ARE YOU CREATING DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES?

YOU CAN'T MAKE EVERY WORKER HAPPY, SURELY, AND SHOULD A BUSINESS EVEN TRY? EVIDENCE FROM OUR RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS, ACTUALLY, THAT THE ANSWER IS YES. OR RATHER, OUR EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT MANAGERS ARE GIVING UP FAR TOO SOON ON THEIR DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES, MAKING THEM LESS PRODUCTIVE THAN THEY COULD BE, EXPOSING THEIR COMPANIES TO UNNECESSARY RISKS FROM THEFTS AND LEAKS IN THE PROCESS, AND INFLATING TURNOVER COSTS.

WHAT CAUSES EMPLOYEES TO BECOME DISGRUNTLED AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT IT? TO FIND OUT WE ZEROED IN ON THE MOST UNHAPPY PEOPLE IN OUR DATA. THESE WERE 6% IN OUR DATABASE OF 160,576 EMPLOYEES WHO DISPLAYED THE LOWEST LEVELS OF JOB SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT ON THEIR 360 EVALUATIONS OF THEIR BOSSES. WE WERE LOOKING FOR THOSE AMONG THEM WHOSE MANAGERS ALSO OVERSAW THE MOST SATISFIED EMPLOYEES. IN THIS WAY WE IDENTIFIED THAT GROUP OF LEADERS WHO WERE MANAGING BOTH THE VERY UNHAPPY AND THE VERY HAPPY AT THE SAME TIME.

THE RESULTS OF THE DATA WERE CLEAR: THERE IS MOST DEFINITELY SUCH A THING AS "THE BOSS'S FAVORITES." AND WHILE, IN ANY DISAGREEMENT WE INEVITABLY FIND BOTH PARTIES BEAR PART OF THE FAULT — THAT IS, THE DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES DO CERTAINLY PLAY SOME ROLE IN THEIR OWN UNHAPPINESS — WE CONSISTENTLY FOUND IN THE ANALYSIS THAT THEIR COMPLAINTS WERE JUSTIFIED. THEIR MANAGERS WERE IN FACT TREATING THE DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE DIFFERENTLY THAN THEY TREATED THEIR VERY SATISFIED EMPLOYEES. WHAT'S MORE, WHEN THE MANAGERS IN QUESTION STARTED TO TREAT THEIR DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, THE EMPLOYEES' BEHAVIOR QUICKLY IMPROVED.

OUR RESULTS SUGGEST A CLEAR PATH FORWARD FOR BRINGING DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES BACK INTO THE FOLD. IN PARTICULAR, THE UNHAPPY GROUP IN OUR SURVEY STRONGLY AGREED ON SIX MAJOR AREAS IN WHICH THEY FELT (AND WE AGREE) THAT THEIR LEADERS NEEDED TO IMPROVE:

• ENCOURAGE ME MORE. 

WHEN WE ASKED THE UNHAPPY 6% TO NAME THE SKILL THEY THOUGHT WAS MOST IMPORTANT FOR THEIR BOSS TO DEMONSTRATE, THE TOP RESPONSE WAS "INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE OTHERS." TOO OFTEN, MANAGERS TAKE A NEGATIVE TONE WITH DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES. EXPECTING THAT EFFORTS TO MOTIVATE WILL BE IGNORED, NONE ARE PROFFERED, AND THE EXPECTATIONS BECOME SELF-FULFILLING. BUT OUR DATA SUGGEST MANAGERS SHOULD TAKE THE OPPOSITE VIEW: WORK HARDER TO INSPIRE THIS GROUP. KEEP THE CONVERSATION POSITIVE. EXPECT THE BEST, NOT THE WORST.

• TRUST ME MORE. 

IT'S PROBABLY NOT SURPRISING THAT BOTH PARTIES — UNHAPPY EMPLOYEE AND BOSS ALIKE — DISTRUST EACH OTHER. THE KEY TO RESTORING TRUST IS TO OPERATE WITH THE BELIEF THAT THE OTHER PARTY CAN CHANGE. HERE WE'D SUGGEST THE MANAGER MAKE THE FIRST MOVE BY MAKING THE EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE EMPLOYEE'S PROBLEMS. THEN, AS BOTH PARTIES WORK ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP, THEY MUST STRIVE FOR CONSISTENCY —THAT IS, THE MANAGER MUST STRIVE TO TREAT ALL EMPLOYEES EQUITABLY, AND BOTH PARTIES MUST STRIVE TO RELIABLY DO WHAT THEY SAY THEY WILL DO. OVER TIME, TRUST WILL GROW.

• TAKE AN INTEREST IN MY DEVELOPMENT. 

IF A PERSON WORKS HARD AND GETS A PAY CHECK HE HAS A JOB. BUT IF A PERSON WORKS HARD, GETS A PAY CHECK, AND LEARNS A NEW SKILL, SHE HAS A CAREER. CAREER DEVELOPMENT SHOULD NOT BE FOCUSED ONLY ON THE HIGH-POTENTIALS. AS COUNTERINTUITIVE AS IT MAY SEEM, DON'T LEAVE THE UNDERACHIEVERS OUT WHEN DISTRIBUTING STRETCH ASSIGNMENTS.

• KEEP ME IN THE LOOP. 

COMMUNICATION IS FUNDAMENTALLY A MANAGEMENT FUNCTION, SO THIS RESPONSIBILITY RESTS SQUARELY WITH THE MANAGERS. GREAT COMMUNICATORS DO THREE THINGS WELL. FIRST, THEY SHARE INFORMATION AND KEEP EVERYONE WELL INFORMED. SECOND, THEY ASK GOOD QUESTIONS, INVITING THE OPINIONS AND VIEWS FROM OTHERS — ALL OTHERS. THIRD, THEY LISTEN. AND NOT JUST TO THE PEOPLE THEY LIKE.

• BE MORE HONEST WITH ME. 

PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY'RE REALLY DOING ON THE JOB — AND THE ONE'S NOT IN FAVOR PERHAPS EVEN MORE THAN THE ONE'S FEELING THE WARM GLOW OF APPROVAL. THEY WANT TO KNOW WHY THEY'RE FALLING SHORT. THEY WANT A CHANCE TO IMPROVE. TOO OFTEN, THOUGH, THE BOTTOM 6% FELT THEIR BOSSES WERE NOT GIVING HONEST FEEDBACK, GLOSSING OVER PROBLEMS WITH COMMENTS LIKE "YOU'RE COMING ALONG FINE," WHEN CLEARLY THEY WERE NOT. WHAT'S MORE, MANY REPORTED PROMISES BEING MADE ("IF YOU FINISH THIS PROJECT ON TIME THEN...") THAT WERE NOT KEPT. HONESTY IS THE BEDROCK OF GOOD RELATIONSHIPS.

• CONNECT WITH ME MORE. 

ANYTHING MANAGERS CAN TO DO IMPROVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE INFLUENCE. HERE'S WHERE FAVORITISM TAKES ON ITS MOST CONCRETE FORM: MANAGERS GO TO LUNCH MORE WITH PEOPLE THEY LIKE, OUR DATA SHOW; THEY TALK WITH THEM MORE SOCIALLY (ABOUT CHILDREN, SPORTS, ETC); THEY KNOW THEM MORE PERSONALLY. THIS IS NATURAL, SURELY, BUT SO ARE THE FEELINGS OF EXCLUSION IT CREATES AMONG THE LESS FAVORED. A SMALL EFFORT BY MANAGERS TO SPREAD THEIR ATTENTION AROUND MORE BROADLY CAN GO A LONG WAY HERE.
AS LEADERS, OUR KNEE-JERK REACTION TO UNFAVORED (AND DISGRUNTLED) EMPLOYEES IS OFTEN — "IT'S THEIR OWN FAULT!" OUR RESEARCH SHOWS THIS IS NOT ALWAYS (AND OFTEN NOT WHOLLY) THE CASE. BEFORE YOU SETTLE FOR LETTING YOUR DISSATISFIED PEOPLE GO AND COST YOUR ORGANIZATION THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN EMPLOYEE TURNOVER, TAKE A MOMENT TO CONSIDER HOW THESE PERFORMERS NEED TO BE TREATED.

IF NOT FOR THEIR SAKE, THEN FOR EVERYONE ELSE'S SAKE. RESEARCH BY THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES HAS SHOWN THAT THOSE WHO WITNESS WORKPLACE BULLYING BECOME EQUALLY DISGRUNTLED AS THE VICTIMS AND JUST AS LIKELY TO QUIT. ALL EMPLOYEES NEED LEADERS WHO KNOW HOW TO INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE THEM, GIVE THEM OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT, AND TREAT THEM WITH THE RESPECT AND DIGNITY THEY EACH DESERVE.

A THIRD OF A PERSON'S LIFE IS SPENT IN THE WORKPLACE, SOMETIMES MORE. WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT IS CREATED BY AN EXTRAORDINARY LEADER WHO CARES ABOUT EVERYONE'S DEVELOPMENT, IT LEAVES EMPLOYEES WITH LITTLE ROOM TO COMPLAIN.

By JOSEPH FOLKMAN - PRESIDENT OF ZENGER/FOLKMAN - A LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY. 

It’s Not as Much About What You Pay as What You Offer

The problem is most retailers, do a poor (often rotten) job of hiring.

It is not as much about what you pay as what you offer:

1. Hire people who like working with people.
2. Hire people who want to serve.
3. Hire people who want to learn and teach them new stuff.
4. Hire people who want to be challenged. Make them stretch.
5. Hire people who like your products or services.

Now do the following:

1. Quit hiring great applicants and start hiring people who will be great employees.
2. Only allow your best people to interview and hire.
3. Make sure your hiring managers are taught how to hire the best.
4. Don’t settle for mediocrity.
5. Recognize and reward your great employees.

The most important decision a manager makes every single day is who they allow in the door to take care of the customers.

By Mel Kleiman, CSP, is an internationally-known authority on recruiting, selecting, and hiring hourly employees. 

3 Ideas to Retain the Young & Talented When Career Paths Are Scarce

Creating career paths for the young & talented

Of course, there are obvious reasons why this may be, including those employees who would typically retire at 65 remaining in the workplace much longer due to the recent recession and loss of planned retirement funds. Regardless, the reality remains the potential lack of career path for those who typically at this stage rapidly advance in their careers.

If you can’t offer a clear career path, what do you do to keep these young, highly motivated, talented employees on board and engaged with your organization? This article offers a few ideas, but I don’t think they go far enough.

Here are three more ideas to create career paths for young, talented individuals.

1. Ensure all employees understand very clearly the value they and their efforts bring to the organization with frequent, timely recognition and detailed feedback.
2. Continue to train and develop employees in the roles they are in. Skills can always be improved.
3. Allow employees to invest some increment of “work time” in creative ideas and outlets that could bring benefits to your organization, e.g., Google’s “20 percent time.”

By Derek Irvine - Vice President, Client Strategy & Consulting Service at Globoforce

4 Ways Social Technology Is Impacting Talent Management

Here are four ways social technologies are having a positive impact in talent management:

1. Enabling open door policies

Dominion Enterprises, a marketing services firm based in Norfolk, VA, has always had an open door policy, inviting its 3,000+ employees to share feedback and ideas. But leadership struggled to sift through and act upon all the input they received. They realized they needed something more: a central platform for gathering, sharing and developing ideas.

“While we had channels for feedback and input, it was hard to get traction around ideas,” explains Susan Blake, VP of HR.

Dominion implemented UserVoice Feedback software, which allows employees to submit ideas, vote on others’ ideas, and discuss them. After giving UserVoice a test run in one department, they rolled it out company-wide in March. The software had immediate impact, giving management the tools they need to give their open door policy new life – with employees from every department offering suggestions for improving products, policies and processes.

Based on employee feedback, Dominion has implemented several product improvements and is reconsidering their PTO policy. By showing employees that their feedback results in real changes, they’ve seen a spike in employee engagement. “To say UserVoice was a catalyst is an understatement,” says Blake.

2. Connecting experts

Today’s enterprise social technology has turned traditional employee directories into a strategic tool for both employees and leadership. While you can still track down your coworkers’ contact info, interactive talent directories in innovative products like Saba’s People Cloud do much more.

Employees can create detailed profiles that list skills, competencies and interests relevant to both their current roles and their career goals. This enables colleagues to locate internal experts, as well as to find internal viable candidates for key hires. It also allows employees to garner attention from peers and leadership by regularly lending expertise hand or sharing articles of interest.

3. Improving performance visibility

While social talent management systems feature a lot of employee-facing functionality, vendors are also delivering on a major challenge for leadership: visibility into employee performance. Using the same signals that indicate an employee’s daily activity and contribution, leaders can monitor and evaluate a new, more dynamic set of performance metrics along with the old. This enables leadership to benchmark performance and engagement in real-time.

SilkRoad Technology’s Point is a great example of this. Point graphs employees’ influence, and lists their connections and expertise–and brings these into play in the review process. By continuously collecting performance data from all over the organization, conversations around performance are no longer limited to a 10-question review template.

The breadth of data that systems like Point collect provides a more rounded picture of each employee, which is particularly valuable during performance reviews.

4. Motivating career management

One of social talent technology’s greatest value-adds for employees is in career management functionality. Systems like UpMo – the first enterprise talent network – are offering users a unique approach to career pathing by putting employees in the driver’s seat.

With UpMo, employees grow their internal network and their skills profile simultaneously, making them more appealing candidates for opportunities in the organization. Like other social talent technologies, there’s even a bit of gamification built in, which encourages usage and makes the process more engaging. Employees can give each other shout-outs for a killer meeting (a +1 in Presenting), or thanks for explaining Cloud computing (a +1 in Cloud).

This highly social product, which just launched a free version, brings new energy to career management by keeping employees focused on growing within their organization.

Social technology has hurdles to clear

While the products described above offer significant value, social technologies as applied to talent management still have room to evolve, in two areas. First, some vendors need to stop thinking of social functionality as a standalone platform or an add-on to existing products.

“Unfortunately, existing HR talent management vendors see social as another set of features to be added on top of what exists,” says Rob Garcia, VP of Product at UpMo. “From a product architecture and strategy perspective, this is a recipe for disaster.”

Instead, vendors should re-think how to make social a core, foundational piece of functionality that can enhance every application and module in talent management software.

Seamless integration with other systems is also important. For example, simply having a single sign-on across systems could greatly boost user adoption.

“It’s a real problem if every product requires another log-in or user profile,” says Joe Fuller, CIO at Dominion. “We want single sign-on – it’s the biggest complaint.”

By Kyle Lagunas - HR Analyst at Software Advice Software Advice

Why Even Great Compensation & Rewards Can’t Overcome a Bad Boss

Think that a generous, transparent, strategically aligned rewards package will “compensate” for the fact that you have lousy managers in key positions that company leadership is simply unwilling to address?

Better think again.

A recent study by Zenger/Folkman featured in a HBR blog post, provides some compelling evidence on the impact of bad bosses on employee satisfaction, engagement and commitment. The study centers on the effectiveness of 2,865 leaders (as judged by bosses, subordinates, peers and other colleagues via a 360 degree assessment) in a large financial service company.

Good rewards can’t overcome a bad boss

As the chart below shows, the sales, engagement and commitment levels of employees working for the worst bosses (those at or below the 10th percentile) reached only the 4th percentile.

As the article states, this suggests that “96 percent of the company’s employees were more committed than these mumbling, grumbling, unhappy souls.”

The other end of the chart shows that the employees working for the leaders with the highest assessments are more satisfied/engaged/committed than 92 percent of their peers.

Although it may temporarily salve their pain — and the tough labor market may prevent them from jumping ship — not even a world-class rewards program will be able to override the impact of a bad boss on employee morale and productivity.

Many of us can vouch for this fact based on personal experience.

Are you letting lousy bosses undermine your reward investments?

By Ann Bares - Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group

5 Employee Retention Strategies for a High Performance Environment

1. Hire retainable employees

The pressure’s on from Day One in a high performance environment. While some thrive under pressure, others will falter. Elissa Tucker, Human Capital Management Knowledge Specialist atAPQC, says the first thing leading organizations are doing to curtail this type of turnover is a focus on “hiring retainable employees.”

While there are some obvious indicators of a candidates’ ability to deliver consistently (e.g. three to five years’ tenure in a similar role), there are other signals that can provide insight in your sourcing and screening.”

Tucker suggests working with your managers and top performers to identify what backgrounds, skills or personality characteristics your retainable employees have in common.

2. Plan careers, don’t fill roles

It’s easy to focus on the near-term when managing people in a high performance environment. You bring in “A” players with the expectation that they’ll succeed in the role for which you’ve hired them — and unrealistically assume they will stay in that role forever. Your top performers are thinking about their career, and you should be too.

“Best-practice organizations work to help individuals plan to stay with the organization — to plan their careers with the organization,” says Tucker. The key is to guide your employees in mapping out how they can attain their career goals within your company.

For example: If a top salesperson sees her current role as a rung in the ladder up to senior management, outline some long-term goals that will get her there. If another is just in it for the money, keep him in challenging roles that will reward him for working hard and allow him to play hard.

3. Make retention personal

Every employee is motivated by different things, and retention strategies thus need to be tailored down to the individual level.

Steve Miranda, Managing Director of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University ILR School, says, “The key phrase is specialized efforts.” Successful organizations, he says, don’t view retention initiatives as ‘one size fits all.’ Instead, they’re making retention strategies personal. How? By simply asking, “What motivates you?”

You may be surprised to find that monetary incentives are low on the list of responses you get. These days, “A” players are more concerned with challenging work, personal and professional growth opportunities, work/life balance, and workplace flexibility.

4. Get to the heart of underperformance

Let’s face it: Underperformance happens, but you don’t want to lose employees who were previously strong performers. If you notice a drop in performance, Miranda advises against writing them off without first getting to the heart of the issue.

In my conversation with Miranda, we broke underperformance down into a few root causes:

• Skill and competency issues often come up when someone’s been promoted into a role they weren’t quite ready for. Fortunately these can be addressed with coaching and training–and usually for a fraction of the cost of replacing an employee.
• Behavioral issues are usually more difficult. “If it’s a behavior issue,” Miranda says “identify the source of the issue to get an idea of whether it’s something worth investing the time and effort in.”
• Personal issues are a leading cause of burnout among top performers. Things come up (divorce, health issues, mortgage issues, etc.), and can distract employees from their work and affect their ability to deliver. In these cases, a little support and flexibility will go a long way toward cultivating loyalty.

You may uncover trends in underperformance that you can use to your benefit. Are employees bored with the work? Are people burning out after six months? This kind of feedback is vital to the refined people process that supports success and curtails turnover.

5. Invest in your line managers

“Employees don’t quit jobs,” says Miranda. “They quit managers.” He estimates that 80 percent of turnover is driven by the environment a manager creates for an employee (compared to 20 percent resulting from issues with company culture). Because of this, any investments in training and development for your line managers are well-spent.

The success of your retention strategies are ultimately subject to your line managers’ ability to deliver on initiatives you put in place. According to Tucker, “Whatever your company values, you have to be sure your managers are executing on it. Help them help you reduce turnover. Teach them how to empower employees to succeed and grow, rather than just drive performance.”

It’s also critical to keep the line of communication about careers wide open between employees and managers, especially because career goals change over time. Build more opportunities for employee check-ins (formal and informal) with managers. As Tucker points out, “Individualized conversation needs to happen on a regular basis.”

By Kyle Lagunas  - HR Analyst at Software Advice Software Advice

Why Employees Lie to Get Off Work

3 reasons employees lie to get off work

1. Mental health days are not a figment of the imagination. Sometimes at the end of long project or in the midst of a crazy workload, employees just need a break. Those who claim a sickie when not actually ill may feel guilty at leaving the work on their colleagues to take time off. And if you want to reduce the number of these false claims, look into this research showing supportive supervisors are the number one factor.
2. A selfish and competitive spirit extends even to preferred vacation time. Though I’m often not in favor of hard policies, sometimes it’s necessary to deal with those 1 (one) percent claiming a honeymoon just to get their preferred vacation dates when they didn’t plan ahead as well as their colleagues. Then again, I always hated to hear about organizations requiring employees to bring back funeral programs to prove a loved one had died and they’d gone to funeral. What’s next? Requiring proof of cruise itinerary on the honeymoon?
3. It really is that bad at the office. Someone ate shampoo to be able to leave sick? Can anyone imagine what that work environment must have been like for the employee resorting to this? If you are one of those organizations with a hard and fast policy around vacation or holiday time, have a think about the unintended consequences your policy might be generating.

By Derek Irvine - Vice President, Client Strategy & Consulting Service at Globoforce

HR Mistakes To Avoid In A Startup

We all probably know a lot about HR management and the value of good team in a startup. To further help on the same issue we surveyed some startup employees and have compiled a list of most popular and significant mistakes committed by some well known Indian startups and their founders. For privacy issues we have not used any names.

1. Forgetting to appreciate: You have read enough about employee motivation but you must learn to appreciate daily procedural work as well. Things that look trivial actually make a lot of difference to your company in the long run. Like a good resume found by your HR department on Naukri or forwarded by your current employee. Appreciate that, even if it was their daily work. This requires consistency and may not be easy but certainly keeps the employee excited all the time. – HR executive, BPO

2. Not defining tasks: Learn to define the task in one simple line, being very specific about what is to be delivered. Most of the time a task is undone not because the employee is not making enough efforts but because employer never knew what exactly he wanted to be done. -Graphic designer, Ecommerce

An acclaimed Indian creative director puts it this way – “If i don’t get an idea after reading the brief for the 3rd  time then probably the brief is all bull shit and I will deliver bull shit.”

3. Not encouraging to ask questions: Remember, if he is interested in asking questions he will also do the job well. If he leaves with a question in his mind, he will come back to you without the work. Give me some time to clear my doubts before you say “I want it by EoD”. – Programmer, IT services

4. Forcing decisions in cases when you are not an expert: Say if it is about deciding the color of your website. Both you and your emlpoyee are not an expert, then you should let the employee decide. It won’t make any difference to the product but would encourage him and not make you a Hari Sadu. – Programmer, Ecommerce
5. Not crediting salary on time: In a startup there are chances that you are already underpaying him so even a single day delay matters. The paychecks should be handed out before the month ends. You are not giving him advance for the remaining number of days but it is he who worked for you without pay for these many days. Do you take up a project without advance payment? – Network Manager, Hosting Services

Their might be a risk of high churning rate at month end but that is again for the X type of employees, that too the low skilled workers.

6. Restricting certain websites: You might have done this for productivity issues but you do not realize that it makes the employee believe that you do not trust him. By doing so you have proven that he is not motivated enough. He is not a kid who has to be forced to study (work). If he does not want to do it, he will not deliver his best. This might increase procedural efficiency but not effectiveness of your team. – UI Designer, Web Marketing.

Platforms like Youtube etc. host a lot of informative videos as well. Also, if a quick game of 5 mins can refresh his mind, he would be more productive for the next 55 mins.
7. No or Limited free coffee – Programmer, Classifieds (and about 8 others)

Founders, try and conduct a regular session with your team where they can speak their heart out. If you already conduct such sessions do share your experience.

The craft of connecting

Effective communication is among the top five characteristics needed by teams and leaders to succeed in a complex working environment

Between 2000 and 2004, companies with most effective communication programs returned 57 percent more to their shareholders than companies with the least effective communication programs, as per the findings of Watson Wyatt’s 2005/2006 Communication ROI Study. Good communication is among the top five characteristics needed by teams and leaders to succeed in a complex working environment. A key factor that emerges from studies of successful managers is that they have a regular and meaningful communication process with their staff. They connect! Let’s look at how this meaningful connection is established.

Crafting the connection

It is essential to clearly establish objective of the communication, timeframe for it and how and when it is to be done. Every conversation you have, every communication you make in the work context takes you a step closer to a goal. So it is important you craft each one of the communications with care.

Firstly, promise something only if you can follow through with it. Also, avoid any gaps in understanding – it is a good idea to clearly communicate your understanding and get agreement on it. Equally important is to maintain consistency in communicating a message, whether within your team or across groups. Gone are the days when it was possible to develop tailor-made communications for different groups. In today's networked society, where information spreads fast through blogs, social networks and other kinds of speedy media, every group can become aware of the communications to other groups.

Base your decisions on visible and logical factors. People want to know why they are being asked to do or not to do specific things. Such knowledge not only helps them execute their tasks more effectively but also helps them accept the instructions and decisions more willingly. Even adverse decisions like a retrenchment can be made acceptable if employees understand their rationale.

Try changing the questions you ask. Instead of asking “Why are we falling short of this month’s sales goal?” ask “What do you think we can do to ensure we meet our sales goal?” In the first case you make the listener feel defensive, and in the second case he/she will feel involved in the solution (versus being accused of the problem) and will be receptive to brainstorming alternatives.

It is of utmost importance that you select communication methods appropriate for a particular target audience. For instance for communicating with an employee in another location you may want to use e-mail, instant messaging, intranets, social media and other web tools. There are some very interesting possibilities in the new-age communication tools. While company intranets can serve as central hubs of information about the organization for employees, teams can hold brainstorming sessions or maintain ongoing conversations with questions and answers on a blog.

You can even use wikis to manage projects, share best practices and research case studies. The CEO can keep a blog or a podcast and companies can use RSS feeds to send regular news to employees. If an organization plans to use new-age communication tools, then it is important to effectively implement them and provide necessary training and support in the use of the same. This will ensure that employees experience higher levels of communication satisfaction.

Connecting effectively by knowing your audience

An important step in connecting to people is being aware of who you are connecting with and what essential information they need. For instance, while working with the executive level (board of directors, executive staff, your direct manager), you need to take hierarchy into consideration, depending on the culture at your workplace. Also, you need to focus on business and ROI. On the other hand, while communicating with your team, consultants or vendors, you need to explain the technical background, outline and explain requests, justify outcomes and specify clear instructions and conditions for the satisfaction of requests.

When communicating with peers or other functional groups, you should be clear and concise. You need to make sure that you answer questions, like ‘when, where, why, and why not. And finally, while communicating with external customers, you should be politically correct, aware of revenue impact and conscious of issues related to security and breach of contract.

Internal communication best practices

If you want internal communication to succeed, it is essential that communication be ‘two way’ i.e., employees should not only receive communication, but always have a chance, and be encouraged to ask questions, discuss and express their ideas. Asking for feedback identifies problem areas where messages are misunderstood or not received at all.

Very often good news is given, bad news is withheld. Be it feedback on individual poor performance or difficulties the company is facing, if they are not shared and discussed with the employees an important opportunity to build trust and to improve performance is lost. So don’t just share the good news, but also share bad news if any.

Feedback mechanisms and sharing best practices internally should be an integral part of organizational performance and individual performance management system. Provide regular, on-going opportunities for employees to provide feedback to management. The opportunities can be provided through employee surveys, suggestion boxes, town hall meetings, individual or small group meeting with managers, and an organizational culture that supports open, two-way communication.

It is also crucial that you measure improvements in your performance and not just communication since you are ultimately using communication to achieve your work goals. Have there been changes in the way your team communicate with customers? Are you getting closer to your customers? Is employee retention improving? Is information being communicated throughout your department on a timely basis? You need to seek answers for these questions on a time-to-time basis.

Be it giving work instructions, aligning individual goals to company goals, inspiring team members or understanding team needs, effective communication, without a doubt, forms a key factor in making these connections successful.

The author is Founder of The HR Practice

Engage or be out of business

Many researches reveal that best employers excel at employee engagement. So how can you drive employee engagement in your team?

Does employee engagement seem like another buzzword to you? And yet you must be experiencing the presence or absence of it every day at your workplace. Tim Rutledge, Owner and Publisher, Mattanie Press and Author of ‘Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty’ writes ‘truly engaged employees are: attracted to and inspired by their work (‘I want to do this’), committed (‘I am dedicated to the success of what I am doing’), and fascinated (‘I love what I am doing’).’

The concept of employee engagement was developed in response to increasing globalization. Global competition forced businesses to become more flexible in responding to employee needs. There was also a rising interest in employee engagement due to the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, which caused the economy to dip and created unemployment. Then came the Millennials, a new generation of workers who demanded more from their employer than just pay. Technology continues to revolutionize not only how work gets done, but also how people access their work and each other. As the economy changes and employee needs evolve, employee engagement becomes more and more essential in increasing productivity while satisfying employee needs.

Hewitt has been conducting Best Employers studies around the world. Their research shows that the best employers excel at employee engagement. As a result, they enjoy a bigger pool of talent to select employees and experience lower employee turnover, lower absenteeism rate, increased customer satisfaction, higher economic returns, and greater sustainability in the face of business challenges.

What drives employee engagement and how can you drive it?

Frederick Herzberg observed over 40 years ago that the same employees who complained about poor working conditions, such as cold, dirt and dim lighting were quite happy to work on their cars in a dingy, dusty garage at home. So there was something else that was driving engagement. In fact there are several factors that drive employee engagement. Let us look at how as a manager you can help in creating employee engagement in your team. 

1. Relationship with manager and managerial support: Very often, employees leave an organization not because of the dissatisfaction with the company, but because of the dissatisfaction with the manager. As a manager, you need to provide your team with required direction and resources to support work processes and activities. Be supportive of the engagement initiative while monitoring the work-life balance of employees.

2. Role clarity: Being a manager, you are the best person to provide clarity to employees about what is expected from them at work. Also make them understand how their goals relate to the company goals and how their unit/department contributes to the company’s success. Helping employees clearly understand the mutual responsibility and accountability is at the heart of an effective employer/employee relationship.

3. Challenging work: Being able to do something interesting and meaningful helps create a sense of personal inspiration and accomplishment, leading to pride in one’s work and one’s company. There are certain things that you can do to help promote a more stimulating and challenging environment for your subordinates. You must encourage people to take initiatives, coach and develop people’s skills, and hold people accountable for their performance.

4. Performance feedback and recognition: Regular, specific performance feedback is a powerful tool to engage people. As important as pay and benefits are in attracting and retaining people, they are less important in engaging people in their work. So, offer recognition for employees who excel or who demonstrate a strong passion for their work and organization.

5. Career development opportunities: Get to know your employees, as well as their goals and aspirations, so that together you can develop a clear path for advancement and opportunities for growth. Ensure that high performers in your team advance in the organization.

6. A sense of ‘team’: Foster a sense of community and team work. People’s positive emotions are strongly influenced by the people they work with day-to-day, by collaboration, teamwork and shared goals, and by a sense of a purpose in work.

7. Communication: Effective communication is not just about disseminating basic information. Rather, it is providing context, commentary and ensuring a two-way dialogue. Employees want to know what management thinks and believes and how it plans to act. And they also want forums to give their inputs. Engage employees through direct communication by involving them in important decisions and keeping them informed of new developments or changes within the company. Listen to employees and act on their suggestions. Just listening and not acknowledging, responding or acting on what is being heard can damage credibility and engagement.

8. Control: Employees should have an appropriate decision-making authority and appropriate decision-making input to be truly engaged. If you consistently keep your team members fully informed, you are providing them the necessary foundation to behave responsibly and accept accountability for making their own decisions.

9. Leadership: A clear vision from senior management about future success and senior management taking steps to ensure company’s long-term success are important in driving engagement. Leadership’s interest in employee well-being also helps increase employee engagement. As a manager you can keep your team updated on what the leadership team is doing for them.

10. Company credibility: Organizations that proactively manage their reputations also enjoy higher levels of employee engagement. Employees distance themselves from the business when they believe their company does not have a good reputation. By talking positively about the company and its practices and by correcting any negative perceptions that employees have about the company, you can contribute to employee engagement.

Thus, it takes commitment, consistency, trust in employees’ judgment and strong leadership practices to create employee engagement. Most importantly, it takes strong day-to-day management.

The author is Founder of The HR Practice

Four Ways CLOs Can Change Their Company's Culture

Often in approaching an organizational issue, the conclusion a learning and development professional comes to is that it comes down to culture. In order for a company to truly change itself with respect to a given aspect of performance - ethics, for example - it has to embed its intentions in its culture to succeed. The conventional wisdom is that it has to happen from the top-down; from the C-suite down through the ranks.

But how does a CLO change a company's culture? That's easier said than done. According to Joseph Grenny, co-chairman of VitalSmarts, a corporate training and organizational development consultancy, this is because it hasn't been approached correctly.

"We think it needs to be top-down and driven by leaders, when in fact that's just a recipe for resistance," Grenny said. Grenny prescribes four critical competencies for building a high performing organizational culture: self-directed change; intellectual honesty; 360-degree accountability; and influential leadership.

1. Self-Directed Change

Grenny identified execution and innovation as the primary abilities a CLO seeks to foster in an organization. "The basis of that - the core ingredient - is self-directed change," he said. "If you have a capacity in your organization for individuals to examine where the organization is headed and create self-directed change to be able to examine their own habits, alter them as the occasion requires, and align with the direction of the organization and their own professional aspirations, that really is what unleashes individual potential. Then the leader's job is just to guide that self-direction."

2. Intellectual Honesty

According to Grenny, a significant barrier to effective organizational culture is created when employees don't feel free or able to speak up about bad decisions or mistakes that their company may be making. "If they are; if they can be intellectually honest; if they can talk about the elephant in the room, that's the process by which self-correction happens in an organization," he said. "When dissent gets stifled, then our capacity to execute well diminishes because we can't talk about what's wrong with the way we're executing and our capacity to innovate disappears, because innovation is fundamentally a function of spirited debate. Intellectual honesty means you're getting my full honest view of reality and what ought be done in the organization."

3. 360-Degree Accountability

Another way of describing such accountability would be simple transparency. "It means that everybody is responsible for everything at some level," Grenny said. "Strong ethics happen in an organization when the norm is to challenge."

In order to achieve this, it's important that companies get away from strict vertical accountability. "In healthy organizations, peer accountability and upward accountability are the norms," Grenny said. "People can let their boss know when they're letting them down. People hold their peers accountable."

This is not a process that can occur just once a year. "That's malarkey because that's so late in the process," he said. "If it waits until some performance review nine months after the episode occurred because that's when it comes into the boss' purview, then you've already paid an enormous price in execution and innovation."

4. Influential Leadership

Grenny feels that leadership is an area lacking clarity with respect to learning. "One of our problems in the learning and development field is we don't define leadership particularly well," he said. "So leadership is this vague, abstract concept, when fundamentally leadership at its heart is about influence. If people aren't changing their behavior as a result of your leadership you aren't leading. One of the greatest deficits in organizations is leaders not only don't know how to do that, they don't even know how to think about the process of changing behavior across a large social system in a rapid, profound and sustainable way."

That is a tall order. But according to Caroline Turner, a former senior vice president of Coors Brewing Co. who now heads consultancy DifferencesWORKS, it can be achieved through creating inclusive work environments that allow people to thrive. The key to this is an engaged company culture.

"If you don't have engaged employees, you don't have committed employees who are willing to give you their best quality and focus," Turner said. "Engagement really means a sense of belonging and commitment and it's linked to retention, productivity and profitability. Then inclusiveness is a key competency because only by creating a culture where people who are very different from one another and from the leader feel valued and included will you get engagement."

By Daniel Margolis - managing editor of Chief Learning Officer magazine.

Top 5 Women-friendly companies in India

Top 5 Women-friendly companies in India

MINDTREE CONSULTING, IT SOLUTIONS

They have Toddlers Park, a day-care centre, and an infrastructural facility, called Baby's Day Out, from where mothers can work while taking care of their child. For cases of extended maternity, accompanying their spouse on travel, or caring for dependent family members, special leaves can be claimed.

SILVER SPARK APPARELS, CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS

Ninety per cent of their 2,000 employees are women, and all of them come from a rural district of Bangalore.They have women-friendly facilities: a creche, teachers to teach the children of women employees, social activities involving the parents and workshops on health and hygiene.

ACCENTURE, CONSULTANCY 

They have a formal community of women employees, called Vahini, to bring about inclusiveness in the organisation, and make them good parents, empowered citizens and fine financial planners. Expecting mothers can enjoy regular visits by a gynaecologist and special cabs for their smooth travel. There is also a dedicated 24x7 emergency helpline for women.

ERNST AND YOUNG GLOBAL SHARED SERVICES (GSS), BUSINESS ADVISORY

A prominent feature is their creche, called Ashray. Employees can also choose to work from home on a full-time or part-time basis. A security guard escorts women employees who use late-evening transport. Half their employees are women.

INFOSYS, IT SOLUTIONS

It is the first Indian company to set up a dedicated office for gender sensitivity, called Infosys Women Inclusivity Initiative (IWIN). Women employees can avail 24x7 counselling facilities and nursing stations. For new mothers, there are satellite offices where they can stay close to home and work. They can take upto a year's leave for their family and continue to be on the rolls.
Source: The Great Place to Work Institute (2009).

How to Know When It’s Time For You to Go

What to ask if you think you should go

Here are a few questions to consider when making these decisions:

• Have I reached my goals here?
• How will my future here contrast with what I’ve already done?
• Does my success here help me do something else I want to do more than carrying on in this situation?
• What’s keeping me here?
• Am I still growing and learning?

How to Build and Maintain Trust

Whether it's the world of business, politics or sports, there is no shortage of leadership failures to illustrate the effects of broken trust on a personal and organizational level.

Consider these recent, well-known examples of prominent leaders breaking trust where the damage extended beyond the individuals:

Tony Hayward, former CEO of BP, left the company after his series of trust-eroding gaffes and missteps following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. BP received significant public criticism and damage to its brand image as a result of Hayward's seemingly uncaring response to the environmental disaster.

Jim Tressel, former head football coach at The Ohio State University, resigned under pressure in May 2011 after admitting he knew some of his players had violated NCAA rules but chose not to alert his superiors about the infractions. Between self-imposed penalties and those handed down by the NCAA, Ohio State stands to lose millions of dollars in football revenue.

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner resigned under pressure last year after initially denying, then later admitting, he sent a lewd picture from his Twitter account and engaged in "sexting" with numerous women over a period of years. Weiner's actions seem to reinforce a growing lack of trust in politicians and their integrity.

Trust or Consequences

Prominent breaches of trust such as these garner the news headlines, yet it's leaders' everyday actions that determine the level of trust in organizations. Most employees have experienced broken promises, unfulfilled commitments and leaders withholding information, have been treated unfairly or heard blatant lies and dishonesty in the workplace. Repeated occurrences of these kinds of trust-busting behaviors by leaders foster low-trust environments resulting in employees who are demoralized, afraid to take risks, disengaged, unproductive and ultimately at a higher risk to leave the organization.

According to "Trust Matters: New Links to Employee Retention and Well-Being," a 2011 Kenexa High Performance Institute WorkTrends report, 50 percent of employees who distrust their senior leaders are seriously considering leaving their organization, compared to 14 percent of those who do trust their leaders. Deloitte's 2010 "Ethics and Workplace Survey" reports that 48 percent of employed Americans who plan to look for a new job as the economy improves are doing so because of a lack of trust in their employer and a lack of transparent communication from senior leadership.

Distrust in leaders and organizations has health and well-being implications for employees as well. According to the "Trust Matters" report, employees who distrust their leaders are seven times more likely to report they are mentally and physically unwell, and 62 percent of employees who lack trust in their leaders report unreasonable levels of stress compared to 13 percent of those who do trust their leaders.

Trust Improves the Bottom Line

Organizations are increasingly taking proactive steps to build high-trust cultures because it helps improve the bottom line. Lowe's, the second largest home improvement retailer in the world with more than 1,750 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico and nearly 235,000 employees, emphasizes the importance of trust in its leadership development practices and has seen the benefits.

Greg Nell, vice president of learning and development and a 22-year veteran of Lowe's, said, "My personal experience at Lowe's, as well as the results from our employee engagement surveys, has shown that when there is a high level of trust and engagement in teams or stores, people costs around accidents, turnover, sick hours and inventory shrink are less, customer satisfaction is higher, and sales and profits are higher. Conversely, in stores or teams that have a lack of trust, the engagement results are lower and the people costs are up."

Nell's experience at Lowe's has been mirrored in several studies and reports that show the benefit of trust in the workplace. Research by the Great Places to Work Institute, publisher of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, has shown that between 1997 and 2011, high-trust companies outperformed the Russell 3000 and S&P 500, posting annualized returns of 10.32 percent versus 4.02 percent and 3.71 percent, respectively. Further, those best companies provide four times the returns as market average for comparative low-trust companies and typically experience a 50 percent lower turnover rate.

A Common Language of Trust

For leaders and organizations to realize the benefits of high levels of trust, they should establish a common definition and framework of how to build it. Many people don't give much thought to intentionally building trust; they just assume it happens over time.Yet the reality is that trust is built or eroded by the use of specific behaviors that people perceive as either trustworthy or untrustworthy. For leaders to be successful in developing high-trust relationships and organizational cultures, they need to focus on using behaviors that align with the four core elements of trust. To represent the four elements in the language of trust, The Ken Blanchard Cos. created the ABCD Trust Model - Able, Believable, Connected and Dependable.

1. Able:

Being able is about demonstrating competence. One way leaders demonstrate their competence is by having the expertise needed to do their jobs. Expertise comes from possessing the right skills, education or credentials to establish credibility with others. Leaders also demonstrate their competence by achieving results. Consistently achieving goals and having a track record of success builds trust with others and inspires confidence in one's ability. Able leaders are also skilled at facilitating work getting done. They develop credible project plans, systems and processes to help team members accomplish their goals.

2. Believable:

A believable leader acts with integrity. Dealing with people honestly by keeping promises, not lying or stretching the truth and not gossiping are ways to demonstrate integrity. Believable leaders also have clear values that have been articulated to their followers, and they behave consistently with those values - they walk the talk. A 2010 Maritz Research survey reported that 11 percent of respondents strongly agreed that their managers showed consistency between their words and actions. Treating people fairly and equitably are also key components to being a believable leader. Being fair doesn't necessarily mean treating people the same in all circumstances; it means people are treated appropriately and justly based on their own situations.

3. Connected:

Showing care and concern for people builds trust and helps to create an engaging work environment. Connectedness with leader and connectedness with colleague are two key factors involved in creating employee work passion, and trust is a necessary ingredient in those relationships. Leaders create a sense of connectedness by openly sharing information about themselves and the organization and trusting employees to use that information responsibly.

Leaders also build trust by having a people-first mentality and building rapport with those they lead. Taking an interest in people as individuals and not just as nameless workers shows that leaders value and respect their team members. Recognition is a vital component of being a connected leader, and praising and rewarding employees' contributions and their work builds trust and goodwill.

4. Dependable:

Being dependable and reliable is the fourth element that builds trust. One of the quickest ways to erode trust is by not following through on commitments. Conversely, leaders who do what they say they're going to do earn a reputation as being consistent and trustworthy. Maintaining reliability requires leaders to be organized so that they are able to follow through on commitments, be on time for appointments and meetings, and get back to people in a timely fashion. Dependable leaders also hold themselves and others accountable for following through on commitments and taking responsibility for their work outcomes.

By using the ABCD Trust Model, leaders can focus on the behaviors that build trust, and by sharing this model with those they lead, create a common framework and language to discuss trust issues in the workplace.

Rebuilding Damaged Trust

Despite their best intentions, there will be times when leaders break trust with those they lead. Although trust can take a long time to build and just a moment to destroy, there is hope for recovery if the parties involved are willing to put in the time and effort necessary to restore a healthy level of trust to the relationship. Leaders can follow this five-step process to rebuild broken trust:

1. Acknowledge:

The success of the 12-step recovery process shows that the first thing that has to be done is acknowledge that a problem exists. Depending on its severity, a breach of trust can have difficult and emotional consequences that many leaders would rather avoid. Yet to begin the rebuilding process, leaders must acknowledge a situation exists and needs to be addressed.

2. Admit:

Second, leaders have to admit their part in causing the breach of trust. They need to own up to their actions and take responsibility for whatever harm was caused. This is a crucial step that leaders shouldn't overlook. Refusing to admit mistakes reflects negatively on a leader's believability and can let a mistake in judgment turn into an indictment of character.

3. Apologize:

The next step in repairing damaged trust is for leaders to apologize for their role in the situation. A good apology incorporates steps one and two - acknowledging the mistake and admitting involvement - and expresses regret for the harm caused and assurances that the offense won't be repeated. The apology needs to be motivated by sincerity and remorse, not be contrived or forced. Avoid making excuses, shifting blame or using qualifying statements that detract from the apology.

4. Assess:

The fourth step is to assess which elements of the ABCD Trust Model were violated and create an action plan to improve in those areas. In their assessment, it's important for leaders to narrow down the specific behaviors that cause the breach of trust. Repairing a breach of trust can seem like a daunting task, but if leaders identify the specific behaviors at the root of the issue, they can create a manageable and realistic plan to move forward.

5. Agree:

The final step in the trust rebuilding process is to agree on an action plan with the offended party on what will be done differently moving forward to help rebuild trust. This step is an ongoing process of evaluating the consistency of the leader's behavior and its alignment with the action plan.

Leaders can afford many kinds of mistakes, but the one thing they can't afford to lose is trust. The ability to build and sustain high levels of personal and organizational trust is a defining and critical competency for today's leaders. By using behaviors that align with the four core elements of trust - able, believable, connected and dependable - leaders can effectively build trust and lead their teams to higher levels of productivity,engagement and success.


By Randy Conley-  practice leader at The Ken Blanchard Cos., a leadership training organization.