What a wonderful group to start

[David Zinger]

I think managers are always looking for new or powerful tools to foster more engagement. In one way, I think managers are their own best tool as who they are speaks as loudly as what they say.

I think a very important key is to talk about engagement. There are so many anonymous surveys and results tabulated about engagement yet what I think is key is the conversations and high quality interactions between managers and their direct reports.

One way to do this is to structure a daily 5 minutes with a staff member to ask how engaged they are, what would make them more engaged, what can they do to be more engaged, and what can I do as a manager to foster more engagement.

Rosa Say, from Hawaii, is a member of our network and has mastered the structure of the daily 5 minutes and I have just focused it on engagement.

[Terrence Seamon]

David,

I'm glad you wrote, "What a wonderful group to start" as your subject...for a couple reasons.

First, after I started this group, I had a "gulp" moment when I realized that I had not asked you first, as the founder and moderator of this network, if it was OK with you. So I guess it's OK with you. (Whew! I am so impetuous sometimes.)

Second, because so much of employee engagement (e.g. how I feel about my self, my job, and my future here at Ajax Company) hinges on (i.e., is directly affected by) the attitude and behavior of one's immediate supervisor or manager, I think we really have to put a spotlight on managers...and look for creative ideas to strengthen their effectiveness.

Hopefully, this group will be a thriving bazaar of cool ideas from all the great folks that have joined the network.

Regards,

Terry

[David Zinger]

I am all for a thriving bazaar of ideas. I will let Rosa Say know about this and she can provide some links and information about the daily 5 minutes, D5M.

No gulps required, I have no desire to control this network, I want to engage fully and encourage individual and group directions.

I think this is such a good topic that I will ensure that next week we are encouraging people on the home page to join the group and make contributions and help people who are managers finds great ideas to foster engagement with and through management.

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Terry and David,

You needn't twist my arm to talk about the Daily 5 Minutes! It is a tool I started to help my managers learn to listen to their staff better - so they could engage them more effectively.

Here is a page I have set up at www.ManagingWithAloha.com which covers the nitty gritty about the D5M in the form of answers to these 9 different questions (and I'll just include a short answer to the first one here):
1. What is the D5M?
It is a simple habit: Each day, without fail, managers are to give five minutes of no-agenda time to at least one of their employees...This is a spontaneous process to fill dead time wonderfully, however it is a formal organizational practice for everyone, not an increased frequency of the random “talk story.”
2. Why is it a habit?
3. What is the benefit for me (as the manager)?
4. What is the benefit for the employee?
5. How do I start?
6. Who do I start with?
7. How do I give it?
8. How do I receive it?
9. How do I end it?

These 9 Questions make up the D5M primer we start all our managers with; then, as they begin to practice the D5M, we engage in peer-to-peer coaching to help each other continually learn how to best handle different situations that come up – great management is a situational art!

The Daily 5 Minutes: 9 Questions also contains a link to the PDF excerpt from my book, and other related articles I have written since then. Success stories too!
Rosa

[Julia Miller]

I have two questions. First, if you have weekly one-on-one's with everyone, could this be part of that?
Second, any tips for working with someone who is extremely introverted?

I already have a 30 minute one-on-one with every person on my team every week. The format is 10 minutes for them to tell me anything they want, 10 minutes for me and 10 minutes to talk about goals/career/etc. Would you do this in addition? I thought no. This does remind me and I try to be vigilant about letting their 10 minutes be their 10 minutes. I do have to catch myself from sometimes starting down a path.

How much do you try to engage someone isn't engaging back? Some people I also do have to encourage to talk and I do have to catch myself in being comfortable with silence - I have a number of quiet people. I've only been their manager for less than 2 months and some have been through a lot of managers. I've tried lots of open ended questions. I've tried sharing things about myself from personal thing about my family/weekend/etc to work things. I've finally decided it may just take time for them to engage back and just keep reaching out. That means being comfortable with silence and then moving on to my part after their only comment is 1 minute of job status and everything is fine.

[David Zinger]

Julia,

You may be able to weave some of Rosa's ideas into what you are already doing. I appreciate how much time you are spending with people.

Silence has so may reasons and I always need to ask myself why the person is silent?

Sometimes introverted people will respond very well to a format like this network where they can type out of communicate in another way. I would still want the face to face but perhaps in supplement.

I am most impressed that you have great questions but you also have worked out the bulk of the reponse to this on your own.

Carry on caring and stay engaged.

David

[Terrence Seamon]

Julia,
Just to piggyback on what David wrote, Silence is saying something.

Give the person time...and space.

Ask questions to draw him or her out.

Terry

[Julia Miller]

A lot of the staff have had many managers - some of which didn't do a lot of coaching/development/personal interactions. They've also been through several acquisitions. The product they started on has had significant reductions in staff. It's probably pretty discouraging from their side. BUT they do have to move on.

I'm trying to reach out, include them, help them understand the vision, understand their strengths, provide feedback and coaching, etc. I understand I have to earn their trust and respect. But they do have to give me a chance and reach back.

So, I guess my answer is to give them the opportunity. Stop trying to fill in the silence. Act with vision, purpose and integrity to earn their trust.

[Chris Tyler]

Julia -
I love your conscientious efforts to devote individual scheduled time to your employees as the manager relationship is so key to employee engagement!

It sounds like your staff has undergone and is still undergoing constant change in their manager and their peer relationships with some "survivor guilt" probably going on as well. I'm sure they're wondering how long you'll be there and perhaps even asking themselves when the next shoe will drop and "will I be here?". (I've been there done that :)

I would recommend some work with your team in change management. Price Pritchett has a program I've used in the past called "New Work Habits for a Radically Changing World" with one of the concepts being "the world is changing" - don't blame the organization, blame the world. You're there to assist them in building their skill portfolio in partnership so whatever happens they will be more able to survive the next round of change.

Finding the WIIFM for each of your employees to move on so that they engage fully is the start (and the hard part). Partnering with them to provide the opportunities to enhance their skills, their job fit, their enjoyment after you discover that WIIFM is the really fun part of managing!