Do You Have a Million Dollar Problem and You Don’t Even Know It?

In a recent organizational assessment our firm did for a client who wanted to improve their organization’s culture, several employees told us in the interviews that they felt little hope the culture would improve and they were actively looking for another job.  Each of the five highly technically skilled team members who shared with us they were seeking employment with another company earned over $100,000 a year. If you know recruiting math, it is estimated that it costs organizations between one to two times an employee’s salary to recruit, hire and train a new employee. So, this organization is looking at between $500,000 and $1,000,000 if they don’t fix this culture problem. What is even more concerning for the leadership team of this organization is that it is a very real possibility that other employees were also actively seeking other employment, but not comfortable telling us.

The assessment revealed two major findings. First, there was a lack of communication, collaboration and cross-departmental teamwork among members of the team. And second, employees did not feel listened to, or recognized for the good work they do as being valued by members of the leadership team. The good news, both of these problems are solvable by great leaders.

As a leader, every time I hear about an organization that is challenged by either team members who do not feel highly valued, or teams that do not do well communicating, collaborating or working as a united team, I get excited. Why? Because a leader who is doing their job well, in this situation, has the opportunity to become a hero. As a leader, are you up for the challenge? The following 8 strategies will help you in turning your organization’s culture from toxic, to one where employees love coming to work.

1. Communicate the results of the Employee Opinion Survey or Organizational Assessment to all employees. A C-Level leader asked me once, “Why would you share the results with the employees. Won’t that make things worse than they already are?” In reality, the employees already know what the results are because it was their feedback. The only person who is usually surprised by the severity of the results is the C-Level leader. Share the results. When everyone knows the truth, everyone can be a part of the solution.
2. Create a compelling, positive vision of the culture you want your organization to be. Visions are clear mental pictures, described with words, of the outcome you want to create. As a leader, I have a vision that our firm will be a place where everyone feels valued and appreciated for their contributions, treated with dignity and respect, all on the same team…with a mission to deliver extraordinary service to our clients and with the mindset that it is the right thing to do.
3. Create an action plan. To move the culture forward, an action plan that involves both leaders and team members is a must. Change includes all parties to be on board. During your session, prioritize the biggest issues that need to be fixed. Then, set up meetings to brainstorm possible solutions. When developing actions, ensure they are measurable and timebound in order to turn the vision into a reality.
4. Have the tough conversation. Some managers like to blame the lack of employee engagement on things they cannot control like pay and the competition stealing their best people. Leaders need to focus on what they can control and recognize that cultures do not change on their own. When team members do not do a good job communicating, collaborating and working well as a team, as a leader, you need to lean into conflict and have the tough conversation with individual team members. The first time, you can have a conversation about the problem and what the team member plans to do differently to be an even stronger team member and team player. The second time the problem reoccurs, you may need to have the conversation again, followed up with in writing documentation. If the behavior does not change, you may need to terminate the employee. When you have the guts to get human resources involved and terminate an employee who is unwilling to change, you will find that people will align quickly to the new vision.
5. Conduct Stay Interviews with each employee. Leaders needs to ask each one of their employees what will it take to have them want to stay. Most companies only ever ask these types of questions in exit interviews. Each leader, not Human Resources, is responsible for employee engagement. Our research has indicated that about 75 percent of an employee’s engagement, or lack of engagement and reason for leaving, is in direct control of their immediate supervisor. Some great questions to ask include: What parts of your work do you find challenging and meaningful? What can I do to enable you to feel even more valued, recognized and respected on our team? What is one thing you would change about me, our team or the organization that would make your job even better? Last, what do you want to learn so that you accomplish your development goals and become an even more valuable member of our team?
6. Be grateful. It is easy for me to be grateful and value each member of my team because I know it is impossible to be a great leader without people who follow and support you daily. Think about this from another angle. How successful would you be tomorrow if none of your team members showed up for work? Give people ample doses of positive feedback for the great work they do. Take time to listen to your team members. Take action on their suggestions. If you demonstrate how grateful you are by giving positive feedback, listening and taking action off what you learn, people will know they are highly valued and follow your leadership.
7. Provide monthly updates. Keep track of the actions that are being taken to improve the culture. Provide employees with monthly updates of what actions have been taken, what actions are being planned, and the timeframes for resolution. This helps employees connect their feedback to the actions being taken and shows them they are listened to and their feedback is valued.
8. Conduct a follow-up assessment at six months. Negative team members are hoping that nothing changes so they can continue to complain about the organization and the poor leadership. When leaders know that a follow-up assessment has already been scheduled, they are more motivated to quickly take action to improve the culture.

Changing the culture is hard. Changing a negative or toxic one is even harder.  But, the benefits are highly engaged employees who are excited to follow your leadership and look forward to coming to work each day.  Your workplace culture is a million-dollar problem you can’t afford to ignore.