Archive for the ‘Employee Performance’ Category

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Are you curious as to what’s really behind employee engagement?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Leaders everywhere

Are talking about

The importance of engagement

Of having employees

Fully involved in

And enthusiastic about

Their work

We all get

The WHY of engagement

It’s the HOW

That stumps us

It’s simple really

Motivation is the key to engagement

It’s like the often used phrase

If you really want to know

What’s going on

Follow the money

In your case

If you want to know how to

Engage employees

Follow their motivation

Then you’ll know

How to engage them

Because motivation determines engagement

And more

Motivation is the fuel for performance . . . no gas, no go

When motivation sags below the enthusiastic line

Effort shows a corresponding decline

Causing performance to cough

Like an engine begging for fuel

fuel_gauge_analog

As a leader you have to wonder

How much unrealized potential

Is silently seeping away

Every second of every working day

In these turbulent and troubling times

Just imagine redirecting all of that unrealized potential

Like rechanneling fresh water into parched soil

Could you produce more

And what would happen to the wilted flower called profit?

Is your lost opportunity measured

In ounces or pounds or tons?

Please note… this is an excerpt from Martha Forlines and Thad Green’s new book, Inspiring Women…BECOMING Courageous, Wise Leaders, available at  www.inspiringwomenbook.com

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What Does Employee Engagement Have To Do With Customer Satisfaction?

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Recap of leader Quick Tip: What does employee engagement have to do with customer satisfaction?

If you measure customer satisfaction by having reliable processes in place to deliver quality products and services, plus good customer relationships, then there are a handful of employee engagement measures that can make a difference.

customer-satisfaction

Employee Engagement Measures for Process Improvement

  • One of the key measures for employee engagement around process improvement is having the materials and equipment for employees to do their very best job.  Ok, that sounds reasonable and fair.
  • The second employee engagement measure for successful process implementation is having the opportunity for employees to do what they do best in their job every day.  This gets back to selecting the right people for the right seats on the proverbial bus, doesn’t it?

That’s as far as the research goes for process improvement and the link to employee engagement. But what about employees having input on the process improvement activities or employees needing to be communicated with about changes in the workplace before they happen?  It truly is in the eye of the beholder – the employee.

Let’s move on to what research says about managing the customer relationship… keeping the customer satisfied and happy. These two may surprise you.

Two Employee Engagement Measures That Contribute To Satisfied Customers

  • The first: The purpose or mission of the organization makes the employee feel like their job is important. Shouldn’t everyone be made to feel like their contributions every day are important to the success of the organization?  What a lost opportunity for so many organizations and for so many leaders.
  • The second: Co-workers are committed to doing quality work. Translated, this means “If I’m going to bust my hump every day doing quality work then I expect my peers to be doing the same”. Otherwise, keeping the customers satisfied is a lost cause.

So which of these elements do you as a leader have in your control in order to create a satisfying experience for your customers?  How about all of them? Isn’t that a relief !

If you really want to know more, all you have to do is ask your employees.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green are leadership consultants with BSI, an Atlanta leadership consulting firm. We offer leadership solutions for increasing employee engagement and performance. Contact Us

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Traditional Employee Engagement Strategies Are Flawed

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Recap of Leader Quick Tip: Traditional employee engagement strategies are flawed

Let’s say (just for the sake of understanding the big flaw) that you’re not truly engaged—that is, YOU aren’t truly committed physically, emotionally, and intellectually to your work.

Now, how many things have to change for you to get “true engagement?” Exactly what would have to change? Hmmm . . .

And suppose the execs above you announce an employee engagement initiative. They’ve picked out 10 to 15 things to address to get the workforce truly engaged—a magic generic formula.

How many of the 10 to 15 would you guess are on the list YOU made?

And what’s the likelihood you’ll ever get the 10 to 15 anyway, given the way things usually are implemented due to blasé attitudes and lack of accountability?

How does this make you feel?

You are a leader. So if you feel this way, how must those below you feel?employee engagement strategies are flawed

So what is a leader to do?

Look at the strategy. It’s all based on the false assumption that everybody is the same, that everybody will be more engaged if someone does the same 10 to 15 things for (or to) them.

Well it just isn’t so. The reality is that you’re not like the guy in the office or cubicle next to you. You’re not like your boss. You’re not like the people on your team.

Sure there may be some sameness, but the truth is— everybody is different.

The workforce will never be truly engaged until leaders recognize and manage to these differences.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green are leadership consultants with BSI, an Atlanta leadership consulting firm. We offer leadership solutions for increasing employee engagement and performance. Contact Us

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Why Employees Resent True Engagement

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green
Employees Resent Engagement

Employees Resent Engagement

Recap of Leader Quick Tip: A truly engaged workforce is not a realistic goal

Why?

EMPLOYEES DON’T WANT TO BE TRULY ENGAGED! At least most of them don’t.

Being truly engaged isn’t worth the effort. Sure the company benefits from heightened employee engagement, but seldom do employees.

At least not in equal measure to what they give.

And besides, employees have a life outside of work. Getting more engaged means getting more work. Every employee knows this. The more they produce, the more they’re expected to produce.

No, employees don’t want to be truly engaged. Why? It’s simple. Leaders tend to have a one-way focus, and it’s not toward the employee. An “employee first” perspective is hard to find.

So how realistic is a “truly engaged” workforce? The answer is NOT VERY, and not surprisingly.

True engagement is not likely until management adopts a “true two-way street” attitude. This is where “truly engaged” begins… not with employee engagement surveys and initiatives.

If you want to really tackle employee engagement, give us a call at 678.576.5207.

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BSI Experts Lambast Traditional Employee Engagement Surveys

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Recap of Leadership Quick Tip: Engagement surveys are nothing more than employee opinion surveys by another name

employee-engagement-survey

Here’s how they are the same:

1. Survey items are around the same old employee satisfaction stuff;
2. Engagement surveys are completed anonymously too;
3. Data continue to be aggregated for reporting;
4. Survey results continue to show problems that are too pervasive, too elusive, too demanding, too costly, and too easy to let slide and
5. Good intentions to take action (based on results) lose momentum like usual.

Perhaps the biggest issue, aside from the surveys themselves, is this: If managers haven’t been held accountable to lead effectively in the past, who is going to hold them accountable now?
So what’s a leader to do, if you want to crank up employee engagement a notch or two on your team…

Call us for proven engagement solutions that work for your team or larger organization at 678-576-5207.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

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Employees First and Customers Second??

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Recap of leader quick tip: It’s easier to face disengagement (and more profitable) than live with it

Here’s a solution with a different spin.


It comes from Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, a global information technology services company, as reported at Forbes.com 06.18.10.

He recommends using a management approach called Employees First, Customers Second. Mr. Nayar stresses that this is not a human resources initiative, but a management approach.

“I don’t think that employee ‘satisfaction’ is something a company should strive for. Satisfaction is a passive state, isn’t it?”

“As for employee ‘engagement,’ that isn’t much better than satisfaction,” he says.

“What we want at HCL is passion.”

Mr. Nayar says this is working in HCL.

We know it works! We’ve been helping clients put employees first since 1991.

Maybe all of us should stop thinking about “engagement” and start focusing on ENGAGEMENT WITH PASSION!

To learn how we do this, go to our website at www. beliefsysteminstitute.com.

Martha Forlines and Thad Green

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Creating Ownership Can Be Tricky Business

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Recap Leader Quick Tip: There is a proven way to get employee ownership of projects and tasks

There are two common ways of doing this.


The first is to put on your thinking cap and figure out how to persuade the employee to take ownership.

Ask yourself questions like:Employee Task Ownership

  1. What does he want?
  2. What will excite him?
  3. What will entice him?

Then  ask yourself “How can I get buy in?”

It helps if you’ve tried this approach before.

Why? Because you know it takes a lot of time, and it never works very well.

This is good to know.

With the second approach, you don’t waste time guessing, you invest in the employee.

  1. Spell out what is involved in the project and the expected results
  2. Ask “What has to happen for you to take charge of this project and do a great job with it?”
  3. Listen for how motivated he will be with the project
  4. If his motivation is not strong, find out why, discuss and resolve

Remember, the conditions for motivation:

  1. “I can do the project.” (Belief-1)
  2. “Outcomes will be tied to my performance.” (Belief-2)
  3. “The outcomes will be satisfying if I get them.” (Belief-3)

If all three of these conditions are not met, motivation will suffer.

You can’t force ownership. It may be time to consider assigning the project to someone else.

If you’re looking for more information on creating ownership, see our new book, INSPIRING WOMEN: BECOMING Courageous, Wise Leaders.

If you’re interested in executive coaching, leadership consulting, leadership training, or boosting employee morale, call us at 678.576.5207.

Martha Forlines & Thad Green

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Employee Engagement Tops The List of Biggest Leadership Challenges

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

A survey was conducted with participants in two March webinars conducted by Martha. She was introducing the book she and Thad co-authored, INSPIRING WOMEN . . . BECOMING Courageous, Wise Leaders.

In pre-webinar surveys, participants were asked to select their biggest leadership challenge today. Here are the results.

Biggest Leadership Challenge - Survey Results

Biggest Leadership Challenge - Survey Results

These results tell only part of the story. Here’s more.

Participants also could ask questions in advance that would be answered during the webinar. As you would expect, the most frequently asked questions were about engagement. Here is one of them along with our response.

How can you inspire employees to be highly engaged and highly focused on performance? We always say you have to ask each person what it will take! They will tell you and you will know what to do. Our mantra is “IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, ASK!” Of course, be prepared to listen and take note of what they want and need to be engaged, focused on performance, successful. Based on what they say, you may be able to respond immediately, or not. For example, “I need you to give me more feedback on my performance.” This you can do. “I need more resources to meet your expectations.” This may require more discussion. You get the drift.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, ASK! Give it a try.

You can also ask us for more information about employee motivation programs, improving employee morale, leadership consulting, and leadership coaching Atlanta.

All the best to your success,

Martha Forlines & Thad Green

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Employee Engagement Strategy/Survey

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

RECAP of Leadership Quick Tip: preview our new employee engagement survey

Our new employee engagement survey

R U Engaged?

Has found its wings!

It’s off the ground and flying

Thanks to encouragement and wisdom

Of several of the 22 female executives

Interviewed for our recent book

INSPIRING WOMEN . . . BECOMING Courageous, Wise Leaders

For example, Georgia Power executive Leslie Siebert

Reminded us that “Motivation is the key to engagement”

Our work here at Belief System Institute

You Can't Guess What's in Someone's Head

You Can't Guess What's in Someone's Head

Began in 1991 around just that—motivation

So we’ve built our employee engagement survey

Around what we know best and what we know works

First, we know what works because

We’ve collected data from clients

From day one and the numbers don’t lie

Seventy percent (70%) of the employees

Who have completed our programs

Became more motivated and more engaged

And quickly improved their performance

Oh, and job satisfaction shot up too

70% is a staggering number

Second, the employee engagement survey

Is based on something we did to get

70% of the people to improve their results

The survey is not anonymous

And for good reason

It doesn’t help you as a leader

To know that 60% of those you lead

Want more feedback

Or more independence

Or more structure

If you don’t know who by name wants what

That only leaves you guessing

And resorting to blanket approaches

Like treating everybody the same way

When it’s a simple fact that

Everybody is different

Hence, R U Engaged? is not anonymous

Third, our employee engagement survey

Is based on the fact that

Employees are better at

Coming up with solutions to their own problems

Than we as their leaders usually are

They know why they are not engaged

And they know solutions that will work for them

This is how we’ve maintained the 70% rate over the years

Read the rest of this entry »

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Digging up bones

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 by Martha Forlines & Thad Green

Review of leader quick tip—It’s better to face baby alligators

That’s what leadership coaching says. Here’s why.

Problems are like alligators:
Stage 1: They are born small.
Stage 2: They get big, strong and smart.
Stage 3: They intimidate.
Stage 4: They live a long time.

Unless . . . you take action early.

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