Lakeisha Robichaux, founder and CEO of HR firm Chief of Minds, joins host Anne Sparaco to discuss the importance of accountability, clear communication, work-life balance, and aligning personal and business values in an organization’s employee engagement strategy. Noting that employee engagement is currently at a historic low, with rising incivility in workplaces, Robichaux covers actionable advice for improving it, such as regular employee check-ins, retreats, and fostering a culture of trust and transparency.
Lakeisha Robichaux, founder and CEO of HR firm Chief of Minds, joins host Anne Sparaco to discuss the importance of accountability, clear communication, work-life balance, and aligning personal and business values in an organization’s employee engagement strategy. Noting that employee engagement is currently at a historic low, with rising incivility in workplaces, Robichaux covers actionable advice for improving it, such as regular employee check-ins, retreats, and fostering a culture of trust and transparency.
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Anne Sparaco:
Welcome to All Things Work, a podcast from SHRM. I'm your host, Anne Sparaco, and this week we are diving into how well-connected employees feel with their workplace and their employers. And here to talk on this topic and share her insights on employee engagement, excuse me, is Lakeisha Robichaux, founder and CEO of Chief of Minds, which is an HR firm located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Welcome, Lakeisha.
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Thank you so much for having me.
Anne Sparaco:
Now, tell us a little bit of background about Chief of Minds, how you came to find it and what exactly does it do for the people?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Absolutely. So we will be in business 10 years this October and Chief of Minds, we're an organizational development firm, so for our clients, we provide HR consulting services, we provide staff acquisition, workforce development, human resources consulting as well, so really all of the different aspects of our functions, if you would, of HR. Some of our clients, we serve as their HR department, so focusing on compliance, productivity, strategic planning, things like that. I founded Chief of Minds. Actually, I was in an executive director role for our school district. It was a special school district for the Department of Education. And when the superintendent came to recruit me to be the HR director, he told me, he said, "We'll be working ourselves out of a job." And I was like, "Okay. Tell me more about this." And he said, "Well, we take over failing schools throughout the state of Louisiana and then we are charting them out to high-performing charter schools."
And so that was passionate, near and dear to my heart, because I have two boys. At the time, they were a lot younger, but it was all about getting a higher quality education and so once we successfully started doing that, I had to lay off half of my staff. And then the other half that would be coming and so some of the charter schools coming into the state actually wanted to recruit me to come and run either their charter school or run their HR department. And I said, "Well, instead of doing that, why don't you just hire me as a consultant and we'll do it that way?" And they were like, "That works for me." And so Chief of Minds was born from there.
Anne Sparaco:
And can you describe maybe the title behind Chief of Minds?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Chief of Minds.
Anne Sparaco:
What came to that and what's the mission?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yeah. So the title, a lot of people ask me that question. Chief of Minds came from because I like to do strategy work, I love problem-solving and so my previous farmer boss used to always say, "Hey, let's think about this. Let's brainstorm. What is our strategy behind this? I need to borrow your thoughts for a minute." And so Chief of Minds was born from there. That's how I came. I was actually just sleeping one night. It just went out from like, "That's the name. Chief of Minds. Chief of Minds." So that's what it is and our mission is really to make our HR easy and that has changed. I'll tell you more recently, one of our clients was like, "I just pressed the easy button and I called Chief of Minds." I was like, "Okay. I like that." So we took that and ran with it, because we want to make HR easy for our clients. We want them to focus on the day-to-day of what they need to do, the vision of their business and so we focus on all of the HR pieces.
Anne Sparaco:
And it takes a lot of work to make it look easy, right?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
That's right. That's right.
Anne Sparaco:
Yes. Exactly. So we're here to talk about overall employee engagement and what SHRM research has found is that employee engagement is at a historic low and instability in the workplace is on the rise. From your perspective, why do you think that is?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
I think because just everything day-to-day, a lot of people are stressed. And having the work-life balance on personal things that are going on in their life, unfortunately, it is trending into the workplace and so that is causing some of the issues inside of the workplace, just from a personal standpoint or just things that's going on, even being stressed at work, some people having to do a lot with a little. Little resources, things like that. They're carrying the loads of two or three people and so that's causing a lot of that inside of the workplace.
Anne Sparaco:
And you touched on stress and I know SHRM has a research survey about mental health in the workplace and a lot of people say they reported in that research that especially people managers, they felt overwhelmed, because they felt like they had to prioritize their group's mental health over their own personal mental health and then prioritize the work essentially. What's your perspective on that when it comes to that?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
That is so true. Oftentimes, because we have teams and we want to make sure that their well-being is good, that the mental wellness is positive inside of the workplace and so oftentimes, that we take a back seat, because we know that our team, they need us and we want to make sure they have the resources, the tools and that they're feeling well, but we have to start making that a priority, because if we can't show up and be our best selves, then our team can't either. Because at some point, they start worrying about us as well, so we have to start making that a priority with our mental wellness and our health, because if not, then we can't show up, do and deliver the quality results that we want to and then our team sees that as a reflection as well, so yeah.
Anne Sparaco:
Mm-hmm. And because you're feeling burned out, that coincides with lower employee engagement, right?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yes. Lower employee engagement, lower productivity. In a organization, the resilience behind an organization, really, it thrives off of the employee engagement inside of the workplace. Your workplace culture feeds into that, so yes, it impacts the organization as a whole with that burnout.
Anne Sparaco:
Right. And you're coming up on 10 years, so you've experienced what it's been like with your company pre-pandemic and now post-pandemic, we're coming out of it, we had everybody go remote. Now, we're coming back a little bit and some people are still remote, some people are hybrid, and that can often lead to lower employee engagement, because you're not having face-to-face time with your colleagues, especially if you're fully remote. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll say to add to that is that a lot of younger people are speaking and really giving feedback about being lonely. Being lonely, not really understanding their purpose inside of the organization, because they're isolated with working remotely. And sometimes I hear that there's a conflict, because they want the remote, they want the hybrid, but there also needs to be that sense of employee engagement for them. And so as we come back into whether it's a hybrid or remote type of schedule, we really have to be very intentional with making sure that we have collaboration, that we are giving clarity to our team members on what is the purpose, what are your expectations, how does your purpose align to the value, the mission, the goals that we have inside of the organization? So that way, that engagement is there.
When employees feel valued, when they know that they feel trusted and they feel empowered, then that rises the employee engagement rates. And so we have to make sure that we have to take time to do that, especially in a remote setting. As a leader, whether you're a people leader, a reporting leader to that particular team member, but having communication with them to let them know, "Hey, you're doing a good job. These are the expectations." And then have an accountability, because oftentimes, people struggle with accountability, but people want the accountability, because you're giving feedback and it makes the work meaningful.
Anne Sparaco:
I started a job in 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic and I didn't even see the office until nine months into my job. And so I didn't meet the people I was really on the phone with or talking over Zoom and it was tough to gauge where I stood. And can you talk about how that's really important to the employee, where they understand what strategies there are to take to make them understand where they stand with their other employees and their status?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yeah. And that goes back all with communication. Like you said, knowing where you stand, having those check-ins with employees, setting that upfront, giving that clarity in the beginning, saying, "Hey, this is how you contribute to the organization. This is what the collaboration as a whole looks like and how you get the results that we're looking for inside of the organization." But that has to happen frequent, because sometimes expectations change. Work is very fluid. The assignment changes, so there has to be constant and frequent check-ins and communication with that particular team member and then also with their team members.
If there's projects that are being worked on, whether it's a team, whether it's a Zoom, hey, let's get together. Let's talk about it. And I always recommend still that there is some type of in-person meetup, because while team and Zoom works, let's do a quarter retreat. If not quarterly, semi-annual, annual something retreat. Let's get together, let's talk, let's have fun, let's have the value, but also, we can get work done at the same time, but this allows other team members to get a sense of, "Hey, this is my purpose. I can see how all of this works together for the good of the organization."
Anne Sparaco:
Exactly. I love the quarterly retreats, getting people out and about, meeting in person. I think that is so vital to getting people, especially if they're remote, to put a face to the names and really know them as a person, because you get that human-to-human interaction and that human-to-human civility as well. And a lot of people may not really understand what low employee engagement might look like. What are some of the telltale signs of low employee engagement employers and people managers can recognize, so that if there's a need where they need to jump in and take action?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
If you're used to a high performing employee always delivering work on time, communicating, being very active and engaged in meetings and conversation and giving feedback, when you start to see that taper off a little bit, or maybe if they're coming in late all the time, if you know when you do have meetings and this particular person is always the first to step up, things like that and you're starting to see that taper off, even when they may be confrontational and you know that that's not their personality, that's not really their character, then it's time to really have some conversations.
And the best way to really address that is to ask, "Hey, is everything okay? I noticed that you may have misses that line or I noticed that this is not what you turned in with this particular project. It's not what you're used to turning in. I just want to make sure everything is okay. I appreciate everything that you've done, but let's have a conversation about it." Or if they've been missing work a lot, let me know what's going on. How can I help? What do I need to do to help you? Because you don't want to wait till it's too late. And sometimes that low engagement in transitions and transfers too, are there some things and mental wellness things, hey, that you need to be alert for and really check into?
Anne Sparaco:
Yes. Absolutely. Be proactive instead of reactive, right?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yeah. Exactly.
Anne Sparaco:
That's a telltale sign of a great leadership.
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yes.
Anne Sparaco:
Why should employers be concerned if they're witnessing or hearing about low employee engagement?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
If you see it or if someone is telling you, especially take it serious about the low employee engagement, because one, you may see the results go down of work that you need from that particular employee. They may be setting up an exit strategy. Also, if you see low engagement, sometimes employees start developing the us versus them and you don't want it to create a toxic organization where that's starting to rub off on other employees. And then engagement really starts to sink, because other employees are seeing it and then if you're not addressing it, then it allows others to think, "Oh, hey, this is okay." The way that they're acting or reacting is all right in the organization and so they start to take on those things and so it can have a triple effect inside of the organization. Those are things that you don't want to happen for sure, so addressing it upfront is very important.
I like to say really nipping it in the bud, but the best way to nip it in the bud is communication. We're so busy in the day-to-day that we don't get an opportunity or take the opportunity sometimes to really just sit down and have conversations. Another way is really, especially if you start to see it happen, you see the trends and patterns of low employee engagement, is putting out that employee engagement survey. How are things going? What are some challenges that you are experiencing? Do you have what you need, the tools and resources? Do you understand the expectations of your role?
But not only from that is also, but doing something with it. That's important and low engagement also happens when you do these type of things, whether they're engagements, whether they're focus groups or they're sit-downs, but nothing is done. There's no follow-up, no action and they really get disengaged from there, because they're like, "We're taking all the time to do this. I'm being very honest with my feedback. I want to see the change." And even if you can't change anything at that time, communicating, letting them know these are things that we can change, these are things that we can't, that's important.
Anne Sparaco:
Yeah. In addition to recognizing the signs, clear communication, getting that feedback and being transparent about what can and cannot be done maybe immediately or in the future, what other ways can employers recognize and get that feedback?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
It all boils down to communication, but inside of them, if you have platforms, especially if you're remote and this is just an individual, have conversations even through your maybe messaging apps. There's Teams, there's Slack, there's other platforms where you can do this, but this gives an opportunity. Get on a video conference call or send them a message, "Hey, just want to see how things are going." For some employees, that they're burnt out in their role. They want growth opportunities, they want development opportunities and so how can you set that up for them, career progression paths for them? It always goes back to asking. Ask, ask, ask. It boils down to the communication of what are you looking for? 360s is another platform, another way where you can get this, get some peer-to-peer and leader feedback, but those are other avenues that you can use to get that information.
Anne Sparaco:
Wonderful. And we talked about how certain types of burnout, mental well-being can impact employee engagement, but employee engagement from there, it doesn't just impact the employee. It creates this domino effect that circles all the way back to leadership and the company overall. Can you talk about the overall impacts of low employee engagement and anything else that maybe people wouldn't really think of that would happen?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
So yeah, impacts of low employee engagement. One, it can impact the profitability, it can impact the culture, it can impact trust inside of the organization. If employees do not trust the individuals that they're working for or the individuals that they're working with, the team members, then again, you're creating a negative workplace culture. It can impact employee loyalty. And when employee loyalty is impacted, then you don't have ambassadors for the organization, you have individuals that really are not contributing to the workload and then so that affects the clients and customers as well. So if the employee loyalty is low, then customer loyalty will be affected as well. And I want to go back. You asked about another means of how you can really get feedback, want to increase that employee engagement, but one of the things, as far as the trust in listening, is important. Building the trust. The leader has to really talk the talk, walk the walk.
It all starts with the leader. And so that messaging from the leader at the top to let employees know that this is important, how you are feeling, any challenges, or any great things, the positive things that are going on, to let us know. But when they know that the leader cares and the leader is engaged and would like to see them engaged, that makes a difference, but that trust has to be built. And if something can't happen, going back and discussing with them, renegotiating what that may look like, that means a lot, but active listening and building trust has to take place. That has to be one of the initiatives that the leader puts in place to let them know that they really, really care.
Anne Sparaco:
And like you said, that trust goes into the customers, but it goes even further beyond that, because people are looking towards your company and they're thinking, "Oh, I might apply. Let me look into the workplace culture. Let me hear from other employees who either recently left or they are still there." Can you talk about the impact on how low employee engagement and other issues such as that that can impact that type of recruitment problem?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Once an employee says like, "Oh, I hated working there, I hate working here," that impacts, especially if you're trying to be the employer of choice. If you want to be that employer of choice, having low engagement, people talk, they communicate, they ask for referrals. "Hey, I see that you worked at this organization. Can you tell me about your employee experience there?" We know a lot of people use LinkedIn and I know that there are individuals that will actually go in, they'll find someone, they'll find the organization people there. "Hey, can you tell me about your experience when you worked there or if you're working there now?" This can impact engagement, because people want to go to an organization that has great workplace culture, that they feel seen and heard and wanted. And if the employee engagement is low there, then that's not giving them opportunity to really want to go there when they're doing their research.
Oftentimes, organizations, we know that we're interviewing, we're researching, we're marketing, but guess what? They're doing the same thing. And now employees want to really be in a organization where there is purpose, that the purpose aligns with what their purpose is and the value that they bring to that organization. And if the reputation of that organization is bad, they may not want to go there. The value doesn't align if you're not treating employees good, or if you're not caring and not checking on employees, especially if they know that the productivity is low because of the treatment of what goes on inside of the organization or what is not addressed inside of the organization.
Anne Sparaco:
Mm-hmm. Especially mental safety.
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Yes. Yes. Mental safety, psychological safety is so important. How is the organization protecting that for their team members? What does that look like? Are there systems in place for that? Do we have buddy systems to check in? Do we have EAP programs? Are we hosting monthly webinars or workshops to discuss this around the importance of it, signs of it? That's something that managers should have training on to really be able to understand what those signs are, because that affects engagement for employees and so when you are trained on that, you can address it and then team members can speak up and say something. If you see something, say something.
Anne Sparaco:
I love that. And everything is, as we mentioned, interconnected. If one thing is not standing upright, the rest can feel that impact as well. And we talked about low employee engagement according to our research, which coincides with the increase in incivility in the workplace. From your perspective, what have you personally seen, especially over the past few years leading into 2024?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
I've seen, I shouldn't say disgruntled employees with some of our clients, but definitely aggressive behavior inside of the workplace, individuals and employees that are not happy with their current work situation and so going in and talking to other colleagues about their work situation, asking them, "Are you happy with your work situation? Here's why you shouldn't be." Attacks on leadership behind that. A lot of that piece has been with colleagues getting together and forming almost alliances, if you would, around this. And so having a strategy to try to approach that and getting ahead of it when you see that it's starting to happen, because that it can turn an organization upside down to be quite honest with you. Even some of the political pieces, there has been debates inside of organizations behind this and it has honestly attacked the organization on what are their beliefs on it, trying to give feedback, especially if they feel that it's not aligned.
Anne Sparaco:
Yes. And that coincides with a lot of what we're seeing just across the nation. A lot of what our research is seeing with our civility Index as the political discussions raise up, rise in the workplace and I want to go back to that disengagement, the telltale signs. When an employer sees that, in addition to asking questions and making sure it's communicated that they're listening and being transparent, how can they help employees reconnect with the jobs, reconnect with the purpose of the job and the organization's goals?
Lakeisha Robichaux:
I like to go back to whether it's a strategy planning session or whether it is a team retreat, but those are great ways to go back and to revisit what are the organizational goals, what are the values? But then getting their feedback. What are your values as well? Let's figure out where this alignment is inside of our organization and your values, which is something honestly when an employee, when you're bringing them on and giving them the feedback on what their role is, but telling them what the values of the organization is is important also. But during this particular planning time and planning sessions, this is an opportunity to realign, because you can see where it connects and the employee can see this as well. Doing different exercises for those.
During team retreats, we often do those when we're doing strategy sessions, but this gives an employee an opportunity also to see where it connects, but also what we have found is that it creates opportunities for employees, because sometimes what they value and their strengths that they bring to the table, it is uncovered during these particular sessions. And you can see the gleam in their eyes. There's ideas and things that they bring to the table. They're like, "Oh my God. This is something that I can do that I would love to do." And from that, sometimes new positions are created, new projects are brought onto the table and the leaders are excited and happy about it as well. But taking time to figure out strengths, to figure out weaknesses, the values, how they're connected, that's where you see real synergy and you can start to see that vein of excellence come out in the leader and the employee and how it aligns together.
Anne Sparaco:
It gets them more excited to be there.
Lakeisha Robichaux:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And leaders will figure out as well, because sometimes what they feel an employee is engaged in is not really that the employee's engaged. They know that that's their job, but they're not really engaged in it. They've done the job for a while, five, six years or what have you. If I can contribute more along this particular work stream or what have you, what it may be, sometimes they are re-energized and the manager figures out, "Oh, I could have used you in this particular role all along. I didn't know that." I'm guilty of it myself. I am guilty of that. I've had an individual that was working in a role and I thought that, hey, this is her strength. This is good and I saw. I'm like, "Do you really like doing this?" Or when I assigned her to another project, I saw her flourish and she's like, "You know what? This is really my zone of genius. I absolutely love this." So asking the questions and really doing the temperature checks is important.
Anne Sparaco:
It takes us all to do this. Thank you, Lakeisha, for your time and your insight and a lot of the advice on how to tell the telltale signs, because that is a great start for a lot of people.
Lakeisha Robichaux:
It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Anne Sparaco:
Wonderful. And if you're interested in learning more about All Things Work, we have more of our content on shrm.org/allthingswork. Please like, subscribe, comment and share with your own network. We want to hear your thoughts. We want you to be part of the conversation. For All Things Work, I'm Anne Sparaco.