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You are here: Home / Archives for David Zinger

2. Employee Engagement: Creating Iatrogenic Disengagement – Creepy Interventions

May 6, 2014 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Don’t be creepy if you want to create fuller employee engagement

(Reading time = 58 seconds)

Creepy Employee Engagement

This is the second post in a series on iatrogenic disengagement. Iatrogenic disengagement occurs when our efforts at employee engagement fail and cause disengagement. Read the first post here.

Creepy employee engagement approaches occur when they are inauthentic or manipulative. Perhaps the leader or manager seems to be saying and doing the right things but something just does not feel right. I believe our social brain is wired to detect creepy through our spindle cells and mirror neurons. For example, a manager learns that strength based conversations have a high probability to reduce employee disengagement. He or she endeavours to hold these conversations with staff but they seem so out of character and feel manipulative. This “creepiness” will cause disengagement rather than reduce it.

Cure: The cure is to ensure all employee engagement efforts are based on caring and focused on the benefits for all. Our actions, conversations and interventions must be respectful and human. It can be helpful to be skeptical but counterproductive to be cynical.  Let’s stive for “real” employee engagement efforts that make a difference for everyone.

David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker

 

David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert who abhors creepy approaches at work.

Filed Under: David Zinger, Employee Engagement Tagged With: #employeeengagement, authentic, caring, David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker, engagement, iatrogenic disengagement, trust

The Employee Engagement Wholehearted Dialogue: Denise Bissonnette and David Zinger

March 6, 2012 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Dialogue with Denise Bissonnette on Wholehearted Engagement

This is a dialogue with Denise Bissonnette and David Zinger as they talk about Denise’s views on wholehearted engagement. You can watch the entire recording or scan the time stamped transcript to go to a section that interest you. Here are a few tidbits from Denise during the conversation:

“Pursue a path, however narrow or crooked, that you can walk with love and with reverence.” 

perhaps the antidote to burnout is not rest; perhaps the antidote to burnout is wholeheartedness

I think what revives our spirits is pouring it into something meaningful – to engaging with people, with our work, with our world, with our purposes, and our gifts, and through that we get the kind of energy that we want, and you know as fundamental as this is, that wholeheartedness can’t be forced or coerced, it can’t be mandated

 how would our work be enlivened with the new narrative, and what would have to change in order to change your story if in fact your story is not working for you

You know, David, we like to use the word teacher for things we like to learn. We don’t like to use the word teacher for things that are not so fun to learn, but if you think about it we learn tolerance sometimes from bigots, racists, and chauvinists; they show us exactly how we do not want to be. We certainly learn humility from our children.

 

Wholehearted Employee Engagement from David Zinger on Vimeo.

[00:04] David Zinger: Hello, my name is David Zinger and I really want to welcome you to Employee Engagement & Wholehearted Engagement. This is a conversation that I’m going to be holding with Denise Bissonnette over the next 45 minutes to an hour. I want to welcome you all who joined in on the webinar and look forward to things unfolding. The webinar is brought to you in conjunction with the Employee Engagement Network, and I’m so pleased so many of you who joined the webinar who really know Denise from other areas and that’s what attracted you to the webinar that you’ve also joined the network; it’s my intention that that would be a great place for all of us to look at work, and engagement in work, and people who are engaged in looking for work. And without any further ado, I want to welcome someone I much admire, someone who is also a friend, Denise Bissonnette, welcome to the webinar.

[00:55] Denise Bissonnette: Thank you, David. I’m so excited to be here.

[00:59] David: So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, and then what engages you most in your work, Denise?

[01:06] Denise: Well, David, I promise to get to your question, but if you don’t mind I’d like to begin with an acknowledgement. A piece of advice that I received from a wonderful mentor many years ago, and this is advice that I have passed on to many since, is to associate with people who grow you, and I just want to thank you for being one of those people who through our friendship and our professional affiliation has continued to grow me whether I like it or not. You know, I’ve been pretty reticent about this whole webinar idea until I attended a few of yours through the Employee Engagement Network, and I just really loved your style, and the tone that you set, and I thought man I want to get on that train. So, I just want to say how happy I am to be doing this with you, and while this isn’t the first time and it’s probably not the last, thank you, David, for coaxing me out of my comfort zone.

[02:09] David: Oh, Denise, this will never be your last time; the response of people to listen to you and the people who really learn so much from you is this is a platform they’ll probably be asking for.

[02:23] Denise: Well, on that note I also really want to welcome our listeners, and I understand they’re joining us not only from all over the US and Canada, but from other parts of the world, so thank you for being here and lending an ear.

So, David I’ll go to your question; what engages me in my work? I’d like to share a favorite quote from Thoreau who said: “Pursue a path, however narrow or crooked, that you can walk with love and with reverence.” And like I know life is full of paths, but I think few of them hold as much potential for our growth or possibility for our self-expression as the path of work, and I have been deeply absorbed as a writer, and a trainer, and a curriculum developer in things relating to that pursuit. You know, how do we travel the every day path of work however narrow, or crooked, convoluted, complex, with love and reverence, or to use my favorite term – with wholeheartedness. So, I’ve been on a mission really through my writing and my teaching to inform, and inspire, and hopefully nourish people in that pursuit of bringing their whole heart to their everyday journey. So, you know, that’s my short answer, but really the message I’m here to convey to this webinar is the longer answer to that question.

[03:57] David: And the longer answer is some questions we can really begin to ask ourselves, and you’ve formed the webinar around seven essential questions; there’s kind of five what’s, and a who, and a where. Why questions, Denise?

[04:16] Denise: Well, David, I want to talk about questions, but I’d like to talk first about why questions with regard to wholeheartedness, because I have chosen that term very purposely. David Whyte, one of my favorite writers, once suggested that perhaps the antidote to burnout is not rest; perhaps the antidote to burnout is wholeheartedness, you know, bringing your whole heart, again, to the work that we’re doing, and you know, I hold as kind of a constant reminder the fact that we’re really here for such a brief time on earth, you know, none of us know how much time we have, and that makes every moment rather precious, and given the status as mere visitors in the world, you know, temporary guests, I’m wondering who care to be involved in anything that they wouldn’t want to give their whole hearts to?

[05:15] David: OK.

[05:16] Denise: We know… We know what it looks like for people who kind of live for Friday night and dread Monday morning, but just because we witness it from other people doesn’t give us an excuse to accept that kind of dead end existence for ourselves. I don’t think we want to live it Lois Lane, I think we want to live full tilt. I love this little saying I read on a magnet on my friend’s refrigerator the other day: “Live to the point of tears”, and I think from wholeheartedness I think it’s the seed bed for everything else we would want to cultivate at work: enthusiasm, passion, creativity, purpose, you know, those qualities that turn ordinary work into extraordinary work.

[06:05] David: And so I’m not going to try and force you to speak for David Whyte, he speaks quite eloquently for himself, but you’re kind of suggesting that the antidote to burnout may be putting our whole heart into it? It seems counter intuitive to most people.

[06:21] Denise: Right, because we think that to rest will revive our spirits, but I think what revives our spirits is pouring it into something meaningful – to engaging with people, with our work, with our world, with our purposes, and our gifts, and through that we get the kind of energy that we want, and you know as fundamental as this is, that wholeheartedness can’t be forced or coerced, it can’t be mandated, you know, we can’t manipulate people into bringing their whole heart; I think it’s kind of a gate within each of us that only opens from the inside, like there’s no outside latch.

[07:04] David: OK, maybe there’s a connection here when we’re looking at wholeheartedness, and Martin Luther King certainly lived his life with a very wholehearted passion for what he was trying to achieve, and you’ve woven that together with questions.

[07:20] Denise: Well, I begin many of my workshops with this quote from Martin Luther King, who suggested that our questions are everything, so “The questions we ask on a daily basis will shape our destiny as clearly as the skeleton shapes your body.” Our questions are everything; they will shape our livelihoods, our relationships, and our very realities, and if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense; there’s so much to see and experience in the world, and perceive in the world, that the questions we ask serve like the lens of the camera of the mind telling us what to shoot for and what to focus on, and I think we’re all natural questioners, but rarely do we have the presence of mind to really consider the questions that are animating our journey.

I like the idea that at the heart of the word question is the word quest. So, if you don’t like where your question is leading you, you change the question. I mean and listen to the difference between man what’s wrong in this place, to what’s passable in this situation, what needs changing, where do I start? And so you see in front of you the quote “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” I think a good question is like the turn of a kaleidoscope; when we pay attention differently, we see things differently, our perspectives change, and then our perceptions. So, with one turn of the kaleidoscope we’re looking at fear, with a slight turn, hope, with one turn scarcity, with another its abundance, and that therein lies the poetic power of a new question, and that’s what I want to present in this webinar – seven questions that will serve as ships in our perspective with regard to our wholeheartedness.

[09:16] David: So, Neil Postman, a critic of education back in the 70s and 80s, once stated that children enter school as question marks and leave as periods, and it sounds to me one of your quests around work is to reinstall questions for people?

[09:33] Denise: Yes, and to not treat the world as if it’s already finished, I mean that’s one of the things that education does I think is it makes us think more in terms of facts rather than curiosity, and I think keeping questions alive is our mission if we are willing to accept it; to keep questions alive that get us out of our normal way of seeing things. You know, when we pay attention differently it’s like we’re in a different country, we come alive differently in our world, we see different things, and I would hope that that’s what education would most want to inspire in us, but I think Neil Postman is absolutely right on; we’d rather settle for answers. And you know, on that note, David, I want to suggest to our listeners that as we pose these questions that we not approach them as if we have the answers, but to approach them, you know, with kind of an openness and a vulnerability so we’re not always stepping in tomorrow with yesterday’s answers.

[10:41] David: So, Denise, everybody loves a good story, but it’s another matter to look at your own story. So, your first question is what’s your story? What do you mean?

[10:55] Denise: Well, I think we’re all storytellers; we’re always weaving and reweaving tales that help us kind of make sense of our experience. So, there’s the reality of the situation we’re in, and then there’s what we’re telling ourselves about it. So, we look out in the world and then applying our opinions, values, needs, you know, add in a few expectations, you know, we have our homespun version of what’s going on. So, I know you know this, David, as a consultant you go into any workplace and throw the question so what’s it like working here? And we’re bound to hear everything from hey this is the bomb, you know…?

[11:34] David: Yeah.

[11:34] Denise: Or I’m pretty much a cog in the wheel just hanging in until retirement, or you know I finally hit the big leagues, I’m in my A game, or hey this is a dead end job, and you know, so at the same workplace all working in similar circumstances, the stories that people have going on about their experience are going to include everything from a mystery, a dark comedy, a Greek tragedy, you know, an inspirational hallmark special, and so going back to the question for our listeners, the question is what is the story you have going on with regard to your career, your workplace, your position, and the point of course is to recognize that it’s just that; it’s a story, and to own your own spin. You know, is your story nourishing you or is it depleting your energy? Is it dulling your senses or is it like really awakening your imagination? Is it making you act out of compliance or commitment, cynicism or optimism? I guess to borrow Dr. Phil’s question, you know, how is the story working for you, and…

[12:48] David: I’ve been thinking… Sorry to interrupt you, you really captured me with story, and do you think people have a signature story, Denise?

[12:58] Denise: You know what, I think we have lots and lots of stories going on throughout our lives, and you know maybe once we’ve been in a story long enough it becomes our signature story, but and I’m not really talking about people’s life story here, David, I’m really talking about what the spin we’re putting on the experience that we’re having, because I think our experience of work has a lot to do with the expectation that we bring to it every day. You know, it can be a tool that refines us, or this very small box, a tight frame that defines us – depending on our spin where it can feel like a burden or a blessing. So, like my question is how would our work be enlivened with the new narrative, and what would have to change in order to change your story if in fact your story’s not working for you? You get where I’m going?

[13:53] David: So, in some way you talk about the spin and the story, and it’s like in some ways if we have an effective story it stops the world from spinning, because that’s not a good experience at work sometimes when it’s spinning.

[14:08] Denise: You know that’s a really nice way to put it, like how do you have a spin that provides a little solid ground?

[14:17] David: So, the sub-question here is are you the puppet or the puppeteer?

[14:25] Denise: Yeah, you know I think that sometimes we can feel like a puppet in the workplace, but the truth is we’re all puppeteers by the mere fact of our existence we’re part of the great drama; none of us are witnesses, we’re all participants, you know, whether you’re getting in the game or you’re sitting in the stands, we’re the only ones holding our own strengths, and you know some people find this fact frightening, some find it freeing, but we have to accept that the most influential factor in the situation we’re experiencing is us. David, what I’m saying is that to a very great degree we need to be responsible for our own level of engagement, and I think we need to get real about work, like I love when people go oh I’m out of my dream job… My favorite response is dream job is appropriately named; it’s in your dreams. There’s just like real work, and at every real job there’s stuff we like, and there’s stuff we don’t, and hey our job is to just deal, to get on with it. As my colleague Richard Pimentel used to say, hey work is tough; that’s why they have to pay us to do it.

[15:37] David: Yeah.

[15:38] Denise: You know, Buckminster Fuller said we have a right hand, and we have a left hand; we don’t have a right hand and a wrong hand. People are always asking am I in the right job, I think this is the wrong job… I don’t think there’s a right job or a wrong job; there’s just the job we’re in and what we’re bringing to it.

[15:55] David: You know I think people struggle, many people struggle for authenticity in the workplace, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if like Pinocchio, our nose would grow as we started to lose our authenticity so that we could see how far it’s getting away from us?

[16:11] Denise: Yes, and you know we are going to be talking about authenticity; it’s part of the very next question. It’s a crucial matter, but there’s one thing I want to say before we leave this first question and go into the second one, and that’s for people to consider what is it I most want out of my work day; what do I want out of my career, what am I expecting from my work life, and then to change the question and ask whether it’s creativity, purpose, a sense of identity or pride… What if that’s not something you get from work, what if that’s something that you bring to work? The truth is I think that our dreams are waiting for us to come true to them.

[16:59] David: Yeah, so we need to head out to there, and that kind of leads us I think in a great way to your second question. What are your truest colors?

[17:11] Denise: Well, I became very enamored with the term true livelihood several years ago, and it’s the word I use as an alternative to career, employment, a job, because what I love about it is the idea of being true to who you are, what you love, what you care about, but as Marion Woodman says: “Don’t worry about being true to yourself until you know what voice you’re being true to.” Meaning, you know, wholehearted engagement requires that somebody’s home and that we know who that somebody is, and I think we’ve all experienced how we come to define ourselves with labels, you know, I’m a tourist, I’m an E and a P, he’s a type-A personality, a leader, she’s management, he’s frontline, he’s union, she’s temp… Like how do we free other people and ourselves from these very small kinds of identities?

You know, I could tell you I’m a white, middle age, woman, American, French heritage, living in Canada. Does this really describe me? Well, not really; it gives me a sense of location in the world, but these kinds of descriptions aren’t big enough to carry who we are, and David would you agree that in the workplace we kind of settle for identities that are bound by very limiting categories, and in the end I think they stifle our uniqueness, and it’s what we claim to value is everybody’s different, you know, there’s no two people alike. Don’t you think work gives us a really awesome opportunity in fact to learn who we are, to discover ourselves in relationship to other people, and when we create space for our real self-expression, we invite everyone else’s, and to me this is the heart of diversity; it’s diversity is really about inclusion, and inclusion isn’t about noticing what’s different about each other, but noticing what’s unique, you know, what are each of our truest colors?

[19:22] David: Yeah, and I think, you know, what was happening with the industrial age and modernization is we tried to cookie cut our work and make it all just fit into a certain structure, and now with knowledge work, and almost all of us are knowledge workers, it does provide that opportunity to bring more uniqueness and more of who we are to what we do.

[19:48] Denise: Which brings us to what you referenced earlier, that whole authenticity factor. I think people know what we’re talking about when we use the term, that feeling of being comfortable in your own skin, feeling like you can express your views without having to water them down, or dummy them up, or hide them, and I mean truly is there anything more exhausting than walking around trying to be someone you’re not? But in the same way you mentioned that education has turned us from question marks into periods, I believe that the culture has taught us to value conformity over authenticity. You know, rather than being taught to be true to ourselves, we’re told don’t rock the boat, play your cards close to the vest, don’t wear your hearts on your sleeve. Like where I went to school we were taught it was more important to be accepted and acceptable to everyone around us than to be accepted and acceptable to ourselves, and you know, gee, surrendering a little authenticity seemed like a small price to pay for the larger reward of just belonging, but I think the rub is that this really isn’t a win for anybody. Gandhi says if you don’t live to tell your true story, you have betrayed it. None of us want to be frauds, and I think the price we pay when we stay in a role or a situation where we’re not really bringing our true self is paid not just by us but by everyone around us.

[21:29] David: Yeah, so it’s not… You’re not just talking about the verbal story; you’re really in essence talking about the live story and the story that’s lived through work.

[21:40] Denise: Yes, I am, and you know I think when we live behind a mask or with armor to try to fit in that it affects not only our own sense of livelihood and wholeheartedness, but it also does damage to the people we’re trying to help. So, you know, the counselor who has lost her vision is going to fail to inspire people about their futures, like I think we really need to own our authenticity, and part of that is to own our personal culture. You put a slide up and I’ve included here some of those parts of our personal culture that it would behoove us to be aware of, like you know we love taking a look at our talents, our passions, our communication style, but I also believe that we all bring our own set of blind spots, and biases, and beliefs, and I think that if we had a greater sense of what those are and how we came to hold these beliefs, we would be more responsive to people who have a culture different than our own. I think we all bring a unique way of viewing and celebrating life, our own personal culture, but we’re also working within a larger culture of the organization. So, some sub-questions here are, you know, what am I bringing to the table that’s unique, what do I have to give up or change for the sake of the larger whole, what are the values or patterns that I have to acquire to assimilate to the culture? Because, like David would you agree that in large part we’re paid not only to wear our own face, but the face of the company? So, if I have like a great interaction with Judy from United Airlines, or a terrible interaction with Judy from United Airlines, when I leave I don’t leave with a lasting impression of Judy; it’s a lasting impression of United Airlines. So, I think we have to have real integrity. Is there a natural blending of our personal culture with that larger culture whose face we also have to wear?

[23:56] David: Yeah, and that’s a struggle sometimes to make sure the two faces fit together without losing our face.

[24:04] Denise: Right, and you know for people who are looking for work and like making the difficult choice of where they’ll work, that’s always a question that I would raise; like do you feel a natural belonging, do you feel at home in that world, that larger world of the workplace?

[24:25] David: Well, we’ve kind of looked at two questions. We’re on our way to our third question, and already I think I could use a liquid Advil or whatever, because it’s asking a lot, but I don’t think that’s what you mean by what’s your medicine.

[24:39] Denise: David, you know what I mean. I believe what Native Americans believe; that everyone born to the earth is born with a gift, there’s no exceptions, that no ones birth was a mistake, and that it is in the expression and the giving of these gifts that they become medicine for the tribe, the family, the community, the workplace. They would also say that the health and the vitality of any community requires 100% participation of every member’s gift; that’s their medicine. Now, I want you to notice the difference between the questions what’s your medicine, from are you fulfilling the functions as written in your job description? I mean it’s not that doing the job you are hired to do, producing the results, that’s important, don’t get me wrong. What I’m saying though is that if in the process of doing that work we’re not bringing what feels like our truest gifts, our medicine; even if we’re pleasing the boss we are not inspiring ourselves. I believe that all of us have talents that will eventually surface as a need, not just as a hobby or a passion, but with a necessity like eating, drinking, breathing, and a really important question is what are we here to give? I love this shift in consciousness when we make the shift from what am I here to get to what am I here to give? It’s that shift from reaping to sewing, and my favorite question… Go ahead, David.

[26:23] David: And so it really comes back to putting your heart into your work and being very hearty with your work then, that the giving versus the getting.

[26:33] Denise: Absolutely, and when you’re giving of your natural gifts it’s not work, you know, it feels like play. One of my favorite questions to help people discover their medicine is to just ask them what do you love? I love when people go how do you unlock the key to motivation, and it’s oh, just ask them what they love, hello. You know, because what we love is what we’re here to give. In my workshops I ask people to write a quick list of 10 things they love, and I would encourage our listeners to do this at some point, and once they’ve written what they love, you know, whether it’s gardening, fishing, cooking, writing, reading, you know, speaking, I have them look at that and know that those are your gifts from the world and those are meant to be your gifts right back to the world. It’s what we’re disciplined in, which shares the same root word as disciple; it’s what we’re disciples of, and I think when we bring more what we love to our work everyday in and outside of the workplace, everyone benefits from it, because it kind of brings a natural wholeheartedness.

[27:45] David: I so much appreciate you saying that. You know Erich Fromm once wrote a book called The Art of Love, and he said that the art of love consists of discipline, concentration, and patience, and I think so often when we hear the word love banding around work it leads people to believe it’s some sort of mushy expedition and it’s just if my heart infuses with love everything will be wonderful, and yet there’s the discipline, there’s the concentration, there’s the patience in there.

[28:14] Denise: Oh my gosh, absolutely, and you know I would say that for all the pragmatists listening who think that this whole idea of love or wholeheartedness is like some philosophical or fanciful notion. The truth is it has huge implications for our everyday practical concerns. It’s that je ne sais quoi, really good customer service, or of a brilliant lecture, or… It’s what we expect of leaders. I mean who wants to follow a leader who’s not willing to follow his or her own heart?

[28:52] David: Yeah, and you know it’s interesting you read many of the generals in military, and that’s not a profession that you equate a lot with love. What the effective generals will talk about is how much they love the people that they work with.

[29:08] Denise: Nice.

[29:08] David: And yet there are people, who can go into terrible and awful situations and have to make decisions that affect people’s lives or whatever, and yet they talk about their leadership based on love, and I don’t think they’re being mushy.

[29:26] Denise: No. Well, I mean I think we’re here to give ourselves away, and to actually connect with the world, and to respond to the world with what really calls to us, bringing us to the question you put on the screen: what’s your why? I think what we do in life really matters very little, but why we do it is everything. I love the story of the priest who meets a soldier on the road in pre-revolutionary Russia. The soldier walks up, aims his gun at the priest and says who are you, where do you go, why do you go there, and the priest smiles and he says son, put your gun down, tell me how much do they pay you to meet people on the road and ask those three questions? He says 50 kopecks a month. The priest says son, I will gladly triple your income if you promise to meet me on the road every day for the rest of my life and pose those three questions: who are you, where do you go, why do you go there? And I think our listeners relate, you know, knowing that our time is precious, we don’t want to just spend it; we want to invest it, you know, whether in our profession, or a cause, you know, something that touches us deeply.

[30:51] David: So, your questions are much less about interrogation and much more about invitation?

[30:58] Denise: Oh man, well you’ve got that right. We’re not asking here for the, you know, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You know, what we’re asking for is for people to kind of ponder, to like take the questions and, well I like the metaphor like let it be like a lantern illuminating darkened corners, or like a teabag that has to steep for a while. You know, what’s your why? It’s a rather large question. Actually, if you would put on the next slide… People say you know Denise, you know, what’s my why, what’s my purpose, and so many people are walking around not knowing what their purpose is, and I just want to share that having grown up Catholic there’s this really strong leaning on the idea of calling of vocation, and I’ll tell you what I really would of appreciated burning bush, or you know, angels speaking from the heavens. But my ace in the hole was if I don’t get the call any other way, I’m just going to be a nun, and David I wanted to be a nun from when I was like six until I was 16. I even had my name picked out, you ready? Sister Mary Katherine. OK, what I wish someone had said to that six year old, eight year old, 10 year old, 16 year old, you know Denise, maybe life isn’t about getting the big call, but you will be called every day if you know how to listen. You will be called in every part of your life to do, or be, or become something which you weren’t the day before. So, you know I would put that out to our listeners to think about how are you being called in the work you’re in, what small sense of purpose or big sense of purpose can you bring to the daily work, even the mundane work?

[32:52] David: So, you could have been a nun dressed in pink, because you would have been Sister Mary K. Sorry, that’s just one of my guesses, because I think the world would have been a little differently, and I know Rob would have been a little disappointed, Sister Mary Katherine, had you taken that route.

[33:09] Denise: Yeah, I had an aunt who I love very much who was in the convent when she was young, and when I was about 16 she came and visited, she goes honey I know you’ve been telling us since you were a little girl you wanted to be a nun, I just have one larger question for you: why? And you know, it really took me back, but I said, you know, I want to teach, and my vision of teaching was that you would wear a little funny hat and a black habit, you know, and she’s like no, no, no, you know, you can teach and live in a regular house, and wear regular clothes, and get married, and have babies. Anyway, as you can imagine, David, I’m very happy we had this conversation.

[33:49] David: Yeah, one of my aunts was a Mother Superior and back in the 50s and 60s they always wore habits, and she stayed with us one time and frightened me when all of the sudden I saw her pass from one room to the other and realized that she had hair, and sometimes its hard at that spiritual realm to recognize the humanness embedded in it.

[34:10] Denise: Yes.

[34:11] David: So, she became a little bit of a teacher there, which comes to the fifth question: who are your teachers?

[34:18] Denise: This is one of my very favorite questions. I’d like everyone listening to think about someone who is absolutely driving them crazy. By the way, if they’re in the room with you, don’t look at them. Think of someone who is like a thorn in your side in or outside of work. Some of you have a whole cast of characters. So, my question to you is this: how could that person possibly have that much of your attention without something really important to teach you? You know, David, we like to use the word teacher for things we like to learn. We don’t like to use the word teacher for things that are not so fun to learn, but if you think about it we learn tolerance sometimes from bigots, racists, and chauvinists; they show us exactly how we do not want to be. We certainly learn humility from our children. So, I think we just need to be more comfortable with our problems, our challenges, knowing that they’re kind of a sign that there’s still life in us, we’re not dead yet, there’s still something to learn, but as the next slide shows, it’s kind of important to get the lesson. You know, have you ever met the person who’s gone from job to job, workplace to workplace, miserable in every one, and you kind of want to say, you know, there’s a common denominator there, you know?

[35:48] David: Yeah.

[35:49] Denise: The problem in the workplace, are you bringing it with you? And I would love to just give an example of my own, I don’t know, stubbornness, blindness to the lesson was really, really early in my career, and I worked for a two person consulting firm who were required to hire me in order to get this contract from the Office of Refugee Services in California. It was a contract to train job developers, and they were told they had to hire me, and they didn’t like that, and they didn’t like me, and they had no problem letting me know on a daily basis they were not glad I was there.

So, for like six months I’m in this incredibly hostile work environment and I kept thinking oh, this is to teach me patience, resilience, you know, to hold my own, you know, against all this disdain. Well, about six months into it, it occurs to me huh, what if I’m supposed to be learning how to speak up for myself? What if this is like a hardcore curriculum in assertiveness? So, anyway I’m happy to tell you that I quit and oh my God I had such a great time doing it, and my point is if we’re going to fall let’s fall forward, you know? I moved from there to developing, you know, a great partnership with two colleagues, I think wrote some of my best work, became a national trainer, you know, to this day I would bow to those nasty colleagues. The thing is I think we put on the face of everything around us that which affirms who we already are, you know, can we be more teachable?

Rilkie phrases a great question; he says: “Winning does not tempt that man. This is how he grows: by being defeated decisively by constantly greater things.” I think the challenge is to look at what we consider to be a problem and ask yourself am I totally overqualified for this problem or does this really qualify as a constantly greater thing? I had a participant after a training say Denise, can I just have a few minutes to talk about a challenge? David, you’re a trainer, you know at the end of a training day we’re just like exhausted, right, totally wasted, and I’m thinking, you know, come on Denise, you can give her a few minutes. So, she’s like 10 minutes into how she’s challenged with this boss who makes them sit in a two hour meeting every Friday, and it’s boring, and he has a corny sense of humor, and it’s a waste of time. So, I don’t know if it was my pure exhaustion or what, but I’m like OK, let me get this picture here; you’re in a county with some of the highest unemployment rate, you know, in the country, you’re in a job that you say you’ve been trained for that you love, doing what you love, and you’re fretting because of the two hour meeting every Friday for a guy who tells bad jokes? Like if this really is your big challenge, you ought to kneel and kiss the ground. You know, do you get my point here? It’s I think we really need to look at what we are calling our problems and our challenges and like step up, you know, and say I’m going to give my attention to that which really is deserving of my energies.

[39:16] David: Yeah, and you know there’s been estimates of how much people complain in the workplace, and some estimates are over half the workplace complains on average 10 hours a month, and they’re either complaining or they’re listening to someone else complain, and 30% of those people are 20 hours a month, and you’re just fertilizing and feeding the very things that you’re complaining about, and not… And I think what you’d say is you may have legitimate complains and beefs, but are you going to do something about that, are you going to take some action with that?

[39:50] Denise: Right, and again…

[39:51] David: So, this brings us to question six on where do you lead?

[39:57] Denise: Well, you know I think one of the things that’s been communicated through the first five questions is that really our lives are our ultimate creations, you know, we have the privilege of choosing who we’re going to be, what kind of life we’re going to lead, what gifts, values, purposes we bring, but like all privileges, I think this comes with a really great responsibility, because in the same way that we’re all influenced and we decide who, when, what we’re going to follow, the truth is we influence other people. I think we become ad hoc leaders and we never really know who’s watching, who is following us, or who for better or worse is following our example. So, I chose this slide because I think that no one escapes leaving a trail; our footprints are traced wherever we’ve been, and our actions and our inactions are felt in more ways than we can possibly imagine.

[41:00] David: Yeah, so we…

[41:01] Denise: I think it’s interesting that… Yeah, go ahead.

[41:03] David: So, we leave our mark and that washes away, but it’s always had an impact.

[41:09] Denise: Absolutely. I think it’s interesting that we’ve come to understand that the fluttering of a very butterfly’s wing can affect climate changes on the other side of the planet, and yet we fail to really comprehend the influence of our own actions, and I think our participation is never inconsequential, and in particular I think every day we are announcing to the world who we are, and what we care about, and what we value by the choices we make; like our values are like fingerprints that we leave over everything we do, and you know, people don’t know us by our intentions, they know us by our actions.

If you wouldn’t mind going to the next slide. We all know this beautiful phrase “My life is my message.” I came upon that years ago while reading the biography of Mahatma Gandhi, and I remember thinking oh my God, that is so incredibly cool. You know, he’s saying that he wants to live his life as a testament to the message he’s here to share with the world. But what occurred to me recently, and I wrote one of my newsletters about it, is the notion that maybe this just wasn’t a declaration of Gandhi’s intention, but what if he was speaking a truth that we all share as human beings; that how we live our lives is the fundamental medium for expressing our truth for everyone whether we like it or not? So, by default or by design our lives are our message, and this is as true for us as it is for Gandhi, and I think most of us would rather do that by design rather than by default, and it begs two questions – are you sending a message of credibility? You know, people wonder are they buying into my vision, they need to be asking are they buying into me, you know, are you leading by example? Is the way you’re living a message of integrity, which really means that there’s a congruence between who we are and what we do.

You’ve got the little inukshuk up there. You know, I use this image because I just believe these little rock figures show us a way in being in the world, like what if we didn’t base our identity in things like job title, marital status, our financial profile, but what if we based our sense of belonging to something we can really stand on that doesn’t shift; like our values, our principles, our convictions? You know, among other things we would have a difference sense of security because we would not be blown away by a layoff, a divorce, a bankruptcy, you know, I’m not saying that these aren’t terrible experiences, but the truth is if we could stand on things like our convictions and our principles, they only get stronger in turmoil, you know, not weaker. So, this is all part of that self-responsibility, right, like how can I… Knowing I can’t always control the outer world, how do I cultivate a stronger sense of self internally? What are the convictions that I can stand on, that I can show through my life, through the message that is my life?

[44:32] David: So, for many of us values, principles, convictions, and beliefs seem almost ephemeral or conceptual, but you’re really seeing them kind of as the bedrock of a wholehearted approach to work?

[44:48] Denise: Of course, because for example, if you decided I am going to base my life on a sense of fairness, it totally changes then the arguments or your experience of discrimination and how you’re going to respond to it. If you have a commitment to your joy, and your happiness, even in stranger, dire situations in the workplace you’re going to respond differently, so I don’t think it’s ephemeral at all. I think it really colors all of our reactions and our choices in the world.

[45:25] David: OK. I want to just pause for a second here. We’re going to the seventh question; where’s your yes? When we scheduled this webinar it was advertised as 45 minutes, this is the seventh question. So, if you do need to go now if you’re one of the listeners, we respect that, but we also don’t want you to feel that you’re missing something, so this webinar is recorded and will be up at the Employee Engagement Network and in the newsletters we’ll let people know how to get access to it. It probably will be on even later today with that, but there was such a response to Denise’s webinar that kind of between us in conversation we decided that we would maybe take an extra 10 minutes. So, please consider the next 10 minutes as bonus time, and we’d love you to stay, but if you do need to go, don’t feel that you’re going to be missing something because we will have that available to you. So, question seven is where is your yes?

[46:22] Denise: Well, this question was inspired by something that Joseph Campbell said: “The only question life asks is this: can you give your journey a wholehearted yes?” I think that yes is the vocabulary of the heart. We’re always saying yes whether it’s to our boredom or our curiosity, whether it’s to our resistance to change or our impatience with the status quo. I love that Mother Theresa’s advice, she once said that she would not probably show up for a revolution against war, but she would gladly attend a rally for peace. In other words, I think we need to be in the world with what we’re for, what we’re here to promote, what we affirm, rather than what we resist, and you know, applying it to the workplace its brave and a radical act to kind of sit back and really ask ourselves where are we putting our yes, and an equally important question is what does that mean about where we’re putting the implicit no? I once read those who cannot say no are not capable of a wholehearted yes. That aunt that I was talking about earlier who used to be a nun, my aunt Anna, she’s a real mover and a shaker, man, she’s an amazing woman, like she has made amazing strides in providing shelter for Boston’s elderly homeless. But she’s also a workaholic, and she once complained to me that her problem is that she can’t say no to anyone, and I tenderly suggested to her, Anna, you say no all the time. Every time you say yes to being on another committee, to volunteering for another fundraiser, you’re saying no to your spouse, you’re saying no to time for yourself, or for writing your memoir. So, I think where we’re putting our yes it’s a question that can help eliminate not only what we’re affirming, but what we’re avoiding.

[48:31] David: So, there’s that old statement if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything, so that but it’s a focus on affirmation rather than negation?

[48:41] Denise: That’s it, that’s it.

[48:44] David: So, the sub-question there…

[48:45] Denise: Yeah, yeah, and how can I not on a webinar on wholeheartedness not pose the question does the path have heart? Many of you are familiar with this passage, but for those of you who are not, I’d like to read it. It’s from Carlos Castaneda who writes: “All paths are the same; they lead nowhere. There are paths going through the bush or into the bush. In my own life I could have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactors question has meaning now; does this path have heart? If it does, the… If it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has heart and the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey as long as you follow it you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. Choose always the path of heart.” Some of you may be wondering why is he saying, you know, they all lead nowhere? Well, as I’ve recently heard someone say, no path goes all the way. You know, the question is does your path have heart? I saw a greeting card the other day that goes you know you’re on the right road when you’re happy even when you’re lost. There’s a nice card right?

[50:08] David: And it’s a path, not a highway, most of it you’re looking at, and it’s interesting that the path to me seems so much more infused with our humanness, and who we are, and that we’re not quite sure; it’s not like 1,000 signs on a path all telling you next exit in two miles or whatever, and all guiding you. You have to take a lot of initiative when you’re on a path.

[50:30] Denise: Yeah, and we only make the road by walking it. You know they say if you see your career path perfectly laid out in front of you, you can know it’s probably not yours. So, and I think you’re right, I think, you know, we’ve all taken so many paths we could call ourselves pathological, but that is what part of the vocational journey is; it’s getting lost, picking yourself up, brushing yourself off, and moving on.

[50:56] David: Wow, I’ve never heard that little cute phrase pathological. That gives new meaning to path; I’ll have to mull that over, but…

[51:03] Denise: You know you are, but…

[51:06] David: I’m pathological, I know that for sure.

[51:08] Denise: But only in totally delightful ways, David. So, you know what’s on the screen now is just kind of a summary of the questions, and to me by exploring these it presents like sort of a recipe, not like the recipe, but a recipe of how we can bring more heart to our work, you know, what’s your story, what’s your spin, is it giving you power or taking it, are you the puppet or the puppeteer, you know, what are your truest colors? Are you behind the mask, do you know who you are, do you have self-awareness, are you willing to come out from behind the mask, what’s your medicine, what are your true gifts, what do you love, what is it that you’re here to give, what can you not give without doing terrible damage to your own humanity, what’s your why, you know, how are you being called, what are your little purposes, not just your big ones, but how can you pour meaning into the chalice of everyday work, who are your teachers, you know, what are your challenges, what course, what curriculum are you in, and can you show up and get the lesson, where do you lead, people are following you, they’re watching, what is the message you are sending by how you’re living your life, and finally where are you putting your yes, does your path have heart? So, I’ve loved sharing these with you and I encourage people to share them with their colleagues and coworkers in wanting to invite more wholeheartedness in the people around them, you know, to really just pose the questions and take time to listen to the answers.

[52:53] David: So, Sister Mary K, if I could be so bold as to call you that, you talked…

[52:58] Denise: Oh my God, I am never going to live this down.

[53:00] David: I know, I know, but it’s a term of affection. We talked before we started this that you like to finish off with masquerade, and I wonder if you’d like to do that and then I’ll just make a couple of closing comments.

[53:14] Denise: Great, thank you, David. So, before I do that, I just want to thank you, David, for this opportunity, and more importantly the amazing gift you’ve given our field through the Employment Engagement Network. Talk about a generous labor of love, and I’m telling you that network is a goldmine of information, and articles, and blogs, and e-Books, and webinars, and I bow to you, my friend, and to all of you listening, my parting gift to you is this poem called The Masquerade, which I wrote in the book The Wholehearted Journey, and it goes like this:

If only we could meet in the early hours when the lines around our eyes cut a deep horizon, before we paint the rosy face, before when we could meet in the insecure hours before we dawned the coat of confidence we like to wear out in the world. If only we could meet in our sorrow, and our sadness, as well as our celebration, we would not longer have use of the words rival, competitor, enemy, that we would find thousands of new variations on the words brother, comrade, friend. If only we could see each other as we see ourselves caught in the cross light between utter despair and true innocence. If only we thought this lovable and our tiredness as we do our joy, we would find hundreds of ways to use our hands in shaping the beauty of the world, because we would no longer need them for holding up the masks. If only we could release the armor that lay so heavy upon our hearts, we could for the first time know what it is to love and work in true community. Fear led us in to this masquerade, may faith in ourselves and each other lead us out.

[55:18] David: Thank you so much, Denise. I appreciate your comments about the Employee Engagement Network, and maybe it’s partly your influence, but I know recently in talking to people about that, I have tried to explain it because I’ve sunk many hours in, that it’s been a labor of love so that hopefully others labor with love.

[55:37] Denise: Nice.

[55:38] David: And if people want to reach you after, www.DiversityWorld.com. You have one of the most enriching monthly newsletters of anyone I know, full of content that you’re just giving away to people, and I really encourage people to signup for Denise’s newsletter. She has the book The Wholehearted Journey and there are other resources with that. So, it’s just been a real pleasure to have an hour to be able to have a conversation about the wholehearted journey towards work. As I said, this has been in conjunction with the Employee Engagement Network, and my intention will be that as long as everything works fine technically, probably by the end of today a recording of this webinar will be up usually on the homepage and then on the video page, and people are very much welcome to come and view it, you can take the code and embed it so that others can view it, and pass it on, and have everyone get the maximum from this. So, Denise, thank you very much for spending time with us today.

[56:44] Denise: Thank you so much, David.

[56:46] David: And thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to spend time with us. This has been David Zinger and this is on the Employee Engagement Network, thank you very much.

 

Filed Under: David Zinger, Employee Engagement Tagged With: Denise Bissonnette

Employee Engagement: 5 Prescriptions for Well Being

January 31, 2012 by David Zinger

9. Working Well

(Part 10 of an 11 part series on how managers can improve employee engagement)

Enhance Well-being. We need to create wellbeing inside of work. There are things we can do outside of work but how we promote and enhance well-being within work is becoming increasingly important as mobile devices makes work portable and 24/7. We must eliminate toxic workplaces poisoned with a lack of respect or mutuality. We must create a profound wellbeing where people leave work enlivened and enriched rather than depleted and deadened.

Here are 5  prescriptions for well being at work

  1. Enliven the five elements of well being.
  2. Establish PERMAnent well being.
  3. Mind your work
  4. Establish and maintain psychological and social safety
  5. Be a well being heretic

Enliven the five elements of well being. Rath and Harder in Well Being state that well being is a combination of  “our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities. Most importanty, it’s about how these five elements interact” (p. 4).  About 66% of us are doing well with at least one of these elements but only 7% of us are thriving in all five areas. This leaves much room to improve well being at work by working on our career  well being, social well being, financial well being, physical well being, and community well being. By the way, I don’t think we try for the infamous work/life balance with these elements, rather we try and have healthy flow that benefits us and others.

Establish PERMAnent Well Being. Martin Seligman approaches well-being with the caution of a scientist and the optimism of someone who developed the approach of learned optimism. In Flourish, Seligman went beyond happiness work to examine flourishing and offering practical suggestions on instilling well being. His perspective of well being also has a foundation of 5 elements, different than Gallup, and structured around the mnemonic PERMA. PERMA stands for: positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and achievement. Positive emotions and the pleasant life contribute to our well being and happiness. Engagement creates well being with powerful connections to work, belonging and serving.  Relationships, one of the 10 blocks of the pyramid of engagement, in study after study is found to be one of the most salient contributors to well being.  Meaning, the most recent block we examined in this series on the pyramid of engagement is vital for health.  Achievement has been a more recent insertion in Seligman’s approach to authentic happiness and well being. Seligman examined his own love of playing bridge and realized how much achievement plays a role in well being. Achievement fits well with the top three blocks of the employee engagement pyramid: results, performance, and progress.

Mind your work. Mindfulness can be a powerful yet subtle pathway to well being. Jon Kabat-Zinn defined mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentaly.” How well do you show up to the moment? We may reduce high levels of stress attached to the past and the future by being where we are. As Stephan Rechtschaffen declared in Time Shifting, “there is no stress in the present moment.”

Mindful leadership.  A recent Harvard Business review blog post by Holly Labarre quoted Pamela Weiss: “If you want to transform an organization it’s not about changing systems and processes so much as it’s about changing the hearts and minds of people. Mindfulness is one of the all-time most brilliant approaches for helping to alleviate human suffering and for bringing out our extraordinary potential as human beings.” Mindfulness seems so subtle, almost anemic for well being, but for a world that has gone crazy busy it can keep us well, centered, aware, connected, and present. We often seem to be searching for dramatic data-driven tools when this subtle and powerful tool is always available to us, embedded in us, and always only a moment away.

Watch the talk. I encourage you to mindfully watch this Google talk by Jon Kabat-Zinn:

If the video does not open in this window, click here.

Establish and maintain psychological and social safety. We have focused and improved our work on physical safety at work. We need to keep all employees safe. In addition we need to ensure that our work and workplaces are infused with psychological and social safety. Safety is created through mutual purpose and mutual respect. It means we care about each other and we care about what each other is interested in. This must be genuine and is more than a fuzzy warm feeling. People read a lack of safety in seconds and this thwarts are ability to achieve results, build relationships and be well at work. A lack of safety saps away well being at work and creates ineffective conflicts and confrontations. We seem to have a bigger safety issue than engagement issue at work. It feels unsafe for most workers to be honest, direct, and respectful about engagement. An unintended consequence of the infamous anonymous survey in engagement is that we are telling employees we don’t want to know who they are, thereby making employees invisible. Robust engagement needs a name and a face. Management also justifies anonymous surveys because they don’t believe workers will be honest unless they are anonymous. We need to stop thinking of disengagement as a punishable offence and instead use it as a trigger for meaningful listening and talking about work.

Be a well being heretic.  I believe we have too much fluff and far too many mistaken notions about specific wellness approaches at work. I have believed this for 30 years but just recently has it coalesced together into the  Heretic’s Manifesto of Well Being. I do not write about this frivolously having been an employee assistance counselor for almost 20  years and a university educator in educational and counseling psychology for 25 years.

A wellbeing epiphany and dodging a bullet. Late last year, I was teaching a short course for blue collar workers on overcoming stress and engaged well being. They were a skeptical group who did not want to be there and approached the topic with a high degree of defensiveness and disdain. This was no time for fluffy soft skills yet I wanted to fully contribute to their well being and knew they could benefit from a focus on well being that was real, robust and respectful. I deviated from my plan, connected with the group and realized their rapt attention and interest was bringing out my personal weave of wellness in a way that even I had never fully heard before. When the session was over one of the guys came up at the end. He told me he hated motivational speakers and that he got nothing from them. Before the workshop he borrowed some change from a friend for Tim Horton’s coffee and his friend had a small caliber bullet in his pocket (gives you an idea of the audience).  He picked up the change from his friend plus the bullet saying he may need it as he had to listen to some speaker (me). After everyone else had left at the end of the session, he handed me the bullet, the most creative expression of gratitude I have every received as a speaker, voiced a big thank you, and really did make my day! And this was in…Beasejour, Manitoba! The impromptu and honest rant with the group during that session resulted in the articulation of the following 33 point well being manifesto:

A Heretic’s Manifesto and Guide to Better Well Being at Work:

    1. We must find wellbeing inside of work and not wait until we are outside of work at the end of our day or in retirement.
    2. Hope is a misguided future perspective taking us away from where we can really make a difference, right here – right now.
    3. There is no stress in the present moment so strive to be where you are.
    4. Self-esteem is an evaluative trap that snares you like cheese snares a mouse with the snap of the trap. Accept yourself don’t evaluate yourself.
    5. Life comes before work and work/life balance and any balance is dynamic like a teeter totter.
    6. Well being is only a concept until we engage in well doing.
    7. Ignorance is more important than knowledge in fostering and enhancing well being. We being by not knowing.
    8. People don’t actually hear most interpersonal feedback unless they feel safe and safety is the only way to overcome most of our problems.
    9. Genuine caring trumps professional competence in almost every relationship.
    10. Achieving  happiness is a shallow and insignificant approach to living.
    11. Structure trumps willpower in promoting and fostering well being.
    12. Powerful questions we ask ourself are the ideal WD40 for a brain clogged by an amygdala seizure.
    13. Wellbeing is strong stuff. We must know, live and leverage our strengths in the service of others.
    14. It take energy directed towards well being to get energy and when you are depleted this is a real hindrance to experiencing well being
    15. Relaxation is the anemic aspirin of stress management and can actually cause stress.
    16. What lessens your stress today could be a major contributor of stress tomorrow.
    17. There are no algorithmic certainties of well being only heuristic probabilities of success.
    18. In life and work you are going to fart, fumble, and fall. You are human. It is not about avoiding falling down it is about how you pick yourself back up again. Everyone is screwed up: I am not okay, you are not okay and that is okay.
    19. Placebos are examples of caring made tangible.
    20. Employee wellbeing is not a soft skill just as accounting is not a hard skill.  Wellbeing embraces fluid skills when the fixed parts of our life are in need of repair.
    21. Reality is overrated, living through positive illusion, not delusion,  is powerful and practical.
    22. Wellbeing is more than a personal endeavor it  is a social phenomenon.
    23. Only you are responsible for your own well being but others are accountable for your well being just as you are accountable for their well being.
    24. No one can upset you after 90 seconds.
    25. Compliance is the anemic byproduct of power.
    26. We do not resist change we resist coercion and the gravity of the familiar is what holds us in place.
    27. If life throws you a lemon — duck, determine where it came from, think about what you can do about it and only then contemplate making lemonade.
    28. Positive thinking must be changed into a more authentic constructive thinking. Lots of  bad things do happen and positive thinking may be a disrespectful glossing offer the richness, albeit ruggedness, of human experience.
    29. Bad is at least twice as salient as good in most situations so we must tip the scales of good for good.
    30. Most of what we know really isn’t so.
    31. Wellness tips like this without personal evaluation and experimentation can create a  misguided tyranny of tips leading towards more stress. The Buddha said, “we must be a lamp unto ourselves.”
    32. Contradiction is only troublesome if you are locked into rigid thinking and a fixed mindset.
    33. Take a long shot, Charlie Chaplin once said, “life is a tragedy in close up and a comedy in long shot.” How long does it take you to get a long shot on things?

Read these 5 sources to be well on your way:

    • Tom Rath and Jim Harter, Well Being: The Five Essential Elements.
    • Martin E. P. Seligman, Flourish: A visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being.
    • Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go There You Are
    • Stephan Rechtschaffen,  Time Shifting: Creating More time to Enjoy Your Life
    • Polly Labarre, Developing Mindful Leaders, Harvard Business Review Blog, December 2011.

Building the pyramid of employee engagement. Review the 9 previous posts listed below as we build the 10 block pyramid of employee engagement actions for managers:

    • Introduction: The Employee Engagement Pyramid
    • 12 Keys to Achieve Results with Employee Engagement
    • 6 Ways Managers Can Maximize Performance through Employee Engagement
    • 7 Significant Steps to Employee Engagement Progress
    • 4 Ways Managers Can Build Relationship BACKbone into Employee Engagement
    • Don’t Blink: How to Foster Recognition for Employee Engagement
    • 6 Powerful moments of employee engagement
    • How to leverage 5 pathways for strengths based employee engagement
    • 8 powerful approaches to create meaningful employee engagement

Next post in this series: How to enliven energy for employee engagement.

David Zinger built the 10 block pyramid of employee engagement to help managers bring the full power of employee engagement to their workplaces. If you would like to arrange to have this course or workshop for your organization or conference contact David today at 204 254 2130 or zingerdj@gmail.com.

Filed Under: David Zinger, Employee Engagement, Pyramid of Employee Engagement, Well Being Tagged With: Employee Engagement, Flourish, healthy work, mindfulness, POEP, well being, work

12 Keys to Achieve Results with Employee Engagement

November 15, 2011 by David Zinger 3 Comments

1. Achieve Results (Part 1 of a 10 part series on the Employee Engagement Pyramid for Managers)

Top of the pyramid. Based on extensive work in employee engagement, I constructed a pyramid of employee engagement actions for managers. There are 10 building blocks to full engagement and at the top of the pyramid on the 10 things managers must do to increase employee engagement is Achieve Results. The symbol used for achieving results is a target to ensure we know where we are aiming our engagement efforts.

Strategic engagement. Achieving results is important for the organization, team, manager, and employee. Engagement must be directed towards a specific end or it will lack focus and  sustainability. It will also quickly be perceived as a fluffy extra lacking in contribution to strategic objectives and wither because of a lack of impact or energy. Achieve Results is tightly aligned with the first principle in my 10 Principles of Engagement:

Employee engagement is specific. We cannot sustain engagement all the time and everywhere. When we talk about engagement we need to ask: Who is engaged, with what,  for how long, and for what purpose?

12 key concepts. The 10 block pyramid of engagement is the structure for a course for managers to improve and increase engagement. Here are 12 key points from the course that connect achieving results with employee engagement.

Results defined. The definition of a result is a  consequence, effect, or outcome of something. The something we are looking for here is engagement. In addition in this integrated view of engagement into work, employees will also contribute to the development of targets and results for the organization.

Expansive view.   Lisa Haneberg in writing about a results orientation at work stated,  “many organizations use “results orientation” as a core competency. Let’s start describing it fully – not just focusing on accountability and measurements, but also how culture, passion, and challenge impact results. If you use this competency to train and evaluate leaders, take another look at how you have described what results orientation looks like in action.”

Clearly stated and clearly communicated. Are your results clearly stated? To ensure the organizational results are clear to employees ask a number of employees on the spot to state the results the organization is working to achieve. Can they state them without hesitation or ignorance? If not, make sure what is clearly stated is also fully communicated.

Drucker’s drive for results. Peter Drucker focused extensively on results, including writing the book, Managing for Results. He stated that results come from leveraging opportunities rather than focusing on problems. Resources must go to opportunities and to achieve economic results we must concentrate. As a manager ensure the resource of engagement is directed towards results not aimless activities. If achieving results is a weak spot on your pyramid of engagement I encourage you to read Drucker’s classic book on managing for results.

Results in reverse. When we know specifically what we are working to achieve we can reverse engineer from the results to the specific actions we need to fully engage with to achieve those results.

Create white space so that employees can input into the crafting of results. Did employees have an opportunity to influence results. In full engagement, we have moved from results being given to employees to also being created by employees. Remember the following two keys lines as you develop the results that you are working to achieve. If you want everyone on the same page give them an opportunity to write on the page. Never do anything about employees without employees, including determining results.

What you really want. Ensure that the results you are focusing on are what you and your reports really want. I encourage you to contemplate the “spice girl question.” This is part of the lyrics from one of their ear-worm like classics: I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want, So tell me what you want, what you really really want, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want, So tell me what you want, what you really really want.

Pull results rather than push results.  Do you and other employees feel excitement and interest in the results the organization is trying to achieve. Do the results have meaning? When we find results engaging we are powerfully pulled into engagement rather than feeling pushed to engage.

TEAM up for engaging results. Apply the TEAM acronym as a quick guide to your results statement: Are your results:  Timed – Engaging –  Achievable – Meaningful? In regards to timed and specific, Don Berwick, the health care leader who was responsible for the 100,000 lives campaign was always reminding us:  Some is not a number and soon is not a time. Based on achieving high levels of engagement and successful results the campaign is now the Protecting 5 Million Lives From Harm campaign.

10 measures. Skip Reardon offered 10 insightful reasons to measure results ranging from clarifying expectations and directing behavior to promoting understanding and improving execution. I encourage you to read his post to learn more about the four mentioned here and the additional six outlined in his post, The Top 10 Reasons to Measure Results.

Locus of engagement. Employee engagement has shifted away from a general pervasive measure of connection to being localized to different areas or results. For example your report’s locus of engagement may be on a task while your locus of engagement is the people achieving those tasks. Our results could be financial, environmental, or wellbeing. A strong connection between engagement and specific results ensures that engagement is integrated into work and management rather than an additional demand and helps give a rifle-like powerful specificity to engagement rather than a shotgun feel good satisfaction about work.

Target-Engagement fusion. At the highest level of engagement, we engage so fully with the target, that the target and our engagement become one. This was eloquently described in Eugen Herrigel’s book  The Zen of the Art Archery. This would be the ideal state of engagement and demonstrates a model of what is possible when we engage fully with results that are meaningful, focused, and enriching.

Next up, maximize performance. In the Employee Engagement Pyramid, the 10 blocks are very connected. We cannot reach the heights of achieving elevated results without the other 9 blocks that support this. Check into this site next week for the second post on  Maximize Performance in this 10 part series building the Pyramid of Engagement for Managers.

David Zinger created The Pyramid of Employee Engagement as a powerful tool to help managers understand the 10 key actions they can take to build full employee engagement. Contact David Zinger at zingerdj@gmail.com or phone David Zinger at 204 254 2130 to learn more or request the course for your company, organization, or conference.

Bonus resource for results. JD Meier has written an excellent guide to agility and results. I encourage you to take a look at his extensive and helpful book: Getting Results the Agile Way. The link in the previous sentence to Meier’s book will take you to free online wiki version of the book full of excellent tools, checklists, and methods.

 

Filed Under: Achieve Results, David Zinger, Employee Engagement, Pyramid of Employee Engagement Tagged With: Achieve Results, Employee Engagement, Pyramid of Employee Engagement. POEP

Employee Engagement: Work Passion is an Inside Job

April 19, 2011 by David Zinger 1 Comment

Passion Does not Exist in the Job, It Exists in Us

This post originally appear at J.D. Meier’s Sources of Insight blog. He granted me permission to republish it here and I have also embedded the video by Srikumar Rao on Mental Chatter, Mental Models, and Me-Centered Universe. I encourage you to access the fabulous resources and writing by J. D. Meier at his Sources of Insight Site!

I have developer’s disease.

I love to sit at a drafting table and draw plans

for hotels, wrestling with problems of traffic and the flow of people.

That’s what turns me on. ~ Steve Wynn

Don’t put your passion on a pedestal. Your ideal job is not “out there” somewhere, just waiting for you to come along and find it. You can grow your passion for your job right under your feet. … But what if you don’t feel passionate about anything? … Or what if you don’t feel passion for the job you’ve got … is there something you can do?

Srikumar Rao offers some powerful advice you can use to transform your job in his Leading@Google talk on Mental Chatter, Mental Models, and Me-Centered Universe.

What Passion in Your Job Feels Like. What’s it like to have a job that lights your fire? Your heart sings and your mind soars. Srikumar describes it like this: “You get up in the morning and your blood is singing at the thought of being who you are and doing what you do, that as you go through the day, there are several moments when you come intensely alive, that you’re completely, completely absorbed in what you’re doing, that you feel that, YES you are doing exactly what it is that you were put on the Earth to do, and just vibrantly, radiantly alive.”

Your Ideal Job is Not “Out There” The mistake we make is thinking that our ideal job is out there somewhere, and all we have to do is go find it. Srikumar says: “The mistake that most of us make is the same one: We think our ideal job is out there, and we have to find it. And if we can find it, life will be great. We define our ideal job in terms of a bunch of parameters: Here’s how much it pays, here’s the type of person my boss is, here’s how big my office is, here’s how deep the carpeting is, and here’s how much I travel … and once I can find that, then I’ll be passionate about my job. You might have 10 or you might have 15, but you have a bunch of parameters, but once I can find that, I’ll be passionate about my job. … Wrong!”

Ignite the Passion Inside You, Right Where You Are If you don’t find the passion inside you, then you’ll never find it. Srikumar says: “First of all, that exact concatenation of circumstances does not exist, and, if it did exist and you were plugged into it, it probably would not take more than six months before you were the same sorry, miserable self there as you were where you are because one of the things that we have to realize that we don’t is … passion does not exist in the job, it exists in us. And either we find it in us, right where we are, or we will never find it. And the best thing is you can ignite it insight right where you are. And the beautiful thing is that if you ignite the passion inside you right where you are, the external world has a marvelous, mysterious, miraculous way of re-arranging itself to suit the new person you are becoming.”

Pick a Project and Transform Your Job You can transform your job, right from where you are. Srikumar shares three steps to transforming your job:

  1. Get out of the space from which you are observing. Take a notebook along with you at all times and systematically note the things that are pretty good about your job. The act of doing this moves you to a different space.
  2. Pick something significant. Pick any one of these things that you came up with that is important to you and significant for the company. For example, if you like working with a particular customer, you can challenge yourself with, how do you get more customers like that, or how do you transform your relationships with all your customers to be like that.
  3. Make it a one month project. Simply come up with a one month project where you are going to increase that one component. Every day do one thing. Do something every day, ideally in the morning.

You can change your focus each month to another aspect that you enjoy. If you don’t make the progress you expect in the month, then give yourself more time. Unless, the excuse is you didn’t do anything during the month toward your project. Then there is no excuse. But if you did a little something toward your project each day, then simply give yourself more time.

Remember Two Things Whenever You Get Frustrated. Whenever you get frustrated, angry, or disappointed, there are two things that are always true:

  1. You’re focused on what’s wrong, instead of what’s right. Srikumar says, “First, you’re concentrating exclusively on the two, three, or four things that are wrong with your job … more precisely the two, three, or four things that YOU think are wrong with your job, and completely ignoring the 30, 40, or 50 things that are actually pretty good about it.”
  2. You’re living squarely in a “Me-Centered” universe. Srikumar says,“It’s extraordinarily difficult to live any kind of fulfilled life if you’re living in a me-centered Universe. It just doesn’t happen.” And you know you’re living in a “Me-Centered” Universe, if your mental chatter goes something like this, “Poor me, poor me … I’m so bright, so talented — why do I not get promoted instead of that turkey in the next cubicle who is a Cretan but somehow or other he sucks up to bosses and therefore he’s got promoted … now how caustically unfair life is … poor me, poor me.”

You’ll find that simply spending more time in what you enjoy will transform you, your job, and your world around you.

Click here if you would like to watch the video on YouTube.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Zinger experiences tremendous passion for employee engagement. David  works with organizations and individuals to improve employee engagement.  His speaking, writing, coaching, and consulting focus on helping organizations and individuals increase employee engagement by 20%. David founded the 3720 member Employee Engagement Network. The network  is striving to increase employee engagement 20% by 2020.

Contact David today to increase engagement where you work. (Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  / Phone 204 254 2130  /  Website: www.davidzinger.com)

 

Filed Under: David Zinger, Employee Engagement

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David Zinger

Email: david@davidzinger.com
Phone 204 254 2130

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