Trusted Leader - Workforce Engagement

The trusted leader is there to serve those he or she manages.

Workforce Engagement: the key to going from good to great

'I think the model for starting employee engagement activities has to be embedded in everything you do.' - Sir Richard Branson

Workforce engagement techniques are key to getting more results out of the same, or fewer, people.

To start, identify areas for improvement. Do any of these ring bells?

So, train all managers in how to manage people. The psychologist Daniel Goleman calls this Emotional Intelligence*. He studied successful business leaders in the USA and found that, instead of a command-and-control style, they excelled at maximizing people’s potential. Their primary qualities included:

Show your managers these and other skills. This isn’t always about being nice: they should challenge underperformance too, imposing performance programmes or formal action where justified. As Sir Clive Woodward, world champion rugby coach, observes: ‘Beware the energy-sappers. Even one in a team will sap you and you will fail. Get rid of them.’

Train staff that the biggest timewaster in any organization is choosing the wrong things to do - and then doing them really well!

Agree a set of common values, based on the ten qualities of great teams:

1. Listen with an open mind

2. Share knowledge with colleagues who can benefit

3. Take decisions based on the best reasoning not just on rank

4. Express concerns only to those responsible for resolving them

5. A responsibility culture not a blame culture

6. Base work on the customer

7. Strive for continuous improvement

8. Behave with integrity

9. Positively challenge undermining behaviour

10. No ego

The blue values are about involving people and ensuring good decisions. The red values are about results. The green values are about cohesive behaviour.

Value 4 is vital, because whenever someone expresses a concern to a colleague not responsible for resolving it, both become demoralized and neither has solved the problem.

Write staff a regular bulletin so that no-one can say ‘they never tell me what goes on round here’. Let staff write anonymously in the bulletin about colleagues who impress them, which delights the colleagues named.

But bulletins have a flaw: leaders think communication is ‘keeping people informed’ but to staff it means ‘having a dialogue with the leaders’. You need direct contact too. Research even shows that the extent to which a leader seeks feedback accurately predicts their overall effectiveness.

As Olympic champion Adrian Moorhouse, now head of consulting firm Lane 4, observes: peak performance comes from being ‘feedback-hungry for anything that could give me that extra margin for success.’

This is how you produce a top-performing organization. Look for anything that is any less than excellent, listen to the reasons, agree solutions, then keep checking if they’ve worked.

Remember:

‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’

– US basketball coach Patricia Summitt

You could therefore consider implementing:

In time you will find that staff turnover drops, so you spend less time and money recruiting. But the greatest beneficiaries are those who benefit from your product or service – because staff who enjoy where they work and love what they do will spread that quality in all that they do.

* See www.danielgoleman.info

Workforce Engagement: the key to going from good to great

'I think the model for starting employee engagement activities has to be embedded in everything you do.' - Sir Richard Branson

Workforce engagement techniques are key to getting more results out of the same, or fewer, people.

To start, identify areas for improvement. Do any of these ring bells?

Train staff that the biggest timewaster in any organization is choosing the wrong things to do - and then doing them really well!

Agree a set of common values, based on the ten qualities of great teams:

1. Listen with an open mind

2. Share knowledge with colleagues who can benefit

3. Take decisions based on the best reasoning not just on rank

4. Express concerns only to those responsible for resolving them

5. A responsibility culture not a blame culture

6. Base work on the customer

7. Strive for continuous improvement

8. Behave with integrity

9. Positively challenge undermining behaviour

10. No ego

The blue values are about involving people and ensuring good decisions. The red values are about results. The green values are about cohesive behaviour.

Value 4 is vital, because whenever someone expresses a concern to a colleague not responsible for resolving it, both become demoralized and neither has solved the problem.

Write staff a regular bulletin so that no-one can say ‘they never tell me what goes on round here’. Let staff write anonymously in the bulletin about colleagues who impress them, which delights the colleagues named.

But bulletins have a flaw: leaders think communication is ‘keeping people informed’ but to staff it means ‘having a dialogue with the leaders’. You need direct contact too. Research even shows that the extent to which a leader seeks feedback accurately predicts their overall effectiveness.

So, urge managers to ‘walk the floor’, asking questions and being accessible.

Crucially, regularly survey your staff for anonymous feedback about your organization as an employer, and welcome comments, ideas or criticism.

As Olympic champion Adrian Moorhouse, now head of consulting firm Lane 4, observes: peak performance comes from being ‘feedback-hungry for anything that could give me that extra margin for success.’

This is how you produce a top-performing organization. Look for anything that is any less than excellent, listen to the reasons, agree solutions, then keep checking if they’ve worked.

Remember:

‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’

– US basketball coach Patricia Summitt

You could therefore consider implementing:

an open-plan office

staff celebrations of success

managers watering the plants and even bringing in home-made cakes (try it: it’s a brilliant leveller and morale booster)

an organizational chart flowing left-right instead of a top-down hierarchy

a confidential counselling helpline for staff with stress or lifestyle problems

In time you will find that staff turnover drops, so you spend less time and money recruiting. But the greatest beneficiaries are those who benefit from your product or service – because staff who enjoy where they work and love what they do will spread that quality in all that they do.

* See www.danielgoleman.info