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By
Paul Deis, CEO, PROACTION
Article Summary
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Engagement – the “power source” for Best
Practices
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Leadership & engagement – one insight source
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Questions to test engagement
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Gallup
research linking engagement & high performance
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Action steps you can take
The 4th Essential Factor on the Path to Best
Practices is Leadership and Culture. However, to
understand why leadership is needed in a Best
Practice culture one must first address the issue of
how, and to what degree, people who comprise the
company’s organization are engaged with its goals
and objectives.
Here we present some research that clearly supports
the close relationship between high levels of
engagement and high levels of performance – an
essential aspect of the Path to Best Practices.
Engagement – the Power Source
We continue to be amazed at the extent that
otherwise sharp and knowledgeable managers of
companies express the thought that “what does this
have to do with our business?” There are a group of
similar or related thoughts which we hear such as:
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“Our people are engaged of course – if they
aren’t they get fired!”
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“Morale – they have a job don’t they? They
should be grateful for it.”
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“Management has its prerogatives – to decide
what, and how everyone’s job is to be performed.
It is part of each employee’s job to follow
these directions.”
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“We don’t have time for all that airy-fairy
stuff. Our industry is too competitive to allow
time for all that mushy junk.”
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“A real leader ‘kicks butt, takes names,’ to get
important things done.”
Our favorite version of this line of thinking is
“The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
The amazing thing about this attitude is that it
reflects the belief in some kind of military-style
“discipline” that even the US Army abandoned decades
ago – the idea that the leader decides everything,
and that it is the job of others to simply “follow
orders.” It assumes that people are so driven by
fear that even if they are treated poorly, insulted,
demeaned, left out of decisions that affect their
lives – that these actions will have no affect on
their behavior.
Effective Leadership – Modern Origins
First, let’s demolish the “military efficiency
through discipline” notion. During the Korean war,
US Army leadership was faced with a very
challenging, difficult combat situation, in the form
of terrible weather, difficult terrain, and being
simply outnumbered by enemy troops. A series of
studies were done during actual combat operations to
try and find out how objectives were being taken,
whenever they were. The discoveries were amazing and
illuminating, and included these findings:
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Almost all soldiers (80+%) simply tried to not
get killed, just to stay alive, by taking cover,
laying low, or even hiding, rather than
aggressively pursue the enemy and attain the
objective.
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Small groups of dedicated, professional soldiers
in each group were actually responsible for
taking the objective – be it a hill, fortified
installation, or other objective.
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It was abundantly clear that motivation, at an
individual level, was a critical problem among
the troops. The average soldier, in terms of our
discussion here, was not engaged with the
mission.
While it took the US Army a long, long time to fully
ingest this information, revise training and
thinking, it eventually did so. First, the
curriculum for leadership training was changed
considerably. Then, and only then, could the new
thinking work its way into the actual leadership
practices and culture (behavior). By the time the of
the Gulf War and Iraq War, the whole way the US Army
and US Marine Corp operated had changed.
At the center of this new focus is insuring that
each soldier is fully engaged, strongly motivated,
even inspired – the very opposite of the “blind
obedience to orders” mentality of the old order. The
result of this has been the creation of the most
effective, on a man-for-man basis, combat force the
world has ever seen. Mission assignments are given
only in general terms to field units, with local
commanders and combat teams figuring out the rest as
they go forward. No more micro-managing from the
rear headquarters. And, in this spirit, at meals,
the officers wait until the troops have eaten first.
Consider this – if effective leadership can get
people to literally risk their lives for something,
to risk being killed, wouldn’t it be equally
effective or even more so in getting people to work
in organizations together for sustained high
performance?
Engagement Questions
Now, having read this little story – consider the
environment in the companies where you have worked
during your career? A few questions to consider:
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Am I working towards expectations I understand?
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Do I have the resources I need to do a great
job? Or am I handicapped by inadequacies of
equipment, materials, or other support?
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Do I have a feeling of excellence?
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Am I acknowledged, recognized or praised when I
do well?
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Do I have times when I feel like I just don’t
matter here? Do I sometimes feel like a “cog” in
a machine?
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Is anyone interested in my personal and
professional growth at work?
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Am I able to express my opinions – and do they
contribute or count?
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Is quality work important to my coworkers?
If you are a manager, and have negative answers to
these questions, consider the effect you are having
on those who you are leading – by your example.
However, if you do, you are not alone.
Engagement & Performance Linked – Research
In a remarkable piece of research, Markus Buckingham
at the Gallup organization studied engagement, using
question like these, among 8,000 managers at 400
companies, described in First, Break All The
Rules. (Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, Simon
& Schuster, 1999) The findings?
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26% - Engaged – actively working for, support,
advance company’s goals.
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55% - Not engaged – Just coasting; not enrolled,
don’t know what is wanted of them.
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19% - Dis-engaged – Actively working against
company’s goals.
What’s going on here? What are all of these
otherwise intelligent, experienced managers missing?
What are their managers missing?
People working what they consider to be well run,
successful companies are usually jarred by these
numbers – often rejecting them outright – “we’re
much better than that. People here really care about
their work.”
But is there a solid, objective basis for
these thoughts, or are they wishful thinking? If no
independent, anonymous study has been performed,
then the correct answer is “we don’t know; we have
no facts on the extent of the actual engagement of
our people.”
One of the companies studied was Best Buy. Its
stores are virtual clones of each other, with
identical procedures, processes, job descriptions,
products, training and assignments. A few stores in
the study dramatically outperformed others. The
connection? An unusually high degrees of engagement
among managers and staff-level employees. Further
investigation uncovered all kinds of small
innovations to notice, celebrate and acknowledge
people even for small “wins.” The difference was
real, personal-level leadership in every case.
Looping back to our initial observation, it would
seem to be a fair statement that the managers of all
of the other Best Buy stores probably felt like
they were doing a decent job. But the facts are what
they are. Most, it turns out, are mediocre – even
though the organization as a whole does relatively
well, thanks to its strategy, systems, training,
products and other macro-factors. But what if ALL of
their stores did as well as the best led ones?
Our message here is that the issue of engagement
leads to the question of leadership because without
effective leadership the level of engagement is low,
sometimes very low, as we saw in this research.
(“Leadership” here as distinct from “management.”)
And if the engagement level is low, the possibility
of a Best Practice culture is equally low.
Action Steps
We suggest that as you return to your work
situation, that you consider the research here,
questions asked, as they apply to yourself, and to
others, and pay attention to the insights that come
to you. Think about how you, and your coworkers
might, in this context, feel about making changes in
how things are done that might endanger their sense
of security (or yours).
If your sense is that “changes are difficult here,”
then you are on the right track to understanding
what to do to change this pivotal issue – where do
we have to start to create a climate where
improvements, i.e., Best Practices that will help
your company perform better – to become something we
consciously and competently pursue and successfully
implement.
In subsequent PROACTION Newsletters we will expand
on the essential role that leadership plays in
creating a Best Practice culture – one where
innovation and continuous improvements have a
permanent place, and where your people can
effectively use information about how things might
be done, so your company can increase its level of
control over its long-term survival and generate
sustained, high-levels of performance.
We welcome your feedback and comments. Send us your
questions and we’ll answer them in a future
Newsletter.
Please type in the address.
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Paul
Deis
