Let’s Give Them Something (Good) To Talk About!
A few short years ago while heading marketing for one of the top global health benefits providers, I had just come out of a meeting with the CEO and immediately called my own staff to provide all the answers to several burning issues. At the end of that meeting my head of research, MY HEAD OF RESEARCH… stood up and said, “I’m going outside to have a cigarette and find out what is really going on!”
At first I was really angered by that statement but then realized what he really told me… “employees don’t believe any of these packaged statements so we like to discover our own truths…” and the explosion of smart phones and social media allow the ability to share and propagate without the risk of being exposed at the water cooler.
What if you could take the energy that management wastes on mediocre messaging and employees waste angst and turn it into something positive and productive for all?
Your employees are your Vital Organs and just like your body, need to be tended to nourished, and treated well so the whole body is healthy. A few truisms:
Employees will talk and trust me, they will talk about you – so give them something good to talk about!
- Employees want to feel like they are part of something great – your company allows that opportunity – so give them something good to talk about!
- An employee’s decision to work for you is a reflection on them. Therefore, it would only stand to reason that they desire to say something good about their employer – so again, give them something good to talk about!
So what do you do? How do you take advantage of this social networking in a way that builds employee engagement and is good for your bottom line? Well, there isn’t a playbook that is good for all. But there are a few things you can keep in mind…
- Listen… don’t spin. Take it all in! It’s great to get accolades but listen closely to your biggest critics and greatest critiques. Your employees have more knowledge than you about your products, services, customers, and operations. They want to succeed meaning they want you to succeed.
- Pay closest attention to employees who are closest to your customers. Those who are in your customer service operations know your customers better than anyone. And they know your product better than anyone. They are the ones explaining when things go wrong and build the long term bonds that lead to a sustainable customer base.
- In most cases, your customers stay with you because of your employees. Strong relationships are forged between your employees and customers, leveraging that bond for continuous improvement will only help your business
Considering that your knowledge and best customer relationships are ingrained in your employee base, you can’t afford NOT to continuously engage with them. The technology today merely enables a better connection.
We’ve branded our employee engagement initiatives Vital Organs – what better way to describe it? We have many cases of using our methods to engage employees to design and own solutions that range from turn around challenges to maintaining and growing a leadership position. If you are interested in leveraging your most powerful and efficient business asset we should talk!
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