Jennifer is the managing partner of SkillSource, a company that teaches professionals to leverage their personal influence in a character-based way. Jennifer, who bills herself as a Political Advisor for Positive Office Politics, is a guest columnist for OfficePolitics.com. A former human resources generalist, training facilitator and corporate manager, she’s a self-professed “professional people watcher.” In 2009 Jennifer launched The People Equation, a web site that SmartBrief Media Company features as one of its “Leadership Blogs We Like”. SmartBlogs on Leadership has praised Jennifer, saying she “leverages her observational skills to provide bosses with insights into their teams’ successes and failures”. For more information, contact Jennifer at jmiller@people-equation.com.

The Seven Moods of Employee Engagement

by Jennifer Miller

On this morning’s walk I saw a typical sight: kids waiting at a school bus stop. There were six elementary-aged kids, all lined up, hoods drawn up around their heads to ward off the chill in the Michigan air. Their body language telegraphed various attitudes: duty, sleepiness, and watchfulness. Six kids waiting for their day to begin.

And then, there was the seventh kid; probably someone’s little brother. He was about three years old and he also sported the hood drawn up around his ears. But he wasn’t standing in line. Oh no, he was having fun. As the others stood mutely more or less in a row, Little Brother danced around all of them, chanting in a sing-song, “Catch me if you can . . .catch me if you can. . .”

Nobody took him up on it. But that didn’t appear to quell his enthusiasm. He just kept on circling the group, repeating his chant.

It made me smile. And it immediately drew my mind to the workplace—isn’t that just how it is? For every happy, engaged employee, you’ve got six others that are at best, impassive and at worst, toxic. Given the research that suggests that happy people are more engaged at work, leaders have got to find a way to create workplace environments that promote if not happiness, then at least less grumpiness. We’ve got to find a way to nurture more Little Brothers in the office. Well, maybe except for the skipping and dancing part. Or maybe not.

It’s sort of like the Seven Moods of Employee Engagement: leaders need to learn coax the troublesome types out of their moods in order to create the most productive and engaged work environment.

In addition to the “Happy”s of the world, here are other possible Seven Moods for your perusal. Do you recognize any of these players in your workplace?

• Entitled
• Disgruntled
• Listless
• Gossipy
• Clueless
• Pushy

Of course, the list above is tongue-in-cheek, with a focus on the negative aspects. I could easily create a more productive employee list such as Disciplined, Energetic, Thoughtful, Creative, Collaborative, Ethical, and Culturally Aware.

Questions: as a leader, what’s on your list for the Seven Moods of Employee Engagement? And how do you create a place where there are more Happys and less Entitleds?

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TFWToday - July 26, 2011

Jacquie is a systems analyst for a large IT company who was hired about six months ago. One day, while participating in a cross-functional brainstorming meeting, Jacquie offered up an idea that didn’t get a lot of response at the meeting, either negative or positive. So she figured it wasn’t a viable idea. Imagine her surprise when, at the next project team meeting, the exact same idea was offered up by Cory, a vice president with the company. This time, everyone loved the idea; it was discussed thoroughly and considered as a possible contender for the new product launch.

Jacquie left the meeting wondering, “What just happened here? Did Cory steal my idea?”

What did just happen? Was Cory’s an innocent mistake, or is something more nefarious afoot? In the workplace, the term “office politics” is often associated with negative behaviors. The website commercedictionary.com defines office politics as “the ways in which the people in a workplace relate to and behave towards each other, especially the ways in which people use the power and status they have.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with people who use power and status, but it’s the way in which they use it that gives office politics its bad name. Can there possibly be an upside to playing office politics? Indeed, there is. According to research conducting by the authors of the book Political Skill at Work, if a person has effective interpersonal skills, they will actually be perceived more favorably. Says Gerald Ferris, a Professor at the University of Florida, and one of the book’s co-authors: “truly skillful execution of the behaviors associated with politics is usually perceived as genuine, authentic, straightforward and effective.”  The upshot: if you play office politics well, you won’t be called “political,” you’ll be called “good with people”.

But can you play office politics without lowering your professional standards? Yes! First, it starts with a shift in your mindset: being “politically savvy” doesn’t have to be sneaky. Or greedy. Or Machiavellian. Or any of the countless other nasty words you can conjure up for the images of “people behaving badly” that you’ve witnessed in the office. In order for your political skills to work in your favor, you must operate from an ethical perspective, always. When you act, you must think: who else besides you benefits from the action I’m taking? Can’t come up with an answer? Then you’ll need to rethink your strategy. If the company, your department, a co-worker . . . some entity besides you doesn’t benefit, then it’s “playing politics” in the unsavory sense.

Here are three key things to help you maintain your ethical frame of mind:

1.       Everyone plays office politics, even in the “nice” companies. All companies have office politics, even those with positive, employee-friendly workplace cultures. Acknowledge it and learn to live with it. Just don’t go to the “dark side” with your actions.

2.       Learn to separate good intent from bad intent. Not everyone is out to get you. Even good people make bad choices. Whenever someone seems to be “playing politics”, ask yourself: “is this person’s true intention to do me harm? Or can there be some other possible explanation?”

3.       You don’t have control over the entire political climate at your office. You do have control over your response to your own situation. So even if the overall work environment is a toxic, you don’t have to play that game. You always have a choice to take the ethical route.

Let’s return to the story of Jacquie and Cory. Fast-forward three months and Jacquie’s at yet another cross-functional team meeting. She has decided not to sulk about her “stolen” idea, and offers up a new and unique idea to the team. This time, Cory is on board, saying, “We need to listen to Jacquie’s idea. . .it really has merit.” So, is Cory an Evil Idea-Stealer, or just a Forgetful Member of Management? After some reflection on the situation, Jacquie decided that Cory a decent enough person. Jacquie has decided that maybe Cory offered her idea up again in a way that was more appealing to the project team. Of course, it would have been preferable for Cory to position it as Jacquie’s idea, no matter when it was presented. In either case, Jacquie has decided to take the high road and refrain from calling Cory out on the situation.