Are You a Sprinter or a Marathon Runner?

 

I don't think any project or business leader worth his or her salt would disagree that an engaged team performs at a higher level. A recent HBR article suggests an engaged workforce is 32 percent more committed to the organization, 46 percent more satisfied with their job and self-report 125 percent less burnout. What project leader wouldn't want a team filled with contributors that fit that description.

Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath, the authors suggest, "Moreover, their not sprinters; they're more like marathon runners, in it for the long haul."

Having run a couple of marathons in my life, I can appreciate the difference between a sprint and a marathon. At about mile 20, I started seriously wondering what I was doing. About that time a very old guy would usually pass me and say something like, "Finishing is winning."

Over the years I've come to appreciate that I can't ask the team to do anything that I'm not willing to also do myself. If I want to see the team be more engaged in what we're doing, I need to do the same. Linda Dulye, in a related article suggests five questions that could potentially indicate your level of engagement as a manager, or project leader, for that matter:

1. Are you invested? "This translates to time," writes Dulye. "You have to make an investment of your time to bring out the best in your employees and get them engaged." I don't think the value of regular one-on-ones is in question here. The tough part is making sure that you devote time in your schedule to do it. I recently spoke with a very successful project managers who devotes a half-hour one-on-one to every member of his team every week. With his team of ten, that means five hours of every week. It's a pretty substantial time commitment, but worth the effort in his mind. If you aren't co-located, Duyle suggests that you can do this via phone or video conference.
2. Are you immersed? "Physically get out of your office so you can personally experience the dynamics of the workplace," she suggests. "The point is to make yourself visible." It's all too easy to hid in the office or behind the computer with the headphones on cranking out work. Important as that usually is, there's real value to looking around, visiting with the team and demonstrating your personal interest in what's going on. HP made "managing by walking around" a successful management style. I've worked with people who were there in those days, and still talk about how "immersed" and engaged they felt their leaders were.
3. Are you interested? "Learn to ask open-ended questions—those that don't trigger a 'yes' or 'no' answer automatically," suggests Duyle. Make it a habit to ask questions and show interest in what people are doing. If this doesn't come naturally to you, don't worry, it get's easier with practice. What's more, the act of asking actually helps you become interested.
4. Are you interactive? Asking questions in a non-intimidating way will result in feedback. "Go beyond simply listening to feedback," she suggests. "Jot down a few notes and share what you've learned with your team or a customer. You can go from thriving on feedback as a conversation starter to actually changing how you do business." I once worked with a project manager who solicited, accepted and acted on feedback—sometimes even feedback that challenged the way he did things or reacted to situations. All of us on the team were convinced that his motives were to improve what we were doing and how we did it. It also made it much easier for us to receive the same kind of feedback.
5. Are you getting better? Duyle suggests, "All of the previous four steps comprise a process for engaging others. You need calibration on how you are doing." If  you're like me, sometimes you're better at some of these things than others. You'll need to determine a way to measure your progress. I'm pretty convinced that this is a journey, not a destination.

I'd like to add something that Duyle doesn't mention. I once attended a meeting where someone on the team asked his manager if he really believed in what we were doing. "Are you passionate about the value we're trying to provide to our customers, or is this just a stepping stone to a better job?" It was a great question. I have often thought about it since. If we want the team to take what they do seriously and treat it as more than a stop on the career path, we need to feel the same—easier said than done. However, those closest to the work often feel a more visceral connection to what they're doing than those who aren't involved in doing the work. At the very least, we need to be sensitive to that.

How did you do? Could you answer yes to all five questions?