The perception of HR has changed dramatically in my 20 year career. And if we zoom out further, we see that this function laid down roots in the last 100 years as employees asserted their collective power in redefining their relationships with employers during the Industrial Revolution. What started as a way to ensure advocacy and fair working conditions, progressed into the role of HR as a company’s representative on employee grievances, or the “fun police” as we moved through the Civil Rights and social consciousness era over the coming decades. Now you’re not here for a history lesson, so suffice to say: the team we now call People Operations, People x Culture, or simply the People Team has become more and more focused on the humans we work alongside as opposed to viewing them as “Resources” to be managed.
With this in mind, we’ll use the term PxC to describe the modern function of HR. And its evolution today has meant its role has shifted to that of an emerging strategic partner in business operations. While we still retain the table stakes areas like risk, compliance, employee relations, and making sure our employees are paid appropriately for the work they do, the function has indexed heavily into organizational health and how company culture can create and sustain real business outcomes.
And the results are real: Gallup releases a State of the Workplace report every year with data to back up how engagement affects KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). For instance:
“When researchers analyzed the differences in performance among business work units, the benefits of employee engagement were clear. When comparing employee engagement levels, Gallup found that top- and bottom-quartile business units and teams had the following differences in business outcomes*:
81% in absenteeism
58% in patient safety incidents (mortality and falls)
18% in turnover for high-turnover organizations
43% in turnover for low-turnover organizations
28% in shrinkage (theft)
64% in safety incidents (accidents)
41% in quality (defects)
10% in customer loyalty/engagement
18% in productivity (sales)
23% in profitability”
You may be thinking: that’s a lot of numbers, and I’m no data analyst. So what does this actually mean to my business?
TL;DR an engaged and valued team not only feels better about their work, they actually do better work.
And now for the million dollar question: How do I create an engaged team?
To start down the path:
Create opportunities for dialogue with your team. I was once told that if you listen to your team, the roadmap will reveal itself. Survey your org to understand their sentiment, create intentional communication channels to solicit real time feedback (good and bad!), and encourage dialogue around feedback with your team in 1:1’s or team meetings, and really, D. All of the above. An engaged team feels an investment in their work because they’re a part of the solution, and as I’ve always told my own teams, “there is a home for dissent.” Further, and this is most important, repeat with a frequency that makes sense for your team (even annually is a good start). This will help you to identify emerging themes from your team over time.
Take action! Survey feedback gives you leading indicators of what your team feels and wants from their work. Identify your themes, frequency and sentiment and break these into a list of priorities you share back with the organization. Strapped for resources? Identify your company’s Grassroots Evangelists to help drive toward solutions.
Clarity. Ask yourself: does your team clearly understand the expectations and measures of success for their role, team, or company as a whole? And have these expectations been communicated early and often? Over communication here is key to alignment. Spend time with your leadership team defining the key objectives that ensure success of the business, and how you’ll measure your progress (LinkedIn has a handy introduction to OKR framework to get you started). Share both of these, and also how you’re tracking against, with frequency to your whole org.
Trust. There is nothing more important for a team than the psychological safety that comes with building effective trust. Do what you say, say what you do, and acknowledge if there’s a difference between the two. And as the Harvard Business Review expands on this notion: the 3 pillars of trust are transparency, authenticity, and reliability.
Finally, it’s important to reiterate that engagement of your team is not a PxC issue, it’s a business outcome. By cultivating and harnessing the collective power of your team, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Sproutwise is here to help you build the culture, environment, and team you need as you scale. Ready to connect? Find us at info@sproutwise.com.
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