The Employee Experience: How to Attract Talent, Retain Top Performers, and Drive Results

Praise for The Employee Experience

"Employee engagement is a great goal, though it can be hard to put into practice. In this well–written book, Maylett and Wride show how to create optimal conditions for employee engagement, and they share compelling stories of organizations that get the employee experience right."
Marshall Goldsmith, executive coach, business educator and New York Times bestselling author, ranked the number one leadership thinker in the world by Thinkers50

"In The Employee Experience, Maylett and Wride go beyond what makes a great experience (MAGIC) to how to make it happen. By navigating expectations, contracts, and trust, leaders can help employees have a positive experience that derives customer experience."
Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and Partner with The RBL Group

"The Employee Experience explores a simple truth I′ve been preaching for decades: When you treat your people right, they take care of your customers, who tell their friends, and your profits soar. It′s a sweet combination of great results and great human satisfaction. Read this book, do what it says, and get ready to reap the benefits!"
Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager® and Legendary Service

"Stats about employee engagement are usually quite challenging. Tracy Maylett and Matthew Wride tackle the topic with wit, data, and research and present a recipe for the ′secret sauce′ that creates fantastic workplace cultures that deliver bottom line results. The Employee Experience is a must–read for leaders serious about creating an environment where people desire to, and actually do, thrive, while growing their organizations."
Tony Bingham, CEO of the Association for Talent Development

FOREWORD

Introduction

Employee Engagement

MAGIC

Beyond MAGIC

Our Goals

PART ONE: GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Chapter One You re Digging in the Wrong Place

CX (Not Indiana Jones) Is King

You Can t Get There from Here

Throwing Your Employees Under the Bus

Digging in the Right Place

EX = CX

Congruent Experience

Defining the Employee Experience

Enlightened Self–Interest

The Age of the Employee

Your People Are Your Brand

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 2 The Expectation Gap

Trying to Predict the Future

To Expect Is Human

Turnaround

The Expectation Gap

Susan

Interference and Distortion

There s Always a Gap

Expectation Gaps Matter A Lot

Dear, Did You Forget to Take Out the Trash Again?

Your Company Doesn t Exist. Your People Do.

The Kansas City Way

It s Your Responsibility

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 3 Ask Your Doctor About Expectation Alignment Dysfunction

What is Expectation Alignment?

The Problem with Unknown Expectations

The Long Lunch

The New Metric for Organizational Health

Zappos Failed Experiment?

The Six EA Pillars

Ask Your Doctor About EAD

EAD Symptoms and Causes

Preventing EAD

EAD Recovery

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 4 An Intentional Framework

Shaping Beliefs

I Get it, But How?

First, Challenge Your Inheritance

Examine Your Foundational Beliefs and Core EX Values

Leaders are the Custodians of the Employee Experience

Design Thinking as a Business Management Tool

Design Thinking in Action

Better Design Through Three Lenses

Becoming Mindful and Deliberate

Control Expectations by Understanding Your Contract

The Contract Is Much More Than Words on Paper

Why Is the Contract Like An Iceberg?

The Expectation Triangle

Three Contracts in One

The Chapter Experience

PART TWO: THREE CONTRACTS

Chapter 5 The Brand Contract

What Is the Brand Contract?

Unanticipated Consequences

The Employee Value Proposition

What Defines the Brand Contract

What the Brand Contract Does

A Mechanism for Expectation Alignment

How the Brand Contract Affects EX

A Canary in Your Coal Mine

Preventing Brand Damage

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 6 The Transactional Contract

What is the Transactional Contract?

An Overlooked Workhorse

Written and Verbal

Transactional Doesn t Mean Soulless

Intention and Interpretation

The Transactional Contract Is

Supporting the Transactional Contract

Red Flags

Taking Nothing for Granted

It s Not Just About Laws and Rules

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 7 The Psychological Contract

Leadership and the Psychological Contract

Someone s in Charge

Matters of the Heart Can Be Hard

Powered by Expectations

Studying the Psychological Contract

Created, Interpreted, Examined, Acted Upon

Mom s on the Roof

What Forms the Psychological Contract

Don t Wait Until It s Too Late

EX and the Employee Experience

An Alien Concept

Making Sense of the Contract

Time for a Contract Revision

Aligning the Psychological Contract

The Chapter Experience

PART 3: TRUST

Chapter 8 Moments of Truth

Moments of Truth

Fasten Your Seat Belt, Unexpected Turbulence Ahead

Reinforce, Violate, Create

Rubber, Meet Road

Indirect Moments of Truth

Chronos and Kairos

The Right Moment

Question & Answer

It Comes Down to Trust

Trust Accounts

More Trust, Greater Agility

Once More into the Breach, My Friends

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

It s About Character

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 9 MAGIC

MAGIC at the Center

CHG, One More Time

Looking Through the Lens

Life s WORC

EX and the Five Elements

Meaning (Brand Contract, Psychological Contract, Kairos MOTs)

Autonomy (Transactional Contract, Expectation Alignment, Brand Contract)

Growth (Transactional Contract, Expectation Alignment, Chronos MOTs)

Impact (Brand Contract, Psychological Contract)

Connection (Expectation Alignment, Brand Contract, Psychological Contract, Kairos MOTs)

The EX and MAGIC

The Chapter Experience

Chapter 10 Building the EXtraordinary

Asking the Right Questions

Breadcrumbs

Olivia s EX

Expectation Alignment

Three Contracts

Moments of Truth

MAGIC

The Customer Experience

Three Ingredients

TRACY MAYLETT, Ed.D, SPHR, SHRM–SCP, is the CEO of DecisionWise, where he currently advises leaders across the globe in leadership, change, and employee engagement. Maylett holds a doctorate from Pepperdine University and an MBA from BYU. He is a recognized author, and teaches in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.

MATTHEW WRIDE, JD, PHR, is the COO of DecisionWise. With an extensive business background, Wride brings a fresh approach to organization development and leadership consulting. He is passionate about helping leaders create winning employee experiences. Wride holds a JD from Willamette University and a master′s degree from the University of Washington.

For over two decades, DecisionWise has advised organizations and leaders in more than seventy countries on leadership, assessment, talent, organization development, and the employee experience. Visit us online at www.decision–wise.com.