Interesting response to yesterday’s article on corporate cancer. Which if you missed it is available right here.
Every single reader response was from coaches and consultants who do similar work as I do. Here’s a small handful:
Powerful perspective shift and a big fat dose of reality.-Amanda H.Love this. So great.-Seth R.It’s an epidemic. Every week I hear “well we can’t find good people and we have work to do so we can’t get rid of them.” Ugh.-John C.Damn. Another article I wish I would have written. This is good stuff!!! Next level.-Jon R.
That’s not the interesting part though.
What’s interesting and downright revealing is who DIDN’T reply, yet they’re plentiful among my readership…
…Human Resource professionals !!!
Either they have their heads in the sand or they’re too embarrassed to admit they’ve done nothing to improve the dismal state of affairs that is “employee disengagement”.
HR Peeps, relax… it’s not your fault. Or should I say it’s not ALL your fault. Your organization’s leadership can shoulder some of the blame as well.
Creating engaged employees is a leader’s primary job.
Everything else is a distant second.
How do I know? You mean besides the fact I’ve done the job myself as well as written numerous books about the subject and consult top performing organizations? (Humble brag)
Well…
Research shows that 70% of engagement is directly linked to the atmosphere the leader creates.
Still don’t believe me? Good, take a bit of this…
According to SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) in their 2019 Culture Report:
“One in five Americans has left a job in the past five years due to a “toxic workplace culture” with the turnover costing employers an estimated $223 billion during that time.”
It doesn’t stop there…
- 49 percent of American workers have thought about leaving their current organization, while nearly one in five have left a job due to a toxic workplace culture in the past five years.
- 76 percent of American workers said their manager sets the culture, yet 36 percent said their manager did not know how to lead a team.
- 26 percent of American workers said they dreaded going into work.
After I read those stats I had ONE thought…
“If only managers and leaders behaved more like coaches.”
There’s a clear skills gap at the managerial level in this country. And the stakes are too high not to invest in teaching managers how to be more like coaches.
Employees become engaged or disengaged for a reason. It’s a response to the way the culture and their training are structured. Perhaps most importantly, the way they are being led and coached. (Or not coached in many cases)
The single best thing I did to prepare myself to lead organizations and teach others how to lead better was spending 18 years as a coach. 12 of those years were spent where the stakes are highest and margins for error thinnest…
… as a highly competitive college head coach.
There are a staggering number of parallels between building a championship culture within a sports team and leading a successful organization. I outline many of the key ones, in a very aptly named book called The Coach Approach. You can grab your copy for 50% off, right here: