As negative and challenging as this reality may seem, it also brings a tremendous opportunity for leaders to address disengagement head-on. By acting with deep intentionality, organizations can gain a significant edge. Gallup estimates that fully engaging the world’s workforce could add $9.6 trillion in productivity to the global economy. Imagine what could happen if leaders truly unleashed the potential within their organizations.

The real question isn’t just why disengagement is happening, but how we address it. How do we, as leaders, create workplaces where people feel empowered, connected, and valued not just as employees but as individuals?

A Workforce Under Pressure

The challenges that have brought us to this very moment are complex and intertwined. For many managers, the past few years have been nothing short of tumultuous. Post-pandemic retirements, sudden turnover, hiring sprees gone awry, budget cuts, and shifts in customer expectations have left many feeling overwhelmed.

At the same time, many employees are grappling with rapid changes that touch every aspect of their lives—from inflation and housing costs to lingering concerns over health and well-being.

The latest Gallup report highlights that employee life evaluations have significantly dropped. Well-being has transitioned from an HR talking point to a full-fledged workforce crisis. Shockingly, in regions like South Asia, only 15% of employees rate their lives as thriving, while globally, 33% are in this category. The rest of the data tells a story of deep struggles and unmet needs.

Despite the prevailing uncertainty, one certainty persists: the key to overall engagement lies with people managers. They directly influence 70% of it, making them either the biggest barrier or the strongest driver in building a positive and productive culture.

The Path Forward

The path forward, especially in tough and uncertain times, is rarely straightforward. It’s easy to dwell on challenges and hope for external circumstances to improve, but that mindset isn’t leadership—it’s stagnation.

This is where the idea that true leadership is about influence, not a title, comes into play. The need for leaders to step up and make an impact has never been greater. Here are five specific steps to tackle disengagement head-on and reimagine the workplace.

1. Invest in Managers as the Linchpin

The data is clear: training can significantly reduce manager disengagement. Yet, only 44% of managers globally have received meaningful development. This is a missed opportunity. By focusing on practical coaching skills, emotional intelligence, and resilience, manager training programs can boost performance by 20–28%, with effects lasting up to 18 months.

When managers learn not just to hit KPIs but to truly connect with their teams, it can transform workforce engagement. Great managers don’t just oversee work—they build environments where people feel supported, valued, and able to thrive.

I’ve seen this challenge up close over the past decade. Manager training isn’t about a one-off professional development program every few years. Organizations that view training as constant and ongoing—like a sports team preparing for every game—see the greatest impact.

2. Prioritize Flexibility

The way we work and interact with one another has shifted forever. While remote and hybrid work may not be practical in all industries, their overall impact on employee expectations is undeniable. Flexibility is no longer a perk; it’s expected. Leaders must show that they understand employees’ lives outside of the office by offering flexible hours, adaptable policies, and remote work options.

When implemented correctly, flexibility fosters trust and empowers individuals to thrive. Start by truly listening to what employees need to perform at their best, and design work around their feedback. Disengagement often arises when organizations and leaders fail to adapt to the evolving needs and realities of their people.

3. Make Well-Being a Cultural Priority

It’s not enough to have well-being initiatives buried in a benefits package that people will never see. Leaders must actively build a workplace culture where well-being is not just supported but promoted and celebrated. This means normalizing conversations about mental health, offering resources for stress management, and ensuring team members feel psychologically safe.

A positive and thriving workplace culture isn’t built overnight, but it starts with visible and bold action. When leaders prioritize their own well-being and demonstrate vulnerability, employees are more likely to follow suit.

As I discuss in detail in Culture Is the Way, noble intentions fall flat without consistent behavior and action from an organization’s leaders.

4. Redefine Success Beyond Output

For too long, success has been measured by output alone. The truth is, a disengaged workforce can hit targets without delivering any real value. Organizations must prioritize metrics like employee satisfaction, retention rates, and internal mobility as true indicators of meaningful success.

To achieve this, leaders should seek ongoing feedback from their teams. By consistently examining and reflecting on how employees feel about their work environment, organizations can course-correct before small problems become big ones. It’s crucial to understand that informal, real-time check-ins are just as valuable as formal processes.

5. Commit to Continuous Development

The latest global workplace report makes one truth abundantly clear: organizations that actively encourage growth and development see thriving levels spike from 28% to as high as 50%. This isn’t about checklists—it’s about integrating development into the organization’s DNA as a shared commitment to success.

A powerful question I often encourage leaders to reflect on is, “How am I investing in my people not only as workers but as human beings?” This might include creating mentorship programs, giving employees ownership of special projects, or offering skill-building workshops that go beyond job-specific tasks.

Leadership That Makes a Difference

Navigating this seismic shift in the workforce requires more than business acumen; it requires heart. The real difference-makers in our organizations will be those who see their people not as cogs in a machine, but as complex, ambitious, and capable individuals.

Meaningful engagement isn’t about fancy perks or hollow gestures—it’s about making people feel seen, heard, and valued.

The challenges outlined in Gallup’s latest workplace report are daunting, but they also present an unprecedented opportunity for leaders to reimagine the workplace. By investing in managers, prioritizing well-being, and embracing flexibility, organizations can address disengagement and empower their people to thrive.

The time to act is now. Leaders must rise to the occasion and create workplaces where people and businesses thrive together. The future of work depends on it.

The post Tackling Disengagement in Today’s Workforce appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

But what lies beneath this decline? And, more importantly, how can leaders reverse the tide? Understanding the dynamics behind workplace engagement can help organizations chart a more sustainable, human-centered path forward.

Unpacking the Workplace Engagement Challenge

Underpinning the decline in workplace engagement is a troubling shift in some of the most basic human needs at work. Employees are feeling lost, undervalued, and stagnant. Gallup’s research reveals that three key areas are currently facing challenges, and this is not just a trend among different generations or a temporary shift:

• Role Clarity: Far too many employees don’t know what’s expected of them. When expectations are unclear, stress and inefficiency thrive. Workers flounder, underperform, or, worse, disengage completely. A lack of clarity forces employees to expend their energy guessing rather than producing impactful results, further eroding workplace engagement.
• Meaningful Relationships: Feeling cared for and supported by colleagues and managers isn’t a “nice-to-have”; it’s foundational. Yet too many workers report an absence of genuine connection. This void drastically enhances isolation, paralyzes collaboration, and can lead to increased turnover—the antithesis of strong workplace engagement.
• Development and Recognition: Employees crave opportunity—to grow, to transform their skills, and to be recognized for their contributions. When personal and professional development stalls or goes unnoticed, complete disengagement is only just a step away. Workers are left asking, Why bother?

Why Workplace Engagement Matters

Workplace engagement is more than a buzzword; it’s a core engine of organizational success. Engaged employees deliver better work quality, drive innovation, and create loyalty among customers. But disengagement has the opposite effect—leading to high turnover, diminished morale, and limited creativity. The path an organization takes toward resolving this issue influences everything from its bottom line to its ability to compete in fast-changing markets.

Interestingly, some industries have still managed to combat national trends by doubling down on robust workplace engagement strategies. These outliers are proof that the issue can be fixed with intentional and purposeful leadership.

Leadership Lessons and Strategic Applications

To rebuild a sense of connection and purpose in workplaces, leaders need to take intentional, integrated steps that align strategy with people. Here’s where organizations should focus:

1. Set a Clear Purpose and Culture

Great leadership begins with clarity. Employees need to see how their daily work ties to a broader, meaningful mission. Leaders must explain the organization’s values and how they directly apply to daily work.

Ask yourself, “How does our work improve lives—customers’, employees’, or society’s?” Make this a consistent part of team discussions. When employees connect their individual actions to meaningful outcomes, even routine tasks gain significance—fueling workplace engagement.

2. Empower and Develop Managers

Leadership is about building leaders. If managers themselves lack engagement, how can they inspire others? Upskilling managers to become effective communicators, motivators, and developers of talent is essential. This involves both skills training and an ongoing culture of feedback and accountability.

Strong manager-employee relationships require more than task delegation. Meaningful dialogue—focused on personal growth, challenges, and ambitions—can reframe the role of work as an enabler of growth and workplace engagement.

3. Focus on Personalized Communication

A lot of younger employees, especially members of Generation Z, feel ignored or misunderstood on the job. Timely recognition, personal development, and knowing how their work fits into the larger context are important to them. Regular one-on-one meetings and recognition programs can make them feel valued and seen. Also, leaders should make it simple for people to voice their opinions and concerns; listen to those voices and work together to find solutions. Such practices, and being acutely aware of personalizing communication, can greatly enhance workplace engagement.

4. Strengthen the Core Engagement Drivers

Gallup’s findings indicate that three fundamental aspects of engagement—clarity of expectations, feeling cared for, and development opportunities—are currently facing challenges. These aren’t just abstract ideas; they’re basic human needs.

Practical strategies include:

• Providing onboarding tools and refreshers to ensure job clarity.
• Creating networks of peer support where employees feel personally valued.
• Offering individualized career-path guidance to encourage upward momentum within the organization.

These actions can reignite workplace engagement, providing a much-needed foundation for growth.

5. Balanced Feedback and Recognition

In the workplace, recognition goes beyond just monetary rewards—it’s like emotional currency. A simple “thank you” or acknowledgment of someone’s hard work, paired with constructive feedback, can create a culture where appreciation thrives. When people feel noticed and valued, they naturally put in more effort and think more creatively. I saw this firsthand at an insurance company I recently worked with. They rolled out a peer-recognition program where team members could shout out each other’s positive actions on a virtual platform. What seemed like a straightforward idea sparked a powerful shift toward ongoing encouragement and respect, increasing engagement across all teams.

6. Leverage Technology to Personalize Workplace Engagement

Depending on its use, technology can either enhance or harm engagement. Tools that enable collaboration, track progress, and offer insights into employee sentiment can help managers act with greater precision. However, relying purely on technology without incorporating face-to-face interactions is a missed opportunity to maintain the human connection that drives workplace engagement.

A Future-Oriented Motivation

Moving forward requires optimism. Leaders must believe—and show—that workplace engagement isn’t an impossible goal but a manageable science. Numerous success stories prove that doubling engagement levels is achievable through thoughtful, deliberate action.

For every disengaged employee, there’s an opportunity to build trust, clarify goals, or create new pathways for satisfaction and mobility. Organizations that approach engagement by framing it as a mutual value exchange succeed not because of lofty ideals but because they truly invest in their people.

This decade may have started on shaky ground for workplace engagement, but it’s far from over. The question is no longer whether leaders can afford to prioritize engagement but whether they can afford not to. For companies willing to act decisively, meaningful opportunities abound.

It’s not enough to focus on immediate deliverables—because true organizational success isn’t built on short-term wins. It’s built on people who are empowered, emotionally invested, and excited about showing up every day to do their best work.

Leadership isn’t about reacting to challenges; it’s about rewriting the narrative. And in doing so, today’s leaders can build organizations with thriving workplace engagement—not in spite of the conditions but because they chose to meet them head-on.

The post Rebuilding Workplace Engagement: A Leadership Imperative appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

But first, it’s crucial to understand what’s fueling this detachment.

The Key Drivers of Employee Disconnection

Gallup’s research highlights five pivotal changes in the workplace environment that are exacerbating employee disengagement:

1. Rapid Organizational Change: The post-2020 workplace has been shaped by constant upheaval, from record turnover during the “Great Resignation” to team restructurings, budget cuts, and shifting job responsibilities. Three out of four employees report experiencing disruptive change in the past year, which directly correlates with higher burnout rates. Particularly, managers find great difficulty balancing stability, onboarding, and limited resources.
2. Hybrid and Remote Work Growing Pains: While flexible work arrangements are here to stay, they bring communication and coordination challenges. Remote workers often feel less connected to their organization’s mission, while hybrid models create fragmented team dynamics.
3. Evolving Customer Expectations: The pandemic has increased demands for faster and more digital customer experiences. Over half of employees have noticed changes in customer behavior, with many citing higher expectations and intensifying pressure to deliver.
4. Shifts in Employee Expectations: Employees are now more vocal about seeking better work-life balance, competitive compensation, and the flexibility to choose remote work. Yet, when organizations fail to align with these new expectations, employees feel undervalued and unsure of their future.
5. Broken Performance Management Practices: Performance reviews are no longer working to inspire or guide employees. With unclear role expectations and insufficient recognition, employees feel lost, especially in a workplace already disrupted by economic and cultural shifts.

These catalysts of detachment have contributed to a significant drop in two critical measures of engagement—clear work expectations and connection to organizational mission. Without decisive action from leadership, these trends may deepen the divide between employees and their employers.

Implications for Leaders

The Great Detachment is not just a cultural phenomenon—it has tangible impacts on organizational performance. Leaders must recognize that disengaged employees affect everything from productivity to retention:

• Operational Risks: Disengagement is costly. According to Gallup, improving clarity of expectations alone could lead to a 9% increase in profitability and significant quality enhancements. On the flip side, mounting disconnection risks errors, inefficiencies, and diminished morale.
• Resistance to Change: Organizations in flux need employees who not only buy into the mission but also actively participate in change initiatives. When people feel disconnected, transformation efforts are likely to falter.
• Elevated Turnover Risk: Economic uncertainty may temporarily keep detached workers in their roles, but it does not guarantee their long-term loyalty. Fixing this gap isn’t just about retention; it’s about building a resilient and engaged workforce.

Redefining Leadership to Address Detachment

Leaders have a critical role to play in combating the Great Detachment. To succeed, they must go beyond quick fixes and focus on two core areas Gallup highlights—resetting expectations and connecting work to mission and purpose.

1. Reset Expectations and Priorities

Clear role definitions are foundational to workplace success, yet only 45% of employees report knowing what is expected of them. This figure is even lower among hybrid workers, younger employees, and those in new roles. Leaders can change this narrative by:

• Engaging in Two-Way Conversations: Rather than top-down directives, leaders should collaborate with team members to establish clear and realistic expectations tailored to the current environment.
• Regularly Revisiting Priorities: Expectations should not be static. I frequently remind leaders to think creatively about how they reinforce what truly matters. Instead of mentioning a priority once and hoping it sticks, find organic moments to weave it into conversations, check-ins, or team updates. No one should ever be unsure of what the most important thing is right now.
• Balancing Workload and Wellbeing: Clarifying tasks is only productive if paired with a workload employees can manage without burnout. Strong leaders place equal emphasis on achievement and health.

2. Connect Employees to Mission and Purpose

Employees want to feel their work makes a difference—not only for the bottom line but for society at large. Yet connection to mission among employees has dropped from 38% in early 2021 to just 30% in 2024. Leaders must work to restore this intrinsic motivation:

• Communicate an Inspiring Vision: Organizations that thrive have leaders who articulate their mission with passion and authenticity. Brands like Patagonia, for instance, are effectively able to rally employees behind their purpose of environmental stewardship.
• Highlight Individual Contributions: Managers should actively link employee efforts to the larger mission. At healthcare company Cleveland Clinic, patient stories are regularly shared with staff to remind them how their work impacts lives.
• Create a Sense of Belonging: Teams thrive when they identify as more than colleagues—they see themselves as part of a community. Storytelling, peer recognition, and shared rituals can help achieve this.

While the Great Detachment underscores massive challenges, it also presents opportunities. Organizations that rise to the occasion can turn weaknesses into strategic advantages:

• Gallup’s data shows that improving role clarity and connection to mission can lead to up to a 15% boost in productivity and reduce turnover by 32%.
• Leaders who prioritize these improvements won’t just retain talent—they’ll foster an energized workforce capable of exceptional outcomes.

Actionable Steps for Leaders

For leaders who want to tackle the Great Detachment head-on, here are some practical strategies to start putting into action right now:

1. Reposition Performance Reviews: Move away from the standard annual evaluations to more regular check-ins. These aren’t just about critiquing performance—they’re a chance to celebrate wins, give clear feedback, and make sure everyone’s on the same page about what’s ahead.
2. Invest in Manager Training: Managers are the heart of how employees feel at work. Training programs in empathetic leadership and communication are now essential. Investing in their growth pays off in a big way when it comes to creating a connected and engaged team.
3. Connect Every Project to Purpose: Encourage project leaders to explicitly tie tasks and initiatives to the organization’s mission. “Why does this matter?” should not be a mystery to employees.
4. Flexibility Is a Must: Flexibility is key to meeting evolving employee expectations. Hybrid work models can thrive when paired with intentional scheduling and thoughtful collaboration tools.
5. Model Cultural Values: Purpose-driven leadership begins at the top. Every action, from executive messaging to organizational policies, should reinforce the company’s commitment to the overall mission. If leadership doesn’t live out the values they preach, why should anyone else?

When organizations and their leaders prioritize engagement, the likelihood of transforming today’s challenges into tomorrow’s victories significantly increases. The idea of the Great Detachment might feel overwhelming at first, but by building real connections, being clear in communication, and creating a shared sense of purpose, leaders have the chance to not just get through it—but to help their organizations come out stronger and more connected than ever.

The post The Great Detachment and Rebuilding Engagement appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

Throughout my speech, I shared a vision that transcends daily operations or industry buzzwords. I talked about a truth many of us feel deep down but struggle to articulate—every employee wants to belong to an organizational culture that brings out their best. And it’s the role of leaders at every level to create and continually build that type of organizational culture.

What Makes a Winning Organizational Culture

Over the years, I’ve drawn much inspiration from the best coaches in professional sports, primarily in football. Their job aligns closely with ours as organizational leaders—they must unite diverse individuals, instill discipline, and sustain high performance over a period of time. From their successes, I distilled three principles that all business leaders can take away from them in terms of building a winning organizational culture:

1. Foster a Burning Desire to Improve Culture. Culture isn’t a box to check. Building and maintaining it is a lifelong endeavor, requiring relentless commitment from leadership. It’s about daily investments, not sporadic campaigns.
2. Coach, Don’t Just Manage. Employees crave mentorship, not micromanagement. A coach provides feedback, challenges potential, and celebrates growth. It’s about empowering people to thrive both as professionals and as individuals.
3. Generate Positive Energy. Leadership sets the tone. The energy we bring to work each day directly impacts everyone around us. Positivity isn’t just feel-good fluff—it’s a driving force behind creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

I shared stories of leaders—ordinary people with extraordinary drive—bringing these principles to life in their organizations.

Why Culture Is Non-Negotiable

The statistics are sobering, and I highlighted them to underscore the urgency of this conversation. Nearly $8.9 trillion is lost in global GDP due to low engagement. To put that in perspective, 62% of the workforce admits to being disconnected from their roles, while over 50% are actively looking for new opportunities.

This data illustrates the stakes. Disengagement doesn’t just hurt morale—it erodes innovation, productivity, and the ability to retain top talent. At its core, most disengagement stems from the lack of a defined and meaningful organizational culture.

Here’s the good news. Creating such a culture doesn’t require unlimited resources or monumental changes. It begins with a commitment to actions that foster purpose, community, and connection. Employees don’t want to feel like cogs in a machine. They want to be part of something greater, to have leaders who walk alongside them, and to have their strengths celebrated rather than their weaknesses magnified.

Common Myths About Organizational Culture

Throughout the keynote, I challenged widely held assumptions. Organizational culture isn’t about trendy perks or casual dress codes. It’s not “rah-rah” mission statements or empty commitments. And it’s not about making everyone happy.

True organizational culture goes much deeper. It’s about shared beliefs, purposeful behaviors, and creating experiences that inspire people to become the best version of themselves.

A Practical Framework for Building Exceptional Culture

To make the abstract more actionable, I offered the audience a five-step framework to create a world-class organizational culture that endures over time. This approach isn’t just theoretical—it’s based on a decade of experience partnering with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

1. Define. First, gain clarity by designing the environment you envision. Write a Cultural Purpose Statement (CPS), a guiding mantra that aligns the team.
2. Discover. Build trust and psychological safety by seeking feedback from your people. What’s working? What needs improvement? Listening is one thing, but responding with action is where transformation begins.
3. Launch. Culture is not an announcement; it’s a marathon. Consistently cascade and embed the vision across every touchpoint.
4. Impact. Treat culture as a foundation, not a standalone initiative. Resist the urge to check a box and move on. The goal is sustained impact over time.
5. Lead. The secret sauce of every successful culture is leadership. Exemplary leaders embody the behaviors they wish to see, creating alignment that drives execution.

The Ultimate Differentiator

To close the keynote, I left the audience with this thought: in its most simplistic form, organizational culture is behavior at scale. The way your teams operate behind closed doors, the passion they bring to their daily work, the alignment of their hearts and minds—this is culture in its truest sense. And it’s the number one determinant of an organization’s ability to thrive.

Building and sustaining organizational culture is not a luxury; it’s a business necessity. When leaders earnestly invest in their people, define their culture, and commit to cultural excellence, the rewards are transformational. Think higher engagement, stronger retention, and teams brimming with creative energy, driving consistent results.

Leadership is the ultimate differentiator. Leaders, at their best, inspire individuals to pursue greatness within an organizational culture that makes it possible.

Culture is the way forward. It’s time to step up, build something extraordinary, and lead with intent.

If you’re ready to elevate your organization’s culture, we’d love to help you on that journey. Reach out, and together, we can build a foundation that drives speed, impact, and excellence.

The post Change Organizational Culture, Change Your Future appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

Gaining a firm understanding and making improvements in this area could potentially turn the tables in your favor.

The Critical Role of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the bedrock of a healthy and successful employee journey. Engaged employees are not only more productive but also less likely to leave. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report, more than half of the world’s workers are actively looking for new employment. The study also discovered that low employee engagement costs the global economy nearly $8.9 trillion in lost GDP, with nearly 62% of workers disengaged.

Let’s look at some key areas that lead to increased employee engagement and a more fulfilling employee journey. When the employee experience improves, it allows for a better customer and client experience.

Onboarding: The First Impression Matters

It all starts with a well-intentioned, structured onboarding process. Onboarding is not just a formality; it’s an imperative that shapes an employee’s perception of the company’s culture and long-term commitment to its people. Harvard Business Review found that companies with a formal onboarding program saw 50% greater employee retention among recruits and a 62% increase in their productivity.

A company’s onboarding program can make or break the success of new team members, and I frequently see organizations merely checking the boxes when it comes to onboarding. An effective onboarding program sets the tone, clarifies expectations, and immerses new team members in their new roles.

Zappos, the online shoe and clothing retailer, has been known for its exceptional onboarding process, which has become an industry benchmark. The company’s program introduces new hires to their roles and deeply integrates them into Zappos’ unique culture.

The onboarding process started with a four-week program that included extensive training on the company’s culture, customer service principles, and history. Two weeks in, Zappos raises a unique proposition to ensure total commitment: They offered each new hire $2,000 to leave the company if it wasn’t the right fit for them. While unorthodox, this bold move underscores the importance Zappos places on culture and mission.

Zappos prioritized a comprehensive and culture-focused onboarding process, which clarified expectations and immersed new team members in the company’s ethos from the very beginning.

Continuous Learning and Development

Modern employees crave growth and development. This LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development. Regular training sessions, workshops, and access to online courses can significantly enhance employee satisfaction and loyalty.

Continuous investment in learning and development is more than a supplementary benefit or an initiative you address when things slow down. It’s an undeniable strategy for improving organizational performance and employee engagement.

Example in Action

An established retail chain formalized and personalized employee career development plans, resulting in a 20% increase in employee satisfaction and a visible decrease in voluntary turnover. Although the company only previously prioritized these developmental plans a few times a year to supplement existing meetings, they are now the primary focus of weekly and monthly assessments.

What began as a performance-driven initiative significantly improved morale, culture, and employee retention during rapid change and external headwinds.

Career Progression Planning

Clarity in career progression can dramatically impact employee motivation and reduce turnover. A study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior in 2020 revealed that employees who perceive clear career pathways within their organizations are 20% more likely to be engaged and less likely to leave.

The individual and organization suffer without a visual representation of where employees are and their future career paths. Employees may feel stagnant, uncertain, and overlooked, while the company misses out on potential talent retention and development.

To combat this, organizations must prioritize career progression planning. This involves creating clear and defined pathways for employees to move up within their roles or transition into new positions. Career discussions should be regular and open, with managers actively seeking to understand employee goals and interests. Resources such as training opportunities, mentorship programs, and job shadowing experiences can also help employees explore potential career paths within the organization.

Example in Action

A manufacturing company implemented career progression planning that heavily aligned with employees’ personal and professional goals, reducing voluntary turnover by 10% within a year. Connecting personal ambitions with team members’ professional goals sparked enthusiasm and reinforced to each employee that the organization cared about their people’s future.

Connecting the personal and professional was only one component. Another critical element was that divisions had a visual roadmap of each position and role and the natural progression from where they were now. It also provided context for the various options available if someone wanted to join a different division or business unit.

The Power of Exit Interviews

Understanding why employees leave is invaluable for improving the employee journey for future hires. Data from Glassdoor indicates that 35% of employees are more likely to engage in an exit interview if they believe it will lead to positive organizational changes. Exit interviews provide a safe and confidential space for employees to share their constructive feedback, providing employers with valuable insights into the areas they can improve.

This allows leaders to gather data on why employees leave and identify any patterns or trends in turnover. By analyzing this information, organizations can make the necessary changes to prevent future attrition and ensure employee satisfaction.

Exit interviews also offer employers an opportunity to gather honest feedback on company culture, management styles, and overall job satisfaction. This information can help organizations make meaningful improvements that drastically benefit the employee journey.

Example in Action

An automotive company conducted structured exit interviews, which led to adjustments in their leadership styles and work environment and contributed to a 10% reduction in turnover in the first year. As they gathered information during exit interviews, a few common themes emerged that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Structured exit interviews also provided analysis and were used as part of a three-month training curriculum for all people managers. The power was not just in conducting the exit interviews but also in leadership acting on the critical information received.

Heart and Soul

Prioritizing the employee journey is essential for building a thriving workplace culture and reducing turnover. As organizations evolve, investing in the employee experience will ultimately yield high dividends in retention, engagement, and organizational success. Embracing this approach is more than just a feel-good strategy; it is essential for developing a resilient and motivated workforce.

People are not an expendable line on a balance sheet—they are your company’s heart and soul. Ultimately, a fulfilled and empowered workforce is crucial to success in today’s business world. So, let’s start prioritizing the employee journey right now; it’s not a burden or extra cost but an investment in your company’s future.

The post Navigating the Employee Journey and Transforming Turnover appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

As outlined in my new Wall Street Journal bestseller, Culture Is the Way, investing in a positive and supportive workplace increases engagement and fosters a winning culture. Achieving this means developing, shaping, and driving cultural excellence through employee-centric practices, such as tailored evaluations.

Personalized performance reviews offer several benefits that make them a cornerstone of modern talent management. They facilitate effective communication, which a 2022 Gallup study found leads to four times more employee engagement. Research also indicates that those who feel recognized and appreciated in the workplace experience greater job satisfaction, contributing to a 14.9% reduction in employee turnover. When you prioritize employee growth through effective performance reviews, you retain top talent and attract it—giving your company a competitive edge.

Conducting Effective Performance Reviews

The following are six suggestions for conducting more personalized performance reviews.

1. Create a Dialogue

This ongoing process should be a two-way conversation between the employee and manager rather than a one-sided assessment. Listening to your employees’ concerns, ideas, and aspirations builds more supportive and trusting relationships. The greater the presence of trust and support, the more effective performance reviews become.

2. Offer Regular Feedback 

Instead of waiting for annual performance reviews, try providing ongoing feedback that’s relevant, constructive, and actionable; this allows your employees to adjust their performance and reinforces positive cultural norms.

3. Encourage Self-Reflection

Ask employees to reflect on their performance and identify areas of strength and opportunity. By advocating self-reflection, managers help employees take ownership of their professional journey. It also provides valuable insight into your team members’ self-perceptions.

4. Discuss Development

Provide opportunities for professional development, including training programs, mentorships, and career advancement initiatives. By investing in employees, you demonstrate commitment to their long-term growth. Helping your team members craft a plan detailing the steps to their on-the-job success is valuable to them and offers you an extraordinary return on investment. All effective performance reviews include a clearly defined roadmap for continuous growth and development that carries over to everyday activities.

5. Celebrate Small Wins

No matter how small, a step in the right direction is worth celebrating. That’s because, according to a recent McKinsey study, 55% of employee satisfaction comes from nonfinancial recognition. Sending a quick email or pulling an employee aside to offer praise can significantly impact team morale. Effective performance reviews involve more than just discussing areas for improvement. It’s essential to recognize team members’ strengths and acknowledge their small victories.

6. Set Clear Expectations for Performance Reviews

Work with employees to set clear expectations and goals that align with organizational values. Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals helps your employees understand how their contributions fit into the bigger picture. Failing to set clear expectations breeds uncertainty, which can be disastrous. 

As companies strive for innovation and adaptability, they must acknowledge the importance of nurturing talent at a granular level. By customizing performance reviews to the distinct characteristics of each employee, you can create a genuine sense of ownership and pride among your teams. At a time when the only consistent thing is change, embracing the individual and acknowledging their contributions through personalized performance reviews will propel your organization toward a brighter, more prosperous future.

The post Conducting Effective Performance Reviews appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

There is no doubt that the last three years have been extremely difficult for organizations and their leaders to not only deliver results but also navigate the complexity of the changing work dynamics. Some businesses are entirely remote, while others have taken a hybrid approach or attempted to bring employees back into the office.

Regardless of where an organization stands in the evolving dynamics of work and how work is performed, one imperative has taken a significant hit: driving organizational and employee engagement. Leaders and people managers have found the job of employee engagement to be more difficult than ever, and what many employees responded to previously will most likely fall on deaf ears now.

Inspiring greater employee engagement has never been more important than it is now. And if an organization and its leaders don’t have a well-thought-out plan for increasing engagement and creating a healthier workplace, this needs to be front and center every day.

Gallup states that sleeping is the only activity that most of us engage in more than work throughout our lives. According to estimates, we spend approximately 81,396 hours working. Furthermore, 60% of global workers are emotionally disconnected from their jobs.

Leaders must not only understand what will move the needle in terms of increasing engagement but also actively seek new and innovative ways to advance their efforts. Here are a few suggestions to consider.

Highlight the Voice of the Employee

Failing to regularly highlight the voice of the employee is a surefire way to undermine employee engagement and keep it at a standstill. To highlight the employee voice, it’s important to set up a system and process for regularly collecting employees’ ideas and suggestions about how the company can better support them and help them do their best work.

The level of employee engagement can be significantly increased when employees feel that their opinions matter and the leaders of the organization consistently provide a platform to hear them out.

Initially, this may seem like a waste of time that will only encourage complaining. However, when leaders clarify that the objective is not to assign blame or make excuses but rather to seek solutions to improve the organization, the tone begins to shift.

Start today by highlighting the voice of the employee and testing what works best for your organization and team. Establish a regular rhythm and adjust as you go.

Examine and Improve the Employee Experience

The customer experience is always a top priority for most business leaders, but it’s also important to examine the employee experience in your company. Is it reviewed, tweaked, and improved in the same way that efforts to provide better customer experiences are?

It is critical to remember that when the employee experience is enhanced and improved, it directly translates into a better customer experience. At the end of the day, it is your people, your organization’s employees, who are responsible for providing exceptional customer experiences.

Examine the entire employee journey within your organization, not just the onboarding procedure and experience for all new hires. What can be made better? What should your company stop doing?

Manager Training and Upskilling 

Few things have a greater impact on employee performance and engagement than the performance of your managers.

When it comes to increasing employee engagement, how important is the performance of managers within an organization? At least 70% of an organization’s engagement scores are accounted for by managers.

Boosting employee morale and productivity is a top priority for any business. Make sure all managers are regularly trained on the necessary competencies and skills. Don’t just rely on communicating the significance of it.

Inspiring greater employee engagement is crucial not only for enhancing the culture of an organization but also for transforming its business performance. Take responsibility for it now.

The post How Leaders Can Inspire Employee Engagement appeared first on Matt Mayberry.

There are a ton of reasons that may be hindering an organizations success, but one key area that majority of companies completely neglect or refuse to pay any attention to is their employees’ personal dreams and desires.

I recently spent some time with Infusionsoft at their headquarters in Chandler, Arizona. You may have heard of them already, but Infusionsoft is a complete sales and marketing automation software for small businesses. I was completely blown away by their positive and healthy culture, employees and everyone’s eagerness to build the company to even greater success.

There are plenty of people who deserve credit for the culture at Infusionsoft, especially their CEO Clate Mask. What took me by surprise though was to find out that they have someone on staff who is actually labeled as their dream manager. Dan Ralphs, who is the dream manager at Infusionsoft, has one job description — to help the employees of the company achieve their personal dreams.

One of the company’s employees a few years back had read The Dream Manager by bestselling author Matthew Kelly. He loved the book so much that he desperately wanted to get it in the hands of Clate Mask, the CEO of the company. Being an avid reader and leader who is always looking to grow himself, Clate accepted the book and read it on a flight. Once he was finished with the book, he immediately knew that Infusionsoft was going to going to have a dream manager on staff.

In the book, Kelly writes, “The future of your organization and the potential of your employees are intertwined — their destinies are linked.” At Infusionsoft, you see this clearly, as employees are actively engaged in the workplace while passionately helping the organization build towards the grander vision while in return, the organization is passionately helping employees work towards their biggest personal dreams.

When talking to some of the employees at Infusionsoft, I would hear things such as, “I ran my first marathon because of Infusionsoft” or “I am almost out of debt because of Infusionsoft.” Hearing some of the personal dreams that have been accomplished is truly astonishing. Infusionsoft isn’t making miracles happen to make dreams come true for their employees, but they do show them that they immensely care about them as people and want to provide them with the resources and tools to help them achieve some of their biggest dreams in life. In return, they have employees who are extremely passionate about the company that they work for and are actively engaged in the workplace.

“The Dream Manager concept provides a revolutionary way of reversing this crippling trend toward disengagement and demonstrates how organizations large and small can actively engage their people once again, thus creating a competitive advantage of monumental proportions,” Kelly says.

You might be asking, how exactly does the dream manager program work? At Infusionsoft, every employee has the opportunity to meet with Dan Ralphs, the company’s dream manager. He asks them to write down one hundred dreams and eventually they pick one dream together and start to develop a plan on how to accomplish it. From there they have follow up meetings and track the progress of where everyone is at in relation to achieving their dream for the year.

The absolute best way to transform a company is to transform the people within that company. Regardless of what industry you are in or how big or small your company is, one of the best ways to engage your people, create a healthy culture, and get everyone on board to work towards the organization’s grander vision is to care and help them achieve their personal dreams.

You may come up with something completely different than what Infusionsoft has adopted or what Mattew Kelly writes about in his book,The Dream Manager, but the one thing you can’t ignore is constantly looking for ways to grow and develop your people. After all, your company can only become as great as the people within it.

Originally Posted on Entrepreneur.com

Image credit: José Manuel Ríos Valiente | Flickr

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Those who perform at an extremely high level understand the importance of teamwork and culture.

Here are three things the highest performing teams do differently.

1. Vision

I have seen time and time again a pretty substantial separation between management and employees as to what the exact vision is. That seperation can be extremely toxic.

When a football team begins a new season, the common goal is always to win a championship. From that point on, the same goal will be revisited with every team meeting during the regular season. Everyone from the coaches, players and support staff know exactly what the vision and direction for the team is headed forward. This is reinforcing the major goal and the vision that keeps everyone on the same page.

To truly thrive as a company, everyone within the organization has to buy in to what the vision is, and not only that, but come together to make that a reality in everything that the company does.

2. Authentic leadership

The best leaders in this world are authentic leaders. The best coaches I ever had were the ones who were authentic — those who truly cared and appreciated their players showing up to work every day and giving maximum effort. The same goes for the business world. The success of a company starts and ends with the leadership of that company. Just as John Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

If employees feel that their boss truly values them and their work, they will be motivated to give their all every day. I recently spoke to the staff of a Fortune 500 company and was blown away by not only their organizational structure, but their effectiveness to produce. During lunch when I had the opportunity to chat with a few employees, the answer was always the same: “Our leadership is superb. They really care about us as people.”

What a profound statement.

3. Communication

The teams that fail in the communication department are quickly headed for dysfunction. Being able to express a concern, pick a teammate up or simply have a voice in the company makes a tremendous difference in its growth.

Create a culture where everyone feels they have a voice and soon you will have a company that can endure almost anything by simply talking things through. On the gridiron, when a big play was given up or something went wrong, it was usually a miscommunication error. Not communicating properly is a catalyst for mediocrity whether on the football field or in the workplace.

Creating a world class team takes a lot of work, but if you are willing to do the little things day in and day out, eventually together you will be able to conquer the bigger challenges that lie ahead.

It’s an incredible sight to see a team thrive on all levels and come together for a common goal. Let these three principles be a guiding light for you and your company to take your success and performance to the next level.

The highest performing teams are dedicated to each other and to the team’s overall success. If they can do it, so can you.

Originally Posted on Entrepreneur.com

The post 3 Things Shared by Highest Performing Teams appeared first on Matt Mayberry.