It was a small organization (by revenue and headcount measures) with a relatively new big problem: escalating turnover.
The ever-increasing turnover was sapping their intellectual capital and employee morale. As one might expect, the owner hoped for a quick and low-cost solution.
A few interviews and focus groups later, a very low-cost — in dollar-and-cent terms — solution was readily available. The leadership team was both shocked and abashed by the findings. Shocked by the brevity, abashed by the contents.
Get my name right and see me
Employees wanted only two things. Two simple things that meant the world to them. Two simple things that had slipped away as the company grew larger.
Their asks and reasons:
Please acknowledge me. I know, boss and senior team, that you’re busy and have important work to do. But you used to say hello or shake my hand or even just nod in my direction. When you did that, I felt valued and a part of things. These days, there’s no hellos when we pass on the shop floor, not even any eye contact. That makes me feel like I’m just another piece of equipment, like I’ve lost my value and don’t mean anything to you or the company. Make me feel a part of things again.
When you do talk to me, get my name right or don’t use one at all. I don’t expect everyone on the senior team to know my name, but I know some of you do know it. So it feels belittling when you call me Bob when my name is George. Even my name badge reads George. I’d rather you call me “buddy” rather than get it wrong. Getting my name wrong says to me that I don’t matter and you don’t care.
The solution is certainly a no-cost one in terms of cash outlay. However, there’s a personal cost to the leadership team to make an effort to balance task completion with relationship building.
I’m hoping they make the investment.
What say you?
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
Jane:
Wow. What a story.
When the goals of the business fail to acknowledge that people make EVERYTHING happen, leaders will treat people as if they are machines. And that will result in them doing strange things … like leaving. People our lousy machinery.
John
John –
You are so, so right that people make lousy machinery. A woman once told me she believed that if her boss thought of her at all, it was to think of her like a filing cabinet. Chilling, isn’t it?
The beauty and power of the character-based lead change movement will be to educate and inspire more and more people to recognize “people make EVERYTHING happen” as you say.
With a smile and thanks for stopping by,
Jane
What is amazing is that unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. The value of one’s identity in a company, especially a small to mid size company, is far under estimated. Simple gestures like you mentioned, a nod, a smile, a glance, let people know that leadership is aware that they exist. Even better, engage in a small amount of conversation at least once a week, even if just in passing. I just did some work with a company suffering from this same affliction. The saddest part was that once leadership had this information presented to them, they couldn’t understand what the problem was. They were unable to recognize their role in the situation. As a result, they lost even more people.
Kristina – love the thoughtful and easy-to-implement advice you offer to leaders! Now, if only more of them did as you recommend…
It’s people who make the bottom line happen. Period. A simple solution that seems so complex. Sounds as if your client and mine were cut from the same cloth.
Thanks for sharing,
Jane
Jane and Kristina,
Your stories are painful to read– leaders who can’t even get a name right when presented with a name badge and leaders who can’t see their role in a pretty simple message: “I don’t feel valued if you can’t remember my name.”
I once worked for a mid-sized company whose CEO was infamous for his utter lack of name memory. He even had a hard time with people who reported to him!
Thanks, Jane for reminding us about something SO simple to correct and so very powerful when it’s done right.
Jennifer —
Here’s a something that makes me go hmmmmm: business leaders will spend qazillions of dollars with consultants, etc. to devise solutions to problems; yet a simple solution with no price tag attached, e.g. saying hello or even nodding, is hard to understand and sometimes rejected outright…hmmm, indeed!
Smiles and thanks for stopping by to share and enrich the discussion,
Jane