3 Tips For Leaders To Steady The Ship When Employees Lose Their Balance

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3 Tips For Leaders To Steady The Ship When Employees Lose Their Balance

March 23rd, 2021 Mark McClain Leave a comment

Company leaders and managers have a big responsibility in overseeing employees. But they can’t see everything, and sometimes there’s more going on in a worker’s life than meets the eye.

Employee disengagement or burnout isn’t always apparent, and some employers may be in for a surprise if and when the COVID-19 pandemic winds down. One study shows that 57% of U.S. employees say they are burnt out, with many likely to leave their job after the pandemic is over. And a Gallup survey reveals that the percentage of engaged employees – those enthusiastic about their workplace – is under 40%.

What the numbers mean is leaders need to learn how to spot and help out-of-balance employees, says Mark McClain, CEO and co-founder of SailPoint and the ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People).

“One challenge leaders and managers routinely face is to recognize when the people around them – peers, colleagues, but especially subordinates – are out of balance or are heading in the wrong direction,” McClain says. “Beyond the potential impacts on their personal lives, you want to try to head off the negative effects such imbalances can have on their roles in the company.

“This may seem imposing, but you have to pay attention as a leader. No employee can run at a crazy pace forever, yet some companies let people run themselves right out of the building. Other workers who are disengaged can be harder to spot initially.”

McClain offers these tips for leaders to spot, address, and help out-of-balance employees:

Make work-life balance part of your culture. “You can expect much from your employees, but you don’t want them to fry themselves,” McClain says. “You don’t want them to harm their health, their family, or their relationships. If you have good people, ideally you’ll grow them and help them work toward their vision of a healthy work-life balance. The sooner leaders confront imbalance in the equation, the more meat they put on the bones of company culture.”

Screen out for potential burnout. Some companies hire knowing they will overwork people or take advantage of their ambition to work extra hard and advance up the corporate ladder, McClain says. But that approach can lead to burnout and departure, which costs companies in terms of replacing them. “There are always going to be ultra-motivated climbers,” McClain says. “But exploiting them is beyond bad. Those who can’t stand it get out, and the HR departments plan on the fact that every four or five years, only 15 to 20 percent of those hires will be able to move up the ranks. These types of organizations instead should invest in pre-hiring assessments to screen out those who value a life outside of work. Doing so would save the companies money and turnover.”

Be a counselor. It’s not an invasion of privacy for a manager to show concern in an employee, McClain says, and probing is necessary to help the employee. “Like it or not,” he says, “being a counselor of sorts is part of managing people. Getting to know them as people, and their work styles, is what makes spotting imbalances possible. It’s why good managers pull employees aside and say, ‘Hey, you’re here, but you’re not engaged. Is something going on?’ Managers who take that step are able to uncover issues and steer their employees to the help they need.”

“Many companies talk about caring for workers until they’re blue in the face,” McClain says. “But when you put in place the pieces to help them succeed, leaders walk the walk – and everybody wins.”

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Mark McClain (www.markmcclain.me), ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People), is CEO of SailPoint, a leader in the enterprise identity management market. McClain has led the company from its beginnings in 2005, when it started as a three-person team, to today where SailPoint has grown to more than 1,200 employees who serve customers in 35 countries.

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Did Your Employees Grow Apart In A Difficult 2020? 5 Tips For A Better Culture.

February 2nd, 2021 Mark McClain Leave a comment

Given the uncertainty businesses face in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, company leaders are looking at every phase of their operation to determine ways they can improve.

Company culture is one area commanding attention. As the virus caused business limitations and forced many companies to go fully remote in 2020, workplace culture was challenged in new ways. This was a reminder to company leaders to make this a priority, forcing them to find ways to strengthen it in the new year, says Mark McClain, CEO and co-founder of SailPoint and the ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People).

“More and more, companies are starting to understand that they need to show employees that they value them as whole people,” McClain says.

“If you respect them, value them and treat them as professionals, they will go through walls for you. If you don’t, if you create an environment where the very thought of coming to work creates anxiety, then they are going to look for employment elsewhere.”

Issues within the workplace culture can fester and eventually lead to toxic relationships, lower productivity, and higher turnover. McClain says that as companies try to balance remote working with a return to the office, it’s critical that culture problems be diagnosed and dealt with.

“But too often,” he says, “leaders don’t have the time to dig into the root problems or don’t know how to really reach their people and devise solutions.”

McClain offers these tips for management to build a better workplace culture in 2021:

Make the health and well-being of your employees the first priority. “Putting your employees first makes them far more likely to be good producers for your company,” McClain says. “With the ongoing pandemic and 2021 bringing much uncertainty, it’s the right time to review workplace safety, collect employees’ thoughts on working remotely vs. coming back to the office, look at internal communications, and analyze management practices to make sure you’re addressing employees’ needs and concerns. Circulate employee surveys to get helpful feedback.”

Hire people who are culture fits. “Some people are very capable, but they happen to be jerks,” McClain says. “No matter how smart such a person might be, the negatives will eventually outweigh the positives. At the same time, you don’t want to hire people who are really nice but not terribly competent.”

Beware of fake culture. Some companies create what McClain calls “pseudo cultures,” which he describes as “thinly veiled come-ons where companies offer massages, free beer or other perks to attract employees.” Eventually, people figure out that a cool employee lounge with a ping-pong table does not make for a successful company. “Real organizational cultures are reflections of how companies treat people and create useful products,” he says.

Increase employee engagement. McClain says leaders should go the extra steps to get to know their employees – a big help in keeping them engaged. “It can be tougher initially to spot people who are not fully engaged,” he says. “The gut feeling leaders need in that regard develops over time with the determination to know your people as individuals. Not all managers are willing to do that, and that’s a mistake. Showing genuine concern can uncover issues that can steer the employee to the help they need.”

Promote a work-life balance. “It’s nice to have ultra-motivated climbers, and it’s essential for a forward-moving company to demand a lot of its people,” McClain says. “But not at the expense of burning them out, messing up their health and hurting their family relationships. That’s going to hurt the company in the long run as well.”

“Nurturing your internal culture,” McClain says, “enables people and business to thrive. It’s never been more important than now after a year of chaos and with more uncertainty ahead.”

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5 New Year’s Resolutions To Make Your Business Culture A Winner

January 4th, 2021 Mark McClain Leave a comment

New Year’s resolutions are not only for individuals but businesses too. Company goals leaders set for the year ahead are usually measured in data tied to categories like revenue production and expense reduction.

After a difficult 2020 due to COVID-19, many enterprises’ bottom-line numbers will take on extra importance in 2021. And business culture will be just as crucial. Any resolutions that company leaders make are an effective way to measure their work environment and help their teams meet performance metrics, says Mark McClain (www.markmcclain.me), CEO and co-founder of SailPoint and the ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People).

“Meeting individual, team, and company goals begin with employees and managers working well together in a vibrant environment,” McClain says. “And given the changes and challenges of these times, culture and how leaders pay attention to it have never been more important.

“The bottom line falls into place when everyone is on the same page. But even if leaders have established a strong culture, it bears constant vigilance to ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction, especially now when a volatile world can threaten to throw even the most solid companies off course.”

McClain offers these business culture resolutions for the New Year that leaders could consider:

Focus on shared values. McClain thinks it’s misleading to frequently state that a “family atmosphere” exists in a company. “The bigger a company gets or the more it grows in capability and value, the less it’s going to feel like a family,” he says. “Creative friction and disagreement on processes and concepts are inevitable. Smart companies leverage broader, shared values as common ground on which workers can connect. I’ve found one of the best places for doing that is through service to the community beyond company walls. If your culture encourages people to work together for some greater good, they’ll continue to appreciate each other as humans and fellow workers.”

Avoid prima donnas. “Talented people are essential for a successful business,” McClain says, “but don’t fall in love with a gifted person if they are constantly letting you know how special they are. Watching them work can be breathtaking, but not when they’re the ones sucking the air out of the room.”

Double down on integrity. “Large legacy companies are often loaded with people who are just taking up space and collecting a paycheck,” McClain says. “It’s a significant issue, and it goes hand-in-hand with integrity. Effective workers know the difference between busywork and producing value. Everybody in the organization must be clear on what success looks like. The role of management is to be clear on objectives and then let people run.”

Don’t stop innovating. McClain says many companies stagnate in this area and should learn how to expand their innovations while encouraging the cultivation of new ideas. “Innovation is an amalgam of product marketing and product management skills, of listening to the market, and of engineering people who can take a problem and figure out how to solve it,” he says. “But innovation should apply in every direction – in how a company contracts, how they sell, how they market.”

Be the first to own mistakes. “Anyone who has been involved in conflict directly knows there’s always the sense that both parties have some responsibility,” McClain says. “The sooner you own yours, the more likely the other person will own theirs – and the project can move forward.”

“New Year’s resolutions are often easily discarded because of a person’s lack of commitment,” McClain says. “For business leaders and their workforce, they reflect company core values and can create or improve a culture that everyone will appreciate and aspire to uphold and deepen.”

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Mark McClain (www.markmcclain.me), ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People), is CEO of SailPoint, a leader in the enterprise identity management market. McClain has led the company from its beginnings in 2005, when it started as a three-person team, to today, where SailPoint has grown to more than 1,200 employees who serve customers in 35 countries.

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How To Keep Your Culture Thriving Outside The Office During COVID

December 8th, 2020 Mark McClain Leave a comment

Despite the economic havoc COVID-19 caused, the work culture of some companies has stayed solid. But amid big changes and continuing uncertainties, that foundational element of business is an ongoing concern for many heading into 2021.

The massive shift to remote work on a regular basis dramatically changed how companies interact internally, and some have adjusted better than others.

Work relationships, processes, and production are vulnerable to slippage, so businesses with remote workforces must deal with the challenge of preventing their culture from fraying while at the same time making it stronger, says Mark McClain (www.markmcclain.me), CEO and co-founder of SailPoint and the ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People).

“Crisis doesn’t build character; it reveals character and it reveals culture,” McClain says. “As leaders, we have to determine how our culture works from home and works from anywhere.”

“The pandemic has introduced significant challenges around how we work together, and how to keep teamwork and company culture intact. The events of 2020 have given business leaders a critical opportunity to step back and take a hard look at all aspects of their business, starting with their culture.”

McClain offers five ways business leaders can keep their culture alive and make it stronger as the pandemic puts them to a prolonged test:

Lead with intention. Hybrid workforces – some working from home, others from the office – have been implemented and could be the new normal for many companies post-COVID. Keeping everyone on the same page requires clarity of message from the top, and a detailed review of how success is defined in these different times. “This pandemic has made it crystal clear that operating in unity does not require us to physically be near one another, but it does require us to be clear about our culture and our shared business goals,” McClain says. “Leaders and managers need to be more intentional about how they structure meetings involving remote workers and those in an office.”

Don’t micromanage. “There can be a tendency to micromanage when everybody’s working from home,” McClain says. “But then what kind of culture do you have without self-starters and people whom you trust? Never micromanage a competent professional. Treat them like adults. To have them working hard and confidently in pressure times, they don’t need managers on top of them or constantly checking on them.”

Embrace your core values. “This is where a solid culture starts,” McClain says, “and in crisis times, core values gain meaning if you emphasize them to the team. There’s pride in everyone pulling in the same direction and being proud of what they’ve accomplished based on those values. Repeated from time to time, core values serve to encourage and strengthen.”

Provide a forum for expression. “The pandemic far transcends the workplace into the home,” McClain says. “People have been experiencing many emotions. As a leader, if you haven’t done so already, reach out to your people individually or in groups and let them get out their feelings about this difficult year and anything they want to discuss. When the workforce knows everyone, including their leaders, truly care, your culture is stronger.”

Host virtual socials. People in a good work culture get along well, and as the pandemic spirals into months and months, people miss seeing each other in person. “Loneliness is a factor, even for the busiest person,” McClain says. “Set aside some virtual team happy-hour meetings just for fun and non-work conversation, no-pressure contests, music, etc.

“Each company has a unique culture, a reason why people like working there and why it’s successful,” McClain says. “The best companies are very intentional about their culture, and it’s more important than ever.”

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Mark McClain (www.markmcclain.me), ForbesBooks author of Joy and Success at Work: Building Organizations that Don’t Suck (the Life Out of People), is CEO of SailPoint, a leader in the enterprise identity management market. McClain has led the company from its beginnings in 2005, when it started as a three-person team, to today where SailPoint has grown to more than 1,200 employees who serve customers in 35 countries.

3 Tips For Leaders To Steady The Ship When Employees Lose Their Balance

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