Infographic “How To” Post 10: Trusted

This is part 10 of a 10 part “how to” series covering the points in the infographic below.

I’d actually like to start the final installment of our series with a question.

Do you trust your employees immediately or do they have to earn your trust over time?

I know people who are firmly planted in both camps.  I guess the same question could be asked of people that you meet, even outside of the workplace.  Is it in your nature to trust right away, or are you a little more cautious and maybe even skeptical?

Whatever your modus operendi, the infogrpahic makes the case that trusting your employees is an important part of getting them to stay.  I would agree with that.

Let’s look at the definition of trust, so that we can then examine what it means and what it looks like on a daily basis.

Trust – reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, or surety, of a person or thing; confidence.

Side note: I didn’t even know that “surety” was a word, but I trust that dictionary.com wouldn’t steer me wrong!

Thinking of our employees, in order to trust them, we need to rely on their integrity, strength, ability and surety. We have to have some confidence that they will do as directed.

I can hear some of you now… “if that’s the criteria, forget it!  I can’t trust these people.”

Before we jump on that bandwagon, there are some really interesting components to this definition that I’d like to explore.  First, let’s talk about integrity.

Integrity

A common definition for integrity is: doing the right thing even when no one is looking.  Integrity is also about being honest, especially in the face of adversity.  In all fairness, how can we rely on our employees to act with integrity until they have been battle tested?  We can get a sense of who they are and what they stand for during the interview and initial training, but until they are out on their own, we won’t really see what they are made of. Having said all that, you may think I am of the mindset that employees have to earn every bit trust that I might give them.  But I’m not.

I think when an employee starts out, in order to begin fostering an environment of trust, we have to be the ones to make the first investment.  We have to trust that our employees are giving us their best and extend the benefit-of-the-doubt when needed.  This is not to say that people should be allowed get away with poor behavior or performance, but we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it’s an integrity issue.  If we get more evidence later on that that is the case – so be it.  But not right off the bat.

Ability

What I think is really interesting about this word within the confines of this definition, and the context of workplace trust, is where it actually comes from. In large part, it comes from you.

Think about it.  An employees’ ability to do their job is derived from, among other things, the training they receive, the environment in which they work, the conditions under which they work (including peer relationships), and the support they get from leadership. Barring physical or mental conditions, if we cannot rely on an employees’ ability to do their job, we have to look squarely back at ourselves.  What is our influence, whether direct or indirect, over their training, environment and conditions?  Is the support we are providing adequate?  Do we trust our own abilities enough to be able to truly set our employees up for success?  Is our frustration in their abilities (or lack of) really a reflection of our ability (or lack of)?

These are not easy questions, but they are important.

Confidence

When you are confident something is going to happen, you can feel it.  Some people  feel it in their gut, others feel it as a warm and soothing calm.  Either way, you feel it to the point of knowing it.  It’s similar to having confidence in a friend or colleague… you just know they are going to come through.  That confidence is built on your experiences with them, and it takes time to develop those relationships.

Showing that you have confidence in others is part of trusting them and ultimately keeping them on staff.  In my previous jobs, I could tell when my manager had confidence in me… he would assign me something and let me run with it.  If the confidence was lacking (perhaps because of higher stakes, a tighter deadline, or my lack of experience in that area), additional check in points were scheduled and work progress was evaluated more stringently.

But honestly, that was a growth opportunity for me.  The stakes were higher, and once that project as completed successfully, the confidence my manager had in me was also higher.

So bringing this back to the 30,000 foot view of trust, I think we can all agree that it’s important to show our employees that we trust them. It’s critical to their confidence in us and themselves, and helps create an environment where employees can learn and grow.

If we don’t trust them, we have to examine that very carefully.  Early on, there may not be enough mutual experience to determine how much actual trust is there.  Fair enough.  Once they are in the role for awhile, if we still don’t trust them or their abilities, is it because they aren’t trying, don’t have the aptitude or just don’t want to do it?  Many of those answers point back to us in one way or another.

Since this is a “how to” post, we can’t just give you the philosophical side of the story without the practical side.  And there are two practical sides.

How to TRUST your employees:

• Just trust ’em – don’t be so skeptical.  Easier said that done in some cases, I get it.  But not everyone is automatically against you or a moron. Unfortunately, when you think very skeptically about a person, you tend to treat them that way.  That doesn’t foster a lot of trust.
• Give them a chance – Allow them to show you (through actions over time) that they can be trusted.  If they make a mistake (without malicious intent), guide them back on to the correct path.

How to SHOW your employees that you trust them:

• Listen to them
• Use words like “we” and “us”
• Ask their opinion
• Tell them, “I trust you”
• Follow-up without micromanaging
• Hold them accountable to goals and standards of performance
• Praise in public (where and when appropriate), discipline in private
• Coach employees – help them help you find solutions
• Explain WHY you have confidence in them – what have they done in the past that signifies they are ready for an upcoming challenge?
• Share pertinent information
• Admit a mistake

That last one is a tricky one for some.  “… admit a mistake? No way!  People will laugh, point fingers and lose all respect.”  I’ve actually found the opposite to be true. When you own up to making a mistake, people see you as more human, more real, and more like them.  People trust real.

There is also a vulnerability in admitting a mistake that employees tend to find very comforting and endearing.  They also don’t have to deal with the obvious cover-up and back-peddling that often happens when trying to minimize a mistake.  If anything, that behavior will quickly degrade any amount of trust your employees may have had in you.

Like respect and communication, trust is a two-way street.  Make sure it’s going both ways!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the series!!  Comments and questions are always welcome!

About the author – After 20+ years in hospitality leadership and human resources, Matt Heller founded Performance Optimist Consulting in 2011 with one simple goal: Help Leaders Lead. Matt now works with attractions large and small and leaders at all levels to help them improve leadership competencies, customer service, employee motivation and teamwork. His book, “The Myth of Employee Burnout” was released in 2013 has become a go-to resource among industry leaders.

Infographic “How To” Post 9: Empowered

This is part 9 of a 10 part “how to” series covering the points in the infographic below.

I can hear the rally cry now, proclaimed by well-intentioned executives bent on improving customer relations and employee morale:

“We’re going to empower our employees to go above and beyond for our customers!”

So let it be decreed… and POOF! Employees are now empowered.

Not so fast.

No one that I know of has ever acted empowered just because they were told they were empowered.  There’s a wee bit more too it than that.

Let’s start with the “why”.  Why did Mr. or Mrs. Bigshot declare open season on employee empowerment?  As I said above, they meant well.  Chances are that there was a desire to streamline a process… perhaps it was the guest comment or complaint procedure… maybe it had to do with processing a return… or maybe it was so when something went haywire, their front line employees would be able to handle it and spare the guest the further inconvenience of having to trudge up to guest services to have their problem resolved.  Lastly, it could also be to encourage random acts of kindness – want to do something nice just because… go for it – you’re empowered to make that decision.

In my experience, what DIDN’T happen after the “why” was fully examined, was to determine “HOW” this was going to happen.  It was assumed since management was lying down the empowerment gauntlet, that eager and willing employees were going to jump at the chance to pick it up.  That they were just chomping at the bit to do all these wonderful things and were just waiting for permission from the powers that be.

Permission is part of it, but it ain’t all of it. Sadly, this is where many people stop, and wonder why they employees aren’t acting as empowered as they should.

So let’s turn that around.  Let’s dive into HOW we empower employees so they will actually feel and act empowered.

Did you see what I did there?  I inserted a word we haven’t discussed yet.  Feel.  First an employee has to feel that they actually ARE empowered in order to act that way.

Uh oh… we gotta talk about feelings again?  Good gravy.

Afraid so. No matter what age, nationality, ethnic background or chosen NFL affiliation, all human beings are wired in much the same way.  Our actions are based on how we feel.  Are you feeling like you are learning something from this post? If so, you’ll keep reading.  If not, it doesn’t really matter what I type here because you are long gone. (If you are still here – thank you!)

This is why the decree of empowerment alone does not inspire actions. There are still too many variables in play that the employees have questions about.  For example:

• What am I empowered to do? You said I could go above and beyond.  Above and beyond what and how far above and how far beyond? Who can I ask if I need help? Meh. It’s too confusing. Forget it.
• How do I do this? Is there a form to fill out?  A procedure?  An app?  In what situations would I empower my empowerment? My manager said one thing, but the guy next to me said something else. Meh. It’s too confusing. Forget it.
• Am I going to get in trouble?  If I’m giving stuff away or letting people break the rules, aren’t I going to get in trouble?  It was reinforced and reiterated how important our rules are, so I’m not sure what’ll happen if I decide that one isn’t so important. Meh. It’s too confusing. Forget it.

If you’ve struggled with empowerment in the past, this should give you a quick-start guide for revamping your initiatives:

• Be clear about WHAT sort of things they are empowered to do
• Be specific about the procedure or steps to take so employees get comfortable with doing something outside of their comfort zone
• Explain (and live by) what will happen when an employee takes on the challenge of doing something out of the ordinary. (Praise the effort, even if the execution needs adjusting)

For clarity, I should mention that in many cases, there won’t be a specific blueprint for employees to follow every time they want to go above and beyond or do something special. If there were, it would be called a Standard Operating Procedure and it would be part of their everyday routine. We do have to set guidelines and expectations at first to get people thinking in a way that it’s okay to step outside of the norm and do the extraordinary, but the ultimate goal should be about developing their decision-making skills.

Because that’s what empowered employees do, and it’s what Mr. and Mrs. Bigshot WANT empowered employees to do… make decisions that will have a positive impact on the situation.

To encourage these decisions, it will be important to constantly reinforce not only that you WANT them to make these decisions, but again you have to make them feel good about making them (so THEY’LL want to). This process takes time, encouragement, guidance and patience on your part.  Talk to employees about scenarios where different decisions could be made, and walk through the possible outcomes.  Encourage them to try different things to see how they work, and follow-up with them on their progress.  Continue to encourage experimentation while you praise the effort of stepping outside their comfort zone, even if the action wasn’t exactly what you envisioned.

Let me take a quick side journey at this point… when you truly empower people to make decisions, and give them the latitude to do so, it’s imperative that you prepare yourself for a time when they could do something so off the wall it might make your head spin.  People are funny like that.  Give them opportunities to actually use their brains, and they might surprise you.  I would contend that as much as that surprise might make you cringe, there is also a chance that they could come up with an incredible idea or solution to a problem that you have been struggling with for years.  The connections in the brain and the desire to actually share that with you don’t come from people who are only taught to keep their head down and focus solely on the task in front of them.

And now, back to our story…

The more you encourage little decisions, the more comfortable employees will feel about making those, and even larger decisions.  You also get to evaluate and guide their learning in terms of making those choices for the best outcome for everyone. Win-win.

As a little overlap to our final post on Trust, I think it’s important to address trust as it applies to empowerment.

For you, you need to trust that your employees will do the right thing.  They may not all the time, but that’s why you will be there to guide them the next time.  You show trust by not micromanaging, respecting their decisions and helping them grow.

Your employees need to trust you to not change the rules on them midstream.  If you encourage empowerment, but employees get in trouble for thinking outside the box, you will unravel any desire to do that again in the future.  They also have to trust that you’ll have their back if something goes south.

I know I’ve told this story before, but it more than applies here as we talk about employees making decisions and how trust factors in.

When I was an Operations Area Manager at Valleyfair, one of the departments I oversaw was Admissions, which included Guest Services.  I was extremely lucky to have a returning Supervisor on my staff named Lisa.  Lisa had worked there for many years already, and had probably forgotten more than I would ever learn.  One day early in my tenure as manager, Lisa came to me with a guest complaint issue.  She explained the situation and asked my opinion about what she should do.  Based on her experience, I had more than an inkling than she already had a resolution in mind, so I asked what she thought.  She quickly provided a great solution, so we went with her idea.

Lisa KNEW what to do, and of course I had told her before that that she could make those decisions, but we hadn’t established the trust in our relationship yet that made her feel comfortable to go ahead and make that decision without my approval.

The moral to that story? For empowerment to work, it takes time.  It’s a perfect storm of knowledge, desire, permission and encouragement.

Oh, and trust. Can’t forget trust. Good thing that is the topic of our next post in the series!

Next up: Trusted

Thanks for reading!

About the author – After 20+ years in hospitality leadership and human resources, Matt Heller founded Performance Optimist Consulting in 2011 with one simple goal: Help Leaders Lead. Matt now works with attractions large and small and leaders at all levels to help them improve leadership competencies, customer service, employee motivation and teamwork. His book, “The Myth of Employee Burnout” was released in 2013 has become a go-to resource among industry leaders.

Infographic “How To” Post 8: On A Mission

This is part 8 of a 10 part “how to” series covering the points in the infographic below.

Of all the topics on this infographic, being “on a mission” could be one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.  Of course, it’s also one of the toughest ones to cultivate.

Or is it? Let’s explore.

Back in February of 2015, I wrote a post called, Is It Time To Rethink The Mission Statement?” My basic question was this: is YOUR mission statement doing what it was intended to do – unify your workforce toward a common goal?

Of course, a mission statement on a wall can’t do that.  In fact, it really can’t do anything. To me, mission and culture are very tightly aligned because both require action… consistent action… to be taken seriously.

For some reason, when I picture an employee “on a mission”, I conjure up a vision of someone with a steely stare, a fire in their gut and constantly on the move.  If they were a cartoon, they would have the little wispy lines behind them showing that they were swiftly moving about.

But this post isn’t about what they look like, it’s about how you get them there.

Here are some questions to ask to get the ball rolling:

• Does your company have a mission statement?
• If so, is it concise and targeted, or a stew of buzz-wordy mumbo jumbo?
• Is your mission supported throughout the organization with real-world behaviors?
• Is your mission something that employees can believe in and get behind?

Let’s start at the beginning:

Does your company have a mission statement?

I looked up two definitions to dive into this topic:

• Mission: an important goal or purpose that is accompanied by strong conviction
• Mission Statement: an official document that sets out the goals, purpose, and work of an organization.

If you have a mission statement, great.  You have organized your thoughts about the direction of the company and what you hope to accomplish/achieve.  Unfortunately, most people stop there thinking that just having this written down or on a fancy poster will make it come to life.  If that’s you, and you haven’t seen the results you are looking for, don’t despair… you are not alone.  Pay special heed to the 3rd and 4th bullet points below.

The reason just putting up the poster doesn’t work is because we are talking a mission. An important goal! A purpose! Strong conviction! When was the last time a poster, and a poster alone, inspired you to do something?  It’s usually the combination of interactions with others, an internal conviction of your own, a little research, the example set by others THEN seeing the poster may illicit some action.  But usually not by itself.

So does your mission statement convey and reflect of the true goals and purpose of the company?  As we’ll explore later, are YOU demonstrating a strong conviction or belief in that mission?

If you don’t have a mission statement for your organization, I am not going to tell you that you have to have one. Create one if you’d like, they can be helpful.  But be careful.  If you create a fancy mission statement and don’t uphold it through your actions, you will have wasted a lot of time.  On the other side of the coin, if everyone is already committed to a common goal, and that oozes from every pore of every being on the payroll, a statement on a wallet card probably won’t deliver a lot of traction.

If you do have a mission statement, is it concise and targeted, or a stew of buzz-wordy mumbo jumbo?

A stated goal or purpose that is easily remembered and defined for the individual is the first step in creating a mission statement that will actually help you get people on the same page.  Again, in-and-of-itself, the statement can’t do that.  But if it’s clear what the goal is and what employees need to do in whatever position they are in to help achieve it, then you’re closer to having a mission statement that will actually inspire people to join you on your mission.

For example, I’ve always liked the simplicity of Herchend Family Entertainment’s mission: Creating Memories Worth Repeating®.  We all know this business is about encouraging repeat visits to our locations, so charging employees at all levels with creating a memory that your guests will want to relive or re-experience is not only a great mission, but also a pretty great business model.

And, it transcends departments, making it easy to identify the types of actions someone in foods, merchandise, attractions, custodial, finance, marketing, sales, security, maintenance, admissions, etc. need to display on a daily basis to have a positive impact on the mission.  Granted, their audiences may be different, but the process of creating positive memories for an external guest or internal partner are largely the same; follow through on commitments, be respectful, deliver more than you promise.

Contrast that mission statement with the one I used (and made up) for my post from 2015: To deliver unparalleled care to our clients with employees who exceed all expectations of quality and cooperation and provide amazingly unbelievable returns to our shareholders.

That probably looks nice on a poster in the break room, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that most employees (including the leadership team) couldn’t decipher what that means in terms of daily behaviors, nor would they know when they achieved it.

So if you are going to have a mission, and a statement that embodies it for all employees to embrace and uphold, I implore you to keep it simple.

Is your mission supported throughout the organization with real-world behaviors?

This is why your mission needs to be simple, easy to remember, easy to embrace (see next section) and the behaviors that support it need to be easily identifiable for employees at all levels. Why? Because if people don’t get it, they ain’t gonna do it!

This is where mission and culture either make beautiful music together or repel one another like two North pole magnets.

Every company (or team) has a culture.  It may not be what you want to be, but there it is. And this culture, or the way stuff gets done in your organization, has everything to do with whether or not your mission will be supported.

Picture this: a brand new employee has just completed their orientation.  They heard all about the company, the mission, and the do’s and don’ts.  They get to their work location the next day, and either by implication or by direct example, are shown that things in the “field” are vastly different than what was discussed at orientation. The current culture doesn’t understand, buy in, support, or embrace the mission that the company is going for, and has decided to run things their own way.

And chances are, the leadership teams across property also don’t understand, buy in, support or embrace the mission either.  Thus, the trickle down to the front line and now the new hire.

No matter what your mission statement is, there are some critical steps to be taken to translate the words on a poster into real actions and behaviors that will drive your culture:

• Define the mission – in terms of behaviors, and what it “looks like” to each and every role at all levels.  On a daily basis, what would an accountant, supervisor, F&B attendant, or ride operator do that supports your goals?
• Live the mission – your culture is a reflection of what you do everyday.  Are you living by the mission that you set for everyone else?  Is the mission part of your daily meetings, goals, recruiting efforts, training practices, and termination process?  In other words, is the mission reinforced in every aspect of the employee lifecycle?  If someone, anyone, is acting in a way that is inconsistent with the mission, why are they still on payroll?  (This is ESPECIALLY true of leaders and executives.) You cannot expect your new employees to embrace a mission that isn’t being supported by the people they are working with everyday.
• Measure the mission – is the mission part of how you evaluate your employees?  If not, it should be.  If you are going to expect people to do something, you better measure their progress.  Once you have defined what the mission looks like, you now have the criteria for measurement, and even for seasonal employees, it’s critical they know how they are measuring up. “People will respect what you inspect.”  I can’t remember who said that, but it has stuck with me for years. If you want people to provide great service, you better inspect how they are providing service.  You want people to treat others with respect, you better inspect how they are treating others.

Even if you have a simple, easy to understand mission statement, if your culture isn’t supporting it, it’s just a statement.

Is your mission something that employees can believe in and get behind?

This is why you have a mission in the first place, right?  It’s a beacon on a foggy night helping to lead your employees through murky waters.  But, do they care?  Is it something that means something to them?  Is it a direction they want to go?  Is the outcome important to them?

Lots of mission statements mention providing some sort of service to the guests. Why is that important to your employees (again, at all levels).  I think it’s easier to understand this dynamic as a leader, someone who has invested the time to understand the inner workings of the organization.  But to the 17 year-old who got a summer job, they may not have that perspective, not because they are stupid or lazy, but just because they lack the years of experience. So how do you frame your mission to provide great guest service so it not only makes sense to the 17 year-old, but also makes them want to get behind it and support it?

Part of this is the example we set, as we discussed in the section about the mission being supported by real world behaviors. If we value it, they will be more likely to value it, too.

The other part of this is looking at it from their perspective.  We often think of our mission in terms of “what’s in it for the company?”.  Since the success of the company is a result of the efforts of the employees, why not look at it as, “what’s in it for the employees?”, too?

Many of our younger employees want to work for an employer who is doing good (or the right) things. You know you already do good things (and hopefully you are doing the right things).  Does your mission reflect that?  Or, is the mission all about guests, business results and shareholder confidence?  Does it address the kind of environment you are creating for your employees or the service they get to provide?  And I don’t mean the tasks they do… that’s their job.  I’m referring to bigger picture kind of service of escapism, safety, fantasy, memories, family togetherness, etc.  That is a mission that people can get behind.

When all you talk about is ringing up a sale and throughput, you aren’t allowing your employees to embrace the bigger service picture.  You are keeping them rooted in their tasks, not challenging them to be a part of something ultimately more rewarding.

And working to achieve a mission should be rewarding, because if it’s not, why would you want to do it?

Next up: Empowered

Thanks for reading!

About the author – After 20+ years in hospitality leadership and human resources, Matt Heller founded Performance Optimist Consulting in 2011 with one simple goal: Help Leaders Lead. Matt now works with attractions large and small and leaders at all levels to help them improve leadership competencies, customer service, employee motivation and teamwork. His book, “The Myth of Employee Burnout” was released in 2013 has become a go-to resource among industry leaders.