ENGAGE 2023: Shared Mission

In this episode, we’re continuing our season-long, deep dive into ENGAGE 2023, our latest company culture and employee engagement report, by exploring the data related to Shared Mission. 

It’s in this section of the report that we asked questions connected to a company’s Reason for Being, Core Values, and Vision. 

Helping me break it all down are two of Up Your Culture’s amazing Engagement Specialists, Kate Rehling and Mindy Murphy.  

Both Kate and Mindy make so many amazing points, like: 

• How if employees don’t feel a sense of purpose in their work, they simply won’t give it their all 
• Why a company’s core values are truly the “rules of the game”  
• And, finally, how employees should be consistently reminded of the role they play in achieving their company’s long-term vision 

Links:

ENGAGE 2023: The Company Culture Report

Kate Rehling

Mindy Murphy

Beth Sunshine

Up Your Culture

TIMESTAMPS:
(02:52) Anything that you saw in the report that really stood out to you?
(05:52) What risks exist if people lack a sense of purpose in this way?
(08:19) The numbers looked a little bit different for those working in the office every day as opposed to hybrid or remote
(11:07) Core Values need to be clearly defined and frequently expressed
(12:52) How can company leaders  better hold people accountable to their core values?
(14:53) One in three employees either isn't motivated by their company's long-term vision or doesn't know what their company's long-term vision even is
(16:07) There's so many layers when it comes to the vision of a company
(18:35) Keep that vision alive and share progress along the way
(20:04) If you could recommend one thing that company leaders can do when it comes to building a strong shared mission, what would it be?

Transcript

Beth Sunshine: (00:15)
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 improvement 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.

Beth Sunshine: (00:50)
In this episode, we're continuing our season long deep dive into Engage 2023, our latest company culture and employee engagement report by exploring the data related to shared mission. It's in this section of the report that we ask questions connected to a company's reason for being their core values and vision, helping me break it down or two of up your culture's amazing engagement specialists, Kate Rehling and Mindy Murphy. Both Kate and Mindy make so many amazing points, like how if employees don't feel a sense of purpose in their work, they simply won't give it their all. Why a company's core values are truly the rules of the game. And finally, how employees should be consistently reminded of the role they play in achieving their company's long-term vision.

Beth Sunshine: (01:41)
Our All right, Mindy and Kate, welcome and thank you for joining me today for Culture Over Coffee. We talk about this kind of stuff all the time, um, but it's gonna be fun to do it. I think in this environment, I've been really looking forward to today's topic specifically. Um, this season we're digging into that engaged 2023 culture report and discussing all the stories that data tells. And today we're gonna talk about the key components that comprise a shared mission. And I know you two have a lot of expertise in this. You often work with organizations to create a strong mission, helping them, you know, build an environment where their people know exactly where they're headed, how they're gonna get there, why it's so important. So, uh, this is gonna be good. Our, our team as a whole and all of our engagement specialists get to, I think, see firsthand how a strong mission makes people feel invested in their work and, and also makes them just feel more driven to make it happen. So I'm super excited to pull you in, lots to talk about. You ready to jump in? Yeah, let's go ahead. Good. Okay. Good. All right. So before we get into any specific questions that I have for you, let me just start by asking, was there anything that you saw in the report that really stood out to you when you spent time on it? Mindy, I'll even toss that to you. You first.

Mindy Murphy: (03:00)
Okay. Yeah. Um, a lot of things, but one stat that really stood out to me was related to core values. Um, so specifically we learned that 72% of employees believe their company tolerates behaviors that don't align with their core values. And to me, that was a big opportunity for improvement because if people aren't held accountable to behaving in a way that aligns with core values, um, then those are gonna just be core values that are words on a wall and won't be of much use. And, and really that can hurt company culture overall. So that one really stood out to me.

Beth Sunshine: (03:38)
Such a good point. I mean, are they really core values if nobody's actually living by them? Yeah. Huge takeaway. Thanks, Kate. How about you? Anything jump out?

Kate Rehling: (03:48)
Yeah, just like Mindy, that really stood out to me too. I mean, your core values are your how they're, how you do things around there, what you live by. And I always think about Monopoly. If you're the banker in Monopoly and you're cheating and putting those a hundred dollars bills in your pocket, , nobody else is gonna play by the rules of the game either. And truly, I think that's what happens when leaders aren't playing by, by the rules of the game or by their core values. And to piggyback on what Mindy said, 61% don't believe they hire people who even embody their core values. And that, that just amazes me. It seems like companies are really on the core value bandwagon and establishing those, but really living through them all the time isn't consistently happening.

Beth Sunshine: (04:33)
That's so true, and we're gonna talk about this in a little bit, but you make a really good point that if you're not hiring people who naturally live that way, whatever, you know, in our company, we, our core values are quality, integrity, responsiveness. If refer down, if we hire someone who doesn't naturally demonstrate quality or doesn't have integrity or isn't responsive, uh, they're just not, it's not gonna work. So really good point. Okay, good. We'll, we'll come back to that a little bit. And, um, it's interesting to see what rose to the top for you now. One of the, the most positive takeaways that I found in this year's report, I even read it a couple times just to make sure it was as good news as I thought it was gonna be, but it related to the sense of purpose that our respondents seemed to have in their work.

Beth Sunshine: (05:22)
So 95% of respondents reported feeling a sense of purpose in what they're doing. And I, I just really found that to be something to celebrate. For those who are familiar with Simon Sinek, he'd call this their why 95% of people have it a why they gets 'em out of bed every morning. So I thought that was cool. Um, first let me ask you, Mindy, why do you think it's important in general that people feel that sense of purpose in their work? And giving you a second part, what risks happen? What, what risks exist if people lack a sense of purpose in this way?

Mindy Murphy: (05:58)
Yeah, I'm, it's really important for people to have a sense of purpose and understand that why? Because then they feel like the work is meaningful, right? They feel inspired and, um, and motivated to do the best, their best work possible. Yeah. And when people have that sense of purpose, they're just excited to do the work because they know how it makes a difference. Um, and on the other side of that, I feel like when people don't have a sense of purpose, they can feel demotivated and uninspired about the work they're doing, and they won't give it their all, which can hurt productivity

Beth Sunshine: (06:32)
For sure. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Kate, what would you recommend that company leaders do to ensure that their people do feel that sense of purpose or find their work meaningful?

Kate Rehling: (06:43)
Yeah, I mean, I always think about somebody who, who doesn't find purpose in their work. Like the lunch lady when I was in grade school, just scooping food and  slapping it on the train, food probably wasn't really good. If she would've been purposeful, the food would've been delicious. But I think really finding that purpose in yourself is the first step we always, always talk about. Everything starts at the top with leaders. So if you don't truly have that buy-in, if you're not finding a reason  to come to work, a reason to get out of bed in the morning, it's impossible to instill that in others. So really honing in on what is your purpose? What is your why, what excites you about the work you are doing? And then once you nail that down, really being purposeful  about passing that along to others and the rest of your team,

Beth Sunshine: (07:35)
It's a really great point. If you don't feel that, if, if you don't have that reason that you feel driven, how are you gonna inspire others? Yeah, really good point.

Kate Rehling: (07:46)
And I think it would be interesting to know too, the 5% of people who didn't feel a sense of purpose in their work, what their opinions about their leadership is, and if they feel their leaders are truly bought in. Because my, my guess is that that has having a big impact on that 5%.

Beth Sunshine: (08:01)
Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. And even though that's a tiny number 5%, it's still five out of every a hundred people go to work not feeling, you know, as though there's much meaning behind what they're doing. And that, that is a sad thing to think about. Now, I noticed when I dug in deep, I'm sure you guys did too, that the numbers looked a little bit different for those working in the office every day as opposed to hybrid or remote. Um, one out of every 10 people working from the office is not feeling inspired by the work they're doing. So a, a higher number, interesting takeaway. I'm curious, why do you think that might be different? And, um, any advice on that? And we'll start with you, Kate.

Kate Rehling: (08:44)
Yeah, I think the focus has been on hybrid and remote employees. That's a new, a new work environment and a new work structure for many companies. So I think, think it was, let's, let's put out this fire first. Let's make sure that we're still connecting with them. We're being more purposeful, we're being more intentional about those hybrid and remote employees at these people who are in the office already. They'll be just fine , but they're probably feeling a little bit left out and left behind. I think that leaders need to circle back and be just as intentional with those in the office as they're being with those hybrid and remote.

Beth Sunshine: (09:22)
It is interesting because they're in the office, we may take them for granted a little bit. I mean, they're, you're physically seeing them in the hallways, you're saying, good morning, face-to-face. Maybe we're not doing as good a job of, of using all the best practices as managers that can be used. Interesting. Mindy, anything that you're, any takeaway there? Anything you'd add?

Mindy Murphy: (09:44)
I mean, I felt the same exact way as you both did. I think that, you know, leaders and direct reports, if they are in the office full-time, they're together more so that leader may be interacting with them more, checking in and thinking, well, we chatted about things. And, um, so it's clearly, you know, that's not enough. And I think that's a good takeaway is providing them with the sense of purpose and that inspiration that they need is really important. And then that leader who may be managing a remote or hybrid team might be more intentional about that and think, you know, I need to make the time that we are together a lot more meaningful and really talk about the why more.

Beth Sunshine: (10:22)
Hmm, that makes perfect sense to me. Okay, so you both mentioned core values, that was the, the big takeaway. So I do wanna make sure we get to that, spend a little time on that. Um, although people clearly do have a good sense of why that 95%, like I said, is an impressive number, so a good sense of why they do the work they do, it doesn't seem as though there is clear on the how, how to make it happen. How do we treat each other as we're, as we're making it happen? One in three people either couldn't recall their company's core values or they weren't even aware they had any. So with that in mind, Mindy, what do you make of this and why is it so important for a company to identify its core values?

Mindy Murphy: (11:07)
Yeah, that was a huge takeaway for me because it, there seems to be a disconnect with core values, right? Like, leaders know them much better than employees. Um, and 70% of managers said that they could easily recite their core values, uh, verbatim, but only 44% of employees can. So wow. Wow. I mean, that's such a difference. Mm-hmm.  to see that with the company leaders like that was really exciting. But for core values to really have an impact and, you know, everybody must have, you know, what the core values are and have a clear definition of them and what they really mean. So I think it's just really important that companies identify, um, clearly define their core values because you, you said it, Beth, I mean, they're the rules of the game and how people get things done, how they treat one another, how they communicate. So, um, if you don't have core values and communicate them often and people don't live by them, the integrity of the company can really be compromised.

Beth Sunshine: (12:03)
That's so true. And it's interesting you pointed out the disconnect between the managers and more frontline employees, and I'm wondering if the managers know what these core values are, assuming that a company has identified 'em, because not every company has done that, but I'd say many if not most, I don't know have. It sounds as though based on that, the data you shared, the managers may be aware of what those core values are, but they're either not talking about them or praising those behaviors or hiring to them or doing all the other things you mentioned to live it. So their employees are like in a vacuum. They're, they're not even aware of them. So really interesting something is, there's a communication problem right? Between those two levels. Um, yeah. Interesting and good point, Kate. How can company leaders fix that a little bit better? Hold people accountable to the core values that everyone should be expected to live up to so that they actually are core values?

Kate Rehling: (13:06)
Yeah, I mean, set the example. It, it all starts at the top. It'll sound like a broken record, but if you're not setting the example, no one else is gonna follow, follow your expectations. I think about our company, one of our core values is responsiveness. And so much so that when I send an email to you, Beth, if I haven't heard back in like 10 or 15 minutes, I'm thinking, Hmm, I wonder what she's up to is probably a little too responsive. But we literally live by those core values we do, and our leaders truly do set the example and set the tone. I also think recognizing those behaviors when you see them in others, it's so easy to say, great job or well done mm-hmm. . But it's, it's doesn't go much farther than that. When you say that and give that pat on the back really recognizing the behaviors you've seen, tying them to your core values, I understand that was really difficult for you to come forward and share that information with me. But I appreciate you really adhering to our core value of integrity. Hmm. Let's move forward from here. You know, just really being purposeful about recognizing them and, and living them yourself is, is a good first step.

Beth Sunshine: (14:21)
I love that. And what a good example because you're not just saying great job, which makes someone feel good for a moment, but you're really kind of feeding them this very specifically is what we wanna see over and over and over again from you. I'm glad you shared that example. Thank you. Okay, so we've talked about the why and we've talked about the how of a shared mission. So I do wanna make sure we also talk about the, where, where are we headed and um, what we saw in the data is one out of every three employees, it was 35% if I remember correctly. Uh, but one in one in three employees either isn't motivated by their company's long-term vision or doesn't know what their company's long-term vision even is. That's a lot. We work with a lot of companies in the world of engagement and you know, we all know there's a question on our engagement survey that's specifically asked that too.

Beth Sunshine: (15:12)
And it's striking every time we see that, uh, that item very rarely does it score well. Um, sos you know, there's, there's definitely a, a vision vacuum as well. Now, surprisingly, kind of just digging in a bit deeper, before I turn it over to you, employees working in hybrid and remote environments are slightly more likely to be motivated by their company's long-term vision than others. Those working in the office. So kind of an interesting twist there. So my question to you is, how can companies most effectively express their long-term vision so that people see themselves in the ongoing story of the company, whether they're in the office or hybrid? And you might even have some insight into that, what can they do to improve here? And on this one? Kate, I'll start with you.

Kate Rehling: (16:03)
Yeah. Keeping it at the forefront of your mind is so important. And I think there's so many layers when it comes to the vision of a company. It probably starts at the very, very top and then trickles down to other leaders. But it's, it's possible some of those leaders aren't even aware of what the big mm-hmm.  the company vision overall is. So keeping it at the forefront of your mind, really making sure that it's a part of your daily talk, but also your talk as you're recruiting and selecting individuals so that when they're coming on board, they're aware of where you see your company moving forward in the future. And they're more than likely motivated by that vi vision. It probably has something to do with why they've joined your company, but then still having a cadence that you're continually bringing the vision to the forefront. So maybe it's a quarterly meeting where you're connecting on what the vision is and where you are, how far you've come, and brainstorming some ideas together to continue moving in that direction. Maybe it's, you know, once a month in your weekly IFMs connecting with others to make sure they're bought in and they feel like they're having an impact on the vision of the company. Just a couple, couple of ideas.

Beth Sunshine: (17:19)
I like that. I like the frequency of the cadence. I like also you're talking about, um, not just telling employees with the visions, but actually getting their input too and, and brainstorming on some things Very, very interesting. I always picture going on a road trip and like when I was a kid, we'd go on a road trip, my whole family and all the kids would cram into the car. And I remember sometimes thinking like, where are we going, ? And, and how, how long is it gonna, how long do I still have to sit here in this middle seat squish like this? And you know, are we, we gonna stop at some point in time? And we all feel that way. I think, you know, you get in the car figuratively speaking, you join the company and you wanna know where are we going and when are, you know, what am I gonna expect along the way? So I love that the input part that you brought to that. Mindy, tell me what you think, first of all, just in general on what we learned in vision and then any ideas you have that listeners can use to improve here.

Mindy Murphy: (18:17)
Yeah, I mean, I think you make a great point. We do work with a lot of companies who wor end up working on this because in talking with all the leaders, some of them sometimes say, you know, what is our vision? Am I making that clear to everybody? So I think it's important for all leaders to be on the same page with that vision. Um, and then I agree keeping that alive and sharing the progress along the way is huge. I think the more people hear about it, the clearer it's gonna be for them. Um, I also think if you can share the role that each person will play in working to achieve that vision, like what is their piece of the puzzle? How can they contribute to achieving that? I mean, that could be motivating to them. And really tying it back to what's mo most motivating to each individual. So if somebody's really competitive, you can let them know how they're gonna be a part of achieving that vision and then how you're gonna measure the progress on the along the way. Cause they like to score points. So that might be, um, a good way to motivate that competitive person. I think that's important too, to think about, you know, how are we gonna make this inspiring for each individual?

Beth Sunshine: (19:21)
Okay. So listening to you just now talking about, first of all, having each person think about what role they play in it, what part do they play, and then understanding what makes them tick enough that you can motivate them individually. I feel like you brought us all the way around to where we started with purpose, because if you do that with vision, if people feel like I know where we're going, I know what part I'm gonna play, I feel so motivated because of how my manager has presented this vision, suddenly they have purpose. They have that why to get out of bed. So that was really cool to hear you do that. Neat. Okay, so last question. If you could, and I know you do this every day for a living, so if you could recommend one thing that company leaders can do when it comes to building a strong shared mission, what would it be? Where would you start? What's that? What one first step, and I'll start with you Mindy.

Mindy Murphy: (20:19)
Yeah, it's hard to pick this one, but I would say, um, we started the conversation with core values. So I'll  wrap up with

Beth Sunshine: (20:26)
,

Mindy Murphy: (20:28)
But I mean, I would suggest they're so important. And I just think establishing or reestablishing, uh, a strong set of company core values, really refining them and defining them is important because they are the rules of the game. Um, and you might even consider including the entire team in that process. Um, involving everybody will create buy-in for sure, but asking their thoughts or even holding a brainstorming session to make sure you have the right core values in place and really, um, making sure they're well defined for everybody. And then of course, once you establish them and define them, hiring people who demonstrate those same values and hold people accountable to them.

Beth Sunshine: (21:08)
I love that sounds simple. What is it that we sometimes say? It's simple, it's just not easy. That's, that would probably describe what, what you're recommending and I really like it. What about you, Kate? One piece of advice, what would it be?

Kate Rehling: (21:22)
Yeah, like Mindy said, that's tough to choose, but I I would actually piggyback on what she has said and say collaborate. Mm-hmm. , I think really collaborate. Even if your company does have an existing set of core values, they don't necessarily have to be set in stone and maybe the core values for your team look a little bit different and the definitions of them look a little bit different than the manager who sits next to you every day. And that's okay. Um, it's just important to involve your entire team because that creates buy-in. They feel that sense of ownership. Yes, we work together to create these core values and so I'm gonna make sure I'm living by them every day. I'm recognizing people for them and I'm calling people out, for lack of a better way to say it when I see someone who's not living by them.

Beth Sunshine: (22:12)
I love that. Yeah, that the accountability piece of that is really, really important and probably a, a good way for us to end our talk today. Although I would love to continue and hope you'll both join me again. But thank you for spending time with me today talking about Culture over Coffee. You've shared a lot of great information and ideas. I work with you every day so I know how many more you have and I'm, I'm sure our leaders have found, or I'm sorry, our listeners have found what you're saying today valuable and I want them to be able to connect with you if they haven't already. So for those who are listening, I'm gonna drop Kate and Mindy's LinkedIn information in the show notes so you can connect, um, you know, they have a lot of thought leadership to share. You may wanna to connect with them there. I'm also going to add a link to the Engage 2023 report so you can dig into the data yourself, see what stands out to you. And as we wrap up, I just wanna remind you that regardless of what role you play in your company, a strong company culture most definitely starts with you.

Beth Sunshine: (23:18)
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. Set up your culture.com.