2 out of 3 of your staff don't care

This might sound hard to believe, but recent research shows that two thirds of employees are either 'not engaged' or 'actively disengaged.' With further evidence linking high engagement levels and organisational success, it spells bad news for most organisations, but there is hope for leaders who want to make things different.

The guru of research in employee engagement is a US based consultancy firm called Gallup Consulting. Over the last 30 years they have interviewed over 17 million workers from most industries in many countries of the world. They have used a proven methodology to gauge the level of engagement and they have evidence that high levels of engagement are linked to positive business outcomes. They have developed an instrument that has 12 components that represent overall employee engagement and have used it to clearly demonstrate the link between engagement and success.

If your people are engaged and care about the organisation, you are more likely to succeed. (tweet this)

OK, so you are the leader, and clearly you want the organisation to succeed, and maybe you aren't totally responsible for how your guys have become disengaged, but what can you do?

I've looked closely at Gallup's work and the research evidence they have produced. I reckon if you did these five things, you would go a long way to increasing the 'care factor' of your employees.

1. Make your expectations of their performance crystal clear.
2. Give regular and honest feedback on their performance.
3. Share the vision for the organisation with them.
4. Give them opportunities to grow and develop.
5. Create a team feel so that they feel like they belong.

To make a start and for a quick summary of Gallup's work, click here for a free download.

Cheers

Greg

My wife is not normal*

Sometimes Melissa will go missing for an hour or so. When she appears I will ask her what she has been up to. Often the answer is that she was on the phone with one of her sisters. "What about?" I ask. "Nothing, just catching up." "What was the purpose of the call?" "No purpose, just checking in." "OK, so what was the outcome?" "Nothing, we just talked." "So what did you decide?" "No decisions, just talk."

Hmmm, me thinks. An hour phone call. No purpose, no outcomes, no decisions. Surely this is not normal behaviour? "There's an hour you will never get back!" I laugh, pleased with my witty observation.

In my leadership program and teaching I urge people to be mega productive, outcome focused and purpose driven. I encourage them to not let an hour go by that they aren't decisive, bold and results oriented. That's normal right?

Then I got thinking about what Melissa really achieved in that hour. She showed her sister she cared. It was an investment in their relationship.

Sometimes we get too focused on outcomes and we forget to show people we care. (tweet this)

Leading is all about relationships, influence and getting the best out of people. Perhaps we should be more focused on showing humility, compassion and empathy? Perhaps showing people we care is the outcome we should be focused on? Maybe this is normal?

If you want to become a better leader, invest in the relationships you have with your people. Ask them about their weekend, their kids, their passion. In this case, don't have a purpose other than to show them that you care.

I best go and call my sisters!

Cheers

Greg

PS: To all those people who think I took a massive risk with the name of this blog, I want you to know that I asked (begged) Melissa for permission before I sent it! She is a wonderful, caring person who teaches me lots about leadership.
* I have reevaluated my perception of 'normal' since writing this!

the magic and power of keeping it simple

It is a remarkable ability to make the complex simple. Too often ideas and plans don’t work because they are too complicated. People who can describe their ideas with crystal clarity get results.

People who keep their plans simple get things done.

There are lots of stories of how Apple’s Steve Jobs sent ideas back to the drawing board because he wanted them more simple. Not less remarkable or innovative, but more simple. One of the first iPod prototypes had too many buttons and switches so Jobs rejected it and demanded of his engineers that it maintained all of the functionality, but was more simple. You know what we ended up with.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”

Steve Jobs (Tweet this)

Here’s a way to keep planning simple.
On one page, in fact.

1. On the top of your page you write what your vision is. What will the future (of the product or project or organisation) look like?
2. Now work out the five most important things that you must get right in order for your vision to become reality. Not 15 or 35, just five (plus or minus two). List these as columns underneath the vision (as if they are supporting it).
3. List the specific goals in each of the five areas. State them using numbers if possible – what gets measured, gets managed.
4. Decide what are the most urgent priorities right now.
5. Design and implement a 90 day project to achieve the most important goal.
6. Repeat.

Free Plan On A Page Template 

Leaders need to make sure the vision is clear and that people are working on the most important things to achieve it. A Plan On A Page is a technique to make it happen. And it’s yours for free.  Click here to download.

Cheers

Greg

You can't steer a parked car

One of the reasons I love to teach is that I learn so much! In a recent session on leadership a student* was making an excellent point about the need for action to follow vision. "You can't steer a parked car," he said. It doesn't matter where your intended destination is, if you don't turn the car on, put it in gear and release the parking brake and put your foot down, you have achieved nothing.

I am passionate about helping organisations and individuals to imagine a picture of a bright future - a vision. It is not always easy as the day to day grind and focus in the business often makes it hard for us to work on the business, and see what the future might look like. Once a vision has been imagined, described and agreed on, the next most important thing is taking action to move towards it.

One of the foundation steps in the Licence to Lead Leadership Development Model (click here to see it) is ACTION. We highlight the importance of a planning framework that helps us work on the most important priorities first and the need to be masters of time management to allow high levels of productivity. Then we show you how to do it.

Leaders need to talk. But they also need to walk (or drive the car) towards the achievement of the vision.

Cheers

Greg

*Thanks to Simon Ashley of ATUNE Health Centres for this gem of wisdom.

imagination - vital to leadership

"Imagination is more important than intelligence." Albert Einstein.

One of the ways I keep current with leadership matters and thought leaders around the world is to follow the blogs of a number of gurus. One of them is a guy called Mark Miller. A recent blog really appealed to me so I have included some thoughts from it here. It is about the importance of imagination in leadership.

He makes the point that leaders try to get us to a future that doesn't yet exist. They imagine it first. They also imagine the path that will lead to the future - that's called strategy.

They get us to imagine the benefits of this future place. Sometimes they get us to imagine the consequences if we don't go on the journey.

Leadership can be a serious task and we can get caught up in it, but we need to keep our ability to imagine and even develop our imagination.

Einstein also said "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."

What are you imagining for your organisation's future?

Cheers

Greg

PS: The image of Einstein is by Derek Russell. Thank you to Derek for allowing me to share his great work.