The 10 Million Dollar Gage for Employee Engagement

How much money is more than adequate for any general employee working in an organization? This is a seemingly simple yet a very hard question to answer. Money is supposed to be an important element influencing employee engagement. So what happens when money is kept out of consideration while determining the drivers for employee engagement.

With the above as the backdrop, the 10 million dollar gage for employee engagement is a useful construct to understand the level of employee engagement in an organization.

Let us assume 10 million dollar is more than adequate for any general employee working in an organization. What than means is that if a general employee gets 10 million dollars he rises above the need to work for purely economic or financial reasons.

So what would be the factors that would influence the engagement of such a general worker with the organization supposing he is given 10 million dollars. Following scenarios could be thought of as the possibilities that will emerge.

• Employee wants to continue working in the same field and in the same organization. This is the case of an employee who is passionate about the work she is performing. It also shows the strength of the culture and working environment in the organization.
• Employee wants to work in a different field but in the same organization. This is the case of an employee who has lost passion about the work she is performing and wants to get into another area she is interested in. It, however, shows the strength of the culture and working environment in the organization.
• Employee wants to continue working in the same field but in a different organization. This is the case of an employee who is passionate about the work she is performing. But it shows the culture and working environment in the organization has room to improve.
• Employee wants to work in a different field and in a different  organization. This is the case of an employee who has lost passion about the work she is performing and wants to get into another area she is interested in. It also shows the culture and working environment in the organization has room to improve.
• Employee does not want to work at all and wishes to quit the rat race. This would mean the employee was not enjoying the work she was performing and also not enjoying working in the corporate world. She was working due to lack of any other choice. And probably the only motive was to have some means to pay the bills.

The table below captures the above in a summarized form. It is clear from the table that there exists the case where someone may be wanting to quit the rat race altogether. This in some sense speaks about the prevalent culture in the corporate world, in general.



For any organization knowing the number of cases where the general employee would want to work in a different organization is a highly pertinent information. Higher employee engagement would mean working towards a situation where such cases are minimized.

HR folks in many companies run employee engagement/satisfaction surveys with lot of fanfare and drum-beating. These exercises become yearly rituals and provide good sound-bites to the top guys in management and HR. However, they generally fail to delivery anything concrete. The 10 million dollar gage can perhaps serve the purpose in a better manner and more efficiently.

Old Boys Club Culture in Organizations

Many small organizations stay small forever and eventually disappear. There are several reasons that may arise due to factors external to the organization however the stronger reasons have to do more with internal factors.

One big reason for the above to happen is the prevalence of old boys club culture in such organizations.  Such a culture is characterized by the following:

• There is a king bee who is the owner, founder and the ultimate boss
• The king bee is surrounded by a close-knit group of stooges who have one answer for anything and everything from the king "yes sir, what sir"
• Stooges due to their proximity to the king act like kinglets (similar to piglets when one talks of a pig, interestingly these two situations may not be that different, really speaking)
• The stooges have big egos and humiliate, demean and put down others. For them it is as if others don't exist and don't matter.
• When a cake is being cut, the king will get the biggest piece, the stooges will also have big pieces and others are simply told to get lost. The sub-stooges (stooges of stooges) ensure they get good pieces of the leftovers of the cake.
• Professionalism and positive element in such a culture is pretty low and to sustain the dominance of the old boys club the stooges are put on the heads of professionals hired from outside by creating strange reporting structures. 
• When any senior professional hired from outside brings up valid issues with one of the stooges the other stooges jump on to the poor professional's head and show him down.
• The stooge the senior professional is forced to report into defends the other stooges and advises "improving relations with the other stooges" conveniently ignoring the non-professional and negative behaviors and acts of the other stooges.
• Since the king and the stooges will never get fired in such an organization they maintain a hands-off approach to management and create funny rituals to perpetuate it.

Any senior professional hired from outside in such organizations should move on without wasting any time. She would realize in no time how difficult it is to survive with nuts around.

Stuck in a Dead-end Job

Getting stuck in a dead-end job is a reality especially for those who work in business organizations that have not been seeing adequate growth and where the organizational pyramid keeps getting fatter at the top every year.

Here are some of the ways in which one gets stuck in a dead-end job:

• One outgrows the current role but the next level job is simply not available. In this case the person will have to continue in the current role and if she is not able to move out will get stuck.
• One becomes a senior professional in a company after having worked for several years. In this case if the person has not kept abreast of the changes in the market in respect of skills she carries and has in some sense fallen behind will get stuck.
• One is assigned to some special initiatives by the management. This is a clear indication that the management doesn't care whether the person stays or not. The person will find that the accountability to achieve something keeps on increasing gradually but the authority to get things done stays unchanged and may at times gets diminished.

The biggest problem from those who are stuck is to the organization's culture. Such people would typically show following behaviors and characteristics:

• They carry big ego around and try to make others, especially those lower in the hierarchy, realize their weight
• They are too demanding as well as pugnacious and try to prove that they are always right and others are wrong.
• They are full of conceit, false sense of pride and superiority and carry a sadistic and condescending attitude.
• They are highly cynical and question everything for the sake of proving a point and to show their importance.

Signs of a Toxic Workplace

Here are some typical signs of a toxic workplace:

• Many people write funny mails starting with statements like this - "Bringing to your kind notice that this is another instance", "I am surprised to know that", "Needless to say that", etc.
• Many people (even who are supposed to be senior/mature managers) pounce on anyone who makes a mistake. And the mistake is highlighted time and again in every meeting to show down the person who made the mistake.
• Many people are too turf-sensitive, deeply indulgent in blame game, totally political, highly hierarchy-conscious, and carriers of jumbo-sized egos.
• Many people are deadwood and performing roles that could have been performed by people many years junior, they are generally there because they are in dead-end roles with no growth potential. Hence they need to protect their turfs vehemently at other's costs.
• Many people are silent schemers who would keep a wry smile on their face and try to show how genuine they are but act/behave in a contradictory manner.
• Many people are pushing their stuff to others or delaying it indefinitely and yet are still not held accountable for such actions.

Characteristics of Coterie-Managed Companies

Working in a coterie-managed company is an extremely challenging proposition. In such companies the co-founders and their loyal lieutenants are the "Insiders", everyone else is an "Outsider".

Such organizations are characterized by following:

• The co-founders and their loyal lieutenants are short on ethics. When a loyal lieutenant leaves the company and rejoins immediately (such people can't thrive in other organizations) his employment continuity is shown with no break.
• The co-founders and their loyal lieutenants maintain tight control by demeaning professionals hired from outside. Artificial reporting roles and lines are created to make sure professionals hired from outside remain puppets in the hands of loyal lieutenants.
• The co-founders and their loyal lieutenants demonstrate time and again to professionals hired from outside their true place in the system (which is basically no better than that of a second grade citizen).
• The co-founders and their loyal lieutenants go for lunch together. By virtue of being the elite of the company, lunch is served in a special way.
• The co-founders and their loyal lieutenants may seem to disagree on certain matter over email but that is more of a facade to mislead professionals hired from outside.
• The loyal lieutenants would gang up on the professionals hired from outside and many activities which should have been managed by them are conveniently downloaded to professionals hired from outside in the name of organizational interest.
• The loyal lieutenants would also gang up on professionals hired from outside by maintaining tight control over the information that gets shared with professionals hired from outside (which is basically bare minimum and sketchy at the best). 
• The co-founders would allow only their loyal lieutenants to have direct reporting into them. For areas where loyal lieutenants have zero competency requiring professionals to be hired from outside, such professionals will be made to report to one of the loyal lieutenants (who will have zero idea about what it takes to get work done in that area) . The idea is to show professionals hired from outside their "true place", second guess all their decisions, control resources, withhold information and essentially continue to maintain their "Outsider" status.
• The loyal lieutenants would harass professionals hired from outside by maintaining tight control over resources. Requests by professionals hired from outside  for addition to their team will be brushed aside and ignored and instead will be asked to managed with scarce resources whereas the areas looked into directly by the  loyal lieutenants would be overstaffed.

Toxic Leaders and Incompetent Managers

One of the key reasons for an organization to struggle to grow is the presence of toxic leaders and incompetent managers in such organizations.

Toxic leaders carry a chip on their shoulders. They believe and behave as if they are the ones on whose shoulders the organization is being run. They come across as know-it-all, arrogant and rude in their interactions with others. One can spot them in meetings easily - they would be using the cuss words, disparaging others, putting others down, showing how smart they are, etc. They would also be showing their arrogance and over-smartness while responding over emails.

The problem of toxic leaders gets compounded when the senior management chooses to ignore such behaviours. Often times such people are blue-eyed-boys of the senior management and have the blessing hand on their heads. Such people will generally run into issues in case the senior management changes.

Incompetent managers reach their positions by virtue of their loyalty to the top brass and believe in being good old soldiers who would not loose a moment to say "Yes Sir". They would over commit and under deliver. In fact, they would push their activities to others like asking the people from other departments to perform their departmental activities.

Such managers cause frustration in those who are forced to report into them. This problem gets compounded when such a manager doesn't understand the ABC of what someone reporting into them is doing, They would second guess or stay silent only to give a surprise during the performance reviews. They typically demotivate those below and are not be fair in their dealing with others.

The top brass in such companies is responsible for allowing such situations to develop. Such companies will fail to attract professionals and even if trick someone into joining them would not be able to retain them.

Signs of a Dysfunctional Organization Structure

Organization structure is very important for the success of any enterprise.

However, many organizations fail to grow due to apparent ignorance of this simple aspect.

Such organizations are started by a group of individuals who keep the control within themselves by creating what can be called as a dysfunctional organization structure.

Such a group of individuals form a well knit coterie where anyone joining at a senior level remains an outsider.

Here are some typical signs of a dysfunctional organization structure. 

• There are certain functions where the coterie doesn't have the needed skill set but still one from the coterie is made the head of the function. The head is forced from above in a ridiculous way. The only intent is to retain the control with the coterie.
• Such organizations find it extremely difficult to hire a professional at a senior level. Senior professionals hired by such organizations are trapped in a dysfunctional organization. 
• Any professional will easily figure out the prevalence of the coterie culture and utter lack of professionalism in such organizations and stay away.
• Professionals joining such organizations at the middle level will soon find themselves trapped and start feeling suffocated and will move on.
• There is a glass ceiling due to the strong coterie culture which eventually results in no churn in the senior level and high churn in all other levels below.

Examples of Bad Leadership

Bad leadership is the primary reason why many companies fail to grow, stagnate and eventually die. Here are some examples that characterize bad leadership.

• You work hard for achieving a major milestone for the company and the company's top man humiliates you by inviting someone else to join him while going for the celebratory lunch
• The top man puts a trusted lieutenant over your head whose only job is to second guess you, give suggestions for the sake of it (and stupid suggestions at that), steal the credit blatantly and show you down in all possible ways
• For decisions where you have accountability and limited authority the top man always communicates only over email while religiously copying the trusted lieutenant
• The trusted lieutenant in such companies has poor intellectual horsepower in general and no understanding of the area he looks over the head of the professional manager handling that area
• The top man is completely hands off and doesn't like any criticism whatsoever. He prefers "yes sir" stooges and invariably promotes a coterie culture
• Such organizations are breeding ground of people with attitude. In such companies some of the trusted lieutenants of the top man think as if the whole world (and not just the company) revolves around them
• Such organizations are soul-killers for anyone who believes in professionalism, fairness and transparency
• A professional manager would always be an outsider in such organizations. And the only advice for such people is not to join and in case have made the mistake of joining quit at the earliest
• Such organizations have an old boys club and no one joins at a senior level. In case someone at senior level leaves it is difficult to fill that position. Also, those whole leave at the senior level are the "outsider" professionals but not the "coterie" trusted lieutenants

The best way to deal with bad leadership in case one is stuck in such a situation is to simply move on. The culture and the lack of professionalism in such companies (where sound bites from the top man would be full of lies and falsehood) would not allow a true professional to grow in their career.

Signs and Sounds of a Weak Senior Manager

In the corporate world those who become senior managers may not actually be deserving of it. Owing to loyalty to the top man in the organization some people become senior managers in such an organization. And quite ridiculously they may be asked to look after a department about which they have absolutely no clue.

This might lead to a case for example where a finance person becomes head of admin. This results in an organization structure which is artificially propped on the back of an old boys club. In such an organization professionalism and competency have no place.

Such organizations are also perfect breeding grounds for a weak senior manager. These are the people who have no spine and who can never take a stand. In case someone raises a point they are more than willing to lie down prostrate and let others run them down. The weakness is a result of competency and manifests itself in several ways.

So what are the typical sights and sounds of a weak manager. Here are some examples:

• Such a manager tries to avoid any confrontation whatsoever
• Such a manager never supports her team
• Such a manager can never take a stand
• Such a manager fails to create trust and respect in those who report into him

Reporting into a weak manager especially combined with the old boys club syndrome in the organization (where quite ridiculously they may be asked to look after a department about which they have absolutely no clue) is a frustrating experience to say the least. The best advise for people stuck with a weak manager is - just quit and do it fast!

How Organizations are Fighting the War for Troy Everyday?

There is a famous dialogue from the movie Troy, War is young men dying and old men talking. You know this. Ignore the politics.

This  applies very well to the organizations in the corporate world.

Running a company involves old men (executive and senior management) busy in talking (board meetings, strategic planning, management reviews, et al) while the young men (middle and line management and all other employees) keep on dying (tight deadlines, lack of adequate resources, lack of visibility, stretch goals, et al).

The old men define the strategy, direction and resource allocation whilst the young men are busy in performing activities that earn money for the company.

Old men are busy in deciding what resources to allocate to which area, which persons to keep in an area or move to another area and for these old men certain buzzwords mean everything - shareholder expectations,  market trends, profitability, operational excellence, employee engagement, etc.

On the other hand, the young men are like sacrificial lambs who are moved from one to another place and told what to do and what not to do.

In light of the above organizations are fighting the war for Troy everyday. The young men keep on dying while the old men keep on talking and more talking.

When Someone Close to You Falls Seriously Sick

Seeing someone close to you go through serious sickness and witnessing the pains and tears that accompany it is both physically and emotionally draining. Serious sickness is also financially draining if one is not  able to afford the treatment comfortably. One wants the sick person to be completely cured and that too quickly. In case the process of healing gets prolonged the emotional stress generated reaches very high levels.

The flow of various activities like talking to the doctor, buying medicines and injections, seeing the patient being administered the medicines, helping the patient consume the medicines at the prescribed time in the prescribed dosage, watching the progress of healing makes one go through various mood changes. This is tougher in case the patient happens to be a child.

In an overall sense, the experience of someone close to you falling seriously sick is a humbling experience in life. The fact that life is so vulnerable and fragile stares at your face and makes you realize the nothingness of many things we take so seriously at times. Not only that one comes to terms with one's own vulnerability and mortality.

It also helps one acquire a philosophical outlook towards life and towards the very purpose of it. The only certainty in life is death and a close encounter with serious sickness or death is a good eye opener and recalling such experiences throughout one's life helps one stay humble and in touch with ground reality.

The fact that almost no one alive at this moment will be alive 100 years later is a fact that no one should ignore. There is no reason to get sad or anxious about this fact. Awareness of this fact should instead help one to have complete peace of mind. No fear, no failure, no humiliation, no happiness, no sadness should be viewed big enough for one to loose one's peace of mind.

Bhagvada Geeta provides an excellent take on life. The focus on Karma (actions) as the only Dharma (religion) without any expectations of Fal (fruit or outcome) is a very powerful concept which helps one to enjoy life through the various deeds one would perform from birth until death.

Writing it Down Helps

Writing down something that is bothering you is very helpful in coming to peace with the troublemakers and the bad situations around you.

It is interesting that 100 years later you, the troublemakers and the bad situations will cease to exist but at this point and in the near future the troublemakers and the bad situations will continue to bother you until some other troublemakers and bad situations take their place.

In that sense, life consists of movement from one botheration to another until the last botheration of life - death itself.

When it comes to the troublemakers writing the initials of the people who create trouble for you and for others is a good way to come to peace. One can write the names in this manner such as MK, SD, DA, MM, RS, et al.

Similarly, when it comes to the bad situations writing the details of the bad situations that bother you is a good way to come to peace. Here are some situations:

• Getting a nasty email from a senior though immature person in the organization
• Getting a nasty call from a senior though immature person in the organization
• Getting a call from a senior person in the organization asking you to do something unethical
• Getting an unfair request from someone who thinks highly of herself

Is this Right Time to Move on from Your Current Company?

This simple yet powerful question is one of the most important fundamental questions and must be an integral part of one’s career advancement plan. Asking this question at the end of every month (in some detail) and at the end of every quarter (in complete detail) should become a standard procedure for any professional to follow religiously.

Another important fundamental question is why should you stay with your current company? The answer to this is the reasons driving the answer to the question “Is this Right Time to Move on from Your Current Company?” are absent or very weak at that point in time.

So how to decide – “Is this Right Time to Move on from Your Current Company?” The answer to this question is very simple and can be captured in the following two statements. The sequence of the following two statements is equally important. If statement B is the first reason then you are still not desperate to quit however if statement A is the first reason then you are certainly desperate to quit.

• Statement A – The reason you are still around is because you need the job for the money you are making from it to pay your bills, otherwise you would have quit by now
• Statement B – The reason you are still around is because you haven’t been able to find another job though you have been trying very hard, and the moment you land one you will quit immediately

It is interesting to understand how you reach to a stage where the only reason for you to stay with your current company is limited to the above two statements. So what are the drivers for you to reach to this stage? Here are some:

• You are certain you will not grow any further irrespective of your performance and irrespective of how much longer you stay put
• You are not learning anything new and not at all improving upon your competencies in any significant manner
• You are interacting with stakeholders who are themselves not growing and the discussions you have with them are purely transactional and operational in nature
• You have come to believe that the organization is not run professionally but rather by the whims and fancies of an old boys club
• You have come to realize that the people who are heading the various areas lack in leadership qualities and are totally narrow-minded due the prevalence of an old boys club culture
• You have come to the conclusion that the company has a bleak and dark future because the so called leaders lack in leadership qualities and are totally narrow-minded

Staying Alive, Becoming Successful

For all forms of life the purpose of life is “staying alive” but for human beings the purpose of life seems to be “becoming successful”.

If one were to go by the mainstream discussions and discourses in media, government communications and corporate dealings, it might appear that the primary purpose of any person’s existence is to become successful – which would mean a combination of various adjectives like powerful, influential, wealthy.

Success in different fields of human endeavor may have different connotations though – like for movie stars success is related to popularity, for politicians success is related to being elected again and again, for employees in a company success is related to becoming CEO eventually, etc.

Somehow human beings, perhaps because they control the planet, have glorified their importance over other things on the planet. It appears as if what we want, what we are capable of, what we think is right guides the developments and advancements on this planet, starting from the time the first living being of the species homo sapiens walked on it. Purpose of life in such a context is defined by human beings as “becoming successful” unlike other forms of life whose purpose is simply “staying alive”.

However, it’s perfectly fine to fail. Failing is not a crime though one may get punished for it, at times too severely to recover from it. In the history of mankind, there are plenty of instances of people succeeding as well as failing. Looking back at history, those successes and failures have shaped the world to become what it is today but those failures and successes mean nothing directly to an individual who is alive today.

Nitpickers and Naysayers

Nitpickers and naysayers are part and parcel of any organization. These people are characterized by typical behavior patterns. It is crucial for one to learn to deal with the nitpickers and naysayers.

First and foremost, how does one figure out the nitpickers and naysayers present around? Here are some signals that can help one on this:

• Such people would write emails with disparaging remarks about others and with the intent to show others down
• Such people would write nasty emails starting with "I am surprised that this did not happen", "People are laughing at this", "I was just wondering what is the value add from this", etc.
• Such people would react nastily to any changes in the schedule of an activity shared with them earlier with statements like "I am not a dustbin that gets moved from here to there just like that"
• Such people would call you at the slightest of reason like someone requesting their team to help at the last moment
• Such people will act nasty with anyone whom they perceive and think as more competent than themselves
• Such people would be amongst the first ones to bring up reasons why something will not work at all

Cycle of Engagement – From Joining to Leaving

When one joins a new organization to take up a new position one is generally highly determined and brimming with energy to succeed. One willingly gives the best to help the organization achieve its objectives, especially those for which one is responsible, either directly or in some manner. The passion to succeed is a function of one’s degree of trust on the organization’s ability to help fulfill one’s own career success objectives.

Career success objectives in this context have following connotations, the list of course is not complete.

• Involvement in pertinent decisions taken in the organization
• Promotion to higher positions in the organizational hierarchy ladder
• Increase in compensation and benefits aligned with market and performance
• Opportunities to continuously develop professional competencies

The degree of fulfillment of the above objectives has strong influence on the degree of one’s engagement with the organization. And the level of engagement of an employee with the organization over the next many months, quarters and years is shaped by the extent to which the employee’s objectives are achieved.

When one realizes that further advancement and achievement in respect of the connotations listed above is not possible or becomes increasingly difficult or not at all under consideration by those in one’s line of upward reporting, the writing on the wall is clear. The process of disengagement initiates from this realization and for all practical purposes the employee resigns mentally. 

The employee would resign physically much later, after the employee starts looking out and gets a job offer in hand. This culminates eventually in the employee leaving and joining elsewhere. A new cycle starts thereafter.

Since an employee would essentially work for achieving one’s career success objectives while working with an organization, it is quite important to understand the linkage between organizational objectives and employee’s objectives.  Those in the management ranks in an organization who are aware of this constantly work on the psyche of the employees ‘who work in the trenches’ so as to keep them engaged and productive.

Why Working in a Small Company is Not a Good Idea at all?

Many a times people switch from a bigger company to a smaller company and the reason could be very many. An analysis of the reasons would typically reveal the following drivers for such a switch:

• One gets laid off from a bigger company and finding another similar position is difficult at another similar sized organization, this is all the more difficult at higher positions and senior designations.
• One can't grow any further in the bigger company because of higher competition for available positions and reduced opportunities one would find as one moves upwards in the hierarchy.
• One wants to take up higher responsibilities like handling a team, liaising with external agencies, etc. earlier than what would be probably possible in a bigger organization.

However, no sooner would one land in a smaller company, one would hit upon more intricate challenges. These challenges are important to be appreciated as they clearly indicate why working in a small company is not a good idea at all. Here are some such challenges:

• One feels trapped in the current role and sees no potential to move vertically, at times compounded by the fact that the person in the higher role one is reporting into is totally incompetent and is there because of being a trusted lieutenant of the top man and a part of the old boys club. The phenomenon of old boys club is rampant in smaller companies and owing to that they are far away from being a professional organization.
• One feels saturated in terms of the learning and growth opportunities and also sees many others lingering on in the organization (and many of them sadly because they have no chance of getting another job to move on). The canvas is simply small and one would have painted it all over in no time. Thereafter one has nothing significant to do and learn.
• One feels frustrated by the big egos in the smaller company. Yes that's the most shocking reality, the long timers in a smaller company have egos bigger than the size of an elephant and despite being a frog in the well they live under the wrong notion that they are the best. Not only that, lack of experience of working at varied organizations comes up as a serious flaw in the long-timers as they have too narrow and unhealthy perspective. As compared to this, long timers in a bigger company have a much bigger canvas and hence a much broader and healthier perspective.

When to Move out of an Organization

When to move out of an organization is the most important question every employee should constantly ask everyday, right from the very first day of joining that organization.

Just like any smart investor would sell off the stocks held at an opportune time, a smart employee should move on from the current job at an opportune time.

Here are some signs that can guide the decision on when to move out of an organization:

• Career growth is not visible and may be entirely absent
• Reporting is suffocating and not right and fair
• Leadership team is like an old boys club, and not at all professional
• Top leader is not ethical and has no vision