Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) for Happy, Engaged Employees
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is the Holy Grail, the top award, the Heisman Trophy of effective leadership. When you create it, your team members exhibit an ownership of the mission, promote excellence in the workplace, go above and beyond the call of duty, take pride in their work, exhibit sportsmanship and altruism, and do not need a boss to keep them focused on the task at hand. With OCB, they wear the company T-shirt on the weekends, and when they cut themselves, they bleed the corporate colors.
This type of OCB behavior is so highly valued that there have been numerous studies done to determine the most effective way of creating it. What the examiners tend to find is that nothing matches job satisfaction when it comes to producing OCB. Here’s what the studies show about job satisfaction.
4 Steps to Job Satisfaction
For small and medium companies, there are some vital steps to take to get your team radically behind your mission and to switch their favorite drink to your Kool-Aid.
1. Put the team first. Put your employees first—ahead of your customers—and your employees will put your customers first. Benefits are important, but great benefits are not always economically viable for startups and small companies. Putting your team first is not just a matter of benefits. You can give, but it doesn’t mean you give a damn. If the team is truly first, you deliver your products or services to them as if they were your most important customer. Rewards, accolades, and recognition are also vital (and covered extensively in the chapter on Team).
2. Hire culture and skill, not just skill. Different team members in different divisions have different personalities and needs. Hiring the right personality and skill set for the job and making sure that the new hire fits in will make or break the business and the culture. Companies such as Amazon and Google do not simply hire new employees based on skill, but also on whether or not a skilled new employee will be a good fit for the culture. Will we get along in the lunchroom and at the Christmas party? is an important question.
3. Build trust, and then guard it. Great cultures have tackled the enormous monster called healthy communication as a way to create trust. Employees who report that they love their work environment all cite a common theme: their satisfaction is connected to quality, 360-degree communication.
Among the studies published on OCB, healthy 360-degree communication is at the top of the list. Communication breeds trust, and you cannot have commitment without it—360 degrees is the top-down communication from executives to team members, the bottom-up communication from team members to their managers, and the lateral communication with each other that is well-thought-out.
Team members need to be part of the planning process and be kept up to speed on the progress, vision, and plans for the future of the organization. Managers with an open-door policy have been shown to build trust far greater than those who sneak into the office and lock the door.
If there is one great rule of lateral communication, it is: “No Triangulation.” This means talking behind someone’s back rather than bringing concerns directly to that person. Sportsmanship is another hallmark of OCB, and triangulation is the kind of poor sportsmanship that cannot be tolerated.
4. Embrace big mission? Of course! Many, if not most, of the Top 100 workplaces support legitimately important social causes. Mission-based organizations highlight the positive impact their company is making on the planet, and this raises enthusiasm among the employees. Giving to the needs of the world can seem counter-intuitive since it takes the focus off of generating revenues for others and not the company. Yet, being mission-based puts a halo around the work and gives business the kind of sacred-glow that makes team members fired up to help the organization win.
Have fun saving the world
Dr. Ben
