Leaders need to become more empathetic if they want to genuinely connect with their teams and keep them engaged at work. This requires leaders to learn how to take a step back and try to see situations in the workplace from other people’s perspectives. Leaders need to also proactively identify stressors that are affecting their teams’ engagement so they can make better decisions about how to help employees manage their stress levels. If leaders really want to improve engagement in a sustainable way, then they need to regularly hold check-in meetings to assess the emotional wellbeing of their team and ask if they are feeling stressed, overworked, or distracted. Leaders should then reflect on their employees feedback and develop an action plan to quickly change course.
Quiet quitting is the emerging phenomenon of employee disengagement, essentially quitting on the job. What strategies do high-impact leaders deploy to motivate themselves and those around them to move from quiet quitting to quiet committing? Because, at its core, there is no change without commitment. Commitment to change ideas. Change beliefs. Change perspectives. Change routines, rituals and boundaries. Organizations change one commitment at a time. One leader at a time. As part of our series about “Quiet Committing: The Top Five Commitments High Impact Leaders Make & Keep To Themselves Daily”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Grant Sevek.
Grant Sevek is the founder of One Nation Solar, a rooftop solar installer for residential and commercial projects. Grant’s company is based in Canton, Ohio, and operates throughout northeastern Ohio, northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern Michigan. Grant has been working in the energy sector his entire career. He graduated college during the fracking boom and joined an oil and gas company as a landman helping develop large land service projects for E&P Companies. This job required Grant to travel all over the country, which reduced the amount of time he could spend with his family. He saw that rooftop solar was growing in demand and ultimately decided to launch his own business so he could work locally and have more control over his work schedule. Today, One Nation Solar is one of the region’s leading solar sales and service organizations. They design and build high quality solar systems of all shapes and sizes for homes and businesses alike, and are renowned for helping clients take command of their energy costs once and for all!
Thank you for making time for our visit. What was the first job you had, and how did that job shape the leader you are today?
I have always been very entrepreneurial. My very first money making venture started in grade school. Yo-Yo’s were very popular at the time. Our school held a yearly Yo-Yo competition. I saw this as an opportunity to buy and sell high quality Yo-Yo strings to my fellow classmates. I would demonstrate how my Yo-Yo strings were far superior to the stock Yo-Yo strings my classmates had that came with their Yo-Yos.
My first job in high school was with a company called Vector Marketing. Vector Marketing hires and trains outside sales representatives to market and sell CUTCO cutlery. My job was to meet one-on-one with potential customers in their home and help them find the perfect cutlery set that fit their needs. During that summer I was the region’s #1 outside sales representative in the company, which earned me a trip to their national sales rewards conference. I believe this first outside sales position in high school helped mold me into the entrepreneur and business leader I am today. Finding success in sales at such a young age gave me the confidence that I could achieve anything I put my mind to.
We’re talking about quiet quitting in this series. What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from a job you decided to quit?
The summer after my senior year at University of Mount Union, I took on a sales position for a travel company based out of my hometown. I personally knew the CEO and President of the company, so I believed it would be a great fit. However, I quickly discovered their computer software was outdated. On top of that, the CEO was very argumentative and not open to change. The greatest lesson I learned from that experience is that you can control the things you do and how you react to situations and adversity, but you can’t control other people’s actions or decisions.
Employee Engagement is top of mind for most organizations. How do you define an engaged employee?
An engaged employee is one who is motivated to consistently perform at a high level or is enthusiastic about their job and helping the company achieve success. Engaged employees are often quick to offer feedback and suggestions on how to improve processes. They take initiative, lead projects, and bring energy to the workplace. Employees who are engaged also usually want to be ambassadors for your brand and encourage others to join or buy into your vision.
Say more about your Employee Engagement portfolio. What’s working? What’s not working? And what are you piloting now to address the Quiet committing trend?
We pride ourselves on having trust in our employees to do what needs to be done in order to succeed. The majority of our staff is independent and works remote. Utilizing CRM softwares, messaging platforms, and G Suite has allowed our team to thrive while not having to micromanage at the same time. We also hold a weekly in person meeting to review our team’s goals and objectives, discuss best practices, and identify any problems that need to be solved. After our weekly meeting, the team is invited out to a group luncheon as well.
Our employee culture is pretty competitive. We attract the aggressive sales and business development individuals that thrive on competition and want to win. Our monthly sales goals and rewards system keeps the team excited and motivated to succeed.
Our biggest struggle right now is finding quality staff. Right now the US has the lowest unemployment since the 1970s. It takes a lot of resources to keep and motivate quality people. We have started to pilot a direct communication channel with our internal and external staff so we have constant daily communication. This seems to be working very well because work productivity has increased!
I would say the biggest challenge for a business development and sales organization like ours is continually finding new ways to prospect and find new customers. This year we have seen a major downturn in new business from our event marketing efforts. We are shifting to mostly all digital marketing in order to acquire new customers. The ROI with digital is much greater than event marketing for us at this time.
As goes the leadership, so goes the team. How do you hold leaders accountable for their own level of engagement?
The leaders at our firm understand that engagement is an important part of their own performance scorecard and that they play a critical role in driving employee engagement and living up to the culture we are trying to cultivate. Leaders, such as managers and supervisors, are encouraged and expected to set the bar for the engagement levels of their respective teams. When leaders know that they will be held accountable for their team’s engagement, they are motivated to put in the time and make an extra effort to monitor engagement levels to see how employees are feeling and to identify any issues or areas that can be improved.
The first phase of the pandemic ushered in the phenomenon called The Great Resignation, where employees left organizations to pursue greater meaning and purpose. Then came The Great Reshuffle, where employees left organizations to pursue promotions, pay and perks. Now we’ve entered a third phase, Quiet Quitting, where employees are deeply disengaged. What do you believe to be the key drivers of Quiet Quitting?
In the legal industry, and probably for most other industries too, employees came out of the pandemic more in tune with their mental health needs and with a strong desire for better work-life balance. This led to a general dissatisfaction with the type of “hustle culture” that was essential to keeping businesses afloat amid the economic turmoil of the pandemic. Even after the pandemic, most people still feel like they are overworked and underpaid. These negative feelings have only gotten worse too due to the effects of inflation and the rising cost of living. Traditionally, the legal industry is built on a culture of excessive workload and sacrificing everything to secure the win. Now, people are rejecting this notion and are instead reflecting on whether a job that requires you to go above and beyond at all times is worth pursuing in earnest.
What do you predict will be the next phase in the evolution of the employer / employee landscape?
I see much more freedom and flexibility coming from the employee side. However, with that freedom and flexibility will come the need for employees to be compensated based more on performance. Artificial Intelligence and automation is going to affect how employers and employees work together. Utilized correctly, there will be massive growth within all industries. I believe the companies that embrace these technologies will find great success. Successful employees will need to adapt to these changes in order to prosper.
What leadership behaviors need to evolve to improve employee engagement in a sustainable way?
Leaders need to become more empathetic if they want to genuinely connect with their teams and keep them engaged at work. This requires leaders to learn how to take a step back and try to see situations in the workplace from other people’s perspectives. Leaders need to also proactively identify stressors that are affecting their teams’ engagement so they can make better decisions about how to help employees manage their stress levels. If leaders really want to improve engagement in a sustainable way, then they need to regularly hold check-in meetings to assess the emotional wellbeing of their team and ask if they are feeling stressed, overworked, or distracted. Leaders should then reflect on their employees feedback and develop an action plan to quickly change course.
Change requires commitment and happens one choice at a time. What are the top five commitments you make and keep to yourself daily that have a material impact on those you lead?
1 . Purpose -l realize my “why” with passion.
2 . Goals- I write down my desired outcomes.
3 . Vision — I have a plan for success.
4 . Communication — I keep open correspondence channels for everyone.
5 . Respect — I treat everyone from the top down with dignity and admiration.
What’s the most effective strategy you’ve discovered to get back on track when you break a commitment you’ve made?
Making sure I surround myself with positive friends and colleagues. I make sure I am held accountable by setting goals each week with the team. Recording our events in calendars and messaging platforms keeps the team on track and motivated to keep our commitments.
Thank you for sharing these important insights. How can our readers further follow your work?
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience a leadership master at work. We wish you continued success and good health!