The Existential Leadership Challenge of the 21st Century

 

“While the world’s workplace is going through extraordinary change, the practice of management has been frozen in time for more than 30 years.”  These are the words of Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup, the global analytics and consulting firm.  Gallup teamed up with McKinsey & Co. to better understand, among other things, why per capita global GDP has been in general decline for decades.

Clifton goes on to note that there is a crisis in the cultures of organizations worldwide leaving more than 80% of the global workforce disengaged in their work. The 20th century was all about process improvement—ISO 9000, Six Sigma, just-in-time manufacturing and lean management, etc.  We know how to run companies today.  It’s not that we need to learn how to run companies better, but, in Clifton’s words, we need to learn how to run them differently.

Leaders have mastered the operational elements of an organization, but they have failed at mastering employee engagement.

The words employee engagement have been around a long time in management jargon.  They were usually used in the context of something expected of the human resources department because others were too busy running the company to deal with the “soft stuff”.  That was until McKinsey’s research indicated that healthy companies with engaged workforces generate nearly three times the return than the less engaged. 

Then, add to that the commoditized approach to hiring in a low unemployment environment where salary and benefits are key drivers, which are unsustainable for the long-term health of a workforce.  There has to be something else that keeps a workforce cohesive and motivated.  What is it?  What’s it look like and whose responsibility is it?  This is the Holy Grail, this is the competitive advantage, it is the existential leadership challenge of the 21st century—How to engage the workforce.

The purpose of this series is to go beyond thought leadership to actual practice and talk to the leaders who are making a difference here in the Czech Republic—leaders who realize the importance of employee engagement. The primary criterion for the selection of the interviewees for this series was credibility--credibility in the context of their personal examples as leaders who excel in their industries—and who have demonstrated a deep understanding of the topic of engagement.  Additionally, in selecting the leaders to interview for this series I wanted a cross section of industries represented and I wanted a panel large enough that it would deliver insights to the broadest possible audience.

In the interest of simplicity and clarity, I have divided the topic of engagement into three major categories: What is it and who is responsible for it?  Can it really make a significant difference in the performance of a company? And, in the final instalment, What are the key take-away messages for leaders as well as their employees? 

So, let me introduce our distinguished panel in alphabetical order:

Tana Le Moigne, Director-Google CZ/SK

Mykola Melnyk, Chairman-Sanofi CZ/SK

Pavel Rehak, CEO-Direct pojistovna

Tomas Salomon, CEO-Ceska sporitelna

Milan Vasina, CEO-T-Mobile CZ/SK

So, let’s get started.

 

What is engagement and who is responsible for it?

Pavel Rehak

“It’s the disappearance of a border between work and life.”

Rehak is quick to add that he does not mean anything close to being a workaholic when he says this.  To him, this border disappears when the “why” of a person—why they exist—and the why of the company overlap.  “This is what true alignment looks like, and as important, this feeling is what fuels a sense of resilience in the face of adversity, which all companies face from time to time.” To him, this erasure, or absence of a border between one’s work life and personal life is actually what creates balance, because it allows one’s focus to be natural and to be a conscious decision.  It’s not like being torn between one or the other. Work and life begin to flow together, which in his view can be quite liberating.

He says you can spot engagement in someone’s eyes and their “wings”.  “People who are truly engaged are not afraid to spread their wings, take risks and summon all their courage to learn without fear of making a mistake.”

In Rehak’s world a CEO is one hundred percent responsible for creating the environment that is the wind beneath the wings of those who look to them for leadership.  He also quickly adds that cutting out the underperformers is a key element to creating an environment of engagement.

Tana Le Moigne

“It’s two things, really: energy and caring, and employee engagement is a clear differentiator between a good company and a bad company.”

To Le Moigne, the energy in an engaged company is palpable—you can feel it coursing through the halls.  That doesn’t mean that everyone is an extrovert and excited.  “Engagement doesn’t always look the same in everyone.”  Introverts, for example can show their sense of engagement by things like asking for feedback and showing they care. Caring is a big concept to her in the context of engagement—caring about what you do, caring about the people around you—this is what creates a feeling of engagement and a desire to contribute. 

From a CEO’s perspective, engagement is fundamental—it’s critical. It used to be that company culture was more about achieving business objectives in her past experience. But, now it’s evolved into a concept of an environment in which people feel their values and purpose are aligned with the organization.  “When this happens, people are actually happy to be at work and contributing.”

However, engagement is a two-way street in her view.  If people want to feel happy and fulfilled, it takes a personal investment.  When someone invests themselves in what they’re doing, a sense of engagement can evolve naturally, which can grow into passion.

 

Mykola Melnyk

“Engagement is multi-dimensional to me, but one thing is for sure: You can see it in someone’s eyes and if their interactions go beyond the transactional.”

By multi-dimensional, Melnyk’s view of engagement is the coming together of several key elements. First of all there must be a sense of pride—an identification with the company.  Then, he adds a sense of commitment to company objectives, which organically support a feeling of loyalty, all of which fuels one’s performance and state of mind.  These elements are important because they are what form team cohesion in turbulent times and times of transformation.

“A CEO’s job is to get things done—to move from point A to point B—and a culture of engagement impacts all the elements of a successful company, across the board.” So, in this sense, when one realizes that you can have a great strategy, great products and financial resources, nothing can happen without people—engaged people, and that’s why engagement should be a top priority for the CEO.

“People are complex, but I feel they are born to be engaged.  I think that everyone has two birthdays: one, the day they are born and, the second, the day they figure out why.” Mixed in with this is his clear feeling that people must be actively involved in creating their own personal sense of engagement and view it as a lifelong process.

Tomas Salomon

“Engagement is a combination of things—liking what you do, where you do it and with whom you’re doing it--then combine that with liking the company and its product or service, which creates a sense of pride, and that is what drives engagement.”

To Salomon, this mixture of emotions, attitude and understanding lead to passion.  “When you talk to these people, you actually feel their passion and that they accept and enjoy challenges.  They understand the context of what and why they are doing what they do, and they are proud.”

He is quick to add that there is a dual responsibility in creating a “state of engagement”.  The role of the CEO is to create and articulate the vision and values of the organization in a way that motivates people to align with them and personally relate to them, which is the foundation of individual motivation. “Then, after the vision and values are in place, I must ensure that the employees truly feel open to discuss what they are thinking and feeling—where they feel they can add value—they must take what I call an active approach.”  This active approach is how people find what they love.  It’s what drives them to search for that “best fit” by asking questions, feeling empowered to explore, make mistakes, and discover their passion.  There is a balance Salomon speaks of which comes from the organization asking how it can add value to its employees and its employees asking how they can add value to the organization and that’s when, together, they create value for the customer.

Milan Vasina

“Engagement is something you can see in people—they are pro-active, solution-oriented and they feel empowered to do things and take ownership.  These are the people who get things done.”

Having led several major transformations here and in Slovakia, Vasina’s experience has taught him the importance of the leader’s role in creating an environment of engagement.  He personally interviews all new hires for the top 400 positions in the company, looking for signs of potential alignment in values. Years ago he instituted what he calls “open Friday”. This is a time when any employee, at any level can schedule a 30 minute appointment with him.  He also spends considerable time in the regions talking to people. 

“Yes, it’s my job to clearly communicate the vision and values of our company and to be clear about expectations, but as important, I must listen to people and get their feedback to be sure we have alignment.  Then, and this is key, I want them to know that they are appreciated and valued.”  This personal touch serves as a powerful example to people that their CEO, while focused on performance, to be sure, actually cares about them as human beings. The power of example is important to Vasina, and it goes both ways.  “While it’s my responsibility to empower people, to give them the tools they need, and to support them—to create an environment in which they are challenged and inspired—true engagement comes from them proactively accepting the challenge, taking ownership and making things happen.”

In the next instalment we will discuss the rationale behind engagement, from a leader’s perspective, and what it can mean to the performance of an enterprise.

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De Callier is an executive coach and author and can be reached at pepper@pragueleadershipinstitute.com