Companies Need To Drive Interventions

Do you know the best way to keep your employees engaged and productive, whether in an office or remote?

Interventions.

The Webster Dictionary defines intervention as "the act of interfering with the outcome or course especially of a condition or process (as to prevent harm or improve functioning)."

Dr. Erin Makarius, a Professor at the University of Akron, is studying the impact of "remote" work. Given the nature of remote work, it's become less frequent that employees connect with their leaders in a casual way and often only connect when there is a problem or challenge. This lack of connection, outside challenges, doesn't create a true connection between employees and their leaders. Dr. Makarius pointed me to an Academy of Management study called "Individual Centered Interventions: Identifying What, How, and Why Interventions Work in Organizational Contexts." The paper explores using interventions to positively affect individual and organizational outcomes at work and primarily focuses on organizational and research interventions, but also explores the concept of interventions at the individual level versus organizationally. In HR/People circles, they discuss a similar idea around the customization of the employee journey.

I want to take this concept of interventions and build a structure around how companies and leaders adopt these concepts in a virtual environment. Like these truckers, most remote-only companies now have employees working in solitude and directly connect to companies via their leaders and close co-workers. The concept of interventions can provide a framework for leaders (thus the company) to connect more closely to their teams in a more purposeful way, versus reaching out only when there is a problem or issue. Ultimately this will lead to higher engagement and connection, thus increasing productivity and business performance.

Typically, interventions are defined as planned positive change efforts. The primary intention of intervention is to change something deemed to be problematic in a workplace context. Thus as our truck driver example above, a typical intervention only happens when there is a problem or challenge. We need to explore more holistic interventions, not just focusing on a challenge or problem. Interventions need to be proactive and purposeful to enact change or avoid risk. Here are some ways to build interventions within your organizations:

Writing & Reflection - in this method, you ask the employee to reflect and write about a specific prompt or question, allowing them to reflect on their own experiences, the experience of others, or even something hypothetical. For example, this could be a simple weekly pulse question on their feelings, allowing them to reflect on the past week of work. You can also ask folks to provide three wins and challenges - again asking them to reflect and write about their past week or work. The research above found that participants who wrote about their thoughts and feelings reported higher psychological well-being, fewer intentions to retaliate, and higher levels of personal resolution.

Goal Setting - do we do OKRs or not, goal setting? Well, whatever method works for your organization is the answer, but goal-setting intervention remains one of the most effective and commonly used intervention methods. While goal setting has seen a jump (think Google's OKR framework), not every system works for every company. Goal setting is essential, but working with individuals to set their own goals seems a positive intervention. The key is that while goal setting is a suitable intervention, researchers have demonstrated that it is more effective at motivating performance when paired with a form of accountability, such as feedback.

Feedback and Incentives - another form of intervention is feedback on performance or standards. Remember performance reviews? Typically, leaders provide feedback through written or visual ways of showing progress. In other ways, feedback is given verbally through conversations. Research shows that providing financial incentives alone doesn't impact motivation or performance. Leaders must combine financial incentives with feedback to have the most impact. The challenge with most incentives is that they become part of the standard compensation and thus become expected. In this case, the financial incentive ceases to be an actual intervention.

Training - is a ubiquitous way for companies to intervene. Most training events involve having your employees attend educational sessions that teach them new information or instruct them on a new skill. Training formats have changed and evolved, but instructor-led (virtually or in-person) continue to be the most popular training intervention. The effectiveness of training interventions has always had a varying impact. For example, the research above found that learning performance after training was highest when participants received a second intervention to "boost self-regulation." "Self-regulation" could include varying ways to continue the training through peer groups, online confirmation, nudges, or 1:1 coaching opportunities.

Work Redesign - changing work environments and work itself is another form of intervention. Work redesign could include modifying work schedules, job expansion, or changing connections within an organization. Peer mentoring has been a proven intervention that impacts both sides positively. The research shows that the same gender-peer mentoring contributed to women's retention and success. You can also focus on the design of the work, altering physical or social aspects of the work, and building stronger relationships. An example of work redesign could be as simple as "no camera Zoom days" or as sophisticated as offering ergonomic consultation for work from home set-ups.

Emerging Interventions - there are other ways for companies to provide more regular interventions outside of what I addressed above. Some examples include quality sleep programs, blue light glasses, and behavioral interventions like attending a poetry reading or theatrical performance to establish empathy. There is also an intervention emerging around connecting with your teams personally - as Radical Candor suggests - caring personally and asking about their personal lives.

How is your company providing interventions with your employees to help them perform? Share ways your company intervenes with their employees in the chat below.