Recognize Right Blog: Unlock the People Potential in Your Organization

Did you know that many top leaders in organizations throughout the U.S.are seriously damaging employee engagement by undermining creativity, productivity, and commitment? McKinsey Quarterly published “How leaders kill meaning at work” this past month and I wanted to share it with you. It was quite alarming to find that many leaders and senior executives are “killing” the meaning at work, greatly affecting engagement in the process, and may not even be aware of it. This article states ways to avoid these costly mistakes.

Before we progress too much into this article, first we should discuss the meaning of “inner work life” – it is the emotions, motivations, and perceptions that constitute a person’s reaction to the events of the work day. Not only does this affect the overall person’s well being, it can ultimately affect the bottom line of your organization.  When people have a positive “inner work life,” they are more creative, engaged, productive, committed – and the list goes on and on.

One of the top job tasks as Senior Executives is enabling employee engagement throughout your forces and monitoring progress toward your defined strategy.  As a senior leader, typically you don’t have a lot of opportunities to affect the positive inner work life, but you would be surprised on how the smallest action such as what you do or say can make a huge impact to those on your team. 

These mistakes or traps, described by McKinsey Quarterly, fall into four categories.  These traps were derived from over 850 daily electronic diaries from upper or top-level managers. 

1. Trap 1 – Mediocrity Signals – Like all organizations, you desire greatness – using your mission statements to relay your message.  But are you sending mixed messages?  Are you sending messages that your organization is mediocre? Does your workforce think they work for a mediocre company?
2. Trap 2 – Strategic ‘Attention Deficit Disorder’ – Many top leaders are beginning to research new initiatives and strategies and then dropping those ideas before they can see if they are truly working.
3. Trap 3 – Corporate Keystone Kops – This trap was named after the Keystone Kops – the fictional policeman who wasted a lot of time, running around in circles and not accomplishing anything. When coordination and support are not visible at a company, people start to lack self confidence.  This makes it really hard to have a sense of purpose throughout your organization.
4. Trap 4 – Misbegotten ‘Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals’ – These larger than life goals can be so extreme they are seen as unattainable, causing much dismay throughout your organization.

As a top leader, how can you avoid these traps? For starters, you can ask yourself these questions:

1. When you communicate with employees, do you provide strategic clarity that’s consistent with your company’s capabilities and a clear understanding of where it can add the most value?
2. Can you keep sight of the individual employee’s perspective? 
3. Do you have any early-warning signs that indicate when your view from the top isn’t reality to what is on the ground?

This article states the importance of senior executives and how they can provide a sense of purpose and progress.  You are the front line to identify and communicate the higher purpose of what people can do within your organization.  Do this correctly, and you will create an environment that enables engagement and productivity.  What can you do within your organization to avoid the traps?  We would love to hear your thoughts.