Love and passion and engagement, oh my!
The firm PeopleMetrics just sent out a news release with the headline "Study Finds Passion and Profits Do Mix." They studied 5095 workers in the US and found that "Employees who are passionate about their companies are the best performers, regardless of industry, tenure or gender."
The key statistic is that companies in the lowest quartile in profitability have 50 percent fewer engaged employees than companies in the top quartile. According to the release, that means companies should build an emotional bond with employees by connecting them to the "higher vision and purpose" of the organization.
Hold on. First, if there's any bonding to be done it will happen from the employee side. Companies don't have emotions so they can't create emotional bonds.
And when those employees create those emotional bonds, they are not likely to reach as far as the company. Sure, I've met people who were passionate about working for their company, especially companies like GE, Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, and Proctor and Gamble. But the emotional bond most employees create is with their team and their boss.
It's simple. The boss matters a lot. The team matters a lot. The company matters sometimes.
If you want people to get more engaged and create those glorious emotional bonds, start by making sure they've got well selected and trained supervisors. Support those supervisors with resources. Allow them to get rid of the slugs and slackers.
Do that and your people will work hard. Then, if you're the CEO, you can pretend they're doing it for you. You can make all the noise you want to about "love" and "passion." You can revel in the how much the people who make the company work love coming to work.
Just remember that down in the trenches people are way more likely to give it something extra for the team or their boss, not the company.
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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.
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Categories: supervision, Supervisory Leadership, Engagement
Well, Wally, where does one begin?
I'm fine with passion for one's work or craft; and if a total alignment of the "meaning of life" with the "meaning of the organization" happens, it's probably a good day to buy yourself a lottery ticket.
Statistical data--as well as anecdotal evidence--show continually that employees are influenced more by their boss and colleagues than any other human factor in the workplace. And there are numerous examples of unemotional corporate cultures where people perform at very high levels.
No one would suggest a return to sweatshop conditions and culture. Yet when one sees a bold statement suggesting the initiating of emotional bonding with the workforce, a flag goes up.
After clicking the link and looking at the news release, I haven't yet found hard data or construct of the questions asked. So it would be irresponsible to pass judgment on the survey without seeing the details.
Yet to proclaim "love from above" as the solution to employee engagement is equally irresponsible. It smacks of social engineering at worse and a misunderstanding of the meaning of love, at best.
I'm a huge proponent of building solid, honest relationships in all areas of life, including business.
And I do, indeed, believe that honest relationships contribute to one's willingness to work and perform well over the long haul.
Wally, I loved (excuse me, I lost my head) your insight:
"The boss matters a lot. The team matters a lot. The company matters sometimes."
The company is being run by people under pressure to get the most out of their employees as quickly as possible. For those corporate leaders looking for the next fix, I would imagine that Emotional Bonding from Above will provide the next program du jour.
I hope they're prepared for unrequited love.
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