A New Frontier: Transitioning My Blog to the Mothership

A New Frontier: Transitioning My Blog to the Mothership
Why I am adding my voice to the thought leadership community at Hay Group

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Those of you who follow me may have wondered over the last couple months, "Where's Hazen?" Well, I've been thoroughly engaged in my new job in my new organization (yay!). I'm working now as a Senior Consultant in the employee engagement practice at Hay Group, a global HR consulting firm.

When asked about why I joined Hay Group, I jokingly respond that it's like the "mothership" found me. What I mean by this is that Hay Group is doing some of the best thinking in this space of any firm out there. I work with thought leaders who's approach to engagement is scientifically rigorous, conceptually aligned with mine and totally focused on helping organizations perform better as a result of engagement. My supervisor literally co-wrote the book the Enemy of Engagement, which lays out Hay Group's framework. (He is, maybe not surprisingly, an amazing manager.)

The Employee Effectiveness model and scale that comprise Hay Group IP is distinct from my dissertation research for sure, but it's conceptually aligned in looking at a broader set of ideas than positive emotion and discretionary effort when discussing engagement. More importantly, the practical implications of what I do in my new role and what I have been doing in this blog are the same: I am offering perspectives to help leaders turn employee engagement into better business results.

For that reason, after some serious consideration, I have decided to cease blogging independently for now.

Going forward, you will be hearing from me as part of the Hay Group thought leadership community, and you can read my blog posts on: http://blog.haygroup.com/

Thanks to everyone for participating in this conversation with me over the last 12 months, and I look forward to hearing from you on haygroup.com and Linked In!

Best regards,
Dr. Hazen Witemeyer

The Evolution of HR (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search III)

The Evolution of HR (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search III)

How Progressive Leaders Are Thinking about HR Strategy

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I was fortunate in the course of my recent job search to interview with business leaders from Human Resources, Marketing and Communications, Operations and other business functions in a wide variety of industries including transportation, technology, healthcare, business services and more.  Although I did not transcribe these interviews for research purposes, I wish I could have: not surprisingly, many leaders are asking the same smart questions about how employee engagement – and, human resources more broadly – can really be turned into better business results.

Based on my conversations, I believe that a version of this question is, in fact, at the heart of every progressive HR leader’s agenda: specifically, “How can I align my organization’s people strategy with business strategy to improve performance?”

Isn’t this the same question HR leaders have been asking? Yes and no. Progressive HR leaders have always sought to contribute business value, but undoubtedly the way in which we approach the partnership between HR and the business has evolved rapidly in recent years.  Remember when the most celebrated CHROs (Chief HR Officers) were those who were able to outsource and down-skill to save corporations money? Or those who signed the biggest contracts to implement HRIS systems? While efficiency and standardization are still important, the conversation today is fundamentally about how HR practices enable people and organizations to win.

Below are three trends I observe in how smart and successful HR leaders approach their jobs.

• HR strategy is inseparable from business strategy. People are at the core of how work gets done in even the most automated of work environments, because people are making decisions, every day, at every level. Progressive HR leaders work closely with business leadership not only to understand how people can help a business achieve a certain set of results, but also how a business can exceed its goals through well-led people-practices like talent development, executive compensation, recruiting and employee engagement.
• HR strategy is really strategic. What I mean by this is, progressive HR leaders aren’t just re-labeling tactical plans as “strategies” then continuing to do what they have always done (although some less progressive HR leaders are). The best CHROs are: looking at the long-term objectives of the business and articulating where the workforce needs to be in 3-5 years to achieve them (= drawing a compelling vision), putting intelligent and adaptable plans in place to get from here to there (= laying out a strategy), and empowering their people to start constructing the path to the future (= executing).
• HR strategy is a single strategy. The most important and challenging insight I garnered from my conversations is that going forward, HR must view itself as a single function in order to deliver the level of value businesses need to sustain competitive differentiation. While the brightest HR executives are leading the charge to make this so, not everyone is willing or able to follow. As a result, HR practices are largely approached as silos or loosely-coordinated activities instead of different strands of the same DNA, resulting in inefficient or mis-aligned programs.

These trends have huge implications for HR and the businesses they belong too: they require fundamental changes in the who, what, when, where, why and how of work getting done. Of course, people in the HR game haven’t been talking about HR transformation for a while – what I am reporting is less different in character than different in degree from the HR transformation conversation to date. The good news is, there is real opportunity. Companies that do this well (or partner to do this well) will win. And if anyone can figure out how to build better organizations, it is progressive HR teams!

The Halo Effect and On-Boarding (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search II)

The Halo Effect and On-Boarding (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search II)
The Real Role of On-Boarding in Employee Engagement

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By all measures, my new company did a stellar job welcoming me to my new position last week. I knew where to go and when; my badge, computer and system access worked, and I received an informative and concise orientation. I learned about corporate values and strategy, and my team's objectives, and even met my country manager on day two.

But what really made the difference was the personal, handwritten welcome note a team member had waiting on my desk, saying how pleased she was we'd be working together. That, and the personal attention my local office-mates gave me, ensured I felt part of the team.

Throughout my career, I have several times participated in the development and implementation of on-boarding programs, and in recent years there has been a big push to standardize messaging and automate learning activities through online platforms. I am a big advocate for consistent messaging and efficiency: both are how work gets done as organizations scale for growth. Further, in most employee surveys, new employees who have been with the company less than a year are the most engaged. It's what I term the halo effect: at the start of the new employment relationship, optimism and trust -- two correlates of employee engagement -- abound.

I had concluded, perhaps incorrectly (which is why even experts need to keep doing research), that all of this meant that on-boarding would have a moderating relationship to employee engagement. What I mean by this is that done poorly, on-boarding will work against engagement - and we've all heard horror stories where it has. On the other hand, I believed, people are so happy coming into a new job that good on-boarding isn't likely to increase engagement levels very much. As such, on-boarding should be optimized for efficiency, rather than invested in for differentiation.

So my experience at my new company, where one little touch made a real impact, got me thinking: what really is the role of on-boarding in facilitating employee engagement?

To partially answer this question, I referenced my research: if one defines employee engagement as an attitude regarding one's work in one's organization comprising vigor, dedication and absorption; empowerment and motivation to contribute within and beyond one's role in the service of the organization's goals, several conclusions about optimizing on-boarding for engagement and efficeincy can be inferred:

1. On-boarding activities that emphasize education about corporate mission, strategy and goals promote engagement by helping employees align their motivation to contribute for impact. The aspect of this which is about education can be standardized, but it's important for managers to translate these into individual goals and objectives.
2. Ensuring that systems work properly and necessary training is scheduled on day one helps eliminate barriers to contribution and promotes empowerment. Many companies document these tasks and assign owners by location or department to improve efficeincy and consistency, and some even procure technology systems that partially automate tasks and/or reminders.
3. As I've described above, the personal touch matters. I believe this comes down to solidifying trust at the individual and organizational levels, resulting from a concrete demonstration of personal consideration. Almost by definition, this is the sort of activity that cannot be automated -- but it can be streamlines with a consistent approach and clear accountabilities.

What are some of the best "personal touches" that you have seen as part of on-boarding that are resource-friendly and effective?

The Goldilocks Phenomenon (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search 1)

The Goldilocks Phenomenon (Employee Engagement Insights from a Successful Job Search 1)

Why hiring and job-searching for employee engagement makes sense

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Earlier this month, I successfully completed a job search when I accepted a new, employee engagement-focused position with a global HR consultancy. I’ll share more about the firm and my role in a later post, but suffice it to say that I am EXTREMELY excited to be embarking on this next phase of my career with my new team.

This job search looked remarkably different than my last job search four years ago, from both sides of the table. Recruiters screened me for 19 jobs over eight months, and I spoke with with hiring managers and other team members for over a dozen of these roles.  I called, drove, flew and Skype-d for interviews; I took personality tests and spoke with industrial psychologists; I went through a roller coaster of emotions regarding the search process and within my role with my prior firm. In other words, it was a long, careful, deliberate (=frustrating) matching process on both sides, sometimes interrupted by uncontrollable external forces. 

I was, of course, invested in the outcome of the search process. I was also interested to observe what the process told me about my own engagement and how to optimize it for my current and next position. Too, it was an amazing opportunity to speak to professionals in over a dozen organizations about their views on employee engagement and its role in business today. I look forward to sharing what I think it all means to job seekers, business leaders and HR professionals in several upcoming posts, starting with what I call The Goldilocks Phenomena, which is another way of saying that employers and candidates are hiring for employee engagement.

The Goldilocks Phenomena: why hiring and job-searching for employee engagement makes sense

Many believe that carpet-bombing employers with resumes is an effective job search tactic. The idea is that high volume increases your probability of response. I won’t argue that logic if you need a job and any job will do. But if you are motivated (not desperate) to find your next right role, this strategy can result in a lot of false hits – meaning interviews that are a waste of time for both the organization and the candidate.

“So what if there are a lot of conversations that don’t pan out?” one might wonder. "It's good interview practice, right?" Maybe, but there is a cost on both sides. 

For candidates, it’s discouraging, tiring and expensive to spend ones time, energy, gas and vacation days interviewing for roles only to be told you aren’t “the right fit.” Worse, what if you end up in a job wherein you aren’t engaged? You’ll just have to go through the process again.

For organizations, it is time-consuming and distracting to call in teams of five to six highly-compensated business professionals to interview a candidate who has a resume gap, is over-qualified (and thus a flight risk), or culturally better suited elsewhere. In other words, organizations only want to hire if the conditions are right for long-term employee engagement. And as we know, increasing the cost of job searches makes companies even more cautious about hiring in only the right fit, which slows down the process even further.

Reading between the lines, companies and job seekers are / should be more discerning than ever about fitting for employee engagement. For job seekers, this means more research before application to increase interviews for roles you really want. For organizations, this means further defining the conditions that lead to engagement in your team and incorporating evaluation of these into the screening process.

The good news is, the process can work. I found exactly the next right role for me, and my new team found a highly engaged, highly-qualified expert to build out a practice. But I also see it as good news for business, in that we have the potential to improve the recruiting process by seeing it through an engagement lens.

Thanksgiving: the Secret Shortcut to Employee Engagement?

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Thanksgiving: the Secret Shortcut to Employee Engagement?

Why Gratitude Can Help Us Be More Engaged with Our Work

What about your job are you thankful for? By finding a few tangible answers to this question, you’re already on the road to greater employee engagement.

In the U.S., our Thanksgiving holiday season is a time to acknowledge and appreciate blessings. Recent happiness research at institutions like the University of California at Berkeley shows that gratitude as a regular practice can have social, physical and psychological benefits.

Looking under the hood, so to speak, it can be deduced that the benefits of gratitude can lead to greater employee engagement within an individual as well, following my definition of employee engagement as an attitude towards one’s work in one’s organization comprising vigor, dedication, absorption, psychological empowerment and motivation. Specifically, research shows a practice of gratitude can lead to increased enthusiasm and motivates helpful action, two components of employee engagement. It can also reduce stress and anxiety, which can be barriers to employee engagement. It improves relationships, the critical driver of engagement in the workplace. Click here to read more from U.C. Berkeley on gratitude.

The practice of gratitude, it turns out, is a practice. Like bowling, it may come easier to some people than others, but anyone can improve through focused effort and repetition. I suggest an achievable goal for those new to daily thanksgiving, since small changes are more likely to stick than big ones. Set a calendar reminder for the start of each workday to acknowledge one thing you are grateful for about your work. Keep that appointment every day, and try not to list the same thing twice. It can be really basic, “I am grateful there is indoor plumbing in my office” to very specific, “I am grateful Susan knew how to run that report and was willing to help.”

If that suggestion doesn’t appeal to you, or you already keep a gratitude journal, consider adapting another gratitude practice to the workplace.

And here’s the trick: stick with the practice for weeks: long after you have decided it isn’t doing you any good. Like many healthy habits (e.g., light exercise or meditation) the benefits may or may not appear directly linked to the practice, but if you pay attention, the correlation is undeniable.

As for me, I am thankful for you, my readers, both known and unknown, who help motivate me to keep learning and sharing about employee engagement. Thank you, and I wish you all a great start to the holiday season!

The Road to Disengagement Is Paved with Good Intensions

The Road to Disengagement Is Paved with Good Intentions

4 Well-Intended Mistakes Managers Make that Lead to Disengagement – and How to Fix Them

Most of what I share in this blog is BEST practice learnings from a career and a doctoral dissertation in employee engagement. Today, I’m going to share some WORST practices.

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Normally, I’m a proponent of an organizational development concept some term “amplifying positive deviance.” The idea is that by placing a positive spotlight on what’s going right in a change effort, you’ll inspire and encourage others to adopt that behavior. Combine that with a reliable measurement practice and a solid demonstration of results, and you can create sustainable change. Conversely, focusing on negating undesirable behavior proves less effective.

However, I have heard stories of senior managers who, for apparently logical reasons, have participated in disengaging behaviors. I thought it important to mention in some of these cases how a seemingly-good intention went wrong, and how to recover.  

Names have been changed to protect the innocent and clueless…

Situation	Management rationale	Why it’s disengaging	Fix
Employees in different departments compare notes and discover they received different reward or recognition for similar character and quality work on a project. A manager denies or retracts recognition for a staff member given by another party, and the employee is made aware.	“We don’t have enough money in the budget to give an award, and if I talk say something, they’ll expect a bonus.” “In our team, we don’t give special recognition for staff completing regular job assignments.” “We can’t set a precedent for this type of recognition.”	Recognition leads to psychological empowerment, motivation and other good-things associated with engagement. Becoming aware of an absence of recognition has the opposite effect: we feel under-valued, insecure or even undermined. Fundamentally, what we perceive to be unfair treatment leads to distrust.	Leaders should proactively seek to restore trust. Be generous in public and private acknowledgement of work well done, particularly if an inconsistency between departments has been exposed. Be transparent about what’s required locally to achieve reward and recognition, and be consistent in how they are allocated. Have conversations with the affected team members and listen. Don’t “blame” others for the inconsistency, but acknowledge limitations.
An employee is given management responsibility for a project, but his manager requests to approve all project-related activities. An employee is given accountability for a project requiring resource spend but is not given a budget to manage.	“We’re all one team working together towards common goals, and we can operate seamlessly.” “When I put XXX into the management role, I didn't realize how high visibility this project is, and he isn't ready.”	Micromanagement by any other name still stinks. Going back to engagement basics, micromanagement leads to psychological dis-empowerment, which leads to disengagement. Worse, it’s possible that an employee who is given accountability but not authority to manage a project could perceive they are being set up as a scapegoat (which indicates or increases distrust).	Focus on establishing management practices that promote both empowerment and accountability. Set clear and consistent goals, and regularly checking in on these. If a new manager needs additional coaching, help him find it from someone who isn't you. If performance is an issue, address that head-on. No one and no organization benefits when difficult conversations are avoided.

No manager is perfect, and the good news is, disengaging behavior can be counteracted and trust restored with dialogue, respect and consideration.

How have you repaired a situation where disengagement was the unintended consequence of a management decision?

What the Dalai Lama Can Teach Us about Employee Engagement

What the Dalai Lama Can Teach Us about Employee Engagement

How a Few Basic Ideas Will Transform Your Workplace and Your Life

This week, I was fortunate enough to see the Dalai Lama speak at an event sponsored by Emory University in Atlanta. I am not a practicing Buddhist, nor particularly familiar with his teachings. But I was excited to be in the presence of a leader who is changing the world by promoting peace, love and understanding. What I wasn’t expecting is how easily I related his teachings to the field of employee engagement.

What, you might ask, could a Tibetan Monk know about employee engagement? Do they even have employees at monasteries?

Technically, His Holiness did not explicitly address employee engagement. But he was close. He spoke about principles that lead to personal happiness and wellbeing including compassion, love and respect. The practice of these principles also becomes the basis for healthy interpersonal relationships. When scaled out far enough, they create conditions that lead to world peace.  In short, respect of self and others leads to trust, which leads to friendship and collaboration, which leads to happiness. Conversely, a lack of compassion and respect leads to distrust and competition – and other similar emotions that can be very bad for health, peace of mind and society.

Those of you have been reading this blog over time will appreciate that the word “trust” rang some bells for me as my dissertation research showed that trust is a critical factor underpinning employee engagement. In fact, I have argued that trust is the single most important workplace feature that a leader can cultivate. Apparently, not surprisingly, this truth holds over a variety of contexts!

Some other insights I came away with can be best categorized as “insights for the engaged leader.” For example, he called the audience to cultivate a “trained sense of concern for others’ wellbeing,” and to practice pairing this with wise discernment – as good a call to leadership as I’ve heard recently. He also modeled leadership behaviors, including being wholly present with his co-presenters, and asking smart, informed questions about the research scientists presented to him.

He also reminded us that in today’s world, real challenges require real change. The end to conflicts at a large and small scale requires that we value the common interest at least as much as our individual interests. He also noted that change starts from within, and action is more important than faith. Practicing respect and compassion is one way we can all lead change in our personal and professional lives alike.

What teachers from unexpected arenas have influenced your employee engagement practice and how?