Ikea’s Approach To Measuring Performance

I love IKEA. I don’t like shopping, but I love IKEA. For me, the most attractive thing about the Swedish furniture and home accessories chain is its focus on simplicity.

I did a presentation today to the Managers and Supervisor’s of IKEA’s Customer Support Centre at its national HQ in Tempe, Sydney. I arrived early so I had the opportunity to have a quick look around the store, (and to have some of their famous meatballs!).

On the way out of the the cafe I noticed a sign asking ‘How was your dining experience today’? As you can see in the photo above, the Happy Or Not panel has four options. No written survey that would take minutes and might have 10 or so questions, just four coloured buttons with emoji faces.

Simple to participate in, simple to analyse the results. My guess is they get a really high participation rate due to its simplicity.

Part of my presentation to IKEA’s managers was about how to increase employee engagement. One of my Care Factor 100 Principles is to give honest and regular feedback on performance. I reckon one of the reasons managers don’t do this is because they perceive it to be too complex (eg annual performance reviews). My theory is that if we kept it simple, really simple, we would do it more often and the effect would be better performance and better engagement.

Imagine using the Happy or Not approach once a week with your employees? You would then follow it up with a conversation that would improve performance and increase engagement.

What do you think? Happy or Not?

How many of your people, on average, REALLY care?

How many employees do you have?

How many of them care, REALLY care, about your organisation?

Write down the % that you think are motivated, passionate and enthusiastic about working at your place.

Global gurus in employee engagement, Gallup Consulting, have research that shows that in Australia, on average, only 24% really care. That's less than one in four. I don't know about you, but I reckon that is SCARY!

Why does it matter? Well, Gallup's research shows a direct link between high levels of engagement and organisational outcomes like higher productivity, profitability, growth, quality and safety. If you want your organisation to be successful, you should care about the level of engagement (or Care Factor) of your people.

It is the leader's job to create an environment where people feel connected to the organisation, that they care about it succeeding and, as a result, they give their best.

We are helping organisations improve the 'Care Factor' of their employees by encouraging them to do the following

• making the expectations of their employees crystal clear
• giving regular and honest feedback on performance
• sharing the vision, key result areas and actions plans with employees
• giving opportunities for growth and development
• creating an environment where people feel valued and a part of a team.

I'll come to your place to SPEAK FOR FREE about how to increase the 'Care Factor' of your employees. Click here for us to connect.

ARE YOU GETTING ENGAGED THIS YEAR?

A hot topic at the moment is ‘employee engagement’.  What is it and how important is it?

When two people become engaged it means they are making a commitment to each other. It means that they intend to be loyal and loving into the future. It means that they care, deeply, about each other.

How I explain employee engagement is whether your people care about the organisation they work for or not. What is their ‘Care Factor’?  This could range from ‘Care Factor Zero’, where, as a someone recently told me “They couldn’t give a sh#t”, to ‘Care Factor 100’ (the name of my next book), where 100% of your people are 100% engaged.

There is strong worldwide evidence (Gallup Consulting) that high levels of engagement correlate with positive organisational performance. Organisations where the ‘Care Factor’ is high experience better profitability, productivity, growth, safety and quality.

Think about this question. What is the ‘Care Factor’ of employees at your organisation? How much do they care about your organisation? Where, on the scale between ‘Care Factor Zero’ and ‘Care Factor 100’, would you employees be?

It’s our goal in 2017 to help as many people get engaged as possible! We want both employees and organisations to care more about each other, so there is loyalty, happiness and greater organisation outcomes.

Can we help you to achieve ‘Care Factor 100’?

FIVE THINGS FIRST TIME MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW

Last week I made a presentation to a group about increasing employee engagement and improving culture. At the end I opened up for questions. "A couple of us are first time managers - what advice would you give us?" Great question! Here are five things that I think first time managers would benefit from knowing.

1. Understand the difference between managing and leading. Many think that they mean the same thing, but there is a vast difference. The key is to understand that the challenge is that it's not either / or, but that you must do both.

2. Be masterful at time management. This will allow you to be productive and efficient, thereby setting a good example for others, but most importantly, it will provide you with time to do the 'leadership stuff', which takes lots of time.

3. Choose leadership over likership. We all want to be liked, but it is important to understand that being a leader will mean that you are sometimes required to make decisions and take actions that will be unpopular. Click here for a previous short video on this.

4. Do what you say you are going to do. This will mean that you are reliable, and in turn build trust, which will help you build strong relationships. Leading others is all about relationships.

5. It's not all about you. Leadership is about what you can do with and for others. It is about lifting their performance. You should be asking, "What can I do to help you do you job?"
 
Come to think of it, this advice isn't only just for first time managers, but also for those of us that have been around the block a couple of times!