'Getting Your Staff to Engage' - The Inzpire Way
09 Aug 16
Inzpire
Written by Mac Attram, an award-winning business coach, and titled ‘Getting Your Staff To Engage’ it identifies 6 ways to ensure that a workforce is on board with their employer’s visions and goals.
If you’re a regular reader of our blogs, website and social media posts, you will no doubt (hopefully!) be well aware of the fantastically supportive culture that Inzpire has developed; one where every team member feels valued, is respected, and ultimately has a key part to play in Inzpire’s defence revolution. One thing that really struck me when reading Mac’s blog was that of the 6 methods he recommends to maintain an engaged workforce, Inzpire does all of them! I’ve put Mac’s words in bold below so you can distinguish between him and me!
“1. Managers matter - as an employee, having a good relationship with your boss is more important than what the company as a whole does in terms of employee-focused policies.”
What distinguishes Inzpire from other places I have worked in the past is that being a “boss” or a “line manager” is really just a job title here. The bosses take advice from the rest of their team every day; they ask their team for their thoughts; they encourage their team to constructively disagree with them, and speak up if they feel something is wrong. The Directors and Heads of Division at Inzpire are well respected by the rest of the team of course; but in terms of decision-making and importance within the Company they really are on a level playing field with everyone. And it’s not just in terms of decision-making and hierarchy; they respect the fact that without their teams, they couldn’t do their job, so they make every effort to reward us. It isn’t unusual for the HoDs to take their teams out for dinners, after-work drinks, or just buy them a little treat to say thanks for the hard work! That, to me, is a pretty great relationship to have with the dreaded “boss”!
Some of our team enjoying one of our monthly "Inzpired Thursdays"!
Taking our QinetiQ colleagues from the ABTC out for some drinks!
“2. Having clear goals for staff and communicating a clear vision for the company or organisation are very important. Confusion can be stressful whereas clarity is powerful.”
Inzpire’s vision is to become the most admired and respected Defence company in the World. That’s a pretty clear-cut vision, and one that everyone in the Company is exposed to from Day 1. Our CEO, Hugh Griffiths, personally emails all new employees soon after they have been hired, introducing himself, Inzpire and our ethos. He then introduces all new employees to this vision in more detail in his induction presentation. It’s regularly referred to in emails from Hugh to the team. That’s a long-term goal, but in terms of the near future we are also well aware of where we are going, why we are doing what we do, and how we are going to achieve our aims – and we made ourselves accountable by putting it all in a printed document for everyone to read.
“3. Recognition - too often, employees feel that managers are quick to criticise and not-so-keen and not-so-quick to congratulate. Deep down everyone likes to receive praise.”
This is one thing that Inzpire does exceptionally well. Take the Farnborough International Airshow, which a number of us attended recently. Within hours of the Show closing and us all returning home weary and sick of the sight of our co-workers after living in each other’s pockets for a week (I jest!), we had all received a personal thank you message from the CEO and our HoDs. That sort of recognition isn’t an exceptional circumstance: Hugh writes a hand-written Christmas card to EACH employee every year, thanking them for their hard work. No mean feat for a company of almost 100 people. I’ve already mentioned that HoDs regularly take their staff out for drinks and dinner to say thanks; but on top of these regular shows of appreciation, we also have huge Company-wide celebrations- think all expenses paid trips to Alton Towers and weekends away camping with the team. This is by no means an exhaustive list; to document every occasion where managers recognise the contribution of their team would require a whole series of blogs!
“4. People want to know that what they do matters. They don’t want to be a cog in a machine.”
I would argue here that actually everyone at Inzpire IS a cog. The difference, however, is that remove one of those cogs and the whole machine struggles to function. Everyone’s role is pivotal; whether it be Finance, Legal, HR, Sales or Software developing. To demonstrate that point, below is a snippet taken from the aforementioned document which sets out how the Inzpire team work together.
- “We genuinely believe in the ethos of ‘one team with one vision’. We value our own staff, and work hard to ensure that we are all engaged in a single synchronistic business effort. No one person is more important to the company than any other. Our ethos is that the person that passes the ball to the scorer, or the person who originally started the attacking manoeuvre, is just as important as the person who scores the goal. If we do not care who gets the credit, it is amazing what we can achieve by working together"
"5. People don’t like to be controlled so it helps if leaders give their staff some input into the flow and pace of the work that they do."
Everyone has deadlines in their work; whether you hate having a defined end point to a project or thrive on a clear-cut finish line, it’s inescapable and Inzpire is no different. However, all of the team here are given the power to do their job as they see best; and that means we can decide what our key priorities are, when our tasks are completed and what order they are completed in. There is a huge amount of understanding that everyone in the Company is extremely busy, so, as long as there is the possibility to do so and it isn’t going to affect our customer, deadlines can be flexed – and there are never any squabbles about it!
"6. Walk the talk - staff don’t feel they should be expected to be engaged in their work and perform at a high standard if their bosses don’t lead the way."
This one is key at Inzpire. Right from the CEO, down through the Directors, Heads of Department and the rest of the team, every single person is passionate about their job; passionate about Inzpire; dedicated to driving the Company forward, and, ultimately doing the best by our Customers. Inzpire are served by a great leadership team; leaders that are caring, charismatic and confident, and leaders that inspire the whole team to be passionate. And they are not afraid to muck in – no job is below anyone at Inzpire. Bosses do what has to be done to get the job finished to our usual high standards, regardless of whether it is “their job” to do so. This undoubtedly encourages everyone else to do the same.
In the 2016 'Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For' listings, Inzpire were ranked third on the small companies list when it came to our workforce thinking that our CEO runs the Company on sound moral principles; demonstrating just how much the most senior members of our team lead the way for us.
An extract from the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For profile on us
It’s all very well me saying all these things – I am an employee after all - but don’t just take my word for it. Check out the 7 Most Important Things About Inzpire document for yourself, and find out the principles that we live by to drive forward with Inzpire’s Defence Revolution.
Sources: Mac Attram (2016), 'Getting Your Staff to Engage', Huffingtonpost.co.uk
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