WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.080 --> 00:00:03.759 Hey, this is Chris with Hacking your leadership. On this discussion of about 2 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:06.679 employee engagement, I want to talk about an interaction that I had with a 3 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:11.080 person a few weeks ago that hasn't really sat well with me, and you 4 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:13.960 know, kind of trying to figure out why it wasn't sending well with me. 5 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:17.920 It led me to kind of a thought process in my mind around something 6 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.719 I think is really important if you're a leader of people when it comes to 7 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:25.399 keeping your employees engaged. I went to a person that I work with with 8 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.600 a problem and I asked them for advice on how to solve a problem. 9 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:35.399 And their response was not what I hoped it would be. It was, 10 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:40.280 you know, it wasn't the exact words of don't bring me problems, bring 11 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:45.840 me solutions. They didn't say that, But what they said was what would 12 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:50.200 you do? And the impression that I got from that moment was not that 13 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.439 they wanted me to make the decision, but they actually didn't have an answer 14 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:57.200 for me, and they were trying not to admit that they didn't have an 15 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:00.520 answer for me. And that was a little frustrating because I would rather have 16 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:02.439 just admitted that they didn't have an answer, so we could, you know, 17 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:03.680 kind of work through it together, which is fine like that, you 18 00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:07.079 know, have the humility to say to say no. But it made me 19 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:11.200 want to just, you know, not go to that person again for any 20 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:15.159 advice because I felt like the interaction wasn't transparent and real. I wanted to 21 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:19.680 talk to somebody who actually either A had a solution or B could help me 22 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:23.560 work through it together so that I at least I could say I did my 23 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:26.599 due diligence on making sure I wasn't just arbitrarily going forward on my own, 24 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.280 that I was taking a partner and making this decision. So I think this 25 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:34.239 is really important when it comes to employe engagement because again I found myself actively 26 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.719 disengaging on trying to solve that problem because of the response of that leader and 27 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:42.280 trying to find out how to instead replace that person with somebody else to try 28 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.680 to solve this problem. I think this happens a lot, and I think 29 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:51.239 a lot of leaders either inadvertently or intentionally drive employees down this path. I 30 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:53.400 will be the first to say, I'm Lorenzo, I'm a leader of people, 31 00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:00.120 and I have done this in my career. You have guilty as charged. 32 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.280 I rolled my eyes, Yeah, rolled my eyes. In my head, 33 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.200 have I thought, like, why is this person always bringing me problems? 34 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:12.159 Like like I have absolutely guilty of this. I think this happens. 35 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.319 This happens in real life, it happens in leadership. I think it's a 36 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:19.280 great topic to talk about because we talk a lot about employee engagement, We 37 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:22.280 talk a lot about building trust, We talk a lot about like collaboration, 38 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.240 you know, and working with people, benefit of the doubt, positive intent, 39 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.800 Like we talk about a lot of these types of things. This is 40 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.280 one of those moments when this is such a critical time for those things to 41 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:38.680 come to life, because you know, if you I'm going to assume, 42 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:45.360 this is my assumption that people have done the work to figure out what the 43 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:49.400 solution should be to the problem before they got to me. And so I'm 44 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.919 going to assume you came to me because you really need help getting too a 45 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.439 solution if you come to me consistently. And I'm like, we just had 46 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:00.879 this conversation two weeks ago, or this is so similar to the last thing 47 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:02.599 that happened, and we talked about it, and I kind of gave you 48 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:07.639 some resources and asked you some questions like we took the time to break this 49 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:09.919 down a little bit, and you're continue to come back to me, then 50 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.919 I have to peel back, as leaders say Okay, what's what's going on 51 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.639 here? Right? Like like maybe maybe we we didn't we didn't get there 52 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:20.840 together. Maybe like but we have to have a different conversation. But I 53 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:23.680 want to make sure that it's done in a healthy way, because what I 54 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:25.319 still need you to do is come to me, like I to your what 55 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:29.960 you just said. Like if I if I disengage in a way, or 56 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.479 if I make it feel like I'm not being transparent or I don't have time 57 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:37.080 for you or I'm not willing to give you a solution, then I can 58 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.360 completely turn you off of coming to me when it comes to having questions or 59 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.439 problems, and then you might make a decision that is really something that causes 60 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.759 a larger issue, right, And I do not want to have that. 61 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:50.039 But if you're if you're getting this from from a from a larger team, 62 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.879 if you're getting this from an individual, as a leader, you have to 63 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.759 step back and say, like what am I doing to cause this? What? 64 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.240 What what am I? What am I doing to to allow this to 65 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.719 be a thing that continues to happen, And how do I have to change 66 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:08.479 my behavior, my communication style, my clarity of the vision of what we 67 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:12.120 do, like, what do I have to change to help my team stop 68 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.480 doing this specific behavior, Because if you don't personally own it, you're going 69 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.439 to continue to just either shut it down or they stop coming to you. 70 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.839 And that becomes really a much much larger issue right right, And if an 71 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:28.360 employee is doing this, it isn't necessarily that they don't care. It could 72 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:31.839 be that they lack the confidence in being able to make a decision on their 73 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:36.360 own and they're looking for validation. They're looking for you to validate what they've 74 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:41.920 they've already figured out, or they've been burned in the past they've made a 75 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:45.439 decision on their own, or they've they felt like they did the due diligence, 76 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:46.399 they made a decision and didn't go the right way for them, and 77 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:50.959 now they know it's kind of what once bitten twice shy. And it's your 78 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:55.480 job as a leader to find out which of these two people that you're dealing 79 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:59.399 with, because how you lead a person that is one one style versus the 80 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.560 other style is very different. One of them doesn't care, and one of 81 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:08.959 them cares very deeply but doesn't want to get themselves into a situation that hurt 82 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.480 them in the past. And how you respond to them to give them the 83 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.639 confidence to move forward that is going to make all the difference in the world 84 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.399 to kind of get them out of that rut versus a person who doesn't care. 85 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.079 I want to give some advice to leaders on how to best do this, 86 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.800 but first I want to get upward to one of our sponsors. All 87 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:26.560 Right, if you're a leader of people and you're dealing with this kind of 88 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.439 thing where people are coming to you and asking for solutions to problems, one 89 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:33.240 of the questions that I love asking of people who've come to me to kind 90 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:36.279 of figure out which of the two people they are are. Do they care 91 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:40.920 deeply about something and they're just worried about making the wrong decision, or do 92 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.800 they not care and they're just trying to hand off the problem to me, 93 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:46.040 hand off the responsibility to me so that they don't have to make the decision 94 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.959 on their own. The question I asked them is if there wasn't a clearly 95 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:55.240 defined solution to this by the organization or by a policy somewhere. If it 96 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.600 were truly up to you, what do you want to do? And what 97 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.279 I've found is it you will get one of two responses. You'll get deer 98 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:04.040 in headlights or you'll get oh, well, this is what I would do 99 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:05.360 right here, I do this and this and this and this and this. 100 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:12.040 That answer of being able to clearly articulate what they would want to do if 101 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.560 or up to them, that says, Okay, I have put thought into 102 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.079 this, I do care about this problem. I've exhausted the resources I have, 103 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.920 and I'm coming to you for advice because I really can't find the answer. 104 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:24.480 If they can't articulate what they would want to do, or if they 105 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.519 have to, like you know, if they're really happy to think about that, 106 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.199 it means they haven't put any thought into it. And that's a different 107 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.439 response. One requires the kind of leadership that says you don't care about your 108 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:38.040 job, and we need to figure out how to make that happen, or 109 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.480 figure out how to get you into a different role where you do care about 110 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.279 it. The other says you have an employee who is actively engaged in solving 111 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:46.319 problems and they maybe lack the confidence to do it. On their own without 112 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:49.800 taking a partner, figure out which of the two employees that it is that 113 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:55.959 you're dealing with, and respond accordingly. Otherwise you will end up either you 114 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.120 know, actively contributing to the disengagement of an engaged employee, or you will 115 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:03.519 assume something about an employee that isn't true and that will need to further problems 116 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.399 down the road. Tone matters, context matter, Like, there's so much 117 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:11.680 of this that I think is important. But I think that as a leader, 118 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:15.439 you know, having the chance to go in front of the room and 119 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:17.000 in front of the team and talk about these things and say, hey, 120 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:24.279 I want us to move into a space where you feel empowered to make decisions 121 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.959 that are going to be the right decisions for our company and for for our 122 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.319 team and for our customers or whatever that is, Like, I want us 123 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.399 to be that, and here's what that looks like. And I want to 124 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.439 talk about what this type of thing. If you run into a situation or 125 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:40.439 an issue, the first step of that is ask a peer, right, 126 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.319 ask a pere what do they think, like bounced off somebody else to two 127 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.319 heads are better than one, and a lot of these types of scenarios and 128 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:49.319 and let's let's bounce around a couple of the different ideas, right and then 129 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.560 and then if you're getting stuck or you're not figured it out, or you 130 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:55.639 need a timely decision, then come let me know. But but tell me 131 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:59.720 say, hey, I'm coming to you and I need a timely decision because 132 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:03.319 we've bounce a couple solutions and we're just not getting there, Like preface the 133 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:05.800 conversation with where you're at with it, what's going on. Like I think 134 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.839 if you do that as a team and you talk about the importance of it, 135 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:13.040 and you build a work system by definition of what you want them to 136 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:16.759 go do, then it's super helpful because you've given them the vision of here's 137 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.399 who I want us to be, and here's the here's the empowerment I want 138 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.319 you to all feel and making these decisions. And then here's how you leverage 139 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:24.759 me as your leader. And I want you to know that it's okay, 140 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.480 Like if you ever need to play there, like Lorenzo, Hey, I'm 141 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.079 coming to you with something, and what I really need right now is just 142 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.960 like a decision that you can make. Like if you just tell me that 143 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.440 I'm going to make a decision for you right then and there, right, 144 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.080 because I also understand that like urgency and time can matter, I'm going to 145 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:43.759 have some questions I want to seek to understand. I want to I want 146 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.519 to get some more context and what's going on, But I also want to 147 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:48.639 respect the fact that you may be on a time crunch or something urgent's going 148 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:52.600 on. So like, if you're not being that clear with what you provide 149 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.840 your team, it makes it hard for them to navigate those waters of how 150 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:00.799 and where and when and what do we do to make sure that we are 151 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.440 getting a solution as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Right. And the 152 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.720 last thing, and equally is important to all of this is if somebody comes 153 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.360 to you with a question and they're looking for a solution and you don't know 154 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:15.159 the answer, tell them that right up front, Say you know what, 155 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:18.639 that's a that's an interesting situation you have there. I don't know off the 156 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:20.039 top of my head, but let's ask some questions and let's figure this out 157 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:24.279 together. Being able to say I don't know, but let's find this out 158 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.440 together, let's solve this problem together is a very important step in a in 159 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:31.720 a leadership role to making sure your people don't think that you're trying to, 160 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.919 you know, put it back on them because it's it's a learning moment. 161 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:37.080 But in your mind you're thinking, oh, oh, croud, I don't 162 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.159 have an answer, but I don't want to seem like the person who doesn't 163 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.919 have the answer. Just because you're the leader doesn't mean have to have the 164 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.639 answer. It just means you have to be a resource for the person to 165 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.279 help get to the answer, even if you don't know it off top of 166 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.000 your head. That's okay. The moment, you lead the person to believe 167 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.159 that you're trying to turn this into a schoolable moment for them and you're withholding 168 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:58.000 information, but in actual you don't have the information. You know, it's 169 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.279 like quick, oh, let's let's them to go away so I could research 170 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:03.440 the answer and then get back to them later, making it look like I 171 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:05.799 already knew it. You've lost them and you've lost the relationship. So be 172 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.879 very transparent with what you do know and what you don't know about what they've 173 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:15.240 come to you for, because you will get out of the situation together and 174 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:20.639 you'll have a much clearer understanding as far as the motivations of the employee and 175 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.639 you'll develop that over time so that they'll be able to hopefully next time you 176 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:28.240 know, need less of assistance in terms of solving their problem. I want 177 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.000 to thank you all for joining us on this discussion of employee engagement. We'll 178 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:31.639 see you next Thursday for another one. Have a great day.