Despite all of the media reports about low unemployment
rates, the fact of the matter is it is pretty difficult to get and hang onto a
job; so is that a contributing factor to the dismal workplace engagement
numbers we see reported over and over again? People who have jobs are just
happy to go along to get along and keep the paycheck coming?
Trying to delve into the numbers, make sense of them
and improve them has become a thriving business for consultants and business
leadership development types. Here is a look at a pair of new books that offer
not only insight into the issue, but could offer solutions on how to improve
your results and in the process contribute to the growth of your bottom line.
The
Workplace Engagement Solution: Find a Common Mission, Vision and Purpose with
All of Today’s Employees – David Harder (Career Press)
David Harder, the founder of Inspired Work, an
organizational a career development company pegs the global employee engagement
number at roughly 13%. That is flat out, a dismal number. It has become gospel
that an engaged employee, someone who comes to work every day and driven to
perform will help contribute to growing the businesses bottom line. So how does
a CEO or business owner light a fire under his people and get them to perform
at the highest levels of their ability?
Harder makes the case in his book, The Workplace Engagement Solution: Find a Common Mission, Vision and
Purpose with All of Today’s Employees, that leaders have to set the tone
for helping to drive change and build a culture that engages employees. For me
the title says it all! If you don’t build the cornerstone of your business on a
common mission, vision and purpose, and communicate, communicate and
communicate those values over and over, then how can you attract the right
people to come to work for you, and without the right people who can you ever
hope to succeed?
Harder makes the case that it’s more difficult to find
great, engaged employees than it is to build them. While the process of
mentoring and developing skillsets is hard work and heavy lifting, at the end
of the day the increased buy in makes it worth the effort.
You cannot over-communicate the mission; if your people
don’t know what the company stands for, how can ever expect them to be engaged
in the businesses success? Real engagement doesn’t happen if you put a bunch of
flowery words on nice, framed posters to hang in the lobby; real engagement means
you have to live up to those values and lead by example every day.
The
Power of People Skills: How to Eliminate 90% of Your HR Problems and
Dramatically Increase Team and Company Morale and Performance – Trevor Throness
– (Career Press)
Talk to most business owners and ask them what their
number one problem is and more often than not they will tell you something like
“It’s hard (impossible) to find (retain) good people!” People are the problem;
they make up the greatest part of business expenses and they chew through the
bulk of a business owner/leaders time.
Veteran business coach Trevor Throness has narrowed
down the problem to one very simple equation; great cultures insist on having
star players in every key position and poor cultures are the one who continue
to tolerate under performers.
Think about it, how often have you heard the old saw about
20% of the people doing 80% of the work? If you are among the 20%, how does
having a boss who makes that comment make you feel? Does it feel something like
this; Why the heck am I working so hard and allowing this jackass to continue
to allow people to slack off and not carry their share of the load?
Poll after poll points out that good people leave their
bosses, not their jobs and much of that can likely be traced back to putting up
with rather than confronting those underperformers. Taking action, that most
leaders know deep down they need to take, could be the most difficult thing a
leader does. Throness offers some great tools to help leaders through that
process. While it still won’t be easy, when handed the very simple question; “If
I could do it all over again, would I hire this person?” That simple question
offers a level of clarity and a connection to purpose that will give you as a
leader a clear course of action.
Think about the best and the worst leaders you ever
worked for and determine what it was that put them at one end or the other of
that spectrum. More often than not it is people skills or a lack of them that
was the dividing point. Developing strong people skills is a must have for any
leaders toolbox and both of these books will make fine additions to helping you
forge that skillset.
