What Are We Missing???

Employees need to know that what they do matters—how it matters, where it matters, how long it matters, for whom it matters, and why it matters.

Today’s guest post is by Wendy Lipton-Dibner, author of What MATTERS Matters Most.

They’d tried everything from bonuses to retreats, and while each intervention produced motivational boosts, the results were always short-lived.

In the meantime, disengagement was spreading throughout the organization, and their frustration was growing by the day.

“Nothing we do matters,” Brian sighed.

“Wait, that’s it!” Kathy exclaimed. “I bet that’s what everyone thinks!

“If our employees believe nothing they do matters, then why would they bother to step up?

“We need to give our entire team proof that what they do really matters.”

They called a lunch meeting for the following week and when they arrived, the auditorium was packed.

Kathy picked up the microphone. “Raise your hand if making an impact in people’s lives is important to you.”

Nearly every hand went up, so Kathy continued.

“Brian and I agree with you. Impact is important, and we think the work each of you do is likely creating a lot of impact.

“In fact, you could be enabling our products and services to deliver way more impact than we ever anticipated.

“It’s entirely possible that your work is creating ripple effects that bring ongoing impacts to multiple areas of our customers’ lives, and we intend to prove it!”

The attendees burst into applause as chants of, “Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!” reverberated throughout the auditorium.

Brian smiled broadly as Kathy instructed each department to make a quick list of the potential impacts their work produces.

The energy was electric as each team moved their chairs together to make a list of their impacts.

Next, Kathy told the group to discuss how they could purposefully infuse impact into existing and future products and services to increase customer engagement, loyalty and growth.

Finally, she invited each department to send a representative up to the stage to read their list.

Each presenter received applause that grew louder with every list that was shared.

“Let’s do a little research study,” Kathy challenged. “Starting today, we want every single one of you to prioritize impact-driven results in everything you do.

“We’ll do this for six months and see how this affects our metrics.

“Thank you for your enthusiasm today. We’ll keep you posted.”

Brian and Kathy stayed for more than an hour, shaking hands with leaders and employees as they expressed congratulations and asked about next steps.

The CMO and CFO stood watching. When everyone had left, they walked up to Brian and Kathy, shook their hands, and said, “Best. Meeting. Ever. What do you need from us?”

Over the next weeks and months, leaders reported increasing engagement among their employees, including increased productivity, initiative, collaboration, innovation, sales, and more.

Six months later, Kathy called the full team together again. This time, she celebrated their significantly increased metrics, spotlighting customer engagement, satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat and referral revenue.

At the close of the meeting, Kathy read a congratulatory email from one of their shareholders, and another from an inspired vendor offering a sponsorship.

Then Brian stepped up to the microphone. “I must confess, I never believed this initiative would work.

“I’m here to tell you guys, you proved me wrong. The impact you made on this organization, and on me personally, is something I will never forget. Thanks everyone!”

This story is just one of many that have shown what can happen when leaders prioritize impact in every area of their organization.

As a social scientist and decades-long organizational strategist, I’ve witnessed the damage employee disengagement inflicts on internal and external stakeholders.

I’ve also spoken with leaders who invested tens of thousands of dollars implementing respected solutions, only to rebound far worse than where they had started.

After serving more than 1,000 organizations in every industry from healthcare to hospitality, my research revealed a missing component that is critical to employee engagement.

The missing piece is also crucial for stakeholder loyalty and ongoing growth.

Bottom line, what leaders have been missing is proof of the ongoing, long-term, Real-World Impact of products and services.

Real-World Impact is the immediate, ongoing, and long-term changes, outcomes, differences, results, events, and experiences that occur after customers, patients, or beneficiaries receive the planned benefits of a product or service.

Employees need to know that the products and services they help research, innovate, develop, design, manufacture, market, sell, deliver, service, and support are creating an ongoing stream of desirable, meaningful, important, potentially life-changing impacts in multiple areas of customers’ lives over time.

Real-World Impact Metrics provide invaluable proof to employees that what they do matters—how it matters, where it matters, how long it matters, for whom it matters, and why it matters.

Real-World Impact Metrics also provide unprecedented proof to customers, patients, and beneficiaries, increasing the value they place on the products they use and the services they receive.

This proof is the missing piece that enables leaders to build and sustain impassioned engagement, unrivaled loyalty, and boundless growth among all stakeholders.

Can it really be that simple? Yes.

Wendy Lipton-Dibner is internationally recognized as the leading authority on Organizational Impact Strategy. President and CEO of Professional Impact, Inc., Wendy is the inventor of the Real-World Impact Metrics // Journey of Impact technology [ProveYourImpact.com], and author of What MATTERS Matters Most^™. [WhatMattersMattersMost.com]

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