Almost all employers complain about lack of engagement on their teams. Some live with it and others spend fortunes on consultants and other outsiders to fix the problem.
But what if we’re the problem? What if our team is disengaged, uninterested in our goals, barely showing up, but not behaving so poorly to merit firing?
You may not need a consultant.
You may just need to tell your team a better story.
Simply stating goals and expectations doesn’t motivate anyone. These are our goals, not our team’s goals. Our careers as leaders depend on achieving our objectives. Our teams will probably not benefit all that much if the goals are achieved and probably won’t be penalized all that much if they aren’t.
Their lack of engagement is a function of our failure to explain the story behind the targets in ways that matter to them.
Every workday, everyone in your office is listening all day long to the same radio station: WIIFM, broadcasting on the frequency of What’s In It For Me?
It’s not about “If we reach the goal, you get a bonus.”
Money motivates people far less than a sense of purpose.
This is especially true with younger, more idealistic people.
If our goals are achieved, how does that make the world a better, happier, safer, fairer, smarter, more pleasant, easier place?
Have you ever communicated that kind of message to your team? Or are you just expecting them to fall in line because the boss told them to do something?
Maybe you haven’t put much time or thought into how your people perceive you. Most leaders don’t think about that at all. They just...lead.
Or they think they’re leading, when in reality they’re just stating goals and telling people what they need to do.
Ever had a boss like that? Would you have nominated that kind of boss for Boss of the Year?
Turn your goals into a story that personalizes the benefits for your customers, their families, their communities, or even the planet.
Surely there must be some benefit beyond the bottom line to what you’re seeking to accomplish.
People go to work to get paid, but they invest themselves when there’s a great story they understand.
Quick example: Alcoa. The company was in the dumps when a new CEO, Paul O’Neill, stepped in and made workplace safety his key mission.
He preached workplace safety constantly and spent the money to make the company’s plants safer.
Everyone from the C-suite to the factory floor understood that safety, not profit, was his primary concern.
And as a result, Alcoa shot up by every meaningful metric: sales, profitability, and yes, safety.
The value of the company went from $3 billion to $27 billion. All because zero accidents was the story he told over and over again.
Have you ever stopped to think about the story behind your goals?
And then taken the time to share it with your reports?
That might be all that’s standing in the way of you finally receiving Boss of the Year.