Welcome back Viphilus*
This post will be short and sweet (pun intended).
I love pie. Any kind of pie: fruit - meat - vegetable - custard - sweet - savoury. I just love pie. My family figured out quickly that for my birthday I didn't want cake ... I wanted pie.
I always thought Marie Antoinette should have said, "Let them eat pie," instead of, "Let them eat cake." (I know I know .... that myth has been busted and historians agreed that she never actually said that ... I just wanted to tell you how much I love pie!)
If you wish to engage any human being, and you are in the role of leader, manager, supervisor, pastor, guardian, adviser, counsellor, mentor, parent (... you get the point ...) then please burn the following into your brain:
Let them eat PIE
Of course ... I'm talking about Purpose - Identity - Empowerment
If you are intentional ... really intentional ... and constantly have these words, and their implications at the front of your mind when leading, counselling, parenting, etc., you will have found magic keys to unlocking their engagement. The real magic though comes in your intentionality to keep this in front of you at all times.
So far this month I've introduced PIE, given examples of PIE from my own life, including how to better engage your restaurant server, and led you through some questions about your own engagement. I want to simply end this month by looking at PIE from a very very practical perspective ... what NOT to do.
PURPOSE & EMPOWERMENT
The following statement is very reductionistic, but for the most part I think it's pretty accurate. There are two kinds of organizations: those that are mission-driven and those that are compliance-driven.
Mission-driven organizations have a prime directive of serving clients; they take their workers on an engagement adventure that excites and satisfies. Rules exist and and must be followed, but they are subordinate to the mission of serving clients. Workers in this kind of organization are clear on what they are supposed to do so they are always in forward mode. These organizations have the greatest chance of satisfying clients and almost guarantee being a great place to work.
Compliance-driven organizations have a prime directive of following of rules; they keep their workers from any/every adventure because adventures are accompanied by risk ... and a compliance mindset is risk averse (or even completely risk avoiding). Rules exist and must be followed, even at the risk (irony not lost on me) of disappointing clients. Workers in this kind of organization are clear on what they can't do and are usually in stop mode (or slow forward at best ... but usually only because a few adventurers forge the paths). These organizations have the least chance of satisfying clients and almost guarantee being a horrid place to work.
Purpose and empowerment overlap here because organizations that have a clear client-focus and mission-mindset also tend to empower their staff by default ... and get out of their way. Mission enlivens the soul; compliance sucks the life out of the soul.
NEVER allow compliance to become more important than mission, unless your goal is disengagement.
CAUTION: If you are in an organization that has a grand client-serving mission but is also subject to excruciating bureaucracy ... such as in many government departments ... the tension between these two extremes can be, at times, impossible to navigate.
IDENTITY
There are so many angles to this one so I will pick just one for this post. If you are responsible to engage a number of different people then you need to understand that you are managing an emotional economy. Each person is different, coming with different skills, talents, experiences, temperaments and baggage. Knowing your people and their differences ... AND THEN DEPLOYING THEM ACCORDINGLY ... will be one of the most engaging things you can do for them.
average managers play checkers with their people ...
... great managers play chess with them!
Remember that proverbial "square peg in a round hole?" Well, STOP putting your square pegs in round holes ... it's disengaging to them.
Whenever you are able, where it makes good business sense to do it, deploy your people like chess pieces, not like checkers pieces. They aren't all the same and it's soul-crushing to be treated identically to everyone else when a person is able to make a unique contribution. It's also just plain dumb to use everyone the same way.
This will mean that everyone should NOT be treated exactly the same ... they shouldn't ALL get exactly the same opportunities (other than the opportunity to be allowed to work according to their skills and passions).
Our politically correct practices of "equality" run the risk of being very dispiriting because it runs afoul of personal identity. Instead, since IDENTITY is one of the keys to engagement, let's practice "substantive equity," which celebrates uniqueness.
In other words ... always make your engagement efforts PERSONAL... always make the person in front of you feel like the organization's success somehow hinges completely on them ... even when you are explaining how it's all about the team.
I hope you come back in May when I'll be talking about prime movers.
Blessings Viphilus,
Your friend, Omega Man
* Viphilus means, "lover of life"
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