Employee engagement has hit a 10 year low and signals a tremendous opportunity for organizations to proactively develop leaders and cultures.
SHOW NOTES
Jason introduces Season 9 episode 37 of the podcast, The Business Case for Well-Being. Welcome back to the podcast on corporate culture and leadership and thank you for listening. We engage thought leaders like CEOs, CFOs, managers, VPs, directors, and more for this podcast. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. We deep dive into today’s topic.
We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with.
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
Season 9 Episode 39: Engaging Your Employees Is A Cultural Opportunity
With employee engagement hitting a 10-year low, the modern workplace is at a critical crossroads. According to Gallup, this disengagement and the resulting employee burnout are costing the global economy a staggering $322 billion annually in lost productivity and turnover. But as Jason V Barger explains in this episode of The Thermostat Podcast, this challenge isn’t a crisis—it’s a massive cultural opportunity. For leaders and teams willing to be intentional, now is the perfect time to shape a compelling corporate culture that engages the minds and hearts of your people.
Summary
This episode of The Thermostat Podcast examines the powerful connection between intentional culture shaping, employee well-being, and organizational performance. Jason Barger explains that caring for people is not just a “nice” idea; it is a strategic imperative for any business that wants to thrive. When employees feel valued and see a clear connection between their work and the company’s mission, their performance, productivity, and job satisfaction skyrocket. Barger presents five key trends and opportunities for leaders to foster an environment of high engagement, turning the tide on burnout and creating a workplace where people genuinely want to contribute their best work.
5 Opportunities to Shape Your Culture
The best leaders understand that a great company culture doesn’t happen by accident. It is intentionally co-created every day through our mindsets, actions, and interactions. Barger highlights five areas where organizations can focus their efforts to build a more engaging and effective team culture.
1. Language Drives Behavior
The first step in building the future is to articulate it. The language you use to define your mission, values, and desired behaviors sets the foundation for everything else. If you can’t clearly describe the culture you want, you can’t expect your team to create it. Leaders have an opportunity to revitalize their language and ensure everyone understands what the desired culture looks like in action.
2. Intentional and Strategic Development
Once the language is established, you must be strategic in developing it. A compelling corporate culture is woven into every aspect of the employee lifecycle. This means intentionally designing your hiring, onboarding, performance evaluations, and leadership training to reinforce the culture you want. It’s about moving from simply stating your values to actively cultivating them in your people every day.
3. Clarity on Mission and Contribution
People have an innate need to know that their work matters. When employees feel like a meaningless cog in a machine, disengagement is inevitable. The best organizations create direct lines of sight between an individual’s role and the company’s overarching mission. Leaders must ensure that every team member understands how their unique contribution pushes the mission forward. When people feel valued and significant, their motivation soars.
4. Honoring the Whole Person
A one-size-fits-all approach to management is obsolete. Today’s greatest cultural opportunity lies in recognizing and honoring the unique needs and desires of each employee. For some, flexibility is more valuable than a raise; for others, it’s challenging projects or opportunities for travel. By taking a personal approach and understanding what motivates each individual, leaders can marry people’s passions with their performance, creating a loyal and highly motivated team.
5. Cultural Fitness Breeds Trust
Culture is not a project with a finish line; it requires continuous effort, or what Barger calls “cultural fitness.” This means setting aside intentional time—through all-hands meetings, team retreats, or manager training—to work on the culture. These regular sessions to align on thinking, acting, and interacting build profound trust and a powerful sense of community. The outcome is a resilient culture that people are proud to be a part of.
Notable Quotes
“The cultures we create lead to the performance we hope for.”
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“Caring for people’s well-being in the workplace isn’t just a nice idea, it’s critical.”
“Culture is shaped moment by moment by the way we think, act, and interact.”
“The best places work to marry people’s passions with their performance.”
Questions to Ponder 🤔
As you reflect on your own team and organization, consider these questions:
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What opportunities exist within your team or your culture to strengthen it?
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What actions and behaviors do you want to intentionally develop with your people in the next 12 months?
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How will you commit to “cultural fitness” to breed trust and community?
Links and References
Employee Engagement skills at all year lows – Gallup Link
Follow @JasonVBarger on social media for even more insights and new video content.
For more insights and practical tips, be sure to check out Jason V Barger’s book Breathing Oxygen. This book dives deeper into the concepts discussed in this episode and provides additional strategies for fostering a positive mindset and effective leadership.
By incorporating these practices into your summer routine, you can breathe new life into your personal and professional endeavors. Remember, as Jason says, “The best leaders, teams, and cultures on the planet stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.”
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
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Remember, the best leaders, teams, & cultures stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.
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ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT
Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.
A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families, or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.