Jim Lenz:
All right. Our guest for today is a very well connected individual in the grain industry. She’s delivered presentations at several agricultural industry events. She is the co-founder of PeopleSpark Consulting, and PeopleSpark Consulting specializes in transforming business cultures through human resources and people strategies. She’ll talk about that more. She’s also very exciting she’s a co-author of the new book, the PeopleSpark a business leaders essential guide to crafting your culture with confidence. So it’s a great pleasure to welcome Erin Meese to the show. Thanks for your participation in whole grain, erin.
Erin Mies:
Thanks, it’s great to be here, jim.
Jim Lenz:
I’m excited about what this show has to offer for our listeners. I think a very interesting topic, certainly not something we’ve had yet on whole grain, but to get started, to allow our listeners to get to know you a bit and start the show with a bit of positive spirit, could you share with our whole grain listeners mantra or success quote that you live by professionally?
Erin Mies:
Absolutely, and this one has been with me for a very long time. It’s actually my college motto from Wittenberg University, which is having light. We pass it on to others.
Jim Lenz:
Beautiful, beautiful. All right, I like it. Now, not that it’s critical to have an agricultural background for this topic, but I think our listeners will be interested to know that you have devoted a good portion of your professional career working in the agriculture industry. Very exciting. Could you expand on that a little bit more?
Erin Mies:
Absolutely, and you know I’m thinking about this too. I have our discussion today. It dawned on me that now I’ve spent about half my career in agriculture, so spent the first half in food manufacturing and moved into agriculture and then found that I was adopted into it when I supported an animal nutrition sales team, did that work for about four and a half years before Kristen and I decided to start PeopleSpark, and because of the relationships in the business that we got to support when we were in our previous organization, we very intentionally wanted to make sure that we continue to support businesses in ag. So most of our clients today are in agriculture, as cooperatives, their feed mills, their independently owned retailers and other organizations. They’re our favorite clients to work with and we just see such an importance in being able to support this industry.
Jim Lenz:
That’s great to hear the folks in the ag industry. They’re very helpful to each other. That’s why this is a great form and thanks for sharing. Today, our discussion focuses on utilizing recognition as a tool to drive intentional employee behavior and improve employee engagement. Recognition can support a number of things. Erin, I think a good place to start would be to define intentional recognition. What are your thoughts?
Erin Mies:
Oh, absolutely. You know, in looking at it, recognition, and, in particular, someone knowing that they will be recognized for excellent work, is one of the eight factors of engagement. So, to have a highly engaged work team, to have a highly engaged team in general, one of the key things that we can do as leaders is make sure that we are recognizing somebody for their work. As I dig into that even a little bit more around, what does that mean? At a more granular level, I think about that in terms of our attention, where one of our scarcest resources out there is our attention. Everything is fighting for it. Everything on your desk today, everything kind of swirling around in your head is it’s all fighting for your attention. So, by being able to provide intentional attention to our team members and to be able to share with them something that we’ve noticed and something that we want to continue seeing them do, is how I look at really intentionally recognizing someone on your team.
Jim Lenz:
I like the point you made right there, which is attention is a limited resource, and so, because it is limited, utilizing recognition is an important aspect. I just mentioned employee engagement and I just don’t want to gloss over that. In your mind, what does employee engagement mean?
Erin Mies:
So employee engagement and there’s all kinds of different studies and pieces of research you can read about that and everyone seems to have their own definition of it. As I think about employee engagement, it’s the difference between somebody showing up and doing what needs to be done and using their discretionary effort to do even more. That engagement is I’m demonstrating that I want to be here and seeing how the work that I’m doing is connected into the broader business and knowing that I’m making that impact, that there are ways in which we can help foster that with employees in how we craft their roles and how we provide recognition for them too.
Jim Lenz:
Thanks for that clarity. You and your team at People Spark Consulting facilitate engagement surveys as part of your services. Could you highlight some common patterns and trends observed in engagement survey data that you collected?
Erin Mies:
Yes, and I’ll speak even to engagement surveys that we’ve done with clients, as well as even some of my previous history in working through engagement surveys with previous organizations as well, because as those engagement surveys are completed, what I tend to see come up as patterns and as themes over time are themes around recognition keeping it very broad in that term as well. So around recognition employees feeling like they’re not recognized enough. Also, this feeling of somewhat being disconnected from the mission of the company or disconnected from communication or the hub of the business, and even at times too, this kind of ebbs and flows is more of a feeling of I want to see my leaders more. So that kind of goes hand in hand at times with that feeling of being disconnected that sometimes it’s as an employee I just don’t see my leader all that much, except maybe when something’s gone wrong, and so that feeling of having a relationship with that leader often is something that comes up too.
Jim Lenz:
How can organizations use engagement survey data to identify specific behaviors that lead to improved engagement?
Erin Mies:
With engagement surveys, one thing I like to note is that they’re not the end all be all. So an engagement survey, when crafted well, can help provide us a data point and a point in time for the feeling, the sentiment of an employee at that given moment when they completed it. I think of it in terms of it’s a blood pressure check for our workforce. It may not tell us the underlying issue. It may tell us that we need to look further into a potential area for more information. So, with engagement surveys, one of the most important things an organization can do in it is to be very clear on what is going to happen next. A lot of times, what we will see and it’s it makes us cringe a little bit is that an organization may look to launch an engagement survey. They collect all the information back, do all of the analysis and have information that they feel they can act on, and then nothing happens or nothing is communicated back to the organization or it’s only communicated to the leadership team. When, as an employee taking those surveys, employees want to know what was said, employees want to know what the plan is going forward and our response to, especially if it’s one of the first times an organization has done an engagement survey. Our response to that will absolutely impact whether or not somebody chooses to participate in the future and whether they choose to participate honestly in the future in their responses. So knowing what that plan is for next steps, knowing an estimated time for when we’re going to communicate out themes, when employees can start hearing and expecting that we will be taking action, are some of the most important things that they can do.
Jim Lenz:
So it sounds like expectations are important in there being clear and open about the use and application of those surveys Absolutely. What are some of the types of behaviors that organizations commonly seek to recognize?
Erin Mies:
In thinking about that. A lot of times, organizations find it easiest to look at performance. If we can measure something, I can very quickly and very easily see that this input led to that output, and so, on a performance basis, I can measure, I can give recognition. When I say it in that way does not mean always that there’s an incentive or that there’s some sort of financial or monetary reward attached to it. It’s simply that I’m recognizing someone and providing praise for them, for the input that led to this output. What a lot of times gets overlooked, though, is the little things that are happening every day that we may not even notice. So right now, a lot of the organizations and a lot of clients that we work with, they have plenty of challenges on their plate, and they still have some of those team members who are showing up every single day. They have team members who are moving on to the next task without being asked, and they know what to do. Those are the things that really providing recognition for and helping somebody see and feel that they’ve been noticed, can help lead to somebody feeling more engaged and, with a long term impact, of wanting to stay there Because that behavior I’ve been noticed, someone sees me. A lot of these things factor into reasons why people consider leaving organizations and going elsewhere.
Jim Lenz:
Aaron, could you share with our whole grain listeners some real world examples of how recognizing these behaviors positively impacts employee morale and engagement?
Erin Mies:
Yes, as I think about some examples for this. One that came to mind for me was a client we were working with specifically at their supervisor level to help equip them with some tools, some skills, some talking points that they can use in their daily conversations with employees. And we did a lot of practice on recognition, using a specific model to share recognition with a team member, and I remember one assignment in particular. We had the participant respond back with some of their own self reflections of what did they notice. Because we had them talk with a team member who in many cases, had been with the organization a long time and as they stepped into those coaching conversations to provide recognition, they said it felt very awkward, it felt very uncomfortable. The other team member was responding and reacting with body language of this is awkward. I don’t really know why you’re talking to me right now or, as we see an ag, a lot kind of shrugging off of this is just my job. Of course I’m going to do this. And as those supervisors stepped further into those conversations to share some recognition around what the impact is of that behavior that they were seeing, what we heard very frequently coming back was, wow, this person really started opening up around other ideas that they had that could make some of these processes easier. They really started sharing with me things that I don’t know, that we’ve ever had a conversation more than a few minutes before. And by taking that time, going back to even our limited resource, our scarce resource of attention, sharing some of that attention in a very specific way to show that employee that you’ve noticed them and what they’ve done and the impact that it’s had really started leading to an awesome snowball of additional conversations that otherwise we just would have had below the surface.
Jim Lenz:
That’s a great set of examples there. Thanks for sharing. What do you feel are some of the strategies for effectively communicating the behaviors that are being recognized and rewarded? What are your thoughts?
Erin Mies:
So one of my favorite tips for leaders is to be specific, so to say gosh, good job, that’s a plenty good start. Get more specific than that. You had great customer service. I would say get even more specific than that. What is it? What is the behavior, down to even the senses that you’ve seen? You’ve seen something, you’ve heard something, you’ve noticed something. What is it specifically that you’re wanting to point out to someone? So get specific there and not just pointing out the behavior, but share with them too. What is the impact of that? What is the impact of that behavior on you? What is the impact on other team members? Is it role modeling something for them? Is it providing an impact on the overall business, on production and even on our customers or our members? And so sharing more about this is a big deal, because these behaviors that you do here’s the impact of it can make a significant difference if somebody is trying to really amp up their recognition.
Jim Lenz:
I like that. Be specific and just continue to be specific in your head and when you express that you can take that to practice. Try to align that with goals of your team, goals of the organization, goals of the strategy linking those things. That’s all part of that engagement. Now a lot of organizations participate in or consider recognition programs. I think our listeners may be interested to hear your perspective on the pros and cons of recognition programs.
Erin Mies:
Yes. So I think one of the most obvious pros in my opinion is that putting a program together for recognition shows us that we want to put some energy behind recognizing our employees. I think there are some things to weigh out because a lot of times a recognition program, a formal program, isn’t always necessary. So I think a lot of times we go straight to a more formal program when there’s a lot of things that we can do and have an impact on even prior to getting to that point. So If an organization is considering a recognition program, I really want them to consider what are the behaviors they’re wanting to impact? What, clearly, is it that they’re trying to see as a result of it? How does that tie to the overall business objectives too? If it’s a feel good, that could have some traction for a little while, but if it’s not really connected with where the business is going, over time we start to see energy that starts getting displaced from recognition programs back into other initiatives. I would also have an organization to think about. What are some unintended consequences of going down this route? If we’re overly recognizing certain behaviors, are there unintended consequences we may need to be mindful of that could impact something related back to the business. And then I would also look at how is this program, or does this program, impact what we expect from our supervisors, from our managers, from our leaders in having every day in the moment coaching, feedback and recognition? Does this help them, help enable them to do that, or does this become another checkbox for them to do that actually keeps them away from providing that daily in the moment feedback to employees? So I think there’s a balance there and some things to consider. For sure, like I said a lot of times, there are so many things that we can be focusing on first, before we step into more of a formal program.
Jim Lenz:
Those are some really great tips right there. You mentioned connection. What is the connection? What is your purpose? What are you trying to do? How does it align with your other efforts? You talked about unintentional consequences. Can you go into that a little bit more? Maybe some example or examples on unintentional consequences when trying to develop a recognition program? Or maybe you’ve had it for a period of time and may not be hitting on all marks?
Erin Mies:
Sure. So in thinking about unintended consequences. Sometimes, though, I think customer service comes to mind for me that if we really want to put emphasis into customer service, we need to really define what that means. Does that mean going above and beyond for absolutely every single one of our customers every single time, or does that mean prioritizing certain transactions? Does that mean prioritizing certain behaviors? Does that mean prioritizing a certain aspect within customer service? So one example that comes to mind for me is thinking about an organization who might pride itself on its customer service and it’s going 30 miles out of its way to deliver a 20-pound bag of something to a customer, and that customer may be a very, very small customer within the business, where we’re sacrificing energy and not spending some of that energy on some of our other members or customers who have a significant impact on the business, who may not have been getting that same level of service. Just some things to weigh through there.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, good examples. Thank you for sharing that. I know in a previous episode the listeners may be familiar with your co-founder with the organization. Other co-founder for PeopleSpark Consulting, Kristin Ireland, and we talked about habit stacking techniques for instituting these encouraging top 10 phrases every manager should use, and I know part or some of those had to do with coaching and feedback. Can you type a phrase or two into recognition programs and make a connection there?
Erin Mies:
Absolutely. I think the first two are hand in hand within recognition of just simply saying thank you and I appreciate you to someone. And, as you know, I mentioned getting specific earlier. I don’t want you to stop there, I want you to continue to get specific. One of our favorites as well are around contrasting statements that in a lot of cases, we use them in situations where somebody might feel defensive or it may be a more constructive coaching discussion. I tend to also use them in recognition, particularly if I might be feeling a little awkward or I might feel like I would be putting somebody else in a weird, weird position too. So, for instance, if I’m sharing some feedback with you or sharing some recognition with you and I say that you’re kind of like, well, why are we talking about this? I can say my intent is not to make you feel awkward or uncomfortable. My intent is to make sure that I share with you why this is so important to the business and why I’m so excited about what you’ve done here and why I want it to continue. So there’s ways in which we can apply many of those same top 10 phrases in recognition.
Jim Lenz:
I remember you delivering a presentation for a virtual conference in the year 2022 is probably June-ish and some folks can still kind of take a look at that and you use that phrase and they are so powerful and valuable and just encourage folks to listen to this previous episode with your colleague about that to reinforce that. So if you can check the video library section of the chief’s website, take a look at your presentation. So it’s very well done. As a quick wrap up, Erin, what are some practical takeaways again for whole grain listeners?
Erin Mies:
As you can imagine, my first thing is to get specific. Don’t be afraid to have that conversation, because, just because something feels obvious to you that of course they know they’re doing well, chances are that employee does not necessarily know where they stand. So often we hear from clients that they don’t actually know how they’re doing. They haven’t had specific enough feedback to really know where they stand. So step into those discussions. Somebody’s there on time regularly. Somebody’s moving on to the next task. They’re getting things done ahead of time. So let’s make sure that we’re taking the time, sharing with them some of our attention of not only the behavior but the impact of that on the business, on our team and on others. And my favorite part here, jim, is that you can’t mess this up. So I encourage leaders to just step into it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. What your team members are going to notice is huh well, that felt a little bit different, but that’s okay, because they’re going to also enjoy it and be looking for more of that. So take that first step.
Jim Lenz:
Those are great takeaways. Now listeners may want to find out more. They want to connect with you and the team of people Spark Consulting. If they do, what is the best way to do so? And if you could tell us some more about your organization and the book that’s going to be released or maybe released, depending on when you listen to the show.
Erin Mies:
Absolutely so. The best way to stay up to date with People Spark Consulting is at our website, so wwwpeoplesparkconsultingcom, and all of our information is out there, including our blog posts and information, like you said, about our upcoming book. So there is a place out there to get on the notification list that when our book is released, november 30th, that you will be in the know about that. And some of the work that we do with clients really is specifically around leadership development for supervisors and managers to help people gain confidence in being able to coach and create great places to work. We also do work with clients, too, in specifically looking at your people strategies and how those align with your business strategies to make sure they are going hand in hand with one another and helping make sure that your path forward is continuing to create a great environment for people to thrive within this great industry.
Jim Lenz:
Awesome. Well, Erin, it’s an honor and a pleasure to connect with you. Thanks for spending some time with whole grain listeners.
Erin Mies:
Thank you, jim, thank you.
