Understanding employees’ lives strengthens team’s fabric
In every organization, invariably, there is a team member who starts strong and then begins to slide, losing vitality or eroding morale.
We never allow this slow unraveling to occur for long.
When we see a team member becoming disenchanted or disengaged, we pull that person aside and examine what is going on.
First, we make sure our teammate still shares our core values. Then we get specific about the behavior being observed and what needs to change. We open the door for conversation about what may be happening to them that is impacting their behavior. It may be something that can be addressed through one of Dasher’s supportive employee benefits.
No matter the cause, it might come down to the shared realization that the person’s behavior has to change to be consistent with Dasher’s core values. If the observed behavior doesn’t change, the person will be well aware that the observed behavior has made it impossible for them to remain a part of the Dasher team. But this rarely happens. It’s why we can be proud of our 96 percent retention rate.
Many associates value that we take the time to learn what is going on in their lives. Often the disenchantment is not job-related; it’s home-related ‒ a failing marriage, a sick child, an aging parent who just suffered a stroke.
Try as we might, we can’t make employees leave these stressors at the office door. As leaders, we need to know our team. As Dale Carnegie advises, you must link what THEY want to what YOU want.
Some employers worry that they won’t be able to fashion goals for the organization that can blend with the personal goals of their employees. The approach, they fear, will be “asynchronous” – out of sync, out of rhythm. But if the company’s core values underlie everything, that fear evaporates.
Others have a bias against low-wage, economically fragile workers, believing that trying to uncover their problems will be a waste of time. How wrong those employers are.
A great leader will find out what is important to teammates and then weave it into the objectives of the company. Our influence in their lives can reverse the downward trajectory from economically fragile to generational poverty.
Armed with information about their personal challenges, we have taken actions to ease the stress, allowing a teammate to refocus on the job at hand. We may not be able to solve all the problems people face, but a sincere effort reinforces the message to struggling team members that they are valued – and that message alone can start to eliminate problem behaviors.
Leadership is not solely about command and control; it is about understanding your team members’ needs, and then meshing them with yours.
Dasher is a data-driven, customer contact, services operation with a focus on communicating complex messages to diverse population. Specific capabilities include face-to-face communications provided by our field teams, customer engagement strategies provided by our call center and member engagement staff, and secure, complex variable mailing services provided by our production team. Dasher is an experienced minority woman disadvantaged business enterprise (MWDBE) with a bestselling book, “The Talent Pool” and is certified by AICPA with the SOC2SM Type2 data certification and validation.