Category: General

The Role of Companies

In the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, more than 113 million voters cast ballots, making it the largest voter turnout in a century. A record 44 percent of U.S. firms gave employees paid time off to vote, up from 37 percent in 2016. This trend is expected to continue in 2020.

According to Pew Research, three in five Americans want the voting process to be easier for U.S. citizens. Eighty-one percent of consumers prefer to buy from companies that support democracy. Employers have the credibility to promote informed voting in a nonpartisan way, motivating their employees to exercise their right to vote – and making it easy for them to participate in the democratic process.

“Nonpartisan” is the operative word here. While company leaders have an obligation to speak out on issues relevant to their business and corporate values, election preparation is focused not on partisan policy issues but on the very bedrock of democracy. Organizations of all sizes, across industries and sectors, can play a role in making sure that every citizen has the opportunity to cast an informed vote.

Benefits of Proactive Civic Engagement

A recent report in Harvard Business Review describes the sweet spot for organizations as “pro-democracy and pro-voter, without being partisan.” In other words, invest in information, tools and practices that help employees understand candidates and issues as well as how and where to vote.

The HBR report outlines civic engagement actions taken by eight companies including Gap, Spotify, Target and Blue Cross Blue Shield MN. These companies indicated that, in addition to increasing voter turnout, their campaigns raised brand awareness, strengthened relationships with employees and shareholders, elevated the company’s standing with elected officials, and generated positive feedback on social media.

Five Critical Actions

Employers have much to gain – and little to lose – by being proactive about getting out the vote in 2020. But for organizations who haven’t done this before, it can be overwhelming – questions about where to start and how far to go can paralyze busy executives with the best intentions. Here are five critical steps to help you manage employee engagement for the 2020 election: 

1. Assess your organization and determine if policy change is needed. Do you have an understanding of employee voting habits and the laws for the state(s) you operate in? Do you offer time off to vote for all employees? Can you make Election Day 2020 a “no-meeting day” to further remove barriers to voting? Do you want to change anything about your existing voting policies and practices to make it easier for people to vote?

2. Determine the scope of your effort. Will you provide basic information – how to register, key dates and reminders to vote – through a straightforward internal communications campaign? Will you personalize your campaign to your brand, with special touches like candidate forums (bipartisan), voter guides, voting captains across locations, or “I Voted” selfie stations or branded stickers? Will you extend your campaign to customers and other stakeholders? We recommend starting small and building over time – but even limited-scope efforts should be timely and in line with the energy of your brand.

3. Identify a partner or resource (e.g. local election officials, League of Women Voters, Common Cause, etc.) to ensure the information you share with employees is fact-based, accurate and current – and to learn what other companies are doing that you may want to mimic.

4. Determine whether or not to join a national movement, such as Time to Vote, Rock the Vote or Democracy Works. These national campaigns can be a source of information and inspiration – and lend credibility to your effort.

5. Focus on how to register and vote – not for whom to vote. While there may be moments when your company needs to take a stand on a partisan issue for business reasons and/or because it reinforces your corporate values, your get-out-the-vote efforts should remain purely non-partisan. Even the perception that you are telling employees who to vote for undermines your credibility and the sincerity of your efforts. And if you do take a stand on an issue, be sure you share your reasons with employees, like this example from Columbia Sportswear CEO Timothy Boyle.

According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, released in January, trust has changed significantly in the past year. People are shifting their trust to the relationships within their control, referred to as “localized trust” — and represented mainly by employers. Trust in “my employer,” at 75 percent, outranks trust in any single institution. This is a global phenomenon, not just a U.S. finding.

Over time, trust has shifted away from societal institutions (government, religious organizations, etc.) toward social platforms (trusting what “friends” say) – and now away from social platforms toward employers.

A key factor of localized trust is the expectation for CEO engagement. More than three-quarters of respondents say they want CEOs to take the lead on change instead of waiting for government to impose it, and more than 70 percent of employees believe it’s critically important for their CEO “to respond to challenging times.”

And 73 percent believe a company can take actions that both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the community where it operates. Employees expect employers to actively join them in advocating for social issues. Companies that do are rewarded — with greater commitment, advocacy, and loyalty from employees.

The work companies are doing to build inclusive cultures is made even more essential by the rise of localized trust. If employees are looking to employers to create community — to provide a sense of belonging they are craving in a divided world — then efforts like addressing unconscious bias, adopting practices and policies that advance inclusion, strengthening cultural competency, and ensuring everyday artifacts and symbols are welcoming to all become the essential building blocks in creating community.

A 2009 Harvard Business Review article was ahead of its time with this reference: “Somehow, in our hectic, individualist world, the sense of community has been lost in too many companies and other organizations. In the United States in particular, many great enterprises, along with the country’s legendary sense of enterprise, have been collapsing as a consequence.”

The article goes on to explain how to build community in a company: start by creating an atmosphere that builds trust, then build a robust culture based on a clear purpose, and then put leadership at the center, highly engaged (not sitting at the top).

It sounds easy enough. But these are not easy times. Many CEOs aren’t equipped to engage on social issues or interested in becoming visible leaders of critical topics, let alone prepared to take the lead on challenges that government is struggling to solve. So, if your CEO is not Howard Schultz or Marc Benioff, how can you attract and keep talent that is looking to you as a trusted resource in an uncertain world?

We don’t have all the answers to this weighty question, but here are our top five recommendations for building community in 2019:

• Prioritize communication. Healthy relationships are based on healthy communication. On the formal side, build thoughtful CEO and senior executive engagement plans that prioritize face-to-face meetings with employees and ensure a consistent cadence of communication. Informally, manage by walking around. Get to know people. Lead from the center, as an engaged member of the team.
• Equip leaders at all levels. Don’t make the mistake of assuming mid-level managers and supervisors are building trust in the ways you expect. They are as local as it gets, so be sure you are providing them with the context and training necessary for them to engage and lead with purpose.
• Acknowledge what’s happening in the world. Gone are the days of avoiding tough conversations and only communicating about activity inside the organization. Employees know their companies know what’s happening – and they expect a conversation, a point of view, or at the very least an acknowledgement. Companies can do this in simple ways, like sharing authentic messages from leaders in times of national strife, conducting nonpartisan campaigns and providing paid time off to get out the vote during election seasons, or hosting panel discussions of employees tackling tough subjects like race and gender. The expectation for connection isn’t going away, so if you’re not already practicing this in your organization, now is a good time to start.
• Break down walls. Nearly every company, no matter how far along on the “welcoming and inclusive” scale, has silos — between operating companies, between business units, between departments, between teams, and so on. Create opportunities for employees to engage with one another beyond their roles — in community volunteer events or collaboration sessions designed to solve real business challenges. Convey an expectation to engage beyond the confines of the job description.
• Do things that build trust. Tell the truth. Be as transparent as possible. Hire people who tell the truth and hold them accountable. Do what you say you are going to do. Explain why you are doing it. Make it easy for employees to share their point of view – and listen to it.

Do these ideas resonate? How well does your organization create community? We’d love to hear your challenges and successes.

A leader’s ability to communicate underpins all six skills.

The first skill, shaping a vision that is exciting and challenging for the team, is where everything starts. Without a clear and compelling purpose, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to develop strategic priorities and align the organization in pursuit of shared goals. And while we love words and deeply believe in their power to engage and inspire, developing a vision is about much more than words.

We’ve been a part of vision development that is focused on wordsmithing by a select few and totally void of the real work of capturing the organization’s “True North.” We’ve also been a part of collaborative vision development that is focused on data, asking the hard questions and inviting the input of a broad base of stakeholders. To grow this skill, leaders should focus on not just their own ability to set a vision, but the process by which they do so. At the root of this skill is the leader’s ability to invite input, articulate the vision and keep it at the forefront — all of which depend on clear communication.

Translating that vision into a clear strategy about what actions to take, and what not to do, is the second fundamental skill. While this skill involves much more than communication, how a strategy is communicated is ultimately the barometer of its success. Does the strategy clearly connect to the vision? Does it convey clear organizational priorities? Is it digestible by the organization, at all levels? Is the language clear? Are leaders at various levels of the organization able to connect their unit’s work to the broader strategy? Do people at every level understand how their role supports the strategy? Arriving at the strategy is one thing; getting the organization to understand, embrace and act on it is another.

The third skill identified by HBR is recruiting, developing, and rewarding a team of great people to carry out the strategy. This is indeed essential, as evidenced by the endless stream of content and tools that help leaders attract and retain great teams. But sometimes leaders need to be reminded of the simple things they can do, starting with being decent human beings and role models – especially in today’s environment. In a recent survey by Georgetown University’s Christine Porath of nearly 20,000 employees worldwide, respondents ranked respect as the most important leadership behavior.

Yet employees report more disrespectful behavior each year. Being seen and heard — simply being recognized as a human being — is often the validation employees are seeking. A 2011 blog written by an Apple sales associate captures it well: “For Tim Cook, there are no dumb questions. When he answered me, he spoke to me as if I were the most important person at Apple. Indeed, he addressed me as if I were Steve Jobs himself. His look, his tone, the long pause . . . that’s the day I began to feel like more than just a replaceable part. I was one of the tens of thousands of integral parts of Apple.”

Focusing on measurable results is the fourth fundamental skill, and like the other five, it involves more than meets the eye. For example, high proficiency in this skill requires an ability to not only identify specific outcomes, but communicate meaning and progress. Leaders must connect results to organizational vision and values, convey milestones, outline what success ultimately looks like, transparently communicate progress, both good and bad, and be truly open to incorporating new facts and perspectives.

Fostering innovation and learning to sustain a team and grow new leaders is the fifth skill. Googling “innovation” brings up 1,300,000,000 results. “Fostering innovation” produces 33,600,000. In our digital economy, business leaders believe two out of five of the top-ranked companies in their industries won’t exist in the next five years, making innovation essential. And companies are increasingly recognizing the value of diverse perspectives and an inclusive atmosphere in driving innovation. At Cisco, research shows that inclusive practices were the second biggest enabler of IoT innovations, right behind the quality of technology infrastructure.

Where do leaders begin? With communication. They need to make it clear that ideas come from anywhere — that every department, regardless of its function, and every individual, regardless of background — has the power to innovate. And through their actions, leaders can demonstrate that well-considered attempts to innovate, even when they fail, are to be learned from, shared and celebrated.

The sixth and final skill, leading yourself, is perhaps the hardest for most of us. Knowing yourself, improving yourself, and managing the appropriate balance in your own life is easier said than done, especially with day-to-day commitments and deadlines related to career, family, and friends – not to mention the complexities of the world we live in. But we all know leaders who have found a way to routinely and honestly assess their own impact, just as we know those who shun any form of self-reflection. In our experience, the leaders who lead themselves — and authentically give their teams a glimpse of that effort — are the leaders who build great teams and produce outstanding results.