This one stems from the several exit interviews, employee interactions and experiences of self and others. I have written this post more as a concept paper than an article.
The Problem:
High
attrition, disengaged and disgruntled employees, low employee morale and
thereby low productivity are issues that have plagued most of the organizations
globally. The result is increased intrinsic and extrinsic cost for the
organizations resulting in leaner bottom lines. Any action on cutting down
costs results in a Catch 22 situation for the companies.
In a recent
report released by SilkRoad, a HR software solutions provider, 86% of the
employers struggle to create and maintain workforce engagement. In another
article on ‘loyalty360.org’, ‘Measurement’ is termed as a weakness of employee
engagement programs in terms of longevity and effectiveness. In the FORBES list
of top 5 reasons for quitting jobs in 2013, stability, work-life balance and RESPECT
have found mention. Two very important points can be deduced from all these
articles, research papers and other literature on employee engagement and
factors influencing employee longevity and effectiveness:
1. The factors molding employee engagement are
evolving.
2. The premise on which employee engagement
programs are based is flawed.
A Bigger Picture:
The only
thing that is with the organization throughout its lifecycle and strongly
influences its existence is its culture. Culture may get contaminated, invaded
and normalized over the organization’s existence; however it exists. Culture is
lasting; programs are not. Culture is what drives behavior, exchanges, morale
and sets an unwritten agenda of how things are to be done and what is expected
out of employees. It also strongly impacts the feelings, moods and emotional
bursts that an employee may experience. Culture also channels the loyalty and
longevity of the employees.
In my view which has crystallized with my experiences and those of others, culture has to be all encompassing and should stand for the values of the organization. A lot has been said and written about the culture of ‘Achievement’. However, there is very little mention of accomplishment in the organizational culture context. Elizabeth Curry, facilitator of the Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute makes mention of the following prominent cultures in her workshops:
1. Power Culture
2. Achievement Culture
3. Role Culture
4. Support Culture
Curry states
that one of above four cultures is prominent in the organizations while the
rest though exist are not dominant. McClelland’s human needs motivation theory
speaks of –
n(P) – Need for
Power
n(A) – Need for
Achievement
n(Af) – Need
for Affiliation
My view of a
culture emanating ‘accomplishment’ is the one in which all four – power, achievement,
role, support are equally dominant and mutually interact with each other to
collectively enhance the beauties of each culture thereby snowballing the
overall positive impact on the organization.
Y Accomplishment:
“There’s
nothing like seeing your own potential come to fruition and realizing your worth
and intelligence as a human being”, quotes Mirella, a blogger in one of the
blog posts. Besides, accomplishment caters to individualistic notions of
accomplishment and thereby helps customize interventions to enhance individual
accomplishments. A child’s sense of accomplishment may be very different from
that of an adult. Even amongst children, the sense of accomplishment for a child
playing soccer may be different from that of a studious kid. The beauty is even
amongst soccer playing kids; sense of accomplishment for a goal keeper may be
different from the one playing forward or center back. Same is the case with
our employees in the organization and for that matter the employees in the same
department or same team or subgroup. The other truly enticing quality of
accomplishment is its inherent ability to sprout happiness within an individual.
The sense of
accomplishment has longevity and also boosts your motivation to continue with
your march – continuous accomplishment or path of new glory. Accomplishment can
also be considered the pinnacle of an individual’s state of mind and heart.
In
organizations, our employees may quit or may be disengaged or disgruntled citing
reasons of insufficient compensation, opportunities, challenges, growth or even
plain need for change or beat monotony. Understanding their sense of
accomplishments helps the HR folks design, customize and drive interventions in
the organizations. This also helps identify how individual strengths can be
leveraged to deliver to the business strategy of the organization besides having
happy employees at work. It is however important for HR folks to align
individual accomplishments to the overall accomplishment of the organization.
The organization’s sense of accomplishment may lie in earning revenues for its
stakeholders, give back to the society, stand by environmental causes or just
keeping all its primary and secondary stakeholders happy.
Culture of
accomplishment goes a long way in helping us introspect on what example we wish
to set for ourselves and others around. Also, deciding on what really matters
and doing that.
I shall discuss on the tools and processes of enabling our employees in the next post. Till then, the point to ponder - Do we consider ourselves accomplished?
