Inspire an Engaged, Aligned Team | 052

Welcome to Lean Leadership for Ops Managers, the podcast for leaders in Ops Management who want to spark improvement, foster engagement, and boost problem-solving – AND still get their day job done. Here’s your host, Leadership Trainer, Lean Enthusiast, and Spy Thriller Junkie, Jamie V. Parker. 

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[00:00:29] Wouldn’t it be great if . . . . That’s the start of an improvement kata challenge. So I’ll start with this: wouldn’t it be great if we inspired an engaged, aligned team. Think of the possibilities that would open up the impact to culture, to creativity, to Problem-Solving, to execution, to value creation?  

Today we are heading back to our model of how do we lead this excellence? Remember the circle with the four quadrants? If you’re not familiar with this, you can head back to previous episodes or go to our show notes for this episode, you’ll be able to see the visual just had to https://processplusresults.com/podcast/ and then find episode number 52. 

Now, part of leading excellence is to inspire and engage, aligned team, right? I mean, that’s part of it. And the two cultural enablers you need to do this are purpose and participation. So we’re talking about the right side of the model today.

[00:01:32] Now, we’re going to start with purpose. Purpose, find your why, the purpose-driven organization, conscious capitalism. Purpose is all the rage. And I know I’m kind of, you know, sounding a little cavalier here, but that’s not really what I mean. Like, I’m all about it, all about organizations doing good. I’m all about people finding meaning at work. This is great.  

The thing is that when something becomes a bit of a buzzword, it seems like there’s an increased risk of it being perceived as inauthentic. So we’ve got to be a little careful there. And I mean, if we were going to be real, sometimes it actually gets approached this way, right? It’s like, oh, we got to check it off the list.

[00:02:15] So let’s talk about what I mean when I say purpose. When I talk about purpose as a cultural enabler in this context, I mean more than just the formal purpose statement. Purpose is like this broader context, you know, kind of this True North vision. And so it may include an external purpose, might include internal purpose or principles and values. So not just the why – why we band together – but also the aspirational who we are.  

And there are some common gaps that I see in organizations when it comes to purpose. So I’m going to talk about those keeping in mind this kind of broader vision, this True North, not just the purpose statement, and also know that I’m not going to talk today about how you should come up with purpose or your True North and how you should define it and what’s too broad or too generic. There’s plenty of advice out there on that. You can actually even tune into episode number 34 of this podcast and hear Matthew Nix, who’s president of Nix Companies, talk about how he approached this.

[00:03:21] So we’re going to assume for the purpose of this conversation that you do have a True North. This True North vision exists already, but there are still some gaps and sometimes this vision is complicated or unclear. Maybe it’s a lot of different things, but they don’t really seem to come together in a cohesive way. Or maybe they’re changing way too often. And, you know, probably the most often gap I see around clarity is that there’s just too much. There’s a purpose statement and mission and vision and core values and organizational principles. And then on top of that, there are operating principles and ways of working.  

And if you’re practicing any sort of continuous improvement, you probably have a house, right? You know, the house of Lean and the pillars and all that stuff. A lot of organizations make their own houses on top of it right? Now, it’s totally fine if you have all of those things. I’m not here to say you shouldn’t.  

What I am going to say, though, is that the challenge happens when it’s not clear what the core is. So this True North vision, like what is that core? Because it can’t be all of it. We’ve got to narrow it down. 

[00:04:31] Another gap I see when it comes to purpose and vision is that a lot of times what happens is that the executives are all about it. Usually, because they were part of coming up with it, but executives are all about it. And then it kind of gets stuck there, right? The executives and the senior leaders, maybe they can talk about purpose, but it hasn’t connected throughout the entire organization. And what happens is it results in these monotonous stories and messaging about it. It’s like, oh, this is how we talk about it. And, you know, that presents a challenge because if we talk about it in this way, and it’s kind of this one way of considering it, one way of thinking about it, then inevitably it’s not going to connect with everyone throughout the organization.

[00:05:18] Another gap is, you know, kind of seeing how this purpose, even if we do talk about it, even if we do start to connect it, we don’t always weave it into our tactical goals and initiatives. There’s not this direct line to how the everyday things that we’re asking people to do connect to it. So this purpose is this thing that we talk about at our company-wide meetings or when we’re giving out awards or we’re talking about end-of-quarter results. But when it comes to day-to-day delivering SQDCM or whatever your kind of KPI type of pillars might be, then it disappears.  

So here’s my question. Right. Does any of this sound familiar? Can you see some of these potential purpose gaps in your organization or on your team? I mean, probably so, right.

[00:06:09] And, I think one of probably the biggest problems or disconnects with purpose is that too often what we say doesn’t match what we do. It ends up as posters on a wall but doesn’t translate to everyday behaviors. It doesn’t impact how people in the organization make decisions. It’s kind of these phrases we’ve memorized, but it’s not something we feel actually reflects the organizational culture.  

So here’s an example of this, maybe an extreme example, but you may have heard this before. So here’s an organization many of you have heard of. You’ve probably heard of this organization. And their core values are communication, respect, integrity, and excellence. What company do you think this is? All right, I know, I know these are so vague that they could probably go with any company, right? They sound like corporate-speak. But beyond that, what if I told you this? Communication, respect, integrity, and excellence were the core values of this company. Enron. Complete disconnect, right? Respect, integrity, excellence, communication; what a complete disconnect.  

Now, I know that’s an extreme example, but I bet you can find examples like this just maybe not quite as extreme in your organization, too. And if you’re willing to be vulnerable, I bet even in your own leadership.

[00:07:42] So what do we do about it? Well, there are three leadership practices that enable you to build purpose as a cultural enabler to excellence.

The three practices are these, ready? One, two, three.  

1. Clarify True North 
2. Make it Personal 
3. Connect the Dots  

You see, when you lead with these three practices, then purpose is clear. This True North vision is clear, and you’re able to tell stories about what it means to you and other leaders do the same and you help team members find the stories that connect them to purpose. And now we have all of this diversity so that even though what connects you and what makes you feel good about the purpose of an organization might be different. 

For me, it’s great because we’re really capitalizing on this diversity in this personalization, and people are really now operating and making decisions from the same foundation. And we all know how it connects to the day in and day out. So that’s purpose: clarify True North, make it personal and connect the dots.

[00:08:58] The second cultural enabler we’re talking about today is participation. Now, remember from previous episodes that participation is active, it’s engagement, it’s doing something, it’s an act.  

Here’s the problem with the normal approach to engagement. We spend way too much time and energy on what, they, the team members do and not nearly enough time and energy on what we as leaders do. Yeah, that’s right. Engagement is not about trying to get them to do something. It’s about how we create an environment where participation is, of course, the norm. And the way we do that is by looking at how we lead.

[00:09:48] So here are gaps that I see just when I’m out working with organizations and talking with leaders. So sometimes we keep people at a distance. We don’t give enough time and energy to our teams. We definitely don’t listen enough or listen effectively enough for sure. Top of the list, we don’t have one on ones. We don’t have listening sessions. We don’t have dedicated mechanisms to hear from people. And if we’re to watch a meeting or group interaction and count the number of times someone talked, the leader would probably be at the top of the list.  

We tend to have in our organization systemic or cultural obstacles that hinder team member engagement. Back in Episode 48, Aaron Davidson shared an experience he had working with Frontline team members when they were “resistant.” And, He told a story that one time he uncovered that with one person, I think he was a bartender, but that person had given suggestions before and then nothing was done about it. And so we just stopped offering them. And so this resistance wasn’t really a resistance. This disengagement was really a leadership challenge. 

So when we think about these cultural obstacles or these systemic obstacles, things like fear or incentives, right? What’s going on with our incentives? Sometimes the focus or pressure on output and productivity, access, who has access to what approvals and authority? Well, what are they all about and why? And, do we have too many? These are all areas that can dampen engagement and participation and they’re really common. 

So, I’m going to give you a little bonus here. A really good question for you to ask when you’re looking at your systems, systemic pieces, and programs is to ask yourself is, “What are the unintended consequences of that?” Because I might have put that incentive idea or this recognition program in place for something I was trying to do good, and it turns out there might be some unintended consequences with metrics and visual boards and all the things that you might do in your Gemba walks and how you’re having conversations. What are the unintended consequences there?

[00:12:14] I also see participation limited because people just aren’t recognized for the good work they do. Have you ever heard the phrase, I do 10 things right, and I never hear a word. I do one thing wrong and never hear the end of it. Look, that exists in a lot of teams, in fact, people on your team might even feel that way, but even if they don’t, it doesn’t have to be these extremes. In fact, 82 percent of U.S. employees say I’m not recognized enough for my contributions.  

Failure to give recognition has always been one of my biggest weaknesses. It’s something I have to work very hard at, and I have to be really purposeful and intentional, or else I slip right back and I just gloss over it, right. I see it. I get it. You know, cool. I recognize it, but I just keep going. I’m moving so fast. I want to get to the problems. Let’s fix the bad stuff. Let’s improve. Let’s go. And then I end up glossing over it and people don’t feel like they’ve been seen or heard or valued. 

Does any of this sound familiar? Are there some pieces here that may be stifling active participation in your organization or with your team?  

Listen, it’s the hard truth time: the engagement of your team is less of a reflection on them and more of a reflection on you as a leader. Yeah, I know it’s a hard one, right? So when we say, oh, I want more participation, I want more engagement, the team should be more engaged than we have to stop looking at them and really say, OK, what do I need to do as a leader?

[00:13:58] There are three leadership practices that enable you to build participation as this cultural enabler to excellence.  Ready? One, two, three.  

1. Nurture Human Connection 
2. Remove the Barriers  
3. Leverage the Positive  

Listen, if you’ve been in my circle, my network, for any period of time, this is going to sound familiar, right? Because I talk about this all the time. Business is personal and leadership is a relationship. And that relationship is not a product of time or transactions. Leadership happens between people through human interaction and connection. 

So we’ve got to think about how we are creating those opportunities, not just for on-the-fly communication and relationship building, but also for that plan, dedicated time to listen and connect. I have a client who leads a small team and he doesn’t have regularly scheduled one on ones. And, he used to have weekly team meetings. He tried daily team meetings once, but it just seemed like overkill. I mean, he’s got three people on his team. They talk all the time and meetings seemed extra. This is common. I hear this a lot. Oh, yeah, I talk to him all the time. The thing is that communication, people development, relationship building is different in these two interaction types. The on the go and the dedicated and both are necessary. And that’s just it, they’re both necessary.

[00:15:31] So if you want to nurture human connection, you’re going to have to be more deliberate than just talking to people through the normal course of business. And we also want to again, take a look at these things that may be getting in the way, because so often we want to add programs and routines; Add visual boards, add gamma walks, add idea boards on and on. A lot of times you can generate more authentic active participation by subtracting instead of adding. All right, so here’s participation: nurture human connection, remove the barriers and leverage the positive.

[00:16:08] Let’s wrap this up. There are four cultural enablers to leading excellence. Today we talked about two: purpose and participation. When you lead for purpose and participation, you are able to inspire an engaged, aligned team. 

And how do you lead that way? Well, the three leadership practices to build purpose as a cultural enabler to excellence are clarify True North, make it personal, and connect the dots. 

And the three leadership practices to build participation as a cultural enabler to excellence are to nurture human connection, remove the barriers and leverage the positive.  

All right, your turn. Here’s your next step. I want you to reflect either for your organization or for your direct team when it comes to purpose and participation, reflect on that, what gaps resonate with you, and identify one leadership practice to explore further. 

Until next time.