Tag Archives: Best Places to Work

“Suffering From Too Much Recognition?” A Tale of Two Bosses

30 Jan

A conversation I had with a former boss came to mind today. The thought of offering praise to an employee, including yours truly, was not in his “management style”.  There were certainly lots of good things to celebrate– new customers, growing revenues, a sound bottom line. He thought that people “doing their job was no reason to get all excited, plus if you start praising people it will just go to their heads”– thus the dearth of praise, even when things were going well.

Another former boss, Dr. Donald O. Clifton, used to ask audiences a question when it came to this topic of praise: “If any of you out there are suffering from too much recognition, please raise your hand?” Never was a hand shown.

In fact, if we ever error regarding recognition, it is too little and without sincerity. The chances that we would “over-praise” someone are slim to none. In my case, the first boss never got the best out of me, and I would have walked through fire to please Don Clifton if he would have asked– have you felt this difference in your life? Our studies of outstanding workplaces indicates this is a critical driver of employee engagement.

Consider:

  • What can we do to dispel the myth that we should worry about “over-praising” our associates?
  • Can we do a better job of celebrating the successes of our associates, particularly in these difficult times?
  • How we can we help all our leaders be more effective at recognizing their staff in a meaningful way?

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“We’re One Big Family”

29 Jan

We used to live in a neighborhood that was, in a word, special. The kids in the hood grew up together, walked in and out of each home on the street like it was their own– relationships that have stood the test of time and distance. We used to throw our money together and have the biggest Fourth of July fireworks blowout in the county. We were neighbors. We were friends. We were, in a word, family.

I’m taking you down this memory lane trip because that feeling– family– is an element of highly engaged workplaces. When we study the survey comments at highly engaged companies that theme– “we’re one big family”– emerges frequently. At poorly engaged companies– “family”– and the neighborly, positive sense that goes with it, is absent. Coincidence? I think not.

Although many of us didn’t have the best “family” experience growing up, we can certainly hope for the best of what family can mean– care, trust, acceptance. This is exactly what employees at great workplaces are talking about! We didn’t tell them to say “this place feels like family”– they chose those words to describe what their work experience feels like. Importantly, it’s that feeling that fuels engagement, which we know leads to more productivity, employee retention and customer loyalty.

Consider:

  • Do our employees feel this way about our workplace?
  • If they don’t, what’s getting in the way from them doing so?
  • Given the current economic crisis, what can we do right now to start building that sense of family, knowing it can help get us through the difficult times ahead?

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Engagement and the Economic Crisis– Part 2

27 Jan

I attended a luncheon today in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, where the keynote speaker was a prominent leader in our economic development activity.  The speaker laid out some of the challenges facing our economy, for which we have our share.

But he also discussed a number of activities and businesses’ successes that were positive for Omaha. He indicated that although many employers were cutting jobs, he knew of others that were expanding. In one case he mentioned a company that was planning to hire over 100 new employees that would have an average starting salary of over $80,000, which for my neck of the woods is pretty good money.

I mention this story not to sing the praises of my home , (although I am proud to be in the same town as “The Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett). I call this out because it is a good reminder that although we are facing challenges we should continue to look for positive things that are happening around us. We may find at our company, for example, that in spite of slower sales that we may have a customer that is increasing orders with us. We need to look for these successes to not only celebrate them but analyze whether there are opportunities for us to build on those successes.

  • What can we learn from these “victories”?
  • Can we apply what we’ve learned in other ways?
  • Are there similar customers out there who could be won if they knew we were being successful with someone like them?
  • And in regards to employee engagement, can we deploy our best talent to go after these opportunities?

In the midst of crisis, let us continue to look for bright spots. Where are yours?

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“Nonprofits have an advantage, right?”

25 Jan

In no less than three separate occassions I’ve heard this comment when it comes to employee engagement. In each case the author was assuming that because a nonprofit had an “important mission” of service to one cause or another that employees would be more engaged because they felt so passionately about the mission. Makes sense, right?

Our research concludes otherwise. To be sure, there are some nonprofits that do an outstanding job of engaging their employees, and one asset they can tap into is the cause to which they aspire. But we see many for-profits that do an outstanding job engaging employees, and when you hear their employee comments it’s clear they too feel they are “on a mission”, often of serving customers or creating a great place to work.

I can also tell you we have studied many nonprofits who, in spite of their cause and mission, have employees who are anything but engaged. The culprit for the absense of engagement is the same as it is anywhere– poor leadership.

Lesson learned? Engagement is a function of the quality of leadership, or lack thereof, within an organization. Nonprofit or for-profit, public or private, global giant or local business– none of these monikers necessarily brings with it an engaged workforce. Today let’s commit ourselves to considering this question– what can we do to create a better place of work for ourselves our our team?

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Lose The Cookie Cutter

23 Jan

A conversation today with a client raised this question– Is employee engagement look and feel the same in every company? Another way that question could be asked is: can we take our cookie cutter and apply success across lots of employers?

We all are looking for “best practices” from other employers, particularly those that have been successful in creating a great workplace.  But I hope we can all agree that how certain engagement practices are embraced and used in one setting may be very different from another.

Just last month I had the pleasure of talking with the CEO of a company that is known for their outstanding culture and engaged employee group, which over the last ten years has accounted for, in his view, a great deal of their success. Being a technology company with a younger employee population, there are some efforts they’ve found successful that may not work well in another environment.

Let’s make sure we keep our wits about us when it comes to taking what might be a great idea in one comopan and making implementing it in our place of work.

  • Does the practice feel right for us?
  • How would the practice fit with our history,  management style and culture?
  • Are the elements of the practice that might work, while other elements should be ignored?

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“Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

22 Jan

Five years ago I was working with a client, reviewing their employee survey results. The data indicated that many employees were unfavorable to the employee benefits offerings. In discussing what should be done the CEO said to me: “I wish our benefits could be better, but I think they’re good enough. I know it might be a thorn for some of our staff, but I don’t think people are disengaging and leaving over this.”

At that time, this CEO could have been right. Our studies then indicated that benefits were a moderate driver of engagement. Fast forwarding five years to today I can tell you employee perceptions about benefits have risen much higher as a driver. In fact, we now see it as one of the six most important drivers that an employer must address.

  • Are your benefits “just good enough”?
  • What could you do to help employees know that you genuinely care about their well being, now that we know it is a more significant driver?
  • What low cost, or no cost, actions can be taken, given our current economic challenges?

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When Perception Trumps Reality

21 Jan

In a consultation about a year ago with a company about their employee survey results, the CEO voiced to me concerns about employee perceptions of company benefits, particularly their 401(k). He complained: “We have a great plan, but many of our staff came from a company we closely partner with that has a pension. We don’t have a pension, so they think they’re losing out even though their overall net retirement benefit is much better.”

We concluded that the company needed to do a better job of helping employees get clear about the benefits of their current plan. They launched a communication iniative they called “Do you want a pension or do you want a retirement?” In this initiative they presented models that showed employees how much better their retirement would be under the 401(k) plan.

I’m pleased to report that a year later those survey results are much higher– changing perceptions helped change the reality for those employees.

  • What perceptions do you need to address regarding benefits, or anything else for that matter?
  • Would this communication be even more important right now with our current economic situation likely making our staff even more nervous about these “security” issues?

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The Defintion of Insanity…

20 Jan

In an earlier post I mentioned that my colleague Leigh Branham and I are now seeing that health and well-being is a significant driver of employee engagement, taking on far more importance now than five years ago. Why has it risen in the priority ranking in terms of differentiating between low and high levels of employee engagement?

One answer may lie in a study reported in the January, 2009 edition of HR Focus. The study indicates that although wages have increased 14.5% from 2000 to 2007, family health care coverage rose 78.3%, a average increase 5.4 times faster than the medium wage– yikes!

In a focus group interview I recently conducted on behalf of a client this concern came through loud and clear. Several employees said: “The good news is I was very productive last year and got a nice raise. The bad news is I gave it all back in increased health care premiums!”

Is this the experience at your place of work? Many employers keep the same approach to health care, and don’t get any better results… insanity, right? Over the coming weeks I’ll be discussing some ideas we’ve found that may work to stem this tide– would love to get your thoughts…

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