Well, guess what. It doesn’t work that way when it comes to creating a work environment that gets the most out of your employees. No, in this case, you actually have to DO something to get results.
The number one complaint from employees in the trenches is that, in some places, management does a pretty good job of talking about the need for good leadership, but far too seldom do they move from inspiration to execution.
Here are six ideas you can turn into actions now:
Conduct a morale survey
A survey is the best way to find out how you’re doing in the morale department. Regularly (and formally) assess employee attitudes, morale and perceptions of the work environment through the use of a survey. Feed the results back to everyone (as in, everyone) within one month. Make sure the survey scores play a significant role in the promotion, retention and compensation of all those in a leadership capacity. Use the data to manage, measure and reshape the organization’s strategic people priorities.
Analyze hiring performance
Evaluate training feedback
The next time an employee attends any kind of training, ask them ahead of time to be prepared to tell you three new concepts or skills they learned from it, and one thing they will begin doing differently as a result. Don’t approach it like a grilling, but emphasize the need to transform learning into performance, and your desire to support them in their development.
Show employees the fruits of their labor
Find a meaningful way to show people how the product they make, service they support or work they do is actually used, and enjoyed, by your customers. As an example, one company commonly meets this challenge with field trips. Yes, field trips, like when you were in school. Because they manufacture highly technical medical supplies – tubes, valves, etc. – the work is tedious, painstaking and, well, occasionally boring.
The first step in combating complacency was to build some task variety into the job. Then, the plant manager started arranging tours of a nearby hospital where the assembly workers could see their products at work, saving lives and delivering drugs and pain relief to patients.
The assembly workers returned with such excitement and rediscovered appreciation for their work that the office staff wanted to be a part of it, too, so they chartered a bus for themselves. Now, everyone in the plant makes a couple of trips a year to continue reinforcing this message: “What we do here is important.”
Investigate effectiveness of internal communications
You undoubtedly spend tons of money on internal corporate communications. Here’s a little pop quiz you can use to see if they are working: Ask the next 10 employees you bump into to write down the company’s top three business priorities. If the answers are all exactly the same, congratulations! If they aren’t, you had better get busy – as former NFL head coach Jimmy Johnson once put it, “Confused players aren’t very aggressive.”
Sit on the footlocker
Get in the trenches with your employees, because good leadership is involved leadership. Major General Melvin Zais, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Viet Nam, circa 1968, once said in a speech to future officers, “If you’ll get out of your warm house and go down to the barracks…and just sit on the footlocker…you don’t have to tell ‘em they’re doing a great job. Just sit on the footlocker and talk to one or two soldiers and leave. They’ll know that you know that they’re working hard to make you look good.”
Gotta go. Time to contemplate the treadmill.
About the Authors:
Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden founded Contented Cow Partners, LLC to help business leaders produce better results through a focused, fired-up and capably led workforce. They’ve authored two books; the recently released,” Contented Cows MOOve Faster” and “Contented Cows Give Better Milk.” Bill’s professional background includes more than 30 years of leadership experience with companies such as ADP, FedEx and Aramark Uniforms. Richard has managed teams in financial services and information technology, and has more than 17 years of experience training and speaking for corporations such as Dell, Pfizer and Mayo Clinic. Please contact the Contented Cow Partners at 904-720-0870 or www.ContentedCows.com.
