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You are here: Home / Archives for trust

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

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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

1. Employee Engagement: Creating Iatrogenic Disengagement – Anonymous Employees

April 28, 2014 by David Zinger 2 Comments

Are you and your organization creating the very disengagement you are trying to solve?

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Wellbeing Symbol Flipped

In medicine there is a term call iatrogenic illness. Iatrogenesis or iatrogenic effect is preventable harm resulting from medical treatment or advice to patients. For example, you go into a hospital for a minor procedure and leave with a bad infection. According to a wikipedia entry on iatrogenesis:

In the United States an estimated 225,000 deaths per year have iatrogenic causes, with only heart disease and cancer causing more deaths. Causes of iatrogenesis include negative effects of drugs, chance, medical error, negligence, unexamined instrument design, anxiety or annoyance in the physician or treatment provider in relation to medical procedures or treatments, and the adverse effects or interactions of medications.

Although the term iatrogenic originated with the term physician I believe there is iatrogenic disengagement as we try to cure the negative factors of employee engagement with tools, approaches, and methods that may unintentionally create or sow the seeds of disengagement. During the month of May I will outline various sources of disengagement created ironically by our attempt to measure or improve engagement.

Iatrogenic anonymity. Employee engagement is fostered when employees are made visible and we fully hear their voice. Yet our most common measure of engagement is anonymous surveys. We do this to try and get honest feedback yet I think it also communicates the message, we don’t want to know who you are and the organization cannot be trusted to hear your voice. In addition employees may believe that if the organization knows who they are they may be punished for a negative response.

Cure: Be very cautious of using anonymous measures, build safety in the organization so that there is a more transparent voice based on trust where disengagement is not a punishable offence but a trigger for a conversation. Understand that engagement is much more likely where people are visible, appreciated, and recognized. Ask yourself: what would it take have a transparent survey system where all opinions are voiced and respected without fear?

David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker Testimonial

 

David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert who would like to know who people are.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: communication, David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker, Employee Engagement, iatrogenic disengagement, openness, trust

Ranting Against Employee Engagement Evangelists

October 1, 2013 by David Zinger 1 Comment

Be Small. Do Good Work. That is Enough.

Employee Engagement Development Symbol

Recently, I have noticed more experts referring to themselves, or having other refer to them as evangelists. Evangelist means  a person and especially a preacher who tries to convince people to become Christian or someone who speaks with “great” enthusiasm.  We don’t need to convert people to employee engagement. We need to respect, empower, listen and get out of the way. If you want to evangelize then go to a church and preach to your hearts content. If you want to make a difference at work:

stop cajoling -> start accepting

stop preaching -> start teaching

stop telling -> start asking

stop speaking -> start listening

stop presenting -> start facilitating

stop owning -> start sharing

stop the sermon -> start serving

stop shouting -> start whispering

stop getting -> start letting

stop fearing -> start caring

stop commanding -> start inviting

stop doubting -> start trusting

 David Zinger Employee Engagement Speaker and Expert

David Zinger believes in small, simple, strong, significant and sustainable actions to take steps in the right direction in employee engagement. Contact him if you dare to be small and good with your work.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: Canadian Employee Engagement Speaker, David Zinger, Evangelist, listen, trust

Friday Factoid #29: Employee Engagement and Cost Reduction

April 26, 2013 by David Zinger 1 Comment

What does cost reduction cost us?

220px-Canadian_Penny_-_Obverse

47% of companies surveyed in a cost reduction and engagement survey by AON Hewitt reported a  decline in employee trust as a result of the way in which they managed cost reductions. From page 19 of The Flat Army by Dan Pontefract

Commentary

Trust is a huge issue in employee engagement and we must watch all we do for the impact on trust. Cost reduction can cost us trust. How do you achieve cost reduction will maintaining or perhaps even improving trust within your organization?

David Zinger is a global employee engagement expert who uses the pyramid of employee engagement to help managers and organizations increase engagement.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: cost reduction, Dan Pontefract, David Zinger, Employee Engagement, Flat Army, Friday Factoid, trust

Employee Engagement Friday Factoid #10: Employees Trust Strangers More Than Bosses

November 30, 2012 by David Zinger Leave a Comment

Trust is a must or work is a bust

The results indicate that the majority of respondents trust a stranger more than they trust their boss. About 44% for bosses and 58% for strangers. From the Managing Talent in Troubled Time HBR report.

Commentary

Clearly many of us have work to do to build a level of trust and it certainly does not mean acting like a stranger when you are someone’s boss.

David Zinger is a global employee engagement expert who uses the Pyramid of Employee Engagement to help organizations and individuals achieve full engagement.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement Tagged With: Boss, Bosses, David Zinger, Employee Engagement, Friday Factoid, trust

David Zinger

Email: david@davidzinger.com
Phone 204 254 2130

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