The Manager’s Guide to Reclaiming and Retaining Disengaged Employees

[BrittneyMaxfield]

Has work lost its luster in your organization? Do your employees avoid their leaders, speak with a hint of sarcasm, take off early, show up late, or call in sick? If it seems that people in your organization are getting the corporate life sucked out of them it's possible they don't respect their leaders.

According to a survey conducted by VitalSmarts, a corporate training and research company, more than 50 percent of survey respondents listed a disagreeable boss as their number one reason to want to quit their job. But facing a risky job market, these employees would rather grunt and bear their bad relationship than lose their paycheck. So instead of finding a better fit, they hunker down and disengage.

Luckily, there is good news.

The survey showed that employees with concerns about their bosses are perfectly happy and productive -- as long as they can effectively discuss these concerns with their boss and develop mutually acceptable solutions. In other words, the problem is not their grievance with their boss. The problem is that the don't know how to speak up about it. The survey revealed that only one in five people have even attempted to fully lay out their concerns with their boss.

After twenty-five years of research we've found most people don’t know how to hold crucial conversations. We consider sensitive and risky conversations “crucial” because repeated research shows that employee engagement, turnover and productivity are profoundly related to how well people talk about politically and emotionally risky topics. Most people shy away from crucial conversations, especially with a person of higher power or authority. Disturbingly, almost two-thirds of survey respondents admitted they will quit before ever really speaking their minds.

With the proper set of skills, you can turn a disenchanted workforce into one characterized by high levels of engagement. When leaders demonstrate a commitment to being approachable, employees will find more job satisfaction and more reasons to engage. Make sure your managers use the following skills with their direct reports to enable crucial conversations in your organization.

• Make it safe. Recognize that it can be tough for an employee to express a concern with a boss. It is a manager's responsibility to create safety and approachability. People feel psychologically safe when they know their manager cares about their interests and respects them. Start with: “One of my most important priorities is helping you succeed. I’m aware that at times I may fall short of that goal. I want to learn ways that I can do a better job. Would you be willing to give me some feedback about how I can be more effective in supporting you?”

• Look for the truth. When hearing negative feedback, you’re likely to feel hurt or defensive. Avoid the temptation to defend yourself and instead look for what’s true in what the employee is saying. Ask them questions to show your interest in their point. Help them move past vague feedback like “you’re controlling” to specific examples of where you’ve hindered them. Try to understand why they think what they think about your leadership style.

• Listen for hesitance. Take special care to watch for subtle cues when emotions start to run high. These cues let you know your employee has something to say but isn’t saying it. A minor pause or faint reply should sound an alarm that the employee has a concern but isn’t speaking his or her mind. Pay close heed to the spaces between responses. Look for awkward glances and listen to tone of voice, pacing, and volume—all give clues that aren’t contained in the words themselves.

• Bite your tongue—for a while. To make it safe for others to honestly express their opposing views, it is okay to explain your actions. But only after you’ve completely heard theirs. Do not shut off the dialogue to defend yourself. Once they feel completely understood, it’s okay to share additional background or data they may lack. But you may want to wait for a later time to do so just to be sure you’re doing it out of a desire to share rather than a need to defend.

Written by: Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations