Why Don’t Employees Have Enough Information to Perform in Their Roles? With Mindy Murphy
Jun 13, 2024Season 5Episode 30
Beth Sunshine
In this episode, we’re once again reflecting on the results from ENGAGE 2024: The Company Culture Report. This time we’re wondering: “Why don’t employees have enough information to perform in their roles?”
It’s here that we’ll be discussing clear issues surrounding transparency and psychological safety in the workplace.
Helping Beth explore why employees aren’t receiving enough valuable information is Mindy Murphy, Employee Engagement Specialist/Culture Coach here at Up Your Culture.
Mindy shares so many great insights, like:
Why a lack of transparency in organizations can lead to increased distress and low morale amongst your people.
How employees working in an environment where they feel uncomfortable sharing their concerns can lead to disastrous results.
And, lastly, why forging trust with your people early on in their roles is key to ensuring they have the information they need to exceed at your company.
In this episode, we’re once again reflecting on the results from ENGAGE 2024: The Company Culture Report. This time we’re wondering: “Why don’t employees have enough information to perform in their roles?”
It’s here that we’ll be discussing clear issues surrounding transparency and psychological safety in the workplace.
Helping Beth explore why employees aren’t receiving enough valuable information is Mindy Murphy, Employee Engagement Specialist/Culture Coach here at Up Your Culture.
Mindy shares so many great insights, like:
Why a lack of transparency in organizations can lead to increased distress and low morale amongst your people.
How employees working in an environment where they feel uncomfortable sharing their concerns can lead to disastrous results.
And, lastly, why forging trust with your people early on in their roles is key to ensuring they have the information they need to exceed at your company.
Hello and welcome to Culture Over Coffee, a podcast focused on improving company culture and fostering employee engagement. Every week, we chat with experts and thought leaders about the latest information and proven practices you can use to reduce regrettable turnover, increase productivity on your team and retain key customers. So pour a cup of your favorite brew and join us. I'm your host, beth Sunshine, svp at Up your Culture and the Center for Sales Strategy. In this episode, we're once again reflecting on the results from ENGAGE 2024, the company culture report. This time, we're wondering why don't employees have enough information to perform in their roles? Today, we'll be discussing clear issues surrounding transparency and psychological safety in the workplace. Helping me explore why employees aren't receiving enough valuable information is Mindy Murphy, expert culture coach here at Up your Culture. Mindy shares so many great insights, like why a lack of transparency in organizations can lead to increased distress and low morale among your people. How, when your employees feel uncomfortable sharing their concerns, it can lead to disastrous results. And why forging trust with your people early on in their roles is key to ensuring that they have the information they need to succeed. Hey, Mindy, I'm so glad you could join me today for Culture Over Coffee. This season, we're digging into the Engage 2024 Culture Report and discussing all of the valuable takeaways, all of the things we can learn from it, and I've really been looking forward to today's topic on communication and transparency, because it's just been such a common issue that I'm hearing company leaders grapple with every day, so this is going to be valuable. We're super lucky to have you. Let's break it down.
Beth Sunshine:
My first question for you is the concept of psychological safety. I've been hearing those words a lot. I know people are talking about it. It really is pivotal in today's workplace and I know you work with a lot of company leaders to improve this. Focusing specifically on this, the survey findings were a bit alarming. When I was looking over it, I saw some significant increases in the number of employees who feel unable to express their true selves at work, and that's something that concerns me. I wanted to get your take on. That concerns me. I wanted to get your take on that. But first would you just explain what psychological safety?
Mindy Murphy:
is and why is it so important? Sure, yes, psychological safety is the belief that you won't be punished for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. So it's that environment where people are just comfortable being themselves and expressing themselves, and it is really important, so important, because it allows employees to feel safe to speak up, to take risks or challenge concepts or be creative or solve problems, and that really leads to better problem solving, better decision making and an overall higher level of trust in the workplace.
Beth Sunshine:
That makes perfect sense when you say it like that. So here's the thing we learned that 43 percent of respondents don't feel comfortable sharing their thoughts or their opinions or their concerns any of those things at work. So what does that mean? What repercussions can we expect as a result of that lower feeling of psychological safety?
Mindy Murphy:
That's a lot of people, isn't it A lot? It can lead to a toxic work environment. It's kind of scary. I mean, employees who don't feel safe to express their thoughts can experience stress and anxiety and burnout. They're also less engaged, less productive, probably less likely to collaborate. Ultimately, people stop sharing their thoughts, feelings and concerns, which can lead to disastrous results. I mean, the example that comes to mind for me is the airline manufacturer Boeing, which has been in the news a lot lately. Beth, you and I were just talking about this.
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah and about seven or eight years ago, if we go back to then, they were really known as the world's top airline manufacturer, but that all changed when they launched a new aircraft called the 737 MAX. It was supposed to be their most technologically advanced aircraft. There was a ton of demand for the new plane, but that put a lot of pressure on teams to meet production deadlines and that really created major issues like equipment delays, quality defects, employee burnout. But all of those issues led to several safety concerns lots of safety issues, and a few frontline managers tried to voice their safety concerns, but when they did, they were actually punished for speaking up. Some even feared that they would lose their jobs. So those safety issues remained unresolved and we all probably remember what happened after that.
Mindy Murphy:
I mean in 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX crashed tragically, killing everybody on board and a handful of months later another one crashed and during the investigation, frontline managers testified that they were confident that the crashes could have been prevented if Boeing had that culture where people felt safe to speak up. You know a place where their voices were valued, that they were listened to, that they were trusted to make the right decisions. And unfortunately that didn't happen. So you know, even if this type of disaster may not happen at your company, you can see how it can so negatively impact business, employees, clients, really everyone.
Beth Sunshine:
No kidding, serious repercussions for sure. I remember last season having a guest on who worked with health care and she was talking, also like Boeing, a life or death business. She was talking about how, when the nurses or the physician's assistant don't feel comfortable speaking up, that accidents happen, bad things happen. But you're exactly right, it's the same thing in any line of business. Even if it's not life or death, it can have really tragic results. The word I think you used was toxic and I mean that's exactly right. So thank you for sharing that story. I do. I'm glad you remembered that. It's a good one.
Beth Sunshine:
I want to move on from psychological safety to transparency. It's clear that employees value insight. They want to know what's happening, what's happening behind the curtain at their companies. What is the bigger picture? The survey indicates a big desire for more openness and a notable percentage of managers expressed that. A lot of managers expressed feeling particularly in the dark. So my question for you from your perspective, what is the best way for an organization to communicate what's going on behind that curtain, what's happening in their company as a whole? That bigger picture.
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah, I think there are a few different ways leaders can communicate what's going on with the company.
Mindy Murphy:
One of the best ways is to hold regular state of the state meetings or town hall meetings, where you can just bring all employees together to share information, discuss challenges, allow them to ask questions and share ideas.
Mindy Murphy:
And really the goal of these meetings is to increase transparency, provide information that helps everybody be in the know and listen to their thoughts, ensuring that their voices are heard. We have a state of the state meeting coming up this Friday, so it's so important to have those regular meetings on the calendar for everybody and even in between those larger meetings. Another way to improve communication could be through a weekly video or touch base. Our CEO shares a video every Monday morning to just share reminders, provide a look ahead of what's coming up, or even just share fun facts or give shout outs. It's a great way to keep that communication open. In between those larger you know more serious meetings, you can also communicate information one-on-one with employees and allow them to ask questions. But the bottom line, I think, is just have something on your calendar regularly to communicate important information and changes to people and get their thoughts.
Beth Sunshine:
That's a really good point. Otherwise it's just the speed of business you may forget.
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah.
Beth Sunshine:
So, on the flip side, could there be any downsides to that? Could there be too much transparency with employees?
Mindy Murphy:
Well, it's a good question. I feel like, yeah, of course, there's always information, some confidential information, that you can't share with everybody. I mean, for the most part, maintaining that high level of transparency is a good thing, and employees feel that they're more in the know and they can perform better because they understand the bigger picture. But if you don't do this the right way, there can certainly be downsides. I mean, I think it could be distracting when employees get information that doesn't apply to them. When you share information that's unnecessary, it could cause people to worry about things that they don't need to worry about or that may be out of their control to worry about things that they don't need to worry about or that may be out of their control. So I think it's all about keeping a healthy balance between sharing information people need to know and then weeding out information that could be distracting or cause people to worry.
Beth Sunshine:
Yeah, good point. So information is not just power, even though we use that term a lot. It's also necessary for performance. The survey data reveals a troubling gap in how well-informed employees feel regarding their roles, and we saw this across a majority of affecting a majority across all levels of employment, from frontline all the way up. People feel like they don't know what they need to know. So what impact does this information deficit have on an organization and on its employees?
Mindy Murphy:
in your experience, yeah, no one likes to be in the dark. Right Feels terrible. Yeah, it can cause distrust. It can make it difficult for employees to collaborate effectively to get their work done. It can lead to poor decision making because you don't have all the facts and information you need. It can cause employees to feel insecure and increase speculation. I mean it can cause low morale and motivation. Of course, employees may feel that they are just not valued or respected if they're not kept informed about important decisions, developments and changes. If they're constantly surprised by things and caught off guard, they're probably going to lose trust for leaders pretty quickly and feel uncertain about the future.
Beth Sunshine:
So how can companies bridge this gap? How can they do better here?
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah, I mean a few ideas, I think you know, simply giving people information they need to do well in their jobs, sharing what they need to know to do their jobs effectively.
Mindy Murphy:
But I think having a good onboarding plan for employees from the beginning, from the start, and training and coaching them, can help them make sure that they have the information they need from day one right to know where they can go for help or to know what resources are available to them to do their jobs well, to know what their growth opportunities are and know what the goals and expectations are. And another way I think is just really focusing on building trust with your team. I mean, I feel like if a leader has misled employees in the past or downplayed a bad situation, then it's really hard for they've got a hard road ahead to repair that trust and that would be the first thing I would do. But if you've built trust with your team through effective and truthful interactions in the past, employees are more likely to trust what you have to say and really be invested in their work. And then I think, really just being available for Q&A right, having an open door, welcoming questions from employees and their feedback.
Beth Sunshine:
Such good strategies, really good strategies. So we've discussed the significance of sharing information, leaders sharing information out and, in some cases, employees like with your Boeing example feeling comfortable enough to share information up the chain. But it's also really important to listen, and the Engage report, the survey, showed that a majority of employees feel that their opinions are undervalued, they're not being listened to, and I'd kind of like to explore the significance of that with you. So, first, in your experience, what impact does this have on employees, when they feel as though their opinions don't matter?
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah, I mean if you felt your voice wasn't valued or your opinions didn't matter. I mean, how does that feel? It feels terrible. It makes people feel unheard and undervalued and I know in the survey that showed that more than half of respondents didn't believe their opinions always mattered at work, and that's a lot of people.
Beth Sunshine:
It is. It would be hard to go to work, I think, If I thought my opinion didn't matter. I think after a while I would check out. I suppose that is disengagement and I'd be like why am I even trying? Why am I here? Right? So how about the organization as a whole? What kind of impact happens there?
Mindy Murphy:
Sure, yeah, I mean. People stop sharing their thoughts, opinions and ideas and concerns. It inhibits communication and so performance can go down. Quality of work may suffer from that. Problems probably go unresolved, so they get worse and people become disengaged and ultimately may look for opportunities elsewhere disengaged and ultimately may look for opportunities elsewhere.
Beth Sunshine:
Yeah, I can see that and I know you've worked with companies before where sort of silos end up popping up where people have their few people they trust maybe it's their team and then they really don't trust anyone beyond that. So it's almost a war for information. It's hard. So what strategies do you recommend that leaders use to create an environment where people know that their voice is valued, it's not just heard, but it's also appreciated?
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah, a few strategies that I've seen are really effective is asking employees for feedback, including them in decision making. So asking their input, often just involving them, and letting them know you appreciate and value their feedback, even if you get their ideas and you have to go in a different direction, just that you listen and say thank you, I value, you know, your feedback, your thoughts. Here's why we may need to go in a different direction, but I think another way of fostering open and honest two-way communication is how we talk about it often, so it's not just about the leader sharing information, it's two-way communication, right. So the other part is allowing people to ask questions and share how they feel as well.
Mindy Murphy:
I think praising people for their ideas is a great way to do this, and we talked about the state of the state meetings and town hall meetings. Allowing people to submit questions in advance of those meetings so you can provide answers during the meeting is also a great strategy. You can even create a suggestion box so people can put their suggestions in the box. And, of course, I mentioned listening. I think practicing active listening is crucial. A lot of people are just not as good at effective listening and really being present, taking notes as the other person's talking, making eye contact, nodding all of that can show that you care that can show that you care.
Beth Sunshine:
Yeah, that stuff takes practice. It's not easy. I love the idea of a suggestion box, especially because, well, what I found is that if one person has a question, probably other people in the room have the same question, so collecting them in advance smart, and some people just don't feel comfortable speaking up. I'm glad you gave that idea, because, as much as someone wants their voice to be heard, sometimes it's hard for them to speak their voice.
Beth Sunshine:
So very cool, yeah. So it seems that while team cohesion is strong, based on the data, it looked like people were feeling fairly connected to their teams. Interdepartmental communication and collaboration that's where things seem to go a little bit more awry. The survey's findings suggest a significant communication gap between departments. So in your coaching experience, what approaches have you found to be effective in improving how departments work together, work with others in other departments? What do you suggest?
Mindy Murphy:
Yeah, one of my favorites is a cross-departmental shadowing day so you could have someone in one department shadow another department, spend the day with them, see what they do, what their role entails, and then you have them come back and share with their team what they do, what their role entails, and then you come have them come back and share with their team what they learned.
Mindy Murphy:
It really helps everyone understand other roles within the company. I also love just kind of creating joint projects allowing people from different departments to work together, holding cross departmental meetings that bring people together, so something like a brainstorming session where you could include people from different departments to work together to come up with ideas or solve a problem or even create a shared goal, having different people from different departments working together to achieve that goal. I also like the idea of creating a recognition program that allows for peer-to-peer recognition. It's a great way to recognize someone from another department and say exactly what you liked about their performance. We have our company has a private Facebook page and something we do on that page is called real-time recognition or RTR, so that allows us to give shout outs and specific recognition in real time, anytime we want to, on that Facebook page for everyone to see.
Beth Sunshine:
Great ideas. I love the concept of recognition, bringing people together, breaking down walls. I love the idea you shared at the beginning with the interdepartmental swapping of roles. I mean walking a mile in someone else's shoes and then being able to share what you learned Incredible strategies. Thank you for sharing those.
Beth Sunshine:
This time went by way too quickly. I wish I had 10 more questions for you, but we'll have to have you back on again. Thank you, Mindy, for sharing your expertise with me today. I know that our listeners will find this valuable, so I'd love to be able to have them connect with you. Are you okay if we drop your LinkedIn information in the show notes? Of course, that'd be great, Good, good, and then we'll also for our listeners. We'll add a link to the Engage 2024 culture report so you can all check it out yourself. So thank you again, Mindy, and as we wrap up, I will just remind everyone listening that a strong company culture begins with you. Thank you for joining. Thanks so much for spending time with us on Culture Over Coffee. If you've enjoyed the conversation, be sure to subscribe and join us for every episode. For more helpful information on the topics of company culture and employee engagement, visit us at upyourculturecom.
