Restructures, layoffs, AI adoption, people worried they’re not gonna have jobs, constant political and global uncertainty, and everyone being asked to do more with less.
It’s no surprise that people are overwhelmed, disconnecting, withdrawing, and disengaging.
But what can companies actually do in the midst of it all to improve employee engagement?
First, Understand What’s Really Going On
When it comes to understanding the impact of everything that’s been happening right now, I want you to think about coming home at the end of the day. You’re burnt out. You’re fried. You turn on Netflix. You start watching your favorite show. You say you’re just gonna watch one, and then all of a sudden you get to the end and you go, “One more,” even though you know you should go to sleep.
Why do we do that?
Because uncertainty makes TV and movies exciting and even addicting. But it’s uncertainty that makes life exhausting.
And we’ve all been facing a level of uncertainty over the last several years, probably starting in the pandemic through now, and that pace of uncertainty just keeps on picking up and picking up and picking up.
Here’s the thing. Change is normal. We experience change all the time. But transition is the mental process our mind goes through around change when we don’t know what’s gonna happen next and how it’s gonna impact us.
All of those restructures, the AI adoption, having everybody leave and you being the one who survives somehow. What does this mean for our families? What’s gonna happen politically, globally? Are we gonna even be able to run our business? Is our industry even gonna exist?
These are all different mental transitions that people are trying to jump through in their brain. And when we can’t give our brain an answer, it keeps on spinning. We start losing hope. We start disconnecting. We start trying to figure out how to navigate it all. And that’s what’s taking a toll on people.
I’m guessing you’ve probably experienced this personally. And your people definitely are.
What Not to Do
Given all of that, the last thing we wanna do is give out some swag, have a party, have a celebration, or do some team-building activities. Because it’s gonna feel like: what do you mean we’re celebrating when we just let people who worked here for 30 years go? It looks like we’re gonna lose all these jobs, our industry’s changing, and you wanna go have a party?
Even though people do need to laugh and they do need to joke around, we need to make sure that what we’re doing is actually addressing the issues that are going on. Not papering over them with perks.
Start by Getting Into Conversations
In order to address what’s really happening, we need to get a clear picture of how people are seeing and experiencing what’s going on right now.
And so instead of trying to just do something, what we wanna do is get into conversations with people. Because when there’s an elephant in the room that we’re not talking about, it just breaks stuff. But when we can invite people to say, “Do you see an elephant?” and we can talk about the elephant being there, then we can work on moving it out of the way. We can start addressing the things so that we’re riding or petting the elephant instead of having it trample us.
So how do we have these conversations?
If you’re a senior leader or a leader, go out and think of who are the people who have a pulse on what’s going on in the organization. Then simply ask them:
- “What are you most excited about and looking forward to with what’s happening right now?”
- “What are you most nervous or concerned or worried about?”
- “What do you think people are most worried or concerned about right now?”
And if people don’t answer right away, use pulse check questions. Something like, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how hopeful are you about our current future?” And if they say something like a 7, try going, “Well, I’m thinking it’s more like a 5 right now.” And then they may go, “Yeah, probably the same.”
That little bit of vulnerability opens the door.
Afterwards, invite them to share why they picked the number they did. And have a conversation.
You can do this with a couple of individuals. You can do it through focus groups where you invite people out to a meal and say, “Hey, I understand it’s a lot right now. How are you seeing and experiencing this? What do you think people are feeling?” Get into dialogue. Because inside those conversations, you’re gonna understand people’s perceptions, people’s concerns, and people’s framing of what’s happening right now. And in doing that, we can start figuring out what’s needed most.
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A Simple Tool to Help
If you want something that makes having those conversations a little bit easier and gives you a quick pulse on where things are at, go to beyondthankyou.com, scroll down to the bottom of the homepage, and you’ll find a simple 10-question team relationship building assessment.
Although it says “team,” you can use it across your organization to get a pulse on where people are right now. Those 10 questions, I find, are the most eye-opening ones for understanding where people are at. They’re great to start with and then ask follow-up questions from. Everything’s on a 1 to 10 scale. Why’d you pick the number you did, and what’s one thing I could do to bring it up?
Communicate, Even When You Don’t Have Answers
Once you’ve listened, it’s important to communicate out to the organization and just acknowledge what’s happening. Something as simple as, “Hey, we know there’s a lot of uncertainty right now. We know this is going on. Although we don’t have answers, we’re gonna give you updates whenever we can.”
Because the more we communicate, the less people fill in information that isn’t accurate into the narratives that they don’t understand.
And here’s a great reminder of why this matters: employee engagement hit an all-time high in 2020 and 2021. And I would argue the reason why is because there was so much uncertainty in our companies that senior leaders were communicating on a weekly or a daily basis. And when they did, people felt more seen, understood, valued, and up to date, and so they created less negative or false narrative of what was going on.
That’s the power of communication. Even when you don’t have all the answers, showing up and saying something is better than disappearing and saying nothing.
Address the Small Stuff You Can Control
We’re not gonna be able to address everything that’s going on right now. But as we’re having these conversations, we want to identify: what is some small frustration or thing that you’re dealing with that we may be able to address right now?
And if people go, “I need a raise, I need that,” well, that may not be possible right now. But what else?
“Well, I just feel like we have miscommunication between these two departments.” Would it be helpful to bring people together? What do you think the miscommunication is?
“We don’t have this and we really need this.” “We need this new software, and I think this one would be good.”
See what problems or challenges people are facing that you can address, and work on doing things to make people’s lives a little bit easier and a little bit brighter. We can’t improve the overall uncertainty going on in the world. But what things do we have control over?
The Real Point
If we listen to what’s going on for our people, if we take time to communicate and acknowledge what’s happening and its impact on them, and if we work to address the little, small, everyday frustrations that may be getting in the way that we do have control over, you may just notice that people feel more seen, more heard, and valued.
Engagement goes up a little bit. Connection goes up. That sense of belonging goes up.
And we’ll spend a little less time withdrawing and disconnecting, and a little more time connecting and engaging.
If you want to help your leaders get better at having the conversations that help people feel seen, valued, and supported, especially right now, take a look at The Art of Recognition Training. It’s where we help leaders build the everyday habits that make the biggest difference.
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