Friday, March 22, 2013

When I Stop Talking, You Should Get Nervous

As a mother of three energetic, creative daughters, I have come to learn that when they stop talking, I need to pay attention.  When I stop hearing them ask for something, nag at each other or just overall go on radio silence, I know something is up.  Unfortunately, the old saying "no news is good news" is not the case in this instance.  Come on, I know you can relate to what I am saying.  It goes from a loud, obnoxious roar to silence.  Then, the next thing you know finger paints are out and you have had your bedroom redecorated.  Let's just hope the paints were washable.

As someone who has spent my entire professional career focused on people, I have found this holds true in the workplace as well.  All of us have had or currently have the opportunity to work with talented individuals who openly share their opinions with us and others.  At times, the opinions being shared may not be ones we want to hear but we hear them regardless.  We have perhaps even prayed that those individuals would stop talking and just remain silent for a period of time.



Just like our children, when your employees who are typically out-spoken and open to sharing stop talking, you should get nervous.  In many instances, this change in behavior is not because they have  become introverts and less driven to provide feedback.  We all know, behaviors don't change dramatically over time.  It comes down to a change in their engagement, a feeling of lack of interest or just overall defeat.

You see, employees who openly share their thoughts, opinions and feelings do so because they care.  I worked with an individual back in the day who was incredibly passionate about not only his role but the organization.  At times, his approach to providing feedback was a bit unorthodox but he genuinely cared which is why he was so open with his opinions.  Then over time, he became less vocal.  He came to work, did his job and went home.  His engagement was dropping dramatically and no one even took the time to recognize it.  The company was growing quickly and leadership was less concerned with hearing what employees had to say.  Their focus was no longer on their people but on building a global footprint.

Does this sound familiar to you at all?  Have you had employees who have stopped talking either suddenly or over the course of time?  If you look at recent research published by Gallup, you will see we are all being affected by this trend.  Over 71% of workers are not engaged in their jobs.  Even more alarming is that 19% are actively disengaged.  Those are staggering numbers and quite frightening. 

So I ask you this question, are you even slightly nervous that your people have stopped talking?  If you're not, you should be.  Something is going on and it's up to you to find out what it is.  If you don't, your competitors might find out about it when they leave and go somewhere they feel valued and listened to.   It doesn't take a lot to make an employee feel valued.  It just takes time and commitment and a little bit of listening.  Are you ready to hear what they have to say?


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