As I have taken this journey to articulate how important culture is, many people have asked how I made the transition to focusing on the employee. For those of you who don’t know me, you have to realize that I am not a touchy-feely kind of guy. No one would ever expect a man whose nickname is “Don’t Touch Me” to focus on caring about employees. Honestly, most days I am a realist and on cloudy days, I am a pessimist. The joke I like to tell is I became a lawyer, then realized how much I really hated people – so I went into HR to perfect my craft. This story is about how I transitioned from keeping everyone at arm’s length to a person that says you must care about your employees first.
How did this happen?
The first thing you need to know, I like to solve problems. That was one of the reasons I originally became a lawyer. An early mentor of mine was an attorney, and he always came up with the most innovative solutions. His solutions were practical and often unexpected. Over time, I learned that being a lawyer had taught him how to think in a way that was geared toward problem-solving. I wanted to be a problem solver too.
Once I made the transition to human resources, the opportunities to solve problems were plentiful. It might seem like a cliché, but those problems were opportunities. However, they also pointed to underlying issues that kept the organization from succeeding. In many industries, we often do root cause analysis to determine why systems fail. But we do not always look at employee issues in the same way. As an HR leader, I started to see that the problems I dealt with needed that same root cause view.
Where this started with me
I served at a large company for many years as the human resources director. I was constantly amazed at how the corporate leadership did not seem to care about the employees or the long-term health of the organization. It appeared the corporate leaders were only focused on making the next quarter's numbers. I was sure they had a different view of how they managed operations, but as a lawyer, there would not be enough evidence to convict them of caring for the employees. As we often say, “perception is reality” and the perception of the employees was not good. This experience gave me a chance to see what happened to employees when they believed their leaders and their organization did not care about them – they lost trust and disengaged.
The following are a few examples of what happens when your employees are not engaged; the reason: they do not think you care.
Regardless of your compensation survey results, the employees continually state that they are underpaid. What employees are really saying is, “you’re not paying me enough for what I have to put up with at work.”
There is trouble fully staffing critical areas. This leads to excessive overtime, working short, or reliance on temporary workers. When employees do not believe anyone cares, it becomes difficult to fill open shifts or even show up to work on time.
It is challenging to implement improvement efforts. When you want to execute a change to improve customer experience, cut costs, or reduce errors, you cannot obtain 100% employee support and engagement.
Everything becomes a mandate. When you have difficulty engaging employees, improvement efforts become mandatory. No one enjoys being told something is “mandatory.”
These types of issues happened time and time again. I finally asked front-line employees “why?” It took some time to develop trust, but the problem was revealed; they did not think we cared about them or about our customers. They categorized all “leaders” in the same bucket. It did not matter if the management was local or in a corporate office far away. As a leader in the organization, I knew their impression about leaders caring was false. I knew we all cared about the customers and the employees, but we did not show it in a meaningful way.
Here’s why this is important
The employees are the key to EVERYTHING that happens in an organization. The "company" (i.e. legal entity) does not have hands or speak. Everything the company does is completed with an employee’s touch or voice. Once you figure this out, you realize the best option is to partner with the employees. The good news is this can be done for one of two reasons: 1) it is the right thing to do - to treat people with respect, show them you care, and help them rediscover their purpose, or 2) it is the most effective tool available to manage the organization – leveraging the expertise and drive of an engaged workforce. Regardless of which of these motivates your organization – we must show we care about the employees and build trust.
Here is why this works - we don't have to convince employees to care about the customer. Their desire to care for others is often why they started working in their field. We have to figure out how to harness that purpose and align it with the organization. The good news is what is best for the employee tends to be best for the customer and the organization. The employee already cares for the customer, and they want to love their job; everyone does. That is powerful for employees because their job is more than just a job; it's often a calling.
Putting this into practice
A friend of mine was hired to run a multi-location market in another state. One day we were talking on the phone and she asked me if I could come and teach her managers how to have effective supervisor/employee meetings. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to change the culture so the employees would engage in their jobs and provide a better customer experience. I didn’t think that would work; if we tried to fix the culture by using that one tool the efforts would fail. It would be like trying to build a house without building a strong foundation.
The conversation continued because we knew this was important. We agreed we wanted to solve the underlying problem in the organization – a workforce that felt alienated from a job and a calling in life. Most organizations have this problem whether they admit it or not. You cannot patch a problem that goes that deep and see sustainable results. You must start at the beginning, have a plan, commit to the plan, maintain focus, and address the root cause. The right answer was showing the employees their leaders cared, building trust, and helping the employees engage in their jobs. The result was a comprehensive culture transformation framework.
It worked
We began rolling out the system we developed and it changed how the employees viewed everything – their job, the customers, the co-workers, their leaders, other departments, the organization, even the community. All the metrics that were important to the organization improved significantly. The part that was difficult to measure – the rediscovery of purpose by the employees – improved too. The atmosphere of the organization, the interactions, the caring about others all changed for the better. The employees loved their jobs. The employee’s engagement and empowerment became a strategic advantage.
The system transformed this organization. We recognized what was important to the employee was also important to the customer. We developed trust across the entire organization so the employees knew we cared about what they cared about. When we developed trust with the employees and demonstrated that we care, they shared with us everything that they felt was wrong with the organization and offered solutions. As the culture improved, the employees were empowered to correct the issues they identified themselves.
When employees love their jobs, they care for the customer like they care for someone they love. The act of caring and compassion is part of what makes your employees special, and it also drives your operational and financial improvement. Most organizations are backwards in this respect. They want the financial results first, then they will focus on the people part. Caring resulted in a great customer experience which led to the operational and financial outcomes we wanted as an organization.
Many people have determined that their industry is broken, but we can fix it – if we care.
How do we show we care?
Listen. Not just as a group, but individually. The only way I can be certain what is important to you is to let you tell me.
Follow up. Once you tell your employees you’re going to change or acquire something – do it. Knowing and not addressing is worse than not knowing at all.
Model Behavior. Show what trustworthy looks like: say hello first, offer to help, be part of the team and hold yourself accountable.
Acknowledge their interests. Pay attention to their personal life and family. Life gets “lifey” sometimes, and the best supervisors help their teams when it happens.
Caring about your employees is the right thing to do as a person, period. Life is short. We will not be remembered for the day-to-day things we do at work. But we will be remembered for the type of person we were.
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