by Guest Author | Jul 23, 2015 | Career Development, Coaching Advice
Why do you do what you do? That was the question I set out to answer after re-watching Simon Sinek’s hugely popular TED talk called “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” His theory is that too many companies talk about what they do and how they do it, when instead, they should lead with why they do what they do. The why is so important because it evokes emotion and connection in a potential customer, constituent, or employee, which in turn inspires them to buy your product or follow your message.
For the past handful of years, I’ve been able to “feel” my why, but it’s been very difficult to translate that deep feeling into words. It’s a powerful feeling, and I know whenever I tap into it because I want more. I spent over an hour scribbling notes on a sheet of paper, getting increasingly more frustrated. Out of nowhere, my husband verbalized the feeling. He said, “It’s hope. You give people hope.” Bingo! Whether I’m leading a resilience training or coaching a client around preventing burnout, what I’m ultimately doing is letting them know there’s hope.
Meaning at work is important because it gives people the why behind what they do. Many employees rarely get to see the fruits of their hard work because they aren’t directly connected to the people impacted by their work. Companies who place enough emphasis on “end user” connection see some amazing results:
** Dr. Adam Grant and colleagues worked with call center employees at the University of Michigan. They had the fun task of cold calling alums to ask for money. One of the groups in his study actually got to meet a scholarship recipient and talk to him first hand. The scholarship recipient talked about how much the scholarship had changed his life, and he thanked the folks in the call center for their hard work. Once the call center workers realized how their work had an impact, they became motivated to work harder; in fact, their weekly revenue increased 400% (Grant et al., 2007)!
** When a patient’s photo was included in the file received by radiologists, they wrote 29% longer reports and made 46% more accurate diagnoses (Turner, Hadas-Halperin, & Raveh, 2008).
** When nurses assembling surgical kits met the health-care practitioners who would use their kits, the nurses worked 64% more minutes and made 15% fewer errors than those nurses who did not meet the “end user” (Belle, 2013).
Meaning matters in other ways as well. People who believe that their lives have meaning and purpose share a whole host of healthy benefits: they are happier, feel more in control over their lives, feel more engaged at work (and high engagement usually means less burnout), report less depression and anxiety and less workaholism (Steger, 2009).
There are concrete steps you can take to make your work more meaningful – here are three such strategies (Dik, Byrne, & Steger, 2013):
Prioritize respect and trust. Trust is built and maintained with these four traits from my colleague Gretchen Pisano: (1) common ground (we have similar values and objectives); (2) predictability (I can predict your behavior); (3) consideration (you will take my needs into consideration before you act); and (4) forewarning (you will tell me before you act in a way that is not in my interests). If leaders can’t build trust with their followers, they will find it difficult to retain talent.
Incorporate more autonomy. Workers who have autonomy feel empowered and have a sense of control over their time and daily work-related choices. Having an autonomy-supportive supervisor or manager is strongly tied to well-being, while working with a manager with a more controlling style is predictably de-motivating (Krieger & Sheldon, 2014).
Have a clear idea of how the organization functions and your place within it. Meaningful work is fostered when employees understand how their strengths, interests and abilities help them do their work well and support the organization’s mission. In turn, the organization should understand how it makes a positive difference in the larger community and beyond.
So, why do you do what you do? Great leaders lead with meaning and the best workplaces ensure meaning is front and center in their culture. When people feel like they are engaging in work that is personally meaningful, both employees and businesses succeed.
Take charge of your career development to get the job that supports your work and your life. Check out the tools and resources in the InPower Coaching Career Center.
by Guest Author | Jul 1, 2015 | Career Development, Gender Equality, InPower Women Blog
As a career coach and seminar leader, I’ve met hundreds of “stay-at-home mothers” who spend months—or even years—weighing the pros and cons of returning to work. Though the immediate assumption would be that these women can easily afford never to work again, I’ve learned that even in affluent communities, finances are relatively tight in quite a few one-income households. The monthly bills are paid on time, but there is not a lot of room for non-essential extras. There is also concern about how to afford multiple college tuitions—let alone a long retirement. But these concerns are often pushed off to the side—with the justification that even if money does not flow freely, the motherhood role is Priority Number One.
None of the women I’ve coached have told me they never intend to return to the workforce. But unless there is a pressing financial reason to return due to a life “you never know” (a husband’s job loss, a divorce, etc.), women seem to feel they have plenty of time to reinstate their professional selves. Clearly, most want to wait until their youngest children are at least in middle school—but I see plenty of women not making a move until all their children are out of the house.
Find work that fits your life. – Click To Tweet
While women who are “empty nesters” may have 10 or 20 years until the traditional retirement age of 65, it rarely makes long-term financial sense to delay a return to the workforce. Each year that goes by is a year of lost income, savings and investment potential, professional experience, skill development and earning power. More to the point, every year out of the workforce makes a woman more vulnerable to life’s “you never knows” and less well positioned to support herself and her family. (more…)
by Guest Author | Jun 25, 2015 | Career Development, Coaching Advice, Work-Life Blend
On average, we make 11.7 career changes according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a lot of rebounds, comebacks and course corrections. I know I have followed my authentic self onto a new path close to a dozen times so far.
Career shifts are never easy, but always worth it. This article will discuss how to overcome the struggles that often come with crafting a career rebound.
Eighteen months ago I created a vision board. Prominent on the board is “Crafting A Rebound.” Little did I know I would make two rebounds or comebacks in less than the two years.
The first rebound was my return to the corporate work world as a senior director of human resources. I wrote extensively about how I came to that decision here, here and here. Since I started my position, I stopped blogging and writing.
My life has been immensely full without writing. I’ve been implementing programs and I have continued my volunteer work for Gratitude Training. In the last nine months, I co-led two teams of coaches and students through their transformational leadership journey.
There Is No Denying The Authentic Self
Today, I am announcing my second comeback.
When the last leadership team finished its journey in March, I knew it was time to recommit to writing and sharing my ever-developing message of love and freedom. If there is one thing I have learned it is when spirit speaks its best to act. Writing is who I am.
I crawled into my writing cave, first tentatively and then with full commitment as I describe in this Instagram post. As of today, I have a third draft of Exiting The Hamster Wheel: How To Escape Stress, Live Free and Reclaim Your Life. There are many more drafts and title tweaks to come before the final print or electronic copy rests in your hand.
Overcoming The Gremlin
In reality, I made the decision to return to writing months ago. Yet my gremlins held me back. By gremlin, I’m referring to my ego, which represents itself through the internal dialog that comes up every time I want to shift course in my life.
Here are a few of the all time greatest gremlin hits from my rebounds:
If I go back to work people will think I failed.
They won’t want me back.
People will think I abandoned them, they don’t want to hear from me.
If I can’t do it the way the gurus recommend, I shouldn’t do it at all.
What if I fail; its better to continue on as you have been?
There is really no reason to change; life is good right now.
But I won’t be able to write as frequently as the “gurus” say I should. I shouldn’t even bother.
If I had listened to my gremlin I would still be grinding life out at a law firm. I’d be miserable and sick if I had let the gremlin persuade me to stay put.
What are your gremlins holding you back from?
Five Tips For Staging A Rebound
What ever your planned comeback may be, it’s time to get started. The following five tips will help you overcome the gremlin. I’ve curated these five tips from my numerous comebacks and those of dozens of others I have supported.
- Follow Your Vision, Always. Everything you do becomes easier if you follow your vision. It is your guiding force.
My vision is a world of love. I have used my work and my writing to create my vision. Every day I do my best to manage and lead with love, thereby igniting a culture shift at my company. Similarly, I hope to inspire others, through my writing, to think differently about how love influences life, work and freedom. I simply won’t let the gremlin disrupt my vision.
What is your vision?
- Ignore The Guru’s Rules. There will always be those who will tell you you have to stage your comeback in a certain way. Unfortunately, life isn’t always so neat. But that doesn’t mean you should stop. Ignore the rules, and remind yourself of your vision. Then move forward.
I stalled my decision to return to blogging because I feared I couldn’t do it right. For years, I was taught “you have to blog at least weekly and send a weekly newsletter or people will forget about you.” I’ve been letting these rules stop my comeback because let’s not forget I have a full time job. I’m also writing a book and I think it’s important to spend time with family and friends and have some fun. If I wanted to sacrifice friends, family and fun, I could follow the rules. But I don’t want to make that sacrifice. I’m won’t let the “rules” stop me.
What “rule” is stopping you from making a move?
- Let Go Of How It Will Look. We can create a lot of stress for ourselves trying to make a comeback look exactly like we think it should. Yet this closes off possibilities, some of which might be even better than what we could have imagined. By freeing ourselves from the outcome, we allow space for even better opportunities.
When I went looking for a job last spring, I was clear I wanted something in the human resources or training arena at a small company within 5 miles of my house. I asked everyone I knew if they knew of something. The first job that popped up from my network was at my old company, medium sized, public company 20 miles from my house. My initial reaction was no way. Yet if I had been committed to things looking a certain way, I would have passed on this great opportunity.
What opportunity are you overlooking?
- You Matter, But You Don’t Count. We make up a lot about what others will say about our comeback. Here’s the thing. While you matter, you don’t count. People aren’t talking about you and your comeback. They have other things keeping them up at night. Even if they talk about you, so what? This is your journey, not theirs. Refer back to #1.
Every time I have leapt, I have fantasized about what others would think of me. At some point I stopped and moved on. It’s the only way.
Who do you fear will judge you? Does it really matter?
- Focus on The Bigger Good. If you are still worried about what others think, then consider how your comeback will serve others. Get out of your own world and see how your comeback will impact others. It doesn’t have to be huge, but as simple as being nicer to your spouse or roommate when you get home at night.
Despite the craziness of writing and blogging while working a very full-time job, I don’t feel like I have a choice. (Of course, I have a choice, but here I’m talking about a spiritual choice). There is a message that wants to come through me. It’s a message I believe the world needs to hear. Who am I to let the gremlin stop me?
How will your comeback make the world a better place?
What rebound, comeback, or course correction have you been contemplating? Are you ready to take the leap? How will you use these lessons to follow your dream?
Tell us about it in the comments below.
Take charge of your career development to get the job that supports your work and your life. Check out the tools and resources in the InPower Coaching Career Center.
by Guest Author | Jun 23, 2015 | Gender Equality, InPower Women Blog, The Woman Effect
By: Katerina Sokou
Could getting more women in the workforce be the key to a stronger and more stable global economy? Some leading thinkers, including at the International Monetary Fund, argue exactly that.
“Growth is the lens through which we view the issue of female labor force participation, as women can make a critical contribution to it,” IMF deputy managing director Nemat Shafik said at an event last week focusing on “Women as a Driver for Economic Growth” at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
The IMF has raised issues around women in the workforce in its regular reviews of the economies of Japan, Italy, Germany and other nations. But Heidi Crebo-Rediker, chief economist at the State Department, noted during the event that research on the relevance of gender to economic policy is still in the early stages, even though tackling gender in the field of human rights and development dates back decades. She called on the IMF to grab “the tremendous opportunity” to address the issue in its annual economic assessments of countries around the world. “To the extent that the IMF can mainstream gender, it might actually prove decisive to getting us there,” Crebo-Rediker said.
IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde is also pushing the issue, writing in the fund’s magazine “Finance and Development” that putting more women in jobs is good for the world economy. Lagarde has cited research that predicts a permanent rise in GDP, from 4 percent in France and Germany to 34 percent in Egypt, once the employment gap between men and women closes in those countries. Gender work parity is also predicted to increase GDP by 12 percent among all OECD countries.
The IMF is has been recommending ways to give women more incentives to join the labor force across the world.
In crisis-hit Portugal, for example, tax policy discriminates against second-earners, as it does in France and the United States. Because those earners tend to be women, the policy can act as a disincentive for entering the labor force. But countries that offer tax credits for low-wage earners, many of whom also tend to be women, see higher female labor force participation. The IMF thinks that such tax advantages for low-wage earners can also help women.
Shafik gave the example of Germany, which does not tax “mini jobs” that earn less than 450 euros per month. One in five German workers now has such a job. Many of them are women, as the flexible hours and part-time nature of these jobs make it easier to balance work and motherhood. Yet those mini-jobs have also been blamed for trapping people in low-paid employment, without benefits or the chance for advancement. Hence, the IMF is suggesting that Germany takes measures to promote full-benefit jobs by lowering the tax bills for low-wage earners.
In its last annual assessment of the Italian economy, the fund recommended measures to address Italy’s very low female employment rate — one of the lowest among the developed economies of the OECD. In addition to providing more child-care and maternity support, the IMF suggested that “reducing the marginal tax rates for married second earners would help raise female labor participation” in Italy.
The IMF took a similar view in its most recent evaluation of the Japanese economy, calling for the full integration of Japanese women into the economy to compensate for the nation’s demographic decline and spur growth. The government of prime minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to provide child-care facilities for all by 2017.
Those gaps are particularly wide in some of the southern European countries that are receiving financial bailout help from the fund, perhaps enhancing the IMF’s leverage. Said Shafik in an interview, “In countries with IMF programs, we are happy to advise them on how other countries have successfully increased female labor force participation.”
This article was written by Katerina Sokou and originally appeared in The Washington Post, July 2013. It also appeared on 5050×2020, February 2014
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Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel in higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
by Guest Author | Jun 18, 2015 | Leadership
“Allow the way to your great work to be guided by your service to others.” – Mollie Marti
Recently, I had the privilege and honor of attending the Georgetown McDonough School of Business graduation for Taylor Johnson. In addition to her academic achievements, Taylor stands out for her character and the relationships she has cultivated with her dear friends.
I was very pleased to hear the graduation speeches, as they were totally focused on service to others. One of Georgetown’s primary goals as a Jesuit University is the formation of the students to become women and men who live a life of service to others. The Jesuits wanted to impart this goal one last time upon the graduating students.
In fact, one professor mentioned he often receives calls from former students, who tend to be in their fifth or sixth year of working in the investment business on Wall Street, wanting to talk because they do not feel nourished or fulfilled.
The professor reminds them, “Nourishment does not result from 12 or more hours at one’s desk or from making a lot of money. No, nourishment comes from giving back and serving others.”
This is so true for us as managers. It’s not about us, it’s about the team!
It’s our commitment to the learning, growth and success of others!
I absolutely believe that servant leadership will be the most effective means of leadership in the future. Most of the women and men in our workforces going forward will be more inclined to follow us if we demonstrate that we genuinely care about them and their success. They are more motivated when we ask helpful questions, consciously listen to understand and learn from them, and when they know we are committed to their success.
Our humility and kindness matter, matter greatly!
The Jesuit charge to the students also inspired me. Our success goes beyond doing well ourselves. It comes from our encouraging and helping others to learn, grow and succeed. And we are fulfilled when we serve our communities.
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” – Booker T. Washington
by Guest Author | Jun 15, 2015 | Coaching Advice, Communicating With Confidence, InPower Women Blog, Personal Mastery
Whether you are typically cautious or assertive when it comes to stating your opinions without being asked, it is likely you shy away from telling a friend, colleague or family member something that you fear could hurt. The feedback could be as simple as letting a presenter know he has lettuce stuck between his teeth. It could be as beneficial as telling your co-workers their inability to collaborate with others is not only affecting the work flow but could come back to bite them in their performance reviews. Or it could be as helpful as sharing with your friend that people keep refusing her company because her negativity is a downer.
You want to let these people know the truth. You rehearse the words in your mind. You know your intent is good. Yet you still stay silent. Or maybe you share subtle hints, hoping they will understand and fix their appearance or behavior without you having to be bluntly honest.
We are humans who depend on relationships to survive. As adults, we rarely choose to deliberately do something that will hurt people we know. We especially avoid sharing a truth face-to-face that could embarrass, offend or wound someone we like.
On the other hand, it is likely you want people to tell you the truth even if it hurts. You might get defensive, but once you sleep on it, you realize that if the comments were made with good intent, they were helpful to some degree. So why can’t you return this favor for someone you care about or respect?
The next time you are anxious about sharing an observation that could hurt, first ask yourself if what you are about to share will help the person in the future or not. Consider that you might have been judging the person out of your own need to be noticed or right. Then, if you believe your intent is truly to help the person, contemplate these suggestions:
- Trust your inner voice. Your brain is masterful at talking you out of creating uncomfortable situations. Yet your nagging inner voice wants you to speak up. Quiet your brain to hear your voice.
- Question your fear. What is the worst that could happen? Consider the level of angst you feel now. Could living with the consequences of speaking up be easier than living with your fear? Is it your own embarrassment you are avoiding more than theirs? If you can, choose to be brave. Then keep your intent of helping in mind as you speak.
- Be strategic. Unless you are simply informing someone about a clothing, food or make-up gaffe, consider logistics as well as your words. Look for a comfortable and quiet place to talk. Limiting the distractions will help you express care and compassion as you speak. When your share your observation, be clear about the desired outcome now and in the future. Let the person know you are sharing your thoughts because you desire to help them to have something you know is important to them such as their professional future, collegial respect, friendship and love.
- Ask permission. Before you launch into your speech, you might ask the person if they would be interested and open to some observations you have had. If you sense their reluctance, you could ask if they would prefer a different time. Don’t use their rebuff as an excuse to back down. Agree on a time in the near future to talk.
- Clearly describe the impact of their specific oversight or behavior. A person might disagree with your interpretation of their behavior, but it will be harder for them to dispute the impact they are having on you or other people.
- If appropriate, share your intent. Let the person know why you care they have a more positive impact or outcome. Why are you sharing? What do you want for them as a result?
- Don’t question your value. If you are being honest and helpful, don’t beat yourself up if the person responds negatively. In the long run, you are developing your personal power as you become more comfortable with giving direct feedback.
by Dana Theus | Jun 4, 2015 | Coaching Advice, Leadership
How much more would you get accomplished if it weren’t for meetings? Sometimes it feels like the answer is “a lot” and yet our need to work cohesively with our teammates means meetings are a must. Here’s a simple look at how to get the most out of the meetings you attend – and especially those you run! – InPower Editors
Meetings are one of the biggest time wasters – and the most important opportunities for communication – that we deal with in the business world. When you run good meetings, you:
- achieve goals that require collaboration and interdependence;
- build stronger teams by helping align team members’ perspectives, actions and energy;
- build commitment among team members to the larger organizational goals you’re responsible for furthering; and
- make excellent use of the precious resource of time.
When you are the one running the meeting, the burden is on you to manage the meeting so that everyone in it feels it was a good use of their time. What’s the secret?
Here are two things you need to have to run the perfect meeting:
- A shared intention: You and everyone there must share a definition of success for the meeting’s outcome. A decision, a next step, shared information, open questions…. these can all be acceptable outcomes, but if you and the attendees don’t share them, then even if you leave the meeting satisfied you’ve accomplished your goal, others may feel you ate up time in their day.
- Sensitivity to the culture: Meetings are major opportunities to reinforce the organizational culture you’re in. They’re also opportunities for you to shape the culture for the people in attendance. What can you do to work within, AND shape the culture you’re working in by how you run the meeting?
Of course the latter is half the problem! A lazy meeting culture can be hard to turn around. It can feel like you have to put out a ton of energy to pull the organization along with you. That’s why you need to work on your own meeting skills and create a pattern of meeting management that everyone comes to expect.
by Guest Author | Jun 3, 2015 | Coaching Advice, People Skills
Good leaders are often credited with being good collaborators, but why is this cooperative instinct so valuable? There are lots of reasons, but efficiency is a hidden gem among them. – InPower Editors
By: Mary Schaefer
Is the ability to gain cooperation an underestimated component of efficiency?
I was talking to a client today about her unusual ability to gain people’s trust quickly.
This supports her ability to get things done. To her bosses, she seemed to perform miracles.
I commented to her that I think the ability to gain cooperation is an underestimated component of efficiency. She said she had never really thought about it that way.
[Tweet “Take the time to pave the road so things run smoothly when you need them. via @MarySchaefer”]
Take the time to pave the road so things run smoothly when you need them.
It was early in my career. I was a mainframe systems manager. I depended on the operators in our computer facility to do what I needed, when I asked them to. Moreover, I wanted them to want to do to the work. Intuitively I knew it was going to require spending time with them. I needed to earn the right to ask them to do things, when I didn’t have the authority. They didn’t report to me.
Don’t do it if you are not sincere.
Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t simply using them. I wanted to get to know them. The more I understood their jobs, their routines, and their responsibilities, the more likely I would make intelligent requests of them. For instance, I would manage my work around their biggest printing and delivery days, etc. This would make us all successful at our jobs.
Cooperation is better than compliance.
My supervisor criticized me for what he saw as me spending too much time with them. I tried to explain to him how it paid off. He didn’t seem to care so much about results as much as the difference between my approach and how he would handle things. He was quite strident with this criticism.
From the mouths of babes.
One day my supervisor invited me to his office. He asked me to present a particularly touchy employee relations topic to the operators because I had such a good relationship with them. Okay, so when it works for you, it’s okay that I’ve got these relationships…right?
What I said to him was: “I could do that. They will hear me out. But given your level in the organization I think it might be better for you to present this to them. This way you can develop the skills and the relationships with them so they can hear the message from you.”
I don’t even know where that came from. The other odd thing is that he didn’t push me to give the presentation then. I don’t feel like I ever paid a price for what could be perceived as impertinence.
The skill of gaining cooperation.
As a former human resources manager we would discuss how different employees were good at teamwork or not. In a technical industry it was sometimes difficult for me to make the case that this was important, or how to measure it.
What we came down to is: “Do people want to work with this person? Are they able to get things done through others when needed?” Actually it’s not so difficult to determine, and yet, I still get resistance about the importance of this ability.
How has cooperation played a role for you in getting things done through others?
A version of this post originally ran on the Lead Change Group site February 3, 2015.
by Guest Author | May 28, 2015 | Leadership
Who we become as leaders comes not from books or training but from paying attention to the small and big choices we make every day. Just last week my 16-year old called me in a panic around 11:30am. She asked if I could come and pick her up from school. Her voice had a sense of urgency in it. She had a major Chemistry test that she hadn’t studied adequately for and was afraid she would get an “F” on it, severely impacting her overall grade. This (she went on to say in one breath) would destroy her G.P.A., her chances of getting into a good college, and her career plans. Basically, she could write off her life. In that moment, I think she actually believed this and wanted to have the weekend to study for the test. Having had plenty of panic attacks about tests, I felt her fear. A part of me felt compassion for her, another part wanted to have her learn to be more responsible, another part wanted to help her get a good grade. Who was I going to be as a mom and a leader in that situation?
Think back now to a decision where you felt stuck. This often happens when we have competing parts of ourselves wanting expression. As leaders, many times we don’t slow down enough to pay attention to these competing voices. These big and small decisions shape us as leaders, yet, are often unconscious because we make these decisions often from habit, particularly when we are moving fast. In my book, Wired for Authenticity, one of the seven practices of authentic leadership I talk about is “Choose Be Before Do”. In a fast-moving 24/7 work environment, we need leaders today who are both trustworthy as well as agile to the changing needs of a diverse global marketplace. Our habitual patterns don’t serve us. Unlike traditional notions of authenticity (“this is me, take it or leave it”), we need to carefully examine each situation. We need to evaluate the different voices inside of us, and those outside, to make decisions for the benefit of those we lead.
The decision I made in the case of my daughter was to try to calm her down, and to let her know that I would not pick her up so she could avoid a bad grade. I wanted her to face up to the consequences of the choices she had made. Importantly, I wanted her to become present to the fact that we are always making choices, regardless of whether we consciously stop to think about them or not. Consciously or unconsciously, these choices become patterns, and then habits, and then a core part of who we are becoming every day as leaders. Here’s wishing we all stop to choose who we are being before we choose a course of action.
I welcome your comments on this topic and look forward to share more from the book with you.
by Guest Author | May 25, 2015 | Career Development, Leadership
Want to be a good boss? It’s not always as simple as producing good work, or even making your employees like you. Check out Paula’s wisdom about how to be a great boss (and spot a bad one before you get stuck with them!) – InPower Editors
I was fortunate to grow up working for one of the best leaders I’ve had the privilege of following—my dad. He ran a plastic injection molding company for 15 years, growing it from a two-machine operation that started in an old barn to a three-shift, 24/7 operation with more than 40 employees. He was kind, fair, and treated everyone with the utmost respect, from a CEO to the truck driver delivering parts or materials to the plant.
I wasn’t so lucky in my own career. Law school doesn’t train leaders, after all. It trains lawyers. My favorite leader in the law had so many of the qualities that my dad possessed, and I realized that good leadership is gold—and pretty rare.
Over the years, I have observed many friends and colleagues job hop—from firm to firm and from company to company. People crave good leadership, and when it doesn’t measure up, good employees leave and companies lose lots of money and valuable talent.
Here are five big reasons why people leave bad bosses, not companies:
They aren’t engaged.
Burnout researchers define engagement as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor (high levels of energy and mental
resilience), dedication (being strongly involved and challenged by your work), and absorption (when you’re working, you’re in the zone and time passes quickly) (Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz-Vergel, 2014). Engaged employees perform better on a daily basis, and the higher a person’s level of engagement, the higher their objective financial returns (Bakker, 2011). The problem is that many employees are disengaged—approximately 70 percent, according to the latest Gallup research. Actively disengaged employees erode both the bottom line and
workplace morale. Leaders can help their followers increase engagement by allowing them to use their strengths regularly, job craft, and get connected to their end user (see below).
They aren’t connected to their end user. People work so hard, yet so often they never get to meet the people directly impacted by their work. Companies need to place more emphasis on “end user” connection because the research in this area is nothing short of amazing. Here are some examples:
** Dr. Adam Grant and colleagues worked with call center employees at the University of Michigan. They had the fun task of cold calling alums to ask for money. One of the groups in his study actually got to meet a scholarship recipient and talk to him first hand. The scholarship recipient talked about how much the scholarship had changed his life, and he thanked the folks in the call center for their hard work. Once the call center workers realized how their work had an impact, they became motivated to work harder. In fact, their weekly revenue increased 400 percent (Grant et al., 2007)!
** When a patient’s photo was included in the file received by radiologists, they wrote 29 percent longer reports and made 46 percent more accurate diagnoses (Turner, Hadas-Halperin, & Raveh, 2008).
** When nurses assembling surgical kits met the health-care practitioners who would use their kits, the nurses worked 64 percent more minutes and made 15 percent fewer errors than those nurses who did not meet the “end user” (Belle, 2013).
They don’t trust their leaders. Trust is built and maintained with these four traits: (1) common ground (we have similar values and objectives), (2) predictability (I can predict your behavior), (3) consideration (you will take my needs into consideration before you act), and (4) forewarning (you will tell me before you act in a way that is not in my interests). Trust is also the foundation of high-quality work relationships. If leaders can’t build trust with their constituents, they will have disengaged followers at best and will find it very hard to keep and retain talent.
They have no autonomy. Autonomy is a fundamental basic human need, and it’s one of the pillars of self-determination theory (Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004). Workers who have control over their projects, their time, and decisions tend to be powerfully motivated and engaged. A heavy diet of autonomy has also been shown to be a buffer against job burnout (Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz-Vergel, 2014).
They don’t get any or enough feedback. The mantra at one law firm I worked at was, “No news is good news.” I only got feedback if I had done something wrong or it was time for my annual review. Feedback is actually an important job resource—an aspect of your job that helps you achieve your goals and stimulates growth and learning, and getting it in high enough doses can help prevent burnout (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005).
There are many tools and strategies leaders can use to build engagement at work and create a sustainable environment. People will think twice about leaving a workplace that is thriving.
Take charge of your career development to get the job that supports your work and your life. Check out the tools and resources in the InPower Coaching Career Center.
