Engaged Leadership - Lesson 9

Well, welcome back. We're in session nine now. And as you know, we just started a new section.

And first of all, we talked about the development of wellness within your team and how collaboration can actually help put the pieces of the puzzle together and build the type of teams that are gonna be productive, perform at a high level and help bring in the funding that's necessary to achieve their mission, vision and values. So what are we gonna focus on today? Engagement that literally drives the wellness of the whole ministry. So how do we do that? We identify when the employees themselves are actually engaged in the process.

If you have a high percentage of employees that are not engaged in the process, you're not gonna have a healthy culture. When we started this series, we talked about the fact that only 35% of employees are actively engaged in their organization. Some ministries it's a little bit better, some it's worse.

We always like to think that our ministry is better and that we don't have those issues in our area. But this is fact not actually always true. So the first question you would have to ask is: How do we really know if an employee is engaged? Well, people might describe an engaged employee as happy or satisfied.

Some of the better signs of engagement or there's actually a commitment to the organization and its goals. You also going to see this in a willingness by some employees to go above and beyond the course of their duty. But here's the key.

In order to foster an environment where employees actually want to engage, the key is going to be increasing organizational performance. There has to be other people in the organization that they see performing at a high level. If they do not have those examples within the workplace, they have no reason to change the way that they're going.

So what we want to do is help provide those examples through engagement and help people see the difference that a person's attitude can actually make. Years ago, Charles Swindoll said this, "90% of an individual's success is based on their attitude, not so much their skills." And I think we have to remember that in any faith-based institution.

Now, let's talk about some of the facts about engagement in your organization as a whole. We talked about the fact that last year's increase in employee disengagement brought it up to 35% who actually feel like they're engaged in the workplace. The challenge is that only 25% of companies actually have a strategy to help foster active engagement.

In other words, they're not doing anything about it to bring their ministry, their company, or the organization that they're in up to a level to where people really want to be there. Now, here's the scary part, is that organizations in the bottom quartile of engagement have 69% higher absentee rights and 100% more safety incidences. So if you translate that to dollars, for every $10,000 paid in salary to a disengaged employee, they cost the company $3,400 against the bottom line of the organization.

Now, if you're trying to minister to missionaries, or you're trying to focus on fostering children, or you're trying to build a church, 34% of your budget is actively involved in what we call 'leakage.' In other words, we can't see where the money's going, but the productivity and the performance of people is at such a poor rate that we're losing 34% of the income that we have. And whether you want to accept it or not, that's not good stewardship with God's money.

So what we've discovered is that faith-based organizations in the short term that are high engaged see a 20% higher sales or income level in donations and a 60% lower turnover rate. That's significant because in the long term, they reap huge income increases to the point of 756% over an 11-year period. Now, how much more can God use your ministry over an 11-year period with 756% increase? So let's look at a graphic that kind of explains where your organization may or may not be.

You can see it's somewhat of a bell curve from the graphic that we have on the screen right now. The actively disengaged, the somewhat disengaged, the somewhat engaged and the actively disengaged. So let's talk about each one.

The actively engaged are the individuals that work within a company that espouse the core values of the organization and they're actually willing to go the extra mile. They're willing to do the things that are necessary to help make the organization succeed. They may stay a little bit late, they may come a little bit early, but the important thing is they see how their role impacts the mission, vision and values of the organization and they are willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure that they get there.

You see, the top performers look out for the success of the organization. But one thing we have to do is not overload them. Just because they're willing to go the extra mile, we don't want to burn them out.

Now, if you're a pastor or a leader of a ministry, you've had people burn out, I'm sure. And the reason is, is that because they see this vision and because they want to be involved in what's being accomplished with the mission of the organization, they'll go long and hard. But let me also tell you this, people are attracted to nonprofit organizations because they believe in the vision of that faith-based community.

However, we also have to remember that there's a 70% turnover in five years in most faith-based institutions, why? Because when they come in, they are emotionally attached to the mission of the organization. That emotional attachment can only go for so long. They get drained.

And the more they get drained, the faster they're going to burn out. And the truth is, is the more subjective an individual is, the faster the chance of them burning out. So don't overwork your actively engaged people.

Now, let's move on to that somewhat engaged individual. They are the type of people that are willing to work a little bit extra, put in the extra time, but they want some return for that. They want to see a possibility of either moving up a technical line of proficiency or a leadership line.

And it's critical during the onboarding stage that you begin to identify which of those tracks is most important. Just as you helped identify their behaviors and their mindsets in the process, you can also begin to identify what it's going to take to keep them in the organization. If you will refer back to one of our very earliest sessions, you'll remember that I mentioned to you the fact that 74% of the people surveyed in those 1,683 organizations said career path development was the number two request by employees, only two percentage lower than the financial aspects that could harm an organization.

So you can bring those somewhat engaged people into active engagement by helping them understand a career path. And to be honest with you, faith-based organizations are absolutely the worst at doing that. They just say, "If you stick around, you'll move through the organization," but there's very rarely plans that complement that process.

If you don't do this, you are literally going to take their motivation away. And if you take that motivation away, something's going to happen. They're going to move from somewhat engaged into our next stage that is somewhat disengaged because they become disillusioned.

Now, when a person moves from somewhat engaged to somewhat disengaged in an organization, they become a little bit more careless in the way that they approach their jobs, whether it be deadlines, quality of work, communicating with other people in their environment, and making sure that the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed when it comes to the things that are important in their role and with the people that they interact with inter-departmentally with other roles. Communication is a critical, critical issue in many faith-based organizations, especially the larger it gets. So when a person moves into that somewhat disengaged aspect and mentality, they're going to be very hard to keep on task.

They may not be as focused on where they need to be, and they may not be as willing to pivot and spend that extra time in the organization doing the extra steps that are necessary, and it's just as if they're punching a time clock. However, it can even get worse in our next stage, where we see a person actively disengaged. And when a person moves from that somewhat disengaged to the actively disengaged, they literally become passive-aggressive in the way that they approach their job.

They can be antagonistic towards work responsibilities. They may refuse to collaborate with other people that may have valuable information and may have skillsets that they can actually use. But you see, at this particular point, trust is disappearing.

And as trust disappears, they begin to be quiet. And you don't know what's going on with people that are quiet. You may not understand that they are literally sabotaging aspects, whether it be being rude to customers or donors that call in, not completing the forms properly, just rapidly signing off on things that can end up costing us money.

And all of this increases the leakage within an organization. And so the actively disengaged can not only be literally sabotaging through passive-aggressive behavior, but they can also literally have a significant impact on our donor or client base. Here's the worst part, though, that we haven't even addressed, is that this negativity is like a bad apple in a barrel of apples.

It spreads. This attitude is contagious and it can literally infect an organization and move them from greatness to poverty in a very short period of time. Think about this.

When you watch the news, how much of it is really good? After I watch the news, I walk away just kind of shaking my head. What's the world coming to today? It's no different in an organization. When they hear over and over again the fears, the anxieties, and the negativity that is continuously purveyed through these type of people, you're going to have a malaise and corporate wellness doesn't have a chance for survival within the organization.

And when there is no corporate wellness, employees do not engage. When employees do not engage, the mission, vision, and values of the organization will never be realized. Now, how do we actually observe and measure employee engagement? So let's think about how it affects our organizations financially, because God expects us to be good stewards with our money.

And when we are not engaging with our employees, we are literally robbing God because we're not good stewards. Because actively engaged employees are 300% more productive than those that are actively disengaged, yet they both get paid the same thing. How in the world do we deal with this? We have to understand the psychology of engagement, and then we can move employees to the right of the curve rather than the left.

How do we do that? By helping them develop growth mindsets. Growth mindsets are all of those aspects that allow us to use our brain and those experiences to become a better person. In other words, we're humble enough inside to accept someone's guidance, to take what they have to offer, because everyone has something to offer.

And it's critical that we understand that that is the situation. If you refer back to lesson number five on our coachability and feedback session, you remember that humility was the number one factor that we must see in an individual to grow. Because fixed mindsets are not humble mindsets.

Fixed mindsets are about trying to coast on the skills and the knowledge that you already have. And one of the things that we know for sure is that you're never really stable with a fixed mindset. You're actually regressing.

So if you look at the graphic that we have on the screen now, you'll see that fixed mindsets look smart at all costs, but the growth mindset is teach me, teach me, teach me. Another thing you may notice is that fixed mindsets in this graphic say, if I have to work hard, I'm not very smart. And that's not true.

You may have a brilliant, brilliant mind, but if you don't put it to work, you're not really that smart. A growth mindset says, I'm gonna work hard because effort is part of the key of executing on the humility that I have. So think about it this way.

That growth mindset is gonna confront the deficiencies and it's gonna capitalize on mistakes. And I know I've said this before, but think about the sanctification process. We're gonna make mistakes.

You're never gonna be Jesus. There was only one of him. So take those deficiencies and those mistakes that you make and internalize it and say, "Lord, keep me from making that same kind of mistake again."

Grow me through this process, embed it in my memory and help me be a leader that can accept mistakes, but ensure that the person grows through the process. Don't be a fixed mindset and hide those mistakes and conceal the deficiencies because when you do, you're not growing. You're not helping yourself and above all else, you're not contributing to the healthy ministry that God intended this to be.

So let's look at this graphic and compare the two of them. A fixed mindset says, "There's no recipe for recovering from failure. I screwed it up, therefore I'm ugly, I'm wrong, I did everything wrong and so forth and so on."

But a growth mindset says, "Wow, a new challenge. I have an opportunity now to get better. And yes, I made a mistake, but what does the Scripture say? We can 'rise up the next morning and fly on wings of eagles.'"

We can move ahead, why? Because even after Paul says very specifically in the seventh chapter of Romans, "that I don't do the things I wanna do and I do the things I don't wanna do, what a wretched man am I?" But look at the next verse. "There's no condemnation to those that are in Christ." You have the ability to wake up the next morning forgiven and being the best you can be.

You can think outside the box rather than use a wrong strategy over and over again. I'm sure that the Lord tires of making you go through the same set of circumstances over and over again, but he will until you learn. A fixed mindset will never scale the corporate ladder.

They'll reach a plateau maybe at where they're going, but they will probably never rise, why? Because statistics show that even in the very best organization, a creative organization possibly has two to three years to where they remain at the top of creativity. After that time, it's more standardization and procedures and they lose that creative aspect. With a growth mindset, the Lord continues to populate your mind with this Holy Spirit.

That's why we grow. That's the purpose of sanctification because we're always looking to improve. And you know what? "Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find." And I love the last part, "Knock and it will be open."

But folks, that word knock does not mean it means bang, bang, bang. Be that relentless person that hits the neighbor at midnight and says, "I'm not gonna quit talking until you give me the bread." Be that Syrophoenician woman that says, even after Jesus says, "We don't cast our crumbs to the dogs." "Yes, but Lord, even the dogs get the crumbs off of the floor." Look to improve, continue to improve and build something that the Lord is in as you continue that growth mindset. Now, let's look at a couple graphs that will help us better understand.

The high D and high I, they're ambitious people normally. The high theoretical wants to find the highway and the high individualistic wants to succeed personally. So it may be a little bit easier for these people.

But the problem is, is that two thirds of our workers are either not engaged or disengaged. This can happen when a person is very subjective and they live off of their emotions rather than the role that they've been assigned. So what happens? 65% of our workers are not engaged.

Subjective people want to go along and get along. So when that happens, we have to create a culture that recognizes and rewards growth, growth mindsets. And if your subjective people see those rewards, they will adapt.

They'll jump in and grow. Many companies offer tuition reimbursement, focus on courses, developing their people. When you do that, you create a long-term employee.

You create a long-term volunteer. You create the motivation for them to continue to learn. And in doing that, you avoid focusing on that little pocket of disengaged employees.

And you recognize the actively engaged employees and just highlight what they're contributing to the organization. When you do that, you set a standard for other people to emulate the way that Jesus set the standard for his disciples and the 500 people that gathered around him after he rose from the dead. That's exciting. Because as you rise in your role in leadership, people will see your integrity. They will be attracted to you, that grace and charisma that God has given you. And they will be attracted to the things that you embrace.

So, as we said earlier, we want to protect these people. We don't wanna push them too hard. They'll burn out.

61% of employees and members of faith-based institutions have gotten ill because of workplace stress. They move too fast. They will not get the recognition they deserve if we don't focus on that growth mindset.

And if they don't get recognition, we know 37% of them are gonna quit right away. And then 40% of employees say that recognition is not a priority in their business. But let me tell you, I don't know anybody that doesn't wanna be recognized for what they've done.

Lastly, they start moving to the lowest common denominator. And 69% say that they would work harder if they were just appreciated. Find people doing something right.

Make heroes out of these people and bring them together by helping them see that they don't just represent themselves, but they represent the organization. And the way that they can make that more highly visible and the way that they can literally enhance their own engagement and wellness is by doing things like volunteering. There's opportunities outside the company that allows you to represent your organization.

Help your employees go through company health and profitability reporting. Show them what can happen the longer they stay. Give them an opportunity to say something about company decisions, especially when it comes to the values.

Because if you begin this in the onboarding process and the career development process, they now have ownership. And once they have ownership, they want to be sure that that gets carried out through the process. And then celebrate their individual victories publicly.

Again, I mentioned it earlier, but I'm gonna say it again. Small book, One Minute Manager, won't cost you but a couple bucks. But read it because it gives you two key principles about praising an employee versus correcting an employee.

So, I've said this many times and I'm gonna repeat it again intentionally. If the employee can see that they contribute to your organization's objectives, they're gonna take greater ownership in the process. And their work and their team's success is going to improve on a regular basis.

So, I encourage you to make sure employees know about your team's mission, vision, and values, your department's mission, vision, and values that support the organization's mission, vision, and values. So, let's think about that. What is the mission? The mission is the 'what.'

It's a concise statement of our strategy. It helps employees see the value of their work. Here's an example of a company.

To enhance our client's market position by providing solutions based on empirical human data. That tells us from a client-focused perspective what we're trying to do. We don't wanna just tell them how great we are.

We wanna tell them how we're actually going to impact their lives and the people that we serve lives. The vision on the other hand is the 'why.' What do you wish your ministry to be? How do you help your employees see how their work is going to impact long-term goals of the organization? If you're a church planning group, "We will plant 1,000 churches over the next five years."

Here's an example for a typical business organization creating next-generational workspaces with employees that catalyze organizational success by fulfilling their purpose personally and professionally. You see, the people are involved as well as the organization. When they see that that is the vision, then it's much easier to buy into because it's not just a big thing and I'm not just a big number.

I'm part of the process. So in order to help your team do its best, workers must see each other doing their best and this requires an environment that encourages a growth mindset. Now, as we close this part out, it's important for us to remember how can we as individuals within an organization promote employee engagement of the organization? Well, first of all, get help from your colleagues.

Ask them, "Hey, would you like to do this? It's really gonna help build our team and grow what we're trying to accomplish." And then after you've accomplished that, share that with other people. Share those wins, not just with your team and supervisors, but during company or organizational meetings.

But make sure you name names. Cause people to stand out. Elevate their dignity and I can assure you that there are younger people within the organization who will want to emulate those leaders.

This is going to encourage your colleagues to recognize the team members that have come along and contributed to the organization. Building this type of culture will not just help you accomplish your goal, but it will multiply what the spirit can do in your organization. Because "two is better than one, three is a strong cord."

And each time we share that engagement, we're gonna multiply the opportunities of success. Because God says that "he will prosper us beyond what our individual efforts tell us." I hope this has been helpful to you.

But I'm sure you might have questions. What are those questions? 

Student: You mentioned one aspect of the growth mindset is living by faith. And in an organization, making good decisions depends on good information and having some logic and reasoning involved. So there's a tension in that by using the best we know how and then also living by faith, which you said the opposite of that would be to a fixed mindset where you're focused on the impact of failure and things like that. So what strategies would you recommend to help people focus on having a mindset of living by faith and not out of fear as they make decisions and do their tasks within the organization? 

Dr. Coker: It's a very good question. And regardless of whether you in a secular industry, a faith-based industry, or simply a nonprofit organization, you have to develop a filter system for sorting through the thoughts that come into your mind.

Earlier in the program, I shared with you the fact that fear is a spirit according to 2 Timothy 1:7. And that we're not given that fear. It is an oppressing spirit. So anxiety is a natural reaction for many people or what they don't realize is the spirit is saying, "Ah, I see he's on the edge or she's on the edge."

Now's the time to make them doubt their ability. So we have to have a filter system. The filter system is to identify whether the origin of that thought is from God or from Satan or one of his demons.

Now, what does God tell us in the love chapter? "There's faith, hope, and love. Right? And the greatest is love." What's the antithesis of that? Fear, doubt, and hatred.

When we feel those things, we now have an understanding of the origin because all thoughts that come into our mind, and remember, we're not smart enough. These thoughts don't come just from us. They come from different areas.

When we have the faith that God would not put us in a situation if he did not have purpose for us being there. Hope is the expectation that he has put us there, and therefore it's going to grow us and develop us. That's the growth mindset.

But love is caring enough about what you're doing to make sure that you are representing Jesus in the process. On the other hand, fear is there to debilitate us. Hate is to draw division.

Doubt is part of that fear that impacts us to slow the process down and remove us from the talents and the abilities that God has already given us. And let me give you just kind of an off-the-wall example. I come into an office and there's a nice gentleman sitting across from me in this nice suit.

He's certainly dressed better than me. I can tell these are $400 shoes he's got on. And I said, "Hey, I'm Chuck."

And he said, "Oh, I'm so-and-so."

"Are you here for the interview?"

"Yes." 

"Oh, that's good."

What's starting to happen? Satan's starting to work in with the fear and anxiety thing. But I continue the conversation. 

"Where'd you go to school?" 

"Oh, I graduated from Harvard Business School and have an MBA from there."

And I'm saying, "Whoa, I was lucky to get out of school." And yeah, I have some skills in this, but I'm probably not gonna be able to compete. So Satan's working overtime on me.

But if I have faith that I'm there for purpose, hope that regardless of what competition I'm up against, like David versus Goliath, and love this guy because it's going to be amazing when he's disappointed and I get the job. You have now used God's performance standards of faith, hope, and love. And you have exhibited the power of self-control that is promised in 2 Timothy.

Use that filter system as you think through each situation. God puts us in a position for purpose, not a purpose to fail, but a purpose to succeed and prosper in the truest sense of the biblical word. That's a growth mindset.

Student: One thing that helps me to live by faith is to know that God can redeem even things that seem to us like failure. And that makes it less fearful to live in faith because we know that God can redeem things. And he does that, you know, even with the resurrection and all those kinds of things. So I thought—does that make sense? 

Dr. Coker: I think so. Let me see if I can answer your question. Let's take David for an example in Bathsheba. Not only did he usurp another man's wife, but he had the husband killed. And yet when their first baby was born, he prayed and he prayed. And when the baby died, he got up, washed himself and went on.

I can't go to him. I mean, he can't come to me, but I can go to him. What God is teaching us through that process is that failure is success if you learn from it.

And God doesn't work according to man's standards. And when we impose man's standards onto spiritual principles, they'll never seem to gel. So faith is that expectation that our hope is going to be fulfilled.

And no matter what we do, where we go, there are no mistakes. There is always success if we do what God's asked us to do in the process.