Mindbloom

Sep 19, 2023

I write about the mindset and skillsets of effective leadership. Got it! getty Is attracting and retaining top talent on the top of your worry list these days? If so, you’re not alone. In the recently released 2023 Global Leadership Forecast , Development Dimensions International (DDI) reports that attracting and retaining top talent is the number one thing keeping CEOs up at night. In today’s rapidly changing business world, leaders are always looking for a competitive advantage. Emotionally intelligent leaders have always intuitively known that improving employee experience (EX) is vital to business success. Herb Kelleher, the founder and first CEO of Southwest Airlines said, “Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.” What Kelleher understood in his gut has been shown in the research on retention and engagement. The American Psychological Association reports that very few employees would leave an organization if they felt that the leadership was fully invested in their experience, and 89% would recommend their workplace to others. Gartner research shows that high EX human-centric work environments are 3.1x more likely to see low levels of fatigue among employees and 3.8x more likely to exhibit high performance. The power of high EX also translates directly to the bottom line. Research from Salesforce found that a company could increase revenues by up to 50% by improving the employee experience. Why Is Employee Experience so important? Experiences are the foundation of every type of human relationship. What we think and how we feel about someone (family members, colleagues, neighbors, etc.) or something (airlines, sports teams, types of soap, etc.) is entirely shaped by the practical contact we have with or about that person or thing. Each touch point leaves an impression: positive, negative, or neutral. Jan Carlzon, the former CEO of SAS (Scandinavian Airline Systems), called these contacts “moments of truth.” MORE FOR YOU EX is the perceived sum of all the moments of truth your employees have with you and your company, right from the very first moment they learned of your existence. In today’s digital world of transparency, employees have incredible choices. If an employee can jump ship to work for another company for 15% higher base pay and similar benefits, then EX becomes a tremendous differentiator of value. How to Start Improving the Employee Experience Trying to improve EX for your team may feel overwhelming. After all, EX is the sum of every “moment of truth” each employee has had with your company. That’s a lot of data points. Where should a leader start? To improve EX, consider using a strategy like the one suggested for eating an elephant: One bite at a time. It’s useful to remember that improving EX isn’t something that you directly do. It’s an outcome that results after other intentional actions that you take. To cut EX down to a more manageable size, consider IBM ’s framework that captures the five core dimensions of employee experience. These are: Belonging – feeling part of a team, group or organization Purpose – understanding why one’s work matters Achievement – a sense of accomplishment in the work that is done Happiness – the pleasant feeling arising in and around work Vigor – the presence of energy, enthusiasm, and excitement at work Here are examples of some practical actions that companies have been successfully using with their teams. Belonging: Intentional In-Person Gatherings In the early days of 2020, Workleap , a Quebec-based EX software company, invested millions in a beautiful new office. Then the pandemic hit. As CEO Simon De Baene shared, “The pandemic forced us to rethink everything. We’d thought if we had the best office, with perks like an in-house barista, our employees would have a great experience. But we learned that employees don’t actually want a cool new coffee station with cold brew. They want to be surrounded by talented people who help them progress in their career, and be a part of something exciting.” Given their people and their industry, Workleap became a ‘remote forever’ company. The leadership is focused on giving their employees the right tools, processes and policies so they show up to work passionately, and their data supports this approach. According to a recent Officevibe study, organizations with higher employee experience investments are 1.5x more likely to have a positive employee outlook. To combat the sense of disconnection and isolation that fully remote work can bring, Workleap flies everyone in to the office two or three times a year for an all-company gathering. As De Baene recounted, “When we see each other, we get the most out of it. Our in-person interactions are intentional—focused on togetherness and belonging. It may include an innovation jam, or a community service project. This creates a buzz that carries us back to our remote locations and sustains us until the next in-person gathering.” Purpose: Tell Client Stories Often Mindbloom provides at-home ketamine therapy for depression and anxiety. CEO and Founder Dylan Beynon shares, “Our clients come to us in their time of need, and every day we hear stunning stories of how this medicine transformed their lives. We’ve made client stories the lifeblood of our work. I highlight them in every Weekly CEO Update, Monthly All-Minds Meeting, Monthly Investor Update, and Quarterly Board Presentation – without names of course. We have an internal communication channel devoted to anonymous client stories, and employees tell me all the time that when they’re struggling, they go to our story channel and are instantly reinvigorated and reminded why we do this work. I’ve read thousands of these stories since we started Mindbloom, and they never cease to inspire and motivate me.” Achievement: Create a “Wall of Wins” Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business School professor has written, “When we think about progress, we often imagine how good it feels to achieve a long-term goal or experience a major breakthrough. These big wins are great—but they are relatively rare. The good news is that even small wins can boost inner work life tremendously. Even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday.” To leverage the value of incremental progress, there’s a powerful tool that I recommend that clients use with their teams: The “Wall of Wins”. The Wall of Wins serves as a central hub for people to share wins and tap into the power of achievement. The concept is quite simple: Whether it’s physical or digital, create a dedicated space where each team member can post ‘wins’ on the wall. The wins can be big or small, personal or professional. Invite others to offer comments on the wins. The process of posting and sharing wins is a catalyst for the positive energy that comes from affirming achievements. This creates a multiplying contagion of celebration that energizes and improves the overall experience of work. Happiness: Flexible Work Schedule Olgam Life operates a number of community-based plasma donation centers. Aliza Naiman, marketing manager, shares, “Olgam implemented a flexible work schedule policy that allows employees to better balance their work and personal lives. This change has led to increased happiness, as employees can adapt their schedules to fit their needs. I've received emails from team members expressing their gratitude for this policy, citing it as a key factor in their happiness at Olgam Life.” Vigor: Improve Meeting Hygiene For many employees, the biggest drain on their energy are poor meetings. A recent survey from the video app company mmhmm reported that that 45% of American workers say their meetings are too long. Nearly half (47%) of workers say that more than half the meetings they attend could be canceled, and a quarter (25%) say more than half of their meetings are useless. Dylan Beynon shares, “At Mindbloom, we keep our team energized by doing away with almost all regular meetings – most employees only have one or two per week. Employees work where they want and when they want, and instead of scheduling meetings they communicate asynchronously through shared documents and email. We have a core value of Focus: Do less, better. Practice deep work. Say no often. Constant meetings destroy focus and increase stress, and our internal research shows that employees love the meeting-free structure because it allows them to get into flow with their most important work, without constant demands and distractions.” When you decide you’re ready to start improving EX, begin by focusing your attention on one dimension at a time. Take stock of the current state of that dimension for your team. (Asking the team for their feedback on each dimension is strongly suggested.) For example, what’s working well to increase belonging? What could make it even better? Next, take some practical actions to improve this dimension of EX for your team. If it’s working, keep doing it. If not, try something different. If you use this process for all five dimensions, over time, EX will improve. Start with your employees, and the rest will follow. Follow me on  Twitter  or  LinkedIn . Check out my  website .