Microscopic treatment using nanobubbles can reoxygenate an entire water source that has become toxic, facilitating the ability to heal itself in the source. Lake Elsinore, the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California, has become extremely endangered and unhealthy due to climate change.

The lake gets warmer and produces toxic algae, killing everything and ultimately forcing the lake to be closed to the public. At first, the city's solution was to pump in fresh water to cause the bloom to recede. This worked for a while after the algae died, but only for a short time until the cycle started again where the toxic algae would find their way back.

The city realized that it had to focus on the root of the problem rather than staying at the surface level. After researching and understanding the problem, they invested a lot of money in a long-term solution in nanobubbles, which allowed the lake to heal itself over time. This almost invisible treat is slowly introduced into the lake and the bubbles, being so dense and infinitesimal, sink to the bottom.

Over time, the lake accepts bubbles and oxygenates itself, removing toxins and becoming healthy. Well, it was simple. So why didn't the city use nanobubbles from the start? Without knowing the real story, my best guess (based on experience) is that the first attempts were faster, easier, and much less expensive, and the city hoped their first attempts would work.

Proof: Hope is NO a Strategy.

Those responsible for restoring Lake Elsniore did what most organizations do when they seek to push the agenda of employee engagementthat is, a company seeking to transform its culture into a high-performing, healthy company from one that is sick and toxic.

The city treated ailing Lake Elsinore by removing toxic algae from the top and promoting fresh energy, then, fingers crossed, hoped 'they get most of it.' They realized that the treatment didn't work because it was only on the surface level and the underlying issue came back to be dealt with, sometimes worse than before.

The same with companies looking for easy, fast and cheap solutions. When there is an employee engagement objective, which is a critical element of success for an entrepreneurial business, organizations will push surface level possibilities and quick hits like a lunch or a team volunteer opportunity or even leaders convey the message “you all need to be more engaged.”

Typically, this is done without asking what makes the team or company disengaged (or toxic) to begin with. It's a classic 'ready, fire, aim' approach — just like what happened with the lake.

While these one-off, quick-hit opportunities can bring value, they are sequential and cannot sustain change on their own, and organizations face the fact that the sense of engagement is “not done.” In fact, when improperly facilitated, actions towards an engaged group can have the opposite effect and push your people deeper into disengagement.

What should you do? Act like a nanobubble:

1. Quietly, go to the source.
2. Learn what prevents engagement.
3. Treat people like they are they want to be treated.
4. Build trust with small actions, over time, with consistency.
5. Be patient.

Connected: A Leader's Guide to Increasing Employee Engagement and Motivation

1. Go to the source, like stealth

There's no need for a big announcement that there's a 'New Employee Engagement Initiative!' (ie, please don't launch a huge internal brand communications campaign and wait, a new name for the program to drive engagement like 'Electrify Engagement' or 'Let's Sing Kumbaya'.

If your company really wants to commit and really rely on its Discretionary Time (time it doesn't have to spend on improving your company, but chooses to), then you need to start talking to people.

Have lunch with someone in your line you don't know well, observe a meeting you'd never normally attend, get honest feedback from your front row, or even do some 360 ​​evaluations—even for yourself.

If you want your people to feel engaged, they need to you ARE engaged. So, commit.

2. Understand the root of what creates disengagement

Most likely, head has a hand in secession. And that could mean you personally.

If you want to see positive change in your company, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Listen with an open mind and heart. Being defensive will instantly create an even more disengaged company.

Make sure you learn when you ask questions. There are always emotions wrapped up in business (if someone says, 'It's not personal, it's just business, that person has never run a successful business.) Work is filled with emotions, which need to be validated and acknowledged.

So do this – acknowledge what you're hearing, validate other people's feelings, make sure you've drilled down to the root cause so you can now take action to help the blockage, and then commit to doing so.

Connected: Why Everything You Know About Employee Engagement Is Wrong

3. The platinum rule is much better than the golden rule.

of The golden rule We learned in kindergarten is to treat others as we want to be treated. If you treated your team like you you would like to be treated, you will probably lose most, as your way is not always Theirs way.

The platinum rule is to treat others right want to be treated. This is where the magic happens. This is where you and your front line treat each employee in a way that they feel respect for. This is what we will call the Nanobubble Effect. (I just made that up.)

For example, an employee may want public praise for a job well done, but hasn't seen any of it or felt appreciated, and (even though you knew its greatness) this person becomes angry. It may take a while, but over time, they ask, 'What's the point?' and begin to bring toxicity to the lake. By focusing on each person as an individual and teaching your leadership team the importance of the Platinum Rule, then holding them accountable for following said rule, this is where you will begin to turn the ship around.

A critical element for those of you with a front line is to make sure you communicate this expected change to the team and hold them accountable to facilitate their Nanobubble effect. You have to share what you expect and inspect what you expect constantly. For this shift in engagement to happen, it has to start with you, and your first line is of equal or greater importance, no exceptions.

4. Consistency

You can't hit the routine for the first time today, run 18 miles, and then say, 'Honey, I'm ready for the marathon this weekend.' Using the Platinum Rule takes time; depending on the level of mistrust and disengagement, it can take a long time for the Nanobubble effect to take off.

The key word is ENDURANCE. Build trust with small actions over time. Every day, make a conscious decision to act in a way that people want to follow. As part of your morning leadership routine, keep your pen on your notepad and focus on what you will achieve that day and make sure there are engagement elements within.

Connected: 3 Strategies to increase employee engagement in your company

5. Be patient.

There is no magic pill. You can't point a finger in a person's face and say, “You there, feel engaged. Now.” (I've tried, trust me.) Free will is a funny thing, and no matter how hard we leaders try to control it, we just can't.

All we can do is control our behavior and wait patiently for them to see, see again, see one more time, and then believe. Become nanobubbles, wait and they will heal and move.

When leaders act like nanobubbles and go to the source to consistently treat their employees the way they want to be treated, an organization oxygenates and engages itself—not because it has to, but because it wants to. And she stays engaged on her own.

Just look at Lake Elsinore.