I conducted an informal poll through “Help a Reporter Out” and the preponderonce of responses addressed the differenct particpation style of introverts; they don’t think on thier feet, need time to process options and may have an answer they want to contribute after the conversation has passed them by.  However I thought the spicier responses below were even more eye-opening:

Death by Development

It’s not all about introversion however. Some different and very intriguing comments also emerged from my informal poll. “I have been on so many retreats and through so much training in the corporate world that I could scream! What trainers and workshop leaders may be experiencing is resentment about having the latest management fad crammed down their throats. And the forced group exchanges, problem-solving exercises, making collages, visioning, and so forth–well, it’s just too much. Perhaps the places I’ve worked have overdone this. The ‘games’ are the worst. I’ve looked around at all the expensive talent in the room and wondered if we could really afford the dollars/time being spent. Corporate America is filled with consultants who often waste people’s time and have no real lasting impact on how things are done… I’ve been working close to 30 years and have seen all kinds of programs and tactics, etc., come and go, many with very little impact on how businesses are run. I’ve been forced to take the Myers Briggs test 8 different times! Sorry to dump, thought you’d like one person’s view.” Gotta love it! I must say this person’s pain is palpable and entirely understandable. I think I’d clam up in a training program if I’d had this much over-exposure to professional development, team-building and facilitated problem solving.

Indecent Exposure

Here’s another frank and enlightening response to my query about reluctant participants: “I was part of a management team at a major pharmaceutical company that in the mid-90s was required to participate in a year-long training/team-building program … which involved multi-day retreats, in-office follow-up and integration into personal goals and work plans. … The training sessions demanded participants to reveal deeply-held beliefs, fears, and “secrets” in order to break them down and create new patterns of interpersonal behavior. As a result, many employees ended up leaving the company quickly because of embarrassment at what they had revealed during late-night, sleep-deprived sessions (extramarital affairs, drug abuse, etc), and others, myself included, experienced loss of faith in the management team for subjecting us to this experience in the guise of professional development…Years later, whenever I’ve been part of organizational training sessions, I find myself skeptical, fearful, and ultimately, withholding… I believe that the line between appropriate and inappropriate ‘sharing’ as part of team-building is a thin one and that this angle could be an enlightening one for your trainer-readers.”

Whew! Who knew?  So what’s a facilitator to do?  If you’ve landed this role in a training or team-building session without participation in a prior needs analysis, it’s pretty hard to ensure that the folks in the class are the right ones and aren’t suffering from “over-training”.  However if you’re crafting the training from the outset, gauging the saturation level of prospective participants is essential. And clearly, the “open the kimono/share all” style of building teams that leaves people raw, vulnerable and exposed is risky business to be avoided for everyone’s sake.

If “aligned engagement,” Fern’s apt moniker, is what’s missing, how can we connect people to corporate strategy and insure they are not simply engaging in projects that may be gratifying but are not connected to the direction and results required by the company? This type of disconnect has always been a sink-hole of employee resource. Now more than ever every cog in the company wheel needs to be functioning in an integrated manner to move the organization forward.

While I was listening to Fern’s research findings in a recent webinar,  I couldn’t help but jump to the One Page Business Plan as the perfect tool to create alignment and generate employee engagement as a by-product. By starting at the executive level with a concise articulation of mission, objectives, strategies and action plans, and cascading this through all departments,  everyone in the company can be in sync with corporate goals. At the same time the dialogue and feedback required in the process, builds empowerment and passion that every company sorely needs.

For more details on using the One Page Business Plan to build organizational alignment see my article, “Building Strategy and Execution”  at http://rosnerassociates.net/article_bridging_strategy.htm. To see the Performance Connections International study, go to http://www.perfcon.com/thought_leadership.html.

I always think of the managers who have to prop up the walking wounded in the workplace during these rocky times. What are the best practices to maintain employee engagement and productivity in such challenging environments?

The first most important approach is a new level of honesty. Instead of the old “manager as spin-meister” managers should blow off the cobwebs of mystery about what’s going on in the company to whatever degree they can. “The best organizations are engaging in truth-telling. This has the possibility of creating a new generation of businesses that will be able to engage their people due to the trust they have built during tough times,” says Gayle Gregory, Workplace Evolution Co-Founder. This includes sharing what you know about immediate and near-term plans of the company. The unknown is far more anxiety-producing for employees than even an unpleasant but somewhat “known” future.

This truth-telling should extend to being “real” with direct reports. Though as a manager you need to maintain a positive attitude, it’s OK to say you too are feeling the loss of colleagues who’ve been let go and you too are feeling bandied about by the waves of change. Demonstrating empathy without asking for sympathy is one way to stay connected to and supportive of your team.

If you’re connected and respected, you can provide some fun breaks and good old fashioned praise for extra hard work without being viewed as manipulative. Injecting some humor can switch people’s mental state…at least temporarily.

Last, stay visible and in communication to respond to people’s concerns, provide whatever resources you can and help them to prioritize projects that may be piling up after cutbacks.

If you do decide to hire a candidate, realize that your conduct in the interview creates a strong first impression with that person. Consider whether your interview style  gains or losses respect at the outset of your working relationship. Remember, you’re planting the seeds of your future working relationship here.

Also remember that even if an applicant doesn’t walk away with the job, they should feel positively about your company and about the way they were treated; they may just refer a great candidate your way or even a prospect for your services. Alternately, if they feel they’ve been treated with disrespect they could  bad-mouth you and your company to everyone they know. So leave arrogance behind and instead make the job-seeker comfortable. You’ll learn more about the person who is relaxed than one that is guarded and intimidated.