Managerial Communication

From Micromanagement to Empowerment: A Leader’s Guide to Accountability

2025-04-21T14:09:32-04:00

Great leaders nurture accountability by motivating and inspiring employees to work hard for them. Employees don’t get the job done because they’re told to — they do it because they want to succeed.

Business leaders have a lot on their plates. The last thing they need to be doing is micromanaging their employees.

Not only is micromanaging a waste of leaders’ time, but it also reduces employees’ engagement and quality of work. In turn, a leader might feel they need to micromanage even more to get employees back in line, creating a vicious cycle where no one is performing at their best.

The way to move from micromanagement to empowerment and a more purpose-driven culture is to build trust with your people. Make sure they understand how their job is tied to the company’s purpose. Set clear expectations and ensure employees are recognized for their efforts.

Micromanagement vs. accountability

Keeping employees accountable doesn’t mean constantly looking over their shoulders.

When leaders micromanage, they overly control how employees complete their tasks. Whereas when leaders let employees take accountability for their work, they’re still setting expectations and measuring results, but without dictating how the work gets done.

It all comes down to ownership:

Accountability is about taking ownership of results, both good and bad. To feel like they own a result, an employee needs a degree of independence and control over how they achieve that result.
Micromanagement is when a leader takes ownership. And in doing so, they take away that employee’s accountability. They’re interfering in work that should fall within the employee’s control. This is proven to be a major cause of employee burnout.

Ultimately, accountability is rooted in trust, whereas micromanagement is rooted in a lack of trust. The message accountability conveys from leader to employee is, “I believe you are responsible and capable.” Micromanagement says the opposite.

How to hold employees accountable without micromanaging

We typically think of “holding people accountable” as something that happens when people aren't meeting expectations. But true accountability is about ownership of both good and bad results.

Having a clear plan for accountability when everything goes well — such as rewards, recognition, and career growth — is just as important, if not more, than your plan for what happens if expectations aren't met.

Set clear expectations and goals

One of the most important pieces of the accountability puzzle is ensuring company goals are well-defined.

Not only does this give employees clarity on what’s expected of them, but it also provides a sense of purpose — and when employees feel like their work has purpose, they’re more likely to stay with an organization longer and work harder.

“Accountability is rooted in trust, whereas micromanagement is rooted in a lack of trust.”

It’s also important to ensure employees have their own goals. What do they want to learn? How do they want to grow? Where do they see themselves in the future?

Help employees develop their own SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

For example, maybe an employee wants to develop their leadership skills. Together, you might decide for them to lead two team projects (specific) over the next quarter (time-bound), with success measured by on-time completion and peer feedback (measurable). This builds valuable skills (relevant) through a manageable number of projects (achievable).

Then, when assessing that employee’s performance, don’t only consider how they’re supporting the business’s goals, but how the business is also supporting theirs.

Delegate effectively and trust employees

Another important part of accountability is collaboration. This includes inviting employees into conversations about company goals and delegating the ownership of tasks rather than managing every step.

When leadership intentionally involves people in decisions that affect their jobs or work environment, this gives them ownership. And the more sense of control employees have, the more likely they are to hold themselves accountable.

Autonomy also unlocks our natural problem-solving abilities. When people have the freedom to tackle challenges in their own way, they become invested in finding solutions rather than just following orders. This sense of ownership translates into higher engagement, enabling employees to see themselves as valuable contributors.

Establish regular feedback loops

Consistency is key when it comes to employee performance. Ongoing constructive feedback will encourage accountability since employees will have clear direction and support. Otherwise, employees may not know what’s expected of them — and if they don’t meet expectations, management may be tempted to step in and micromanage.

While the traditional approach to performance management has been annual reviews, many great workplaces have found continuous feedback to be a better approach.

For example, financial services firm Penn Mutual found that changing its performance calendar to align with its business cycle allowed leaders to address issues in real time. The firm also adjusted its rewards cycle to create a clear connection between a job well done and receiving a bonus or other incentive.

Foster open communication

When leaders actively listen to employee concerns, it creates a culture of transparency. And transparency fuels trust, which in turn leads to better innovation, reduced employee turnover, and even better business performance.

Being transparent doesn’t mean laying it all out. It means ensuring every employee is receiving information that’s relevant to them, with the opportunity to ask questions. Broad, sweeping messages won’t resonate with employees the way that tailored communications will.

Some of our customers demonstrate how strong communication builds trust in leadership. CarMax recognized that effective leadership is ensuring every employee has a personal connection to management. To achieve this, it set up a guide to ensure regular meetings between every employee and their manager at each of its stores.

IT company WP Engine is transparent about pay ranges for internal opportunities that an employee might be qualified for, thereby encouraging them to grow within the company.

Focus on outcomes, not processes

No two people are exactly the same, and this also goes for how they work. Micromanagers focus on the process, when the reality is that there may be several ways for an employee to take a project from start to finish.

Instead, put your focus on results when evaluating performance. This shows employees that you trust their judgment and are willing to give them the space to complete tasks in a way that makes the most sense to them.

For example, you might:

Measure the number of email subscribers rather than how many emails were sent on a marketing campaign
Evaluate customer satisfaction scores instead of monitoring how many minutes each support call takes
Track positive reviews and return visits instead of monitoring if front desk staff follow a rigid check-in script word-for-word

How to address accountability issues without micromanaging

Address performance issues promptly and fairly

The best way to manage poor performance is to get ahead of it.

Avoiding difficult conversations about performance issues doesn’t make them disappear — it magnifies them. When you let problems linger, your top performers may wonder why others aren't held to the same standards. Meanwhile, the struggling employee misses out on the opportunity to improve.

The longer you wait, the more uncomfortable the eventual conversation becomes for everyone involved.

But when an employee has had experiences where their manager helped their performance go from good to great, they’re more likely to turn to that manager and be an equal partner when their performance slips and needs correction.

If a manager waits until performance slips to get involved, the employee instead will feel that performance conversations with their manager are a liability rather than an asset, and will be defensive and disengaged.

Get in the habit of proactively managing exceptional or good performance as well — positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator.

Some ways to provide constructive criticism that motivates improvement include:

Using concrete examples instead of generalizations
Explaining the impact of the behavior on team goals or outcomes
Asking questions to understand their perspective
Collaborating on solutions rather than dictating them
Balancing criticism with recognition of their strengths
Providing resources or support to help them succeed

Use performance management systems

It's nearly always true that employees who are underperforming need at least one of three things:

1. More time and attention from their manager

2. Firmer boundaries on certain aspects of their work

3. Tougher criteria to demonstrate improvement

Many of these actions can feel like micromanagement, so the way to avoid this is to ensure the employee feels engaged in their own performance management and success. If the employee isn’t, corrective measures from their manager will feel like an imposition instead of a mutual agreement.

It’s a good idea to set up regular performance check-ins with every employee from day one. That way, you can track changes in performance before they become an issue and also empower employees to take ownership of their own performance plan from day one.

Ask employees to come prepared with their own personal assessments and ask for feedback on how you’re supporting their success. Make sure to connect their individual goals to the goals of their team and the company overall.

Also, remember that a good performance management system doesn’t just look at employees’ day-to-day. It also considers their personal goals and growth opportunities.

For example, many great workplaces offer leadership training programs that motivate employees to perform at their best. Such a program could work in tandem with more traditional performance reviews and check-ins.

Recognize and reward accountability

A sign of a great employee–manager relationship is when the employee is the one who takes the lead on correcting their performance.

The employee is the person who has the most vested interest in their own success, so if they’re underperforming and not reaching out to their manager for help, it’s often because they don’t know they’re underperforming or don’t feel they’ll get the support they need to do better.

Of course, employees need a high degree of trust with their managers to feel safe doing this. One way to create this sense of safety is to foster a culture of recognition.

Celebrating employees’ efforts is an important leadership behavior for creating a high-trust workplace, where employees feel empowered to speak up and take more accountability in their work.

According to a 2025 Great Place To Work® survey of 1.3 million employees, when employees feel that everyone in the company can get recognition for their work, they’re 60% more likely to give extra effort and 40% more likely to participate in company innovation.

Here are some ways you could reward employees for taking initiative:

Offering special assignments that align with their career goals
Encouraging professional development opportunities, such as conferences or training sessions
Providing opportunities to lead new initiatives or mentor other team members
Giving rewards such as financial compensation or time off after completing a challenging project

Creating a leadership culture that drives accountability

The most important factor when it comes to employee accountability is trust. When leaders trust their employees, they’re more likely to see higher engagement, improved performance, and better business performance.

Want to know if your company promotes a culture of accountability — or stifles through micromanaging? Great Place To Work’s employee engagement software uses a data-driven approach to the employee experience and can help you build a high-trust culture where employees take ownership and pride in their work.

To our customers: If you're looking to hold employees accountable without falling into the trap of micromanagement, the Trust Index™ Survey's Manager Access feature is your ideal tool. This feature provides managers with detailed insights into their team's survey results, allowing them to see whether their reports trust them — a key indicator of great leadership and not micromanaging. By using these insights, managers can build a culture of trust and accountability, ensuring employees feel valued and motivated to take ownership of their work. The Manager Access feature helps managers compare their team’s performance against industry benchmarks and develop actionable plans based on your Trust Index data. If you’re already using the platform but haven’t activated the Manager Access feature, talk to your Customer Success Manager about upgrading today to transform your leadership approach and drive your team towards success.

How Trek Catapulted onto the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 To Work For List

2024-08-29T09:00:00-04:00

Trek Bicycle uses Great Place To Work's Trust Index™ Survey to turn employee feedback into insights, fostering a culture of trust. This approach tripled the company's size, increased profitability, and earned it a spot on the 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 list.

How Hilcorp’s Transparency Empowers Every Employee and Builds Trust

2024-05-27T07:01:35-04:00

The energy company, ranked No. 80 on the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 to Work For®, takes extraordinary measures to allow employees to act like owners of the business.

Most companies will say they value employees with an entrepreneurial mindset. That doesn’t always mean employees are given the information or authority to act like an owner of the business.

At Hilcorp Energy Company, No. 80 on the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 to Work For® List in 2024, there’s a careful strategy that ensures every employee can participate in decisions. It all starts with transparency.

“We give every employee access to the company’s financials, share our measures of business success, and we teach them how to understand them,” says Mike Brezina, senior vice president, human resources at Hilcorp. “We open the books and share our financial measures such as cash flow, margin, production rate, lifting costs, investments, oil and gas price impacts, storage costs, and more.”

It’s a remarkable amount of trust that company leaders show to Hilcorp’s rank and file. Information about the health of the business and financials are consistently updated in daily stand-up meetings, monthly companywide lifting cost meetings, and quarterly reviews.

“We believe that there is no such thing as over communicating,” Brezina says. “All employees are invited, and all meeting materials are made available internally. As a result, each employee understands how they can personally impact Hilcorp’s success.”

This is borne out in the data. In Hilcorp’s most recent Great Place To Work® survey, nine in 10 (93%) employees said they understood how they can positively impact company culture and 88% said they have the information and training to do their job.

The idea was implemented after Hilcorp’s founder Jeffery Hildebrand met Jack Stack, author of “The Great Game of Business” and was introduced to the concept of open-book management. The company quickly embraced the principle: “A company of owners will outperform a company of employees any day of the week.”

The five-layer strategy

When every employee is given the necessary information, the next step is to give them responsibility for decisions that affect them.

Hilcorp Energy Company operates under what it calls its “five-layer strategy” — a rule for the entire organization that requires no more than five levels between an individual contributor and the CEO of the company.

“The flattened organization makes us nimble, encourages the entrepreneurial mindset, and removes unnecessary barriers in the decision-making process,” Brezina says. An example of this philosophy in action is Hilcorp’s asset teams, responsible for all oil and gas assets in their geographic region. An asset team’s five layers begin with operator roles, progressing to foreman, operations manager, asset team leader, and executive.

“In our business, urgency and empowerment are essential,” Brezina says. “We want everyone to be aligned, act like owners, do the right thing with a sense of urgency, and get better every day.”

The result? Employees know what expectations leaders have for them, and feel empowered to innovate and execute.

At Hilcorp, 96% of employees say they are given a lot of responsibility, and 90% say people quickly adapt to change. In a market survey of 4,400 employees at typical U.S. companies, only 61% of respondents said people quickly adapt to change at their workplace.

“Every employee knows what we are trying to accomplish,” Brezina says. “This is how we stay aligned.”

Tips for others

How can others implement this level of transparency?

Brezina offers some tips:

1. Make it easy to know the score

Transparency isn’t about overwhelming employees with data. Goals should be clearly defined, the factors to success identified, and data made available to employees in ways that will help them perform their job better.”

Clarity and simplicity must be part of the strategy. “When you walk into a baseball game, mid game, what do you want to know?” Brezina explains. “What’s the score? Who’s batting? What inning? Et cetera. This is no different for a business.”

2. Get everyone to participate in every step of the process

At Hilcorp, almost every employee participates in developing and setting the annual plan that outlines goals for the business — nearly 90%.

“Whether through identifying projects, developing a budget, or setting goals, the decisions and actions of each teams’ plans starts from the bottom-up,” Brezina says. “Decisions are then rolled up into the company-wide annual goals that are shared at every lifting cost meeting.”

As a result, nearly eight in 10 (78%) employees at Hilcorp report that they’re able to influence decisions that affect them, compared to just 51% at a typical U.S. company.

3. Ensure everyone gets a fair share of profits and rewards

Every department at Hilcorp participates in its generous annual bonus plan and incentives are tied to business metrics to which every team contributes.

“No team or department is pitted against each other,” Brezina says. “We all work as a team towards our shared goals, enabling us to fully align to our business and our work.”

Every employee gets the same bonus percentage, regardless of their role at the company.

“There is no individual component, no team component, and no differences by role or level,” Brezina says. “The bonus plan is tied to business metrics that we can control and is communicated at every lifting cost meeting.”

4. Use surveys to measure your culture

How are Hilcorp leaders sure that these efforts are paying off? It shows up in their Great Place To Work survey, the only engagement survey Hilcorp uses each year.

“Once we receive our results, we generate reports for each department showing the historical trends of their data and highlight the areas of strength and improvement areas,” Brezina says. “The teams review their data, create action plans, and implement their plans. These plans become the team goals by which they are measured and held accountable.”

The survey asks employees whether they have the information and resources they need to do their job, whether leaders make their expectations clear, and whether employees can participate in innovation — all experiences that build trust and contribute to business performance.

“Great Place To Work has been a critical partner in building our survey and providing great analytic tools, allowing us to get better and better data,” Brezina says. “We are able to home in on the specific themes of the feedback we receive from our employees that result in meaningful improvements.”

Benchmark your workplace

Discover what employees value about working at your company, and how you can boost retention rates and increase productivity and performance with Great Place To Work 카지노커뮤니티™.

Purpose at Work Is Only Profitable if You Do This One Thing

2024-05-17T15:31:44-04:00

When it comes to business performance, purpose in the workplace matters – but only if it comes with clarity.

Purpose over profit.

It’s a phrase that’s become the rallying cry of so many businesses in recent years, as consumers demand better of the brands they buy from, and employees and job seekers demand better of their workplaces.

This has especially been the case since the pandemic started. Two-plus years of uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and isolation have put purpose and company culture even more top of mind. People want to buy from, and work with, companies that reflect their personal values.

And brands are certainly responding – companies like Patagonia, Lego, and Ben & Jerry’s have marketed themselves as synonymous with corporate responsibility. But the question remains: Does purpose at work really lead to better business results?

Answer: It depends.

The data behind purpose at work

To find out, Harvard Business School (HBS) used Great Place To Work®’s extensive database on employee engagement, to determine if all the resources companies put towards purpose are, in fact, driving better business results.

HBS used Great Place To Work’s sample of 429 U.S. companies, and more than 450,000 employee survey responses, to create a measure of corporate purpose. Employees were asked to agree or disagree with statements such as:

“I find my work is meaningful.”
“I feel good about the ways my company gives back to the community.”
“I’m proud to tell others I work here.”

These employee surveys did not go into the type of purpose the company was pursuing (i.e., environmental, social justice, etc.), but merely whether the goal resonated with employees.

What they found might surprise those on the purpose bandwagon: A sense of purpose at work alone isn’t correlated with firm financial performance.

What is correlated, and is the key to unlocking purpose’s potential, is clarity.

The clarity factor

From the initial data set, HBS performed a factor analysis and identified two types of companies with purpose:

High purpose-camaraderie organizations. These included high scores on statements such as “We are all in this together.”
High purpose-clarity organizations. These included highs scores on statements such as “Management makes its expectations clear.”

When it came to better business performance, only one group stood out: high purpose-clarity.

In fact, the study found that when employees experienced a sense of purpose at work and believed their leaders set a clear direction and expectations (purpose + clarity), those companies outperformed the stock market, achieving returns 6.9% higher than the market.

Middle management makes the difference

The research also revealed that it wasn’t top executives playing the largest role here, but rather middle managers and professional workers. When those two groups experienced purpose and clarity, companies’ financial performance jumped even higher.

The report explains, “This last finding underscores the absolute importance of fostering an effective middle manager layer within firms: managers who buy into the vision of the company and can make daily decisions that guide the firm in the right direction.”

Purpose at work: making it matter

Purpose does matter. Employees want to believe they’re making a difference in some way and will work harder when they believe in the purpose of the company.

But a company’s purpose needs to be carefully implemented to ensure that middle managers within the organization are clear on it. They need to be fully bought-in and on board.

Otherwise, financial results won’t be impacted, and time will be wasted coming up with words that just don’t matter.

For the full story, read the HBR report.

You can measure purpose at work

Are your employees experiencing a sense of clarity and purpose at work? Get Certified™ with Great Place To Work and, through our research-backed Trust Index™ employee survey, learn how your company culture stacks up and how you can create more purpose. Learn more.

What to Say to Employees After a Layoff: Employee Engagement After Layoffs

2023-07-28T07:00:20-04:00

Data shows that transparent engagement with employees during a reorganization builds trust. Here’s why that should include surveys and listening sessions.

Even when making hard choices like laying off employees, companies can build trust with workers.

While research shows that laying the groundwork ahead of a layoff is crucial for building relationships with employees and preserving trust, there are options for companies once a layoff has taken place.

PwC’s 2023 Trust Survey identified five opportunities for companies to build trust with workers during or after a layoff. More than half of employees surveyed agreed that trust could be built by:

Encouraging managers to increase communications with remaining team members (58%)
Offering generous severance packages (57%)
Being more transparent about the reasons for a layoff (57%)
Providing outplacement services to employees who are laid off (53%)
Hosting firmwide meetings to highlight company commitment to remaining employees (50%)

While 80% of employees surveyed said layoffs negatively impact trust in companies, just 55% said the way their company conducted a layoff damaged trust. That gap paints a compelling picture for business leaders about the value of reengaging your remaining workforce after a layoff.

Giving employees a voice

Even at great companies, sometimes the business requires making the painful decision to eliminate roles.

At Camden Property Trust, No. 33 on the Fortune 100 Best 카지노 커뮤니티 추천 to Work For® List in 2023, a need to streamline operations led to a reorganization starting in February of 2022. To keep employees informed and engaged, the company brought them into the process right from the beginning.

“In planning for our reorganization, we involved our on onsite teams and district managers in the decision-making process to determine what efficiencies and changes made sense for our business,” says Allison Dunavant, VP of organizational development at Camden.

Seeking employee input when making the tough decision to restructure or conduct a layoff can be daunting for business leaders. However, a commitment to deep listening opened new doors for Camden during the restructuring process.

“We recognized that with massive change, we weren’t going to get everything right,” Dunavant says. The only way to identify missteps was to engage with people at all levels for feedback.

“We did this through establishing working groups that involved all levels of employees, and solving issues that were important to them and important to the business,” Dunavant says.

“The message for us was ‘We’re listening.’" - Allison Dunavant, VP of organizational development at Camden

Building connection

Camden’s working groups offer an example of how to accomplish several of the goals Great Place To Work® research has outlined for companies facing a layoff decision:

Reengage remaining workers around the purpose of the organization
Offer a safe space for employees to work through challenges posed by workforce changes
Increase touchpoints between managers and employees

Working groups at Camden were gathered right after the restructuring and immediately started offering feedback on processes that weren’t working. “They were honest,” Dunavant says. “We realized that the only way to eat the elephant is one bite at a time.”

“Remind leaders that vulnerability is OK.” - Allison Dunavant, VP of organizational development at Camden

The working groups also became essential partners for piloting new programs.

“We would give them some solutions and say, ‘Go try this out this week and bring it back to us next week. Let us know how it went. Talk to your teams, talk to your peers, see what they think,’” Dunavant says.

As a result, the company was able to move much faster, and group participants were more engaged after seeing their feedback incorporated by the company.

“They’re also developing as leaders,” Dunavant says of group participants. “I’ve started to see a lot of these individuals as future leaders in our company, and they feel empowered to be able to make change because we’ve given them a space to do it.”

These working groups were so successful that Camden kept them even after completing its restructuring.

Participants in the working group deeply valued their opportunity to contribute to the future of Camden, and even saw the working groups as opportunities to reinforce relationships with their colleagues across the business.

“카지노 커뮤니티 랭킹 group is full of amazing leaders from all over the country, but we have one goal in mind: to improve our processes at Camden for our employees and our customers,” shares one general manager who participates in one of the groups. “This group fosters a safe, open space to talk about things honestly, to be real. And of course, in true Camden fashion, we also know how to have a lot of fun.”

Save the date: Attend our annual company culture conference May 7-9, 2024

Anxiety over a backlash

Why don’t more companies do everything they can to engage employees during a layoff or restructuring effort?

Listening is hard.

“The message for us was ‘We’re listening,’” says Dunavant, but stresses the importance of backing up that message with real listening programs. “Building trust is about delivering consistently — and that’s what we knew we had to do.”

Managers need resources and training to effectively respond to employee concerns in the wake of a layoff. Dunavant offered some tips:

1. Recognize the elephant in the room.

Start by addressing the concerns of employees when facing layoffs or restructuring. “Acknowledge the change and ask your team members how they’re doing,” Dunavant says.

2. Listen more than you talk.

“Be keenly observant of employees’ needs and offer encouragement and support,” Dunavant says. “Never say ‘I know how you’re feeling,’ because you don’t.”

3. Be honest — and admit what you don’t know.

“No one expects you to know all the answers or even understand how a change might impact somebody else,” she says.

4. Go beyond the survey.

“Put time and resources behind finding new ways and inventive ways to enroll them in the process of your future organization,” Dunavant advises.

Making surveys successful

Employee surveys are incredibly valuable in the wake of layoffs or restructuring. Surveys can identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure that workers remaining at your organization don’t disengage.

For leaders who are anxious about fielding a survey that might surface bad news, Dunavant recommends leaning into the discomfort.

“It’s good for us to recognize the anxiousness,” she says. “Remind leaders that vulnerability is OK.”

It also helps to have a clearly defined purpose that can offer a call to action for both employees and leaders.

“The best thing a leader can do is recognize that change is hard — and enroll their employees in how to move through the hard,” Dunavant says.

Make sure you have resources to react and investigate the survey responses.

“Don’t engage in a listening campaign if you aren’t ready to recognize where you might have opportunity and be willing to make changes accordingly,” Dunavant warns.

Business results

When companies commit to listening while trying to reshape their workforce, the benefits go far beyond employee goodwill.

For Camden, engaging its employees to build a better workplace is a core part of its strategy to drive business results.

“The formula’s easy,” says Dunavant. “Engaged employees equals process improvement, which is a better customer experience, which leads to business results. Great employee experiences lead to great customer experiences.”

When you reengage employees in the wake of a layoff, you build trust that future layoffs are a last resort. When employees trust managers to do everything in their power to avoid a layoff, the business benefits. Employees are:

9x more likely to give extra effort
2x more likely to adapt quickly to business changes
4x more likely to stay with their company

With those results in mind, leaders should consider every opportunity to increase communication with employees after a layoff.

Start your survey

Want to learn how employees are responding to recent workforce changes? Use our industry-leading Trust Index™ Survey to identify opportunities to reengage your people.

9 High-Trust Leadership Behaviors Everyone Should Model

2023-05-16T16:49:59-04:00

Every employee should take these behaviors to heart whether or not they are people leaders.

I often get asked what it takes to create a great workplace. The short answer: trust.

High-trust cultures help employees thrive, which fuels company performance in all areas — from referrals and retention to productivity and revenue.

It’s impossible to create a great workplace for all employees without trust. That’s what our 30 years of research about company culture has told us. And that’s why our survey that measures employee experience is called the Trust Index™.

Trust is woven into our daily interactions at work, just as it is outside of work among family and friends. It’s built on many moments — moments that our research has broken down into nine behaviors that can build or break trust. It’s a list I keep on my desk and check-in on how I’m doing as a leader.

Every leader should work on and improve these behaviors; if you’re not a people leader, you might be thinking, “What does this have to do with me?”

Leaders affect 70% of the employee experience, but the other 30% comes from our teammates, how we work with others, and the actual work that we’re doing. It takes everyone in an organization to create a great workplace for all.

Here’s where to begin:

1. Listening

This is the most important behavior of all and what I focus on the most. If you’re not a great listener, you can’t model the other behaviors well.

Listening is not just making sure you’ve accurately heard the words coming out of someone’s mouth. It’s also not just waiting for someone to stop talking so you can speak. It is choosing to empty your mind and set aside your opinions while someone else is talking.

True listening requires humility, vulnerability, and empathy.

You may have a lot of opinions, but to be a for-all, inclusive leader, you must put those opinions aside. If you’re having a conversation and you’re not willing to consider other points of view, what’s the point of having the conversation at all? Letting go of your assumptions can be described as a meditative mindset, and that’s what makes a great listener.

How do you know you’re doing it right? You’ll find yourself asking questions because you’re learning something from the person you’re talking to. People will tell you that you’re a great listener because it’s rare to have a conversation with someone who’s deeply listening.

Listening might sound reactive, but it should be proactive. Make yourself available and seek out chances to listen.

Think about who you haven’t heard from lately — and then go ask them questions with a learning mindset. Schedule informal meetings like brown-bag lunches and Q&A sessions. Use surveys and focus groups to regularly elicit employee opinions — and follow up with feedback and action.

"Listening is not just making sure you’ve accurately heard the words coming out of someone’s mouth. It’s also not just waiting for someone to stop talking so you can speak. It is choosing to empty your mind and set aside your opinions while someone else is talking."

2. Speaking

This is what we do all day. But there are many layers to what might seem like a straight-forward behavior.

Speaking is about clarity, frequency, transparency, and sharing information fully in a variety of ways. That includes regularly sharing company news with employees through all your channels — video, intranet, email, print, etc. Be sure to share that news (both the facts and feelings around it) internally before you do externally.

It’s not just about what you share, but who you share it with. Be mindful of those who haven’t heard a message and need to know what information is being shared.

Speaking is more than what you say and who you say it to, it is how you share information. Communicate thoughtfully and with care, and in easy-to-understand styles. Set up regular meetings to discuss what’s happening and personally share news to encourage a culture of transparency as much as possible.

Lastly, speaking is an opportunity to communicate how a person’s job — and how doing their job well — is essential for your organization to achieve its purpose.

Consider your receptionist, for example — a role that is often overlooked. Whenever you speak with them, reiterate, emphasize, and clarify how important their job is. When someone walks in a building or contacts a receptionist on the phone, that’s a connection to the brand. In a few seconds, a caller or visitor either feels cared for, important, and listened to, or they don't.

Speaking is the ability to talk to every warehouse worker, every receptionist, every salesperson, every executive, every teammate in a way that they feel that doing their job is important for the organization to achieve its purpose. And if you’re not sure what someone does, this is your opportunity to build trust by getting to know them.

"Speaking is more than what you say and who you say it to, it is how you share information."

3. Thanking

If you’re listening to people in the way that I described earlier, you’ll learn things about them. That helps you thank your colleagues in ways that are personally meaningful. Acts of gratitude let people know you’re listening in a way that shows they’re important and essential.

Create a culture of appreciation by recognizing good work and extra effort frequently.

Opportunities to do this are endless: Encourage peer recognition, present employee awards, write personal notes, appreciate mistakes as learning opportunities, and recognize employees who demonstrate company values in person and in front of others.

Creating a culture of thanking will positively affect people’s sense of value and willingness to do their best work because they feel seen.

4. Developing

Listening and speaking helps you learn how someone can further develop personally and professionally.

It’s your job to help employees grow as people, not just performers. Nurture their talents and interests through courses (job- and non-job-related), tuition reimbursement, and personalized development plans and training, for example. Connect employees with mentors and inform them of internal job postings.

Try and give feedback in a way that’s measurable, so they know they’re improving, and with a sense of care, so they’re open to what you have to say.

When people know you care — even if they don’t always like hearing where they need to improve — they’ll take it as a gift. Everybody wants to get better. Yes, they know it leads to more money, more compensation, and more responsibility in the company. But, at a base level, they want to know they’re making a difference.

"It’s your job to help employees grow as people, not just performers."

5. Caring

This is the secret weapon. Great work happens when people care. And people care about their work when they experience being cared for. That shows up when you take time to understand and listen to people’s experiences, inside and outside of work.

Support their personal lives by discussing options for flextime and personal leave policies. Help them cope with family and personal crises as they arise, and organize support through sick leave or monetary donations. Encourage work-life balance and remind them to take time off to recharge.

Do you know what makes an employee check an algorithm two or three times, or proofread an email six or seven times? It’s because they care about the purpose of the organization, they care for others, and they feel cared for.

Caring is what unlocks people, and it is key to maximizing a human’s potential.

"Great work happens when people care. And people care about their work when they experience being cared for."

6. Sharing

Distributing profits, compensation, bonuses, and incentive plans fairly creates an equitable workplace. If you’re building trust for all, every employee needs to share in the company’s success and understanding how their performance relates to compensation.

Equitable and inclusive sharing also shows up in philanthropic activities. If you’re organizing community activities like a cleanup at a local school, or picking up plastic off a beach or park, make sure that everybody has the opportunity to participate.

If you’re doing those things between eight to five, what about the night shift worker? Make sure you’re truly inclusive in terms of sharing opportunities for people, as well as the resources of the organization.

Equity does not equal sameness. A picnic for the day shift doesn’t also have to be a picnic for the night shift. What is the purpose of the picnic? To bring people together, to show them their value, and create opportunities for them to interact in informal ways with their leaders.

So how can you create this same experience for this night shift without recreating the same event?

7. Celebrating

The most important things to celebrate are the values of the organization and how people help the organization achieve its purpose.

It’s important to be specific:

“We want to thank John for the work he did in helping a customer through a sticky problem. We wanted John to do that in seven minutes, but John took 20 minutes because the customer needed it at that time. At our company, we’re willing to do whatever is required to make the customer’s problem our problem, and we’re willing to do what’s required to solve it. I also know that John was late for getting to a soccer practice for his kid. I hope John doesn't have to do that again, but I want to appreciate the fact that he did that for us.”

If you find yourself celebrating, recognizing, and rewarding the same person, communicate to everyone what it takes to be celebrated and recognized so they don’t feel there’s bias or favoritism. They’ll know if they work hard in some measurable way, they too will get celebrated, recognized, and rewarded one day.

"The most important things to celebrate are the values of the organization and how people help the organization achieve its purpose."

8. Inspiring

You don’t have to be a great public speaker to inspire people. You can inspire people with the questions you ask and the way you listen.

You can inspire them by reaffirming the difference your organization makes in the world and why the work is important. Help your workforce understand how their work relates to the company’s higher purpose and business success.

You can do this by telling customer or client stories, sharing the vision of where the company is headed, pointing out behaviors that exemplify company values, reinforcing company values, stressing your company’s contribution to your industry or society, and showing links between employee efforts and achieving your goals.

"You don’t have to be a great public speaker to inspire people. You can inspire people with the questions you ask and the way you listen."

9. Hiring and welcoming

When someone joins your organization, you should make sure that they know you were expecting them — and that you couldn’t wait for them to get here.

You need to make sure that they have a workplace, can access the systems they need to connect with their work and their colleagues, and have the equipment to be successful. Their laptop is ready, their uniform is ready, their steel-toed boots are ready, their safety goggles are ready.

This goes beyond hiring; it’s what we call welcoming. You can email or send new hires a note in the mail before they start, announce them to other employees in advance, take them to lunch their first week, and help them get integrated into your culture.

When a person joins an organization that has shown that they’ve been thinking about them for a few weeks before they started, they will go home and say, “It was a great experience today. They expected me, my name badge was ready. Everybody was kind, and they seemed to know who I was and what I was going to do.” These actions build trust on their first day.

If someone gets to work and those things aren’t true, trust dips a bit. Self-confidence drops. They wonder if you really want them there, or if they’re an afterthought.

And the worst case — they feel like they’re just an employee and not a person who’s important, because if they were important, they would’ve had a much different experience when they arrived.

Whether or not you manage people at work, I encourage you to put this wheel of nine high-trust behaviors in a place where you will see it every day.

Trust takes work and conscious effort. And it’s required to create a great place to work for all.

Become great

Ready to learn more about your employee experience? Benchmark your organization using 카지노커뮤니티™ and see how you stack against the very best.

Courageous Conversations at Work: A Guide To the Discussion You Are Scared Of

2021-02-12T11:20:36-05:00

You probably don’t want to have a tough conversation in your workplace. You’re very likely scared that you, or someone else, will say the wrong thing, mess it up or cause more pain.

But avoiding the subject altogether can undermine employee trust, inclusion and belonging at work. And these experiences are crucial for things like employee well-being, innovation and productivity.

Courageous conversations in the workplace are about broaching complex and sensitive subjects like race and privilege with your team, boss or HR manager.

They are the sort of conversations that can stir strong emotions, which might feel out of place for work, and they require careful and mindful discussion.

Why is it important to have courageous conversations in the workplace?

“Courageous conversations in the workplace are part of developing a learning culture,” explains Tony Bond, EVP chief diversity & innovation officer, Great Place To Work^®.

“These conversations lead to a better understanding of the needs of others, such as Black employees. They enable leaders and employees, both Black and non-Black to become more comfortable having dialogue around race.”

Worrying about adding salt to wounds or saying the wrong thing are reasonable concerns. Still, they are fears you need to take on if you, your team, and your company want to move forward in the middle of a crisis (such as that teeny global pandemic that is still going on.)

So, here’s what to do: talk about it. Together. Now.

And guess what? It will help. A lot.

I know it will because we had this discussion twice since the murder of George Floyd, once with our management team and then with the entire company. The benefits reported by employees were huge.

Folks shared their feelings of relief and said talking to their peers helped them feel less alone. One man learned that even people who look different from him shared the same fears.

Another woman said her family discussions were so charged, it was a relief to get to share her feelings calmly. Many parents talked about the hopes and fears they have for their children and the tough dinner table discussions they’d been having.

Opening up the conversation validated people’s feelings, gave them a new and psychologically safe outlet and helped everyone feel cared for.

So, here’s a quick guide for setting up what might feel like a difficult discussion. It works best if the whole company participates, but even talking at the team level can help.

How to lead courageous office conversations

1. Set your intentions clearly

The goal is to provide a secure space for every person to share their experience, whatever it is, not to fix or solve anything. All feelings, concerns, hopes or anxieties are welcome. This is a time to share questions and concerns and to provide an opportunity for everyone to ask for support.

2. Create a container

Set up dedicated time to have this talk, at least 60 to 90 minutes,. Make sure everyone is expected to join and participate. If you're a leader, express how important this conversation is and support your team to clear their calendars. This works great on video conferencing technology to ensure everyone is physically safe.

3. Prepare facilitators & groups

You should start together in a large group and then break into groups of about six to eight to for conversation, so prepare your breakout groups carefully.

If you have a high-trust environment where employees can have respectful conversations about tough topics, then less structure will be needed.

If your organization has low trust; if COVID, race or politics are charged topics for you; or if there is a wide variety of thought, feeling and opinion across your business, more facilitation and organization may be needed to create a positive experience.

The goal is to ensure that each person feels they can share freely without judgment or criticism, even when individuals may disagree. Designate a facilitator who can manage that kind of discussion for each group.

4. Set it up

Start your meeting together, with a senior leader sharing the intentions and ground rules with everyone. Focus on the company values that are appropriate to this discussion (for example Care and Be Curious are the two Great Place To Work values most appropriate to this experience.)

Ask everyone to keep the specifics of who said what confidential—we can share the discussion generally, but it’s better not to quote individuals, to avoid misrepresenting them.

Then split into your groups. 카지노 커뮤니티 랭킹 Chief Diversity & Innovation Officer Tony Bond created these simple discussion questions to get us started:

Check in with each other
How are you experiencing what’s happening?
What are you confused about?
How can I support you?
How can we support each other?
How do you find hope to keep going?

5. Open with vulnerability

Each facilitator should set the tone by opening with some personal truth and vulnerability. Participants will take their lead, and determine how safe the space is, from the leader’s openness and honesty.

6. Have the discussion

Keep the focus on sharing personal stories and feelings. Ensure that each person gets an opportunity to speak at least once, if they want to. Help curb interruption and cross-talk to give open airtime to all.

And if folks hold differing opinions, that’s OK. But do not allow anyone to debate or negate another person’s personal experience.

When speaking about race, gender, religion, or any other demographic, do not ask a person to speak on behalf of a group they may belong to. For example, do not ask Black people or other people of color to explain racism, “tell me how I can help,” or share a list of resources to educate anyone else.

While strong feelings are welcome, including tears, there should never be an expectation that anyone in the group has to make another feel better.

7. Come back together and close

Bring the small groups back together and invite voluntary comments from anyone who wishes to share their experience. The senior leader should then close with gratitude for everyone’s participation and explain any personal resources available for folks that want them.

8. Support each other

If specific requests for support have been expressed, do whatever you can as an organization to deliver those. If a conversation went sideways in a breakout, the facilitator should call in your HR leaders and team leader(s) to help work it out or resolve it. Don’t ignore a messy problem: It’s better to get in there and at least try to make it right.

9. Keep it going

This is not a one-and-done situation. We will all need to keep having conversations about the state of the world for the time being. If this format works, great! If not, find or use whatever fits your company culture.

Moving forward

In my own personal experience, I did not want to have this conversation at the time. It felt hard and frustrating. But after having it, I feel clearer, calmer and more secure knowing it’s okay for me to be a real human and bring my whole self to work.

I know that my leaders and co-workers all care about me and my experience. And I got to tell them that I care about theirs, too. I built relationships with people I don’t know very well and was able to share some vulnerability and build trust.

Plus—if those valuable outcomes aren’t enough for you—productivity is a cherry on the top. After our courageous conversation, I could get back to work and focus in a way that certainly wouldn’t have happened without the discussion.

So be brave and go for it.

Tell us how your discussions went and what other resources you need. Great Place To Work^® is here to help you create a great workplace For All^™.