Taxes or Dividends? Investing in People Pays
Tax season: that time of year when American citizens scramble to locate and examine their records from the previous year and take account of whether we contributed enough throughout the year to get paid back for our hard-earned investments, or if we came up short and now must pay taxes we can’t really afford. For many, this time of year brings feelings of stress and dread and for others, who contribute a bit extra, it is a time of bounty and reward.
This cyclical process for many workplaces mirrors endeavors toward employee engagement. Some companies take stock of their efforts once a year by gathering employee feedback. Did we invest enough in our people? Will we reap the benefits of discretionary effort, productivity, and employee satisfaction? Did we get so busy in the day-to-day that we underinvested and undervalued our teams? Are we faced with taxes in the form of disengagement, ineffectiveness, and turnover?
According to Stephen M.R. Covey, in his book The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, lack of trust in a team or organization leads to trust taxes, whereas an abundance of trust pays off in dividends. Similarly, investing in people up front can lead to exponential positive results. What can we provide today (and every day) to set our teams up to thrive in the future?
Listen & Hear
If you have ever owned a business and skipped paying quarterly taxes, you know the risk you face at the end of the year. Therefore, the once-a-year engagement survey is being replaced by ongoing, active listening. Using shorter “pulse” surveys throughout the year, holding “listening circles,” and leveraging technology or conversations to gather real-time feedback from team members helps us stay in touch with their priorities, engagement, and needs. In Bersin’s 2021 Elevating Equity study, they identified listening as the most important practice or “super-skill” from diverse pipelines.
Analyzing themes and truly “hearing” the meaning behind the words is also key. Ongoing transparency and communication of results and actions taken to address concerns is a worthwhile investment to ensure team members recognize their feedback counts.
Guide & Grow
Ongoing investment in helping people do and be their best will always benefit you and your team. Offer diverse forms of learning to address all types of learners and capability gaps – formal, informal, virtual, on-the-job, mentoring, and coaching. Teach leaders to mentor their team members and see this as a key part of their role.
Help guide team members along their career paths – which may stretch in many directions, not necessarily vertical, but across functions and roles. The traditional career ladder has been replaced by a career lattice, or as author Cheryl Sandburg says, a career “jungle gym.” A recent Deloitte study found that the most successful companies are 34 times more likely to support employees in developing their careers. Help align skill development with employee values, motivators, strengths, and long-term career goals to excite and engage.
As I reluctantly head to the post office today to drop off my check, I can’t help but contemplate the taxes so many of us face when we skimp on investments in our people. I also look forward to the year ahead and wonder what investments organizations are making today to build stronger relationships, create a sense of belonging, foster innovation, and lead to personal and business success tomorrow, next week, and beyond. We can make an enormous impact on future results. Dividends or taxes? Which will you experience?
