A hidden culture problem that nearly stalled growth
One of our clients, a talented creative agency known for its vibrant culture, was facing an unseen challenge beneath the surface – their staff were not as engaged as they thought. Engaged staff fuel productivity, innovation, and better products and services — so when engagement drops, the risks rise. And despite outward appearances, many employees were feeling undervalued and believed their pay didn’t reflect their contribution.
The leadership team missed the signs
The leadership team, unaware of this growing frustration, were blindsided to the risk it posed: with staff feeling disengaged, some considering leaving and morale slipping, the agency’s ambitious growth plans were in jeopardy.
Finding out that staff were not engaged was a real surprise to our client’s leadership team and only came to light after they ran one of our culture change programmes.
When we gave them our findings, the client immediately ran a salary benchmarking exercise and shared the results with their staff
It turned out that pay was slightly above average for their location and sector.
The real barriers to engagement
When we looked deeper, pay was not the issue. There were, in fact, two issues:
- Staff were not engaged because they were not feeling recognised or valued, and there was a confusion around how much they should expect to give and receive for their work, and
- House prices were high in the area, and many on the team couldn’t afford to get on the housing ladder.
Creative solutions that boosted engagement and loyalty
To address the first issue, we worked with their staff and got them to think about where they were going, and what they were going to give in return.
Addressing this deeper social contract helped release more enthusiasm, motivation and commitment across the organisation.
And to address the second issue, the client bought a building, converted it into flats, and made it easier for their team members to buy one.
An unexpected bonus for the business
As a by-product, the company had an asset which they made money on as well.*
It was a happy ending all around – the company successfully moved forward on its plans, with fully engaged and happier staff.
*[When we first launched this blog we had some feedback about how this is not relevant to people who work in academia or local authorities. It’s a fair comment. But that’s not really the purpose of the story, which is: what else can you do as an employer, and how could you repurpose what a business might be for? This is something we’re going to come back to in a future post.]
The 3 key questions every employee should be able to answer
If you’re wondering whether you might have a similar hidden problem inside your organisation, there are three questions that you and your individual team members should be able to answer:
1. What’s expected of me?
2. How am I doing?
3. Where am I going?
Why these questions matter more than you think
If you don’t know what’s expected of you by your bosses, it’s really hard to plan your day, prioritise your work, or feel in any kind of control.
If you know what’s expected but don’t know how you’re doing, you still lack some control. You could be unknowingly getting it wrong, or feeling unrecognised.
If you don’t know where you are going – in life, in your career – you can feel lost and without direction or purpose.
When you do know the answers to these questions you are far more likely to feel engaged in what you’re doing.
When both you and your boss/staff member understand the answers to these questions you’ll have clarity around the unwritten social contract between you and the organisation. You can work together to get you where you need to be.
As a boss, you feel more connected to your people. As a team member, you feel like your boss has your back. That’s good all round.
If you’re the boss and your staff can’t answer these questions, then money is the only sense they have of where they’re at, and if they don’t feel valued or rewarded enough by the money, their perceptions could be putting your organisation at risk.
The solution could just be a question of how you value and appreciate them.
As our client found out, frustration over pay is often a symptom of something deeper, and looking at that may reveal something interesting about the culture in your organisation.
Start the conversation (even if it feels awkward)
If you start the conversation you’ll also be modelling a listening behaviour, and facilitating a process that allows your people to be heard. You may be surprised at the effect that has.
Good luck!
A simple script to get you going
These questions might be the only questions you need to ask as part of a performance review (PDR).
If you don’t know how to begin, you could say: “I read this really interesting blog post recently about 3 questions to ask your staff, and I thought, I don’t know if you can answer them, so could we sit down and have a cup of tea and a biscuit, and just talk them through.”
Want to go deeper into your culture?
If you’d like to find out more about our Culture change programmes and what’s really going on in the culture of your organisation, please get in touch here.
Business leader Nikki Gatenby has done the programme and says, “It was absolutely brilliant.”