Your Company’s Culture Gap
The Hidden Cause of Disengaged Employees?
A 2018 Gallup Poll found that nearly 70% of employees are not engaged at work. The same poll estimates that a disengaged employee costs their employer about 34% of their salary.
Obviously there are many causes for disengaged employees, ranging from low pay to lack of upward mobility. But one that isn’t talked about enough, is the culture gap.
Of Mice and Managers
I once interviewed executive team members at a company whose major culture initiative centered around transparency and openness. The goal was to make sure employees at every level felt like their voices were heard.
Emails were sent, meetings were held, and trainings were conducted. At the end of a long campaign, the executive team patted themselves on the back in celebration of their successful implementation of what had been, for them, quite meaningful change to both policy and practice.
“Our employees are going to feel so much more confident about their ability to run their ideas up the chain of command,” one said.
“We’re going to see a lot more interaction at every level, I think,” opined another. “A lot more sharing.”
A year later, the company was facing major challenges, with former employees tearing them apart on major social media sites, accusing the organization of rampant disregard for employee satisfaction. The worst part? Current employees were chiming in to agree. The consensus was clear: the culture initiative had been nothing more than hot air.
But wait. That wasn’t true! The executive team was made up of good people who really did want their front-line employees to feel increased engagement and empowerment.
So what happened? Why had the executive team’s best efforts not moved the needle?
Welcome to the Culture Gap.
Put simply, the culture gap is the difference between your desired corporate culture — the one management either thinks exists or tries to implement — and the one experienced by the majority of your employees.
It’s the difference between telling people they’re happy at work, and people smiling as they enter the office.
The only aspect of corporate culture that matters is your employees’ perception of that culture. The good news? Regardless of the size of your culture gap right now, there are actions you can take to shrink it, starting today.
- Live up to your own standards.
- Make sure your internal communications are both honest and sincere. No More Spin.
- Ask for feedback only when you’re willing to hear it (and act on it!).
Action 1: Live up to your own standards
Blizzard Entertainment recently faced a major controversy that resulted in a bipartisan reaction from both chambers of congress.
But if I were a member of the Activision-Blizzard executive team, I’d have been far more concerned about the reactions of my employees.
Not everyone at Blizzard agrees with what happened. Both the “Think Globally” and “Every Voice Matters” values have been covered up by incensed employees this morning.
- Former Blizzard Employee Kevin Hovdestad via Twitter
Ouch.
No one will claim this is easy, but at some point you may have to walk the line between profits and your values. Decide right now on which side of the line you’re going to fall.
Action 2: Ensure Honesty & Sincerity in All Your Communications
Self-audit time. Are the communications going out to your employees both honest and sincere?
When we talk about honesty in communications, it’s a simple check: Do your communications contain only factual information? Are you leaving anything out because it makes you (or the company) look bad? When we lie to our employees (either by commission or omission), we tell them they can’t trust us. If they can’t trust us, they’ll never believe in our culture.
Sincerity, on the other hand, is about action. It’s about doing what you say you’ll do.
Get this wrong and nothing else you do for your employees will matter.
Action 3: Ask for feedback only when you’re willing to hear it.
Look, most reasonable people don’t expect to have input in every decision you make. Managers, Directors, and VP’s get paid to make decisions for a reason, and most employees won’t expect you to ask them before you take action. With that in mind, be intentional about your employee feedback loop.
If you want good feedback from your employees, you need to establish a precedent that you will truly listen. That means don’t go fishing for the answer you want to hear — that’s one of the fastest possible ways to erode employee trust.
Conclusion
There’s more to do, of course, but these three steps can take you down the road to closing, or eliminating, your company’s culture gap. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be immediate, but anyone can do it.
If you want engaged employees, you may have no other choice.
