6 Top Ways Corporations Kill their Employee's Meaning

The internet is full of articles outlining suggestions on how to motivate your employees, in an effort to get more work (presumably good work) done.  I believe I've written a few myself. Managers tend to find these articles appealing because they typically offer actionable steps to be systematically followed, allowing them to feel 'in control' of the motivational issue.

What isn't addressed as often though is the importance and necessity of injecting meaning into the work that people do.  In their book The Progress Principle, authors Teresa Amable and Steven Kramer share that of all the actions you can take or implement to engage your workers, the single most important and effective is to give them more meaningful work.

But, I hear you say, there is a limit of meaningful work to be done within the company, much of the work is relatively repetitive and boring, though necessary.  The key point to remember is that ALL work, at ALL levels, is important to helping the organization achieve its desired level of success - making it all meaningful.  Your job is help make those connections for your people.

Viktor Frankl, Neurologist, Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, in his definitive book Man's Search for Meaning, wrote about how it was those individuals in the camp who held onto a sense of meaning and purpose for their lives that experienced the greatest survival rate within the concentration camps.

Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.  Viktor Frankl

Having an understanding of our 'why', giving our work meaning and purpose, is the biggest motivator of all.  No matter what work your people do, their job exists for a reason.  When you help them to understand that reason the work is more fulfilling. They feel more satisfied and their productivity levels increase.

In one study this concept was explored more fully. The researchers took a look at the fund-raising efforts of a University, in contacting their alumni.  The callers were divided into three groups.  The first group made their calls and went on their normal breaks.  The second group made their calls but on breaks they were given stories to read from previous callers, describing how rewarding they found the experience of helping raise funds for scholarship programs to have been.  The third group made their calls but on breaks they read stories from previous scholarship winners talking about how the scholarships changed their lives.

Most of you, I'm sure, expect that the second group was more successful than the first group in obtaining donations, and that the third group was even better.  All true.  However, what was astounding was 'how much' better the third group proved.  Reading about how much the funds raised impacted the lives of recipients, reading about all the 'good' they did with that investment, increased the success rate of callers by 250%!  Helping callers understand the true meaning and purpose of their calls drove the success by 250%.  This was huge and has equally large implications for you and your organization.  Imagine the impact on productivity if your people believed their day to day actions to have meaning and purpose.

However, simply helping your people to discover the meaning and value of their work is not enough, not if you engage in behaviours that negate or diminish their sense of value and worth.  You need to continue to demonstrate to people that their work has value if they are to cling to their sense of purpose.  Below are 6 of the biggest mistakes you may be making, in killing the sense of meaning and purpose in your employee's.

1.  Dismissing the importance or relevance of employee's work and input.  

Think of your behaviour in meetings.  Do you ever catch yourself rolling your eyes or sighing in exasperation?  These behaviours can leave employees feeling that their contributions do not have value.  When an employee hands you a report or assignment, do you toss it to the pile on the side of your desk without glancing at it?  Studies show that even taking the time to simply glance at it and respond with a 'thanks' or even a head nod, is sufficient to maintain their feelings of value and meaning.

2. Switching people off of teams before projects are completed.

Closure matters.  Moving people off of a project before it is concluded can undermine their sense of truly being part of something that made a difference.  The 'finishing' stage is an important part of bringing value.  There may be times that you can't help moving someone onto something else but express your gratitude for all of their inputs on the existing project and ensure you give them work that they get to see through to completion before moving them again.

3.  Constantly shifting goals and focus.

This is similar to the point above in that constantly changing the goals and targets of the organization leaves employees feeling disconnected to the outcomes.  It is tantamount to a form of Corporate ADD. How can employees feel that the work they are doing has any meaning if tomorrow the focus shifts and discounts everything they were engaged in to that point?

4.  Taking credit for your employee's ideas.

This one should be obvious.  If you take credit for the hard work of someone else they are not going to feel inclined to continue to work that hard.  When you steal their ideas and input you steal their 'why'.

5.  Assuming a policing role.

When your leadership style's emphasis is on making sure your people aren't doing anything wrong you highlight your lack of belief in their capability of doing anything right.  This leads them to minimize risk-taking, make fewer decisions or to try to implement anything new.  It is far more difficult to find anything meaningful in this work environment because it is now focused on maintaining and not on growth.

6.  Failing to link employee's contributions to corporate success.

Your people need to clearly recognise the connection between the work that they do and the corporation's vision/mission.  It doesn't matter if they are a big cog or a little one, the wheels don't turn if a cog of any size is not in place.

Recognising any of the above behaviours as your own is the first step.  Eliminating them is the next! There is no change without awareness.  Corporations may be good at coming up with the vision of the company, or even in identifying what Jim Collins (of Built to Last fame) referred to as Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAG), but they tend to miss the mark on living to those goals in the day-to-day management of activities. Observe your behaviours in each moment and assume accountability for them. Many are simply habits that you can modify to project a more positive and deliberate message.

Ultimately, helping employees to find their meaning not only makes them feel more engaged, but you might just find that your work feels more meaningful as a result.

The Problem with... No Problem

You've all likely said this at some point...  in response to someone thanking you for helping them out or doing them a favour... you've responded to their Thank-You with the phrase... 'No Problem'.

It sounds innocent enough, a couple of words offered often as a way of remaining humble in the face of someone's thanks.  However, sometimes our words can work against us, in ways we don't realize, and this is one of those times.  In fact, I want to categorically state, up front, that my hope is that, after reading this blog, you forever and always strike the phrase 'No Problem' from your vocabulary. Forever!  Truly!

Here's what happens.  Someone asks us to do something.  Typically, it is something that they want and need immediately because they failed to plan properly and are under the gun.  This is their issue, not yours, and yet their request of you now shifts it into being - your problem.  Although you are busy yourself, you succumb to their pleas, tears and Bambi-like eyes and somehow manage to squeeze it into your already overloaded schedule.  That bathroom break you had planned?  Gone!  That quick pop out to actually get some lunch? Not going to happen.  Their work though?  Done!

In the face of their thanks then, why would we ever want to leave them with the impression that fulfilling their request was, in fact, no problem?  It was a big problem!  We didn't eat.  We put our work on hold, some of which we will likely take home with us to get done.  We didn't have time to pee for heaven's sake and yet, we politely inform the other party that fitting their work into our day was... No Problem for us.

Think for a moment of the impact of those seemingly harmless two little words.

• The other party believes that this was no problem for us and therefore won't hesitate to dump things our way in the future.  We obviously aren't all that busy.
• The other party is wounded and feels diminished because work that they struggled with caused you no angst.  Hmmm... are they that 'slow' around everything?
• Your time and efforts have now been de-valued.  The other person needn't be indebted to you because what you did for them was not a big deal.  No favours owed here!
• When it comes time to recognise those that go over and above in helping others, your name is curiously missing from the list because, after all, everything you had done was no problem and is therefore not remembered.

There are so many other ways to respond to someone else's thanks that don't diminish you, your value or worth... start using them!

• You're welcome.  (Plain, basic, to the point, but sometimes simple works best!)
• My pleasure.  (Great to use when it is true!)
• It was a challenge but I know how important this was for you.  (Good one to use when you know you're going to need to ask a favour of them soon!)
• I'm pleased that I managed to make it happen!  (Good for highlighting that you weren't sure you could but were willing to go out on a limb for them anyway!)
• I can't always manage to squeeze more into my days but I'm glad I was able to accommodate you today (great if you want them to think twice about asking in future!)

The above are good starting points and likely are highlighting for you many other, more creative, and more positively impactful ways to respond to someone else's thanks.  And... before you thank me for offering you this lesson today, let me respond upfront with a very heart felt...  It was my pleasure!

The Perceived Leader

If you put a group of people together and give them a task, a leader will emerge. It's inevitable.


I was thinking about this concept the other night while watching an episode of Survivor.  There was a returning player telling the camera that his strategy this time around was to lay back and not take charge of the group.  He was going to avoid the 'leader' role. However, as soon as the group arrived at their home beach, he started tossing out ideas and suggestions about what should be done, how it should be done and the order of each.  He couldn't help himself.  The other players immediately labelled him as 'leader'.

In a recent study, published in Personality and Social Psychology, it was suggested that leaders emerge in problem solving situations due to two primary factors:

• their outspoken behaviour
• how others perceive this behaviour

It typically has very little to do with competence.  In fact, there is often a big gap between the actual Competence and the Perception of a leader's capabilities; the perception of leadership capability having been driven by the individual's outspoken behaviour and not their competence.  

In the study it was found that the leader's dominant behaviour during group problem solving led them to offer more suggestions than others did, thereby increasing their perceived value by others in the group.  It is interesting to note though that their solutions were no better or worse than anyone else's. There were just more of them.  When reviewing the content of the suggestions it was found that the 'leaders' did not add the best value, they were just heard from first and most often.

The results of this study help to understand a critical issue that Introverts face when looking to heighten their leadership profile.  They must learn to share more during group situations.  The difficulty that most Introverts face though is that they prefer to fully process something before sharing a finished conclusion.  They aren't comfortable in sharing a partially developed idea, since that does not have as much perceived value to them as an idea that is fully processed.  Therefore, Introverts don't tend to speak up as often as their more outspoken peers although they tend to share more solid content when they do.  As we've seen though, there is a gap between Competence and Perception.  Introverts may share more content and value-filled ideas than their outspoken peers but they are not likely to be perceived as a 'leader' by the group since they don't share as often. 

Despite their discomfort in doing so then, it is evident that Introverts need to learn to 'share' more often in group situations if they want to heighten their leadership profile.  The following are two solid strategies you can use to be seen as more of a leader within your team activities:

Speak up early, if not first.

Introverts will find it easier to speak up if they are not caught up in processing too much information.
Therefore, make a point of speaking early in a meeting, before there have been too many topics raised bogging down your thought processing centers.  First is best, but early and often counts too!

Go for Volume.

Pull from the studies above to recognise that it is the act of tossing out ideas and suggestions that has perceived value by the group, not necessarily  'good' ideas.  Introverts like to share solid content. Therefore, they tend to hold onto their thoughts until they have reached a finished conclusion.  This costs them visibility.  Instead, learn to let go of the need to share something that is fully formed and share the issues that you are mulling over.  The group will perceive that as having as much value as your finished conclusion would have netted you, getting you into the game earlier and more often.
  

That Survivor contestant engaged in all the right activities to be quickly perceived as and labelled a leader.  However, unlike in our careers, when you are playing Survivor it is important to know how 'not' to be seen as the leader, which meant keeping his ideas and suggestions to himself.  Although he believed he was merely being 'helpful', speaking up first and often will be perceived as a bid for power by the group.  In the board room this could be a good thing.  On the 'island' decidedly not.

We've Come a Long Way... or have we?

Check out this latest article in Fast Company, which highlights how pervasive the desire for boy children is around the globe.  (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/161/branding-for-girls-advertising-for-women)  Certainly, in second and third world countries the impact is clear:  higher abortion rates (now that the fetal sex can be determined early in a pregnancy), sex trafficking, rising incidence of 'missing' female children, the list goes on. 

Given the statistics outlined in the article, it's not a big leap to assume that these perspectives infiltrate the workplace, leading women to not only feel devalued but likely BE devalued, all of which operate below the radar of  'political correctness'. 

Believe we've come a long way?  These statistics would indicate we've still got a long way to go!

The Likeability Trap

In general, we all like to be liked.  As a result, we will engage in behaviours, often unconsciously, designed to get our audience to be positively disposed toward us.  Research has shown us that feeling and believing that others like and respect us can be a great source of personal pride.  It can go a long way to helping shape our internal beliefs about ourselves.

Knowing that we're a 'good' person, and believing that others know and see this as well, can be a source of comfort to us when we find ourselves in a conflict with someone else.  It can help us feel good about ourselves, despite someone else's attempt to make us feel bad.

Likeability then, the extent to which we believe we are liked by others, can have a very definite and positive impact upon us.  It can increase our confidence and belief in ourselves and enhance our self esteem.  Research has shown that likeability also has other, perhaps lesser known, benefits.

• a customer's fondness (or liking) of their salesperson will weigh up to twice as much in their purchasing decisions as their regard for the products.  This is the foundation for the emphasis on Relationship-based selling processes.
• creating that likeability bond establishes a presumption of goodwill and friendship through future contacts.  Others will be more favourably disposed to you and will interpret your future behaviours in a more positive and favourable light.
• people that are 'liked' tend to be hired and promoted faster. 

It's all good then, right?  To be successful, our strategy should be to do all that we can to be 'liked' by as many people as possible...right?  Perhaps not.  As with all things in life, it seems that there can even be 'too much of a good thing' when it comes to likeability.  Balance, even here, is the key.

There is a downside to being too likeable, too friendly, too nice.  It seems those individuals that skew too heavily to the right on the the likeability continuum, will undermine their credibility.  They are no longer seen as strong, confident and capable, but instead seem weak, indecisive and a follower.  So much of their behaviour is oriented toward fulfilling the needs and wants of others that 'they' get lost in the process.

This overwhelming need to be liked by others will undermine your sense of self, rather than build it up.  It's not often labelled the 'Disease to Please' for nothing!  People who find that they orient their entire day (if not life) toward the fulfillment of everyone else's needs will likely find their own being sacrificed.  This can lead to feelings of disappointment, dissatisfaction and disillusionment.

Unfortunately, they will then typically fall back to the one behaviour that has made them feel good about themselves in the past and do more of it.  Pleasing others!  They work harder to please others and obtain their praise.  The Likeability Trap has now decisively clicked shut around them, catching them up in an endlessly looping cycle of behaviour.

To break out of this spiral of behaviour it is necessary to take a good look at just who you are trying to please and why.  Create a list of people in your life that influence how you think, feel and act.  (For those of you that have a copy of my book - It's Time Now - use The Board of Director's exercise)

Now assess their relative worth and value to you.  Is their influence predominantly positive or negative?  Are they helping move you forward in your life or holding you back?  Our time and energy are limited.  We therefore want to ensure that we narrow down the list of people we are working to please to include only those individuals that you receive a positive benefit from.  There must be an advantage to you for your investment in them!

Positive relationships are not one-sided.  They're reciprocal.  Establish the balance in your life by ensuring that you invest in the relationships that net you a positive return.  The others?  Well... take a lesson from Donald Trump on this one...  Fire 'em!