Emotional Connection: A Universal Motivator & Change Accelerator?
BySeveral weeks ago I stumbled upon yet another “aha” moment. I was at a client site interviewing front-line employees of a highly successful, several thousand-strong organization that is renown for its high customer retention rate plus great customer service experience — and has the stats plus “word on the street” reputation to back it up. This was the second set of interviews that I was conducting, and in each case, I heard the same consistent message:
“I love my employer because…they care about us, they’ve been great to us, I’m not just a number, we’re family.”
“I’m…angry, resentful, hurt, empty, frustrated and ambivalent about my job. I used to love coming to work, but now I’m just here to collect my paycheck.”
How can a cross-section of people shower their employer with the most genuine of compliments in one breath then choose words that scream “morale has tanked” in the next? Then I met an insightful employee who I’ll call “Joe”. He was a very considerate, thoughtful and soft spoken person who helped me sort through what was really happening when he offered these words of wisdom — “We must honor the past.”
For years and well before Six Sigma, lean automation, instant messaging, social media and you-name-it-technologies took hold, this particular employer counted on each employee to go the extra mile every day – and each employee did so because they knew that they made a difference. If they had an idea that seemed reasonable, they ran with it. If they saw a decision that needed to be made, they acted upon it. If they saw a change that needed to be introduced, they implemented it. If they saw a problem that needed to be corrected, they fixed it. And with this, the business grew, the owners/employees prospered, the employer/employee relationship thrived and the customers kept coming back for more – and life was good.
Enter…a changing marketplace…process and automation…and new managers experienced in and excited about implementing large-scale safety, efficiency and cost reduction solutions. What happened next? The employees reported to new managers that they didn’t really know. There was no history. There was no trust. There was no emotional connection. The managers, looking forward to making a positive difference, introduced new ideas, rendered decisions, initiated wide-sweeping changes and resolved pesky problems – but in a perceived vacuum. And then there were the communication issues. As ideas, changes and new technologies were introduced, the first unintended message heard by the employees was “We, the new managers, are here to fix all of the mistakes of the past – the past that you, the employees, created and totally messed up.” As change pushback occurred, the next unintended message heard was “You, the employees, are being resistant to change. Just do it!” Meanwhile the employees were thinking “We helped the company grow to where it is today. We made the company successful. We consistently went the extra mile. Why are these changes being made? Why aren’t you asking us for our ideas and recommendations? Why are you minimizing and de-valuing us?” The employees’ attitudes drastically changed from being highly engaged to significantly detached. In their words, they were “brushed to the curb.” From the employee’s perspective, their ideas were no longer solicited or valued and they no longer shared a voice in decisions, changes and problem solutions. Their enthusiasm for tackling the most difficult of situations – their passion for getting things done — their strong sense of ownership — the very essence of who they once were – had been unintentionally diminished.
What caused the great manager/employee divide? Let’s refer back to Joe’s comment “We must honor the past.” As a proponent of Active Listening, what does that phrase really tell me? What’s the “not so obvious” meaning? My conclusion — before we can collectively move forward, we must intentionally stop and recognize our people and their significant contributions that successfully paved the way for the next wave of work and accomplishments that lie ahead. We must genuinely connect with our people on an emotional level – where we can respectfully acknowledge who they are and express our gratitude to them for having created a positive imprint. We must openly discuss how the great foundation that our people have laid has become the perfect launch point for the next step in our organizational evolution. We must be compassionate in our messaging as we discuss “the why’s” behind doing things differently and encourage rich dialogue. But our responsibilities don’t stop there. We must actively engage all of our people as we plan, execute and celebrate organizational achievements. We must continue to nurture the emotional connection because the very essence of who we are as human beings and whether or not we’re appreciated by others directly influences our attitudes, beliefs and actions. How can we draw upon our people’s inner strength or self motivation that is so pivotal to accelerating organizational change when our people don’t feel genuinely appreciated by and/or emotionally connected with those introducing, directing or championing the change?
Thought Provoker: Do you see emotional connectedness as a universal motivator and change accelerator? Please share your comments with us!
