 decisions. The more information you can give your employees as to how to read 75 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:02.959 you in advance to know exactly how how you're going to react, the better 76 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.839 it is for their engagement and their likelihood to think about what they can do 77 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:12.079 to you know, further, the results and the performance and the productivity of 78 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.560 the team as opposed to just whatever their own individual job is. Yeah, 79 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:17.160 I think it's you know, it's such an important thing. You know. 80 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:23.120 The I think of the times in my career where where I flourished the most 81 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.399 as a person and as a leader, and it was at times when I 82 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.279 had a leader who was very predictable, It was very clear about their expectations, 83 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:36.160 was was very like, very consistent in their kind of reactions and their 84 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:42.279 perspective, very very like I said, very consistent in their decision making, 85 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.800 which made it much much easier for me to understand and to think about, 86 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:49.399 like, you know, in this situation or in making this decision. You 87 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:51.560 know, if I was to call this leader right now, what would they 88 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:55.000 tell me? And I had the answer already in my head. And that 89 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.439 was such a helpful thing and an empowering thing to make those decisions and to 90 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:00.360 be able to do those types of things. And I think think that, 91 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.959 you know, when it comes to leadership, that is such an important part 92 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:10.120 of that, like that when you have your leadership brand, that people know 93 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.759 what to expect from you, they get a sense of who you are as 94 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.279 a person, they're really clear about the filters that you use when making decisions. 95 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:19.680 And then at the end of the day, it helps the kind of 96 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:23.600 it cascades to them. They start to take on some of those similar types 97 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:28.720 of lenses and perspectives, which makes it much easier to make the day to 98 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.959 day decisions, so that you could spend the time maybe in the more complex 99 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000 ones or in the space of more learning and development. Right, So, 100 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.879 if you're a leader and you're trying to think about, Okay, how do 101 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:41.079 I become more predictable. How do I make sure that I'm doing this for 102 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:45.639 my employees so that they feel comfortable in knowing how I'm going to react or 103 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:47.560 what my response is going to be to any situation. There's some things you 104 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.639 can do to make this happen, and we'll go over that, but first 105 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.319 I want to get up toward to one of our sponsors. All Right, 106 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.639 if you're a leader of people and you're trying to make sure that you are 107 00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:00.199 a predictable leader, or or if you believe you already are one, your 108 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:01.800 people might not necessarily know that. The first thing you can do, the 109 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:05.879 most important thing you can do, is to articulate why you've made any decision, 110 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:11.120 even if you think it's obvious. And so if you are if an 111 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.879 employee comes to you for advice on something, or they ask for help on 112 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.000 something and you give your advice, or you give the reason you know why 113 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.680 they should do a certain thing. It's important to follow up with them and 114 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:24.839 let them know why you came to that conclusion. If you can root that 115 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:30.079 decision in something that is greater than just whatever the decision is, either a 116 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.279 policy of the organization that you think is incredibly important, your own personal value 117 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:35.319 system, which is you know, probably the best way of doing it. 118 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:40.680 If you can do that, anything that can anchor that decision in something more 119 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:45.120 than just it being a one off, and so it becomes less of a 120 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:49.199 how is Chris going to react in this situation versus how will Chris react in 121 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.000 situations going forward that are similar to this? If you can do that for 122 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.399 your people, so it's not just a you know, here's my advice for 123 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.160 this particular one off. But the reason I gets give you this advice is 124 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.319 because I believe in this and this and this this is important to me. 125 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:09.920 And what that does is that let your people know that you've articulated exactly the 126 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.160 things that are important to you and to the organization, so that the next 127 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.759 time they have a question, they will think about it from the from the 128 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:18.639 standpoint of Okay, I'm gonna go ask Chris about what to do in the 129 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:20.160 situation. Well, okay, what's important to Chris. Oh, it's this 130 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:22.839 and this and this. Okay, it's likely he will react in this way, 131 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:24.920 and then what will happen is they will test it. They will come 132 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.079 and ask again, and then you'll react if you're acting in the same way 133 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:31.519 that is in line what they believe that how you were going to react. 134 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.399 Already, you are furthering their belief that you become a predictable leader. You 135 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.399 do that enough times and they will stop needing to ask you. They'll be 136 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:43.679 able to execute on their own and make decisions on their own without knowing how, 137 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.200 because because if they're asking you for help, it means they don't know 138 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.000 how you're going to react, and they want to make sure that they're doing 139 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.720 the wrong thing. If they're able to do this on their own without asking 140 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.960 you, you've essentially given them the answer in advance, so they know what 141 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.159 the right thing to do is. If you can do this, you'll have 142 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.000 teams of people that becomes self sufficient and they can make important decisions without having 143 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.720 to get you involved. Which is exactly what you want as a leader, 144 00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:09.919 so you can make sure that you can focus on actually leading people and developing 145 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.440 people as opposed to like making day to day decisions. That's kind of a 146 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:15.480 great breakdown of what I was saying earlier on kind of the cascading of the 147 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:20.120 behavior and the understanding from the team. I think even beyond kind of the 148 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:26.200 decision making peace, I think that there are just the way that you build 149 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.279 culture and how people are treated and how people treat one another and understanding. 150 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.879 Like I think of the times when you have conflict amongst people, and a 151 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.399 lot of times most of the time it's as a result of maybe a misunderstanding 152 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:46.320 or you know, somebody is just having maybe somebody had an adverse reaction that 153 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:50.879 was a little too quick and has not yet gone to make it right. 154 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:54.879 And then I think as a leader, when you do those types of things, 155 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.600 and when you are the one who is predictable, and you're the one 156 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:58.440 who gets in front of the team and says stuff like, hey, we 157 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.559 made a mistake here, I made a mistake here, I made a bad 158 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.320 call here, or hey, you know, we dropped the balls. Leadership 159 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.799 team, We're going to make this, right, We're going to correct this. 160 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:11.759 These are all things that you're doing that are that create predictability. To 161 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:15.480 know that if a mistake is made, my leader will own it and there 162 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:16.879 will be some changes, and we'll talk about it, and we'll put it 163 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:20.200 out in the open, and it's okay to make mistakes. Those types of 164 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:26.000 things, even amongst peers, allow there to be more positive conversations. Even 165 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.080 if somebody has an element of conflict, people are more likely to go back 166 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:33.720 to one another and apologize or talk it out or those types of things. 167 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:35.879 So I think it's, you know, besides the decision making of the day 168 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.480 to day, I think it's such a larger piece of you know, how 169 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.480 you impact the culture when you are a leader and you are very predictable. 170 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:46.600 Right. I think about the times that I have walked into work, and 171 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:48.759 we joke about this sometimes because it's happened to all of us. You walk 172 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.320 into your place of business and you say hi to your boss, and for 173 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:56.840 whatever reason, they're distracted or doing something and their response to you seems colder 174 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:00.440 than normal, And it's not intentional. It's just they are in the middle 175 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:03.720 of something or whatever. You caught them off guard. And they respond in 176 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.759 a way that is that is completely not in line with how they would normally 177 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:11.039 respond to you. Your immediate reaction is, oh, my gosh, I 178 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.240 did something wrong. They're going to talk to me about this later because there's 179 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.879 some there's something I did, and I got to think back about what did 180 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:18.799 I do wrong? And then you start thinking about it and you go, 181 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:20.440 well, I didn't do anything wrong. I haven't there's nothing there to be, 182 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.080 you know, going on here. This is the type of predictability I'm 183 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.679 talking about, and you know, unfortunately it can manifest itself in you kind 184 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:31.120 of having negative thoughts about a certain situation. But in general, it is 185 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:35.799 a good thing for a leader to be predictable because it can help with the 186 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.759 decision making process and overall employ engagement. Thanks for joining us for this discussion 187 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:41.519 on employe engagement. We'll see you next Thursday for another one. Have a 188 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:41.960 great day.