Ron Popeil’s “Set It and Forget It” No Longer Works
It was a “kinder, gentler” time when Ron Popeil, an American inventor and TV personality, popularized the phrase “set it and forget it” to promote many of his easy-to-use products. But in today’s world, with change moving at blurring speed, such advice no longer works.
Yet when it comes to shaping the stakeholder experience, many companies are stuck. Currently, you may be pleased with the stakeholder experience that your company’s culture has created. However, complacency isn’t an option for ensuring that your current people-centered practices will continue to garner the same positive results from now on. Failing to keep pace with the speed of change, which has never been greater, will cloud even the best people-centered practices.
All too often, companies fail to understand that stakeholder experience is a “living” system that needs to be monitored, measured, and modified based on changes inside and outside of their organization. For instance, internally there are shifts in priorities, workforce composition, product and service mix, and external changes in industry, market, and business environment that require reshaping people practices.
Instead of taking the time to truly reflect on how these variations will impact touchpoints, it’s all too common to take the easier route by simply recycling and repeating what they’ve been doing. Yet when it comes to other aspects of their business, such as IT, sales, and marketing, these same companies meticulously identify gaps and plan and budget to fill them on an annual basis.
Tuned-in, Intentional Culture
The point is that engaging employees through the six core tenets requires the same, well-planned TLC. Failure to keep up with subtle changes that occur over time—a migration, if you will—can put a company out of touch with stakeholders. Like a slow leak, though, the damage is reflected in client attrition and employee abandonment that doesn’t set off alarms until the numbers reach sledgehammer levels. Leaders must stay in tune with changes that could impact their stakeholders’ experience to adapt their recognition and communication processes.
An example is the shift in the workforce that has occurred over the last 10-15 years with the retirement of Traditionalists and Baby Boomers and the entrance and growth of Gen Y (Millennials) and Gen Z in the workplace. The Anxious Generation explains how growing up with smartphones in the palm of their hands has impacted Gen Z’s mental health, and that it’s reflected in their work environment—a far cry from Traditionalists and Baby Boomers who were content with a steady income that put food on the table.
Workplace Currency: Wellbeing and Meaningfulness
The Gen Z migration has also supplanted gold-watch recognition with products and experiences that promote growth, meaningful work, and well-being. Well-being initiatives have sprinted from a nice-to-have perk to a strategic competitive advantage for recruiting, hiring, and retaining employees. For the last five years, we’ve developed and refined well-being workshops for our clients to help them shape their employee experience to meet workforce preferences.
I’m reading and hearing more about people struggling to find a work-life balance and coping with burnout. Some are leaving managerial jobs for lesser positions, and others are seeking professional help from coaches. Recent studies from SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) show that:
- 51% of employees feel “used up” by day’s end.
- 44% of employees report feeling burned out.
- 45% feel emotionally drained.
These statistics are reflected on the bottom line through decreased productivity, increased turnover, and reduced innovation. Leaders who prioritize mental well-being create higher-performing teams.
Younger employees are more strongly tied to companies where work is meaningful, contributing to the greater good, and supporting sustainability. Consider including these experiences in your plans: a structured mentoring program; participating in charity 5K races, building a house for Habitat for Humanity, food packaging at food shelves—with branded apparel to create team pride and camaraderie.
Since your clients have experienced this change as well, consider how you might adapt your communication with them at various touchpoints, from your onboarding process through demonstrating appreciation for their business.
The Power of Intentional Communication
Culture reverberates on the bottom line through brand perception, employee productivity, and client commitment/retention. How companies engage and retain their stakeholders—employees, clients and partners—determines in large part their ability to grow, compete, and inspire dedication.
Authentic communication and recognition are the most powerful tools for defining, creating, and nurturing culture and the employee experience. How information is shared throughout your organization—from the executive office to the entire management team and throughout the workforce—is integral to shaping culture. And how your organization communicates with the people outside your workforce should reflect your culture’s attributes.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a business practice is another colossal culture-changer. While AI offers countless opportunities for enhancing communication, such as notetaking that enables people to more fully engage in conversation and idea generation during meetings, policies to moderate the use of AI is communication and recognition are essential. A “wild-west” approach that overlooks the role of human creativity can lead to AI-generated communication and recognition that sounds mechanical and feels inauthentic.
Keep in mind that the personal touch will stand out as even more meaningful as our world becomes increasingly more virtual. Think about how your company is managing the integration of AI in your people-centric practices? Is it encouraging a cautious approach to ensure that what AI generates actually reflects your culture, brand messaging and values?
In addition to content, consider how frequency impacts authenticity. Are you communicating with your workforce strictly on a need-to-know basis or providing regular touchpoints, including personal check-ins, to ensure they are engaged? Don’t forget to consider how often you should be communicating with clients. Authentically nurturing client relationships requires more than an obligatory annual holiday gift.
Balanced, Planned Communication
Finding the right balance in communication methods is essential for reaching today’s multi-generational workforce. Focus on how you’ll incorporate multiple modes in your communication threads to honor specific audience preferences:
- Face-to-face
- Virtual platforms
- Telephone
- Text
Create a micro-communication plan that solves the “last mile” challenge—how to ensure that your team hears and processes communication. Consider putting together a multi-generational communication planning team that represents your workforce. Your plan should include both the nature of high-level messages and a more detailed tactical plan with the following elements:
- Clarity about what’s next, why it’s important, and where they can turn to for help
- Communication in multiple ways, multiple times through multiple channels
- An extra dose of empathy, compassion, and openness that empowers people to speak up when things aren’t right
- Inviting feedback with straight-forward, open-ended questions to understand how people are doing (“What’s the most difficult thing you’ve experienced today/lately?”)
- Physical and psychological well-being (personal health, caring for others, how they get to work, pressure to deliver at work, and at home)
“Wait, There’s More!”
Mr. Popeil coined that phrase to cajole the public into buying his fabled products (Veg-O-Matic, Pocket Fisherman). For me, it’s a reminder that there will always be more change that requires more planning, more attention to detail, and more consideration for keeping our employee experience relevant, meaningful, and authentic.
As always, if you’re looking for solutions to create a dynamic, meaningful experience for your stakeholders let’s start a conversation. Call 800-742-6800 or email us today. For more information and tips for engaging your team, sign up for our monthly newsletter at askhillarys.com (bottom right corner of the page).
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