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“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself”- Wayne Dyer
To judge someone is a very difficult task. Even God who is almighty fixed a criterion for judging people, i.e. good deeds and bad deeds for reward and punishment. As their mind developed, humans too accepted its value for better control and they adopted it happily. When organizations came in to being, its application increased further because of its acceptance as the best way to manage people, and performance appraisal was the outcome. The modern performance appraisal systems go beyond rewarding the good deeds, i.e. good work, performance or efficiency and effectiveness of employees through money and use it also for development of employees. In addition to direct fixed compensation and bonuses employees get rewards of promotion and career paths. The punishment side comprises of withholding of increment, warning letter or even termination.
Blue Eyes And Bad books
Performance appraisals are not only one of the most critical management processes, but also the most controversial. Judging and rewarding people being a sensitive matter no one can deny its importance. It is difficult to find an employee who thinks or admits that his/her work performance was bad or not up to the mark. Although new methods are being continuously explored and implemented, but there is always a feeling of justice not being done according to most of the employees who don’t get expected outcome from their performance appraisals. As the manager/supervisor of an employee has the most important role in the performance appraisal, he mostly has to bear the brunt of criticism. The most common complaint has been that of personal bias, both positive and negative, i.e. favoritism or dislike. For some employees good appraisal indicates that the appraised is a blue- eyed employee while the employee who does not get good ranking in the appraisal is in the bad books of the appraiser.
Posted by Christina Lattimer
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
The effectiveness or not of some leaders Interpersonal skills often seem to be intrinsically linked to their personality or character.
I often wonder if it’s because people think these skills are an unchangeable character trait that they aren’t given the priority they should in organisations. A question I see again and again is: Are soft skills really hard skills? Less than effective personality, or character traits, of leaders, can be viewed as an irrevocable package deal, where changing is difficult, if not impossible, if the belief is that the leader was born with them and cannot be helped. Less than effective traits, are particularly damaging when they affect the leader or manager’s interpersonal skills. If an alien was coming from outer space, surely they would ask us why we put leaders and managers in positions of leading people when they don’t have well-honed interpersonal skills. Seems mad doesn’t it? But it is exactly what we do in many cases. Sometimes it’s because the leader was good at their specialism, or it’s because there’s been a re-organisation and there was nowhere else to go; or perhaps they’ve been in the position for a long time and it’s easier to do nothing, because of the old chestnut “that’s how we do things around here”. It’s not an ideal world and sometimes people are appointed into roles other than for the only reason they should be there, which is because they have all of the skills needed to do the job and therefore are able to make a difference. Recruiting or maintaining roles where leaders or managers don’t have the right interpersonal skills isn’t inherently wrong. Doing nothing about it though is simply neglectful. In Research reported by John Tierney in the New York Times in January, it was shown that generally people don’t believe they will change. Apparently, much of this belief is adopted because of either a lack of vision of what the future might hold, or from an over-optimistic self-concept that they are the best they are right now. If your organisation has leaders who have character traits which limit their effectiveness, credibility or relationships at work, then perhaps the road less travelled, that soft (hard) skills route, is what is needed. In my own journey from junior manager many years ago, I have changed so much its scary. I look back at those early days and it’s hard to believe it’s the same life. What I did learn on the way though is that interpersonal skills can and should be developed and prioritised in any organisation. The most significant changes came for me when I learned and was able to use the following three interpersonal skills. These were hard lessons for me, and one’s which I had to learn because frankly my default position simply didn’t get the results I wanted, which was a happy, motivated and inspired team.
I see it all around me, and I still am guilty of lacking in this particular interpersonal skill sometimes. Awareness is no guarantee of change, you have to practice hard to change long formed habits. As leaders, we can be so busy getting things done, as people; we get so caught up in our own story that we forget the impact we are having on others, as parents, we are so busy protecting our children, we forget we can inadvertently invoke feelings of “wrongness”. When we feel justified communicating with a lack of concern for others who are on the receiving end of what we say, we have lost this skill, when we react with anger to someone who has said something in all innocence, we have lost this skill. When we are fearful, impatient, annoyed, or just being thoughtless, we can communicate in a way which dishonours others. Although some of the characteristics of what we commonly call empathy are in play here, empathy tends to be responsive to others and how they feel already. This interpersonal skill is about our impact on others.
We make all sorts of stories and assumptions in our minds about what we see out there. I remember a manager in my team, when describing a woman who was borderline in terms of her performance, said she was lazy. I asked him how he had come to that conclusion and he told me it was because she didn’t put as much effort in as others. Well factually that might have been true, but it didn’t necessarily follow that the employee was lazy. Recently, a teacher who didn’t know my son’s background concluded he was lazy because he hadn’t done the work he needed to do in a particular subject, she had drawn her own conclusion about him because she hadn’t actually asked him what the problem was. If the employee doesn’t come into work, is unhappy, doesn’t work hard enough, works 24/7 or always volunteers. We make judgments about them. “They don’t care”, “aren’t engaged”, or they are our “life-savers”, or “paragons of virtue”. The truth is, and the truth we need to own, is we are gathering information constantly, and when we interpret the information it becomes our next instalment. Owning your truth starts with saying. “I can see that this is/isn’t being done. Why is that?” or “I feel really angry, and I need to understand why I can’t deal with this poor performance in an emotionally free, assertive way”.
Everyone sees things differently. Even when you think you have reached the most watertight and consensual decision, there will be somewhere a slight difference in perception. Developing the skills to see things from many different perspectives can be powerful and effective. In order to do this easily, an understanding of personality types and the characteristics of each type is useful. Once you get good at this, the first two interpersonal skills mentioned above become clearer and difficult to avoid. The truth is, we never know what anyone else is thinking, their reasons for doing (or not doing) anything, what their preferences are, or why we might not agree. All we can do is try to see a situation from as many perspectives as possible. Of course De Bono’s “6 thinking hats” is a version of this although often the concept can be confined to the boardroom, when the skill is useful in most situations. |
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| Christina has managed people for twenty seven years and led hugely successful teams. She has worked with people at all levels in various organisations to help them achieve their potential, and she has been actively involved in the learning and development field in a number of different roles.People Discovery is a Leadership Development coaching consultancy, based in North East England, working globally. The MILE Community is a networking, sharing and business directory for people who know “there must be a better way”By Christina LattimerFollow us on |
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
Difficult conversations don’t have to end in a disputeThe worst kinds of conversation are those when you have to deliver a negative message to a team member. Whether it is a performance, behaviour or skill set problem, there is something in our human make-up which just makes us feel uncomfortable with the whole thing.
There are many reasons managers don’t tackle negative influences at work. Sometimes, they just don’t like confrontation, have a misguided sense of politeness, or secretly hope the situation will quickly right itself. Other times, they know there is something wrong, but just don’t trust their instincts. And finally some doubt their own ability to be able to have that difficult conversation successfully, and fear counter accusations or even worse the dreaded employee dispute.
They may well rationalise and justify their reasons for leaving things as they are, although secretly feeling resentful and angry inside. Often the negativity becomes a persuasive culture where substandard performance and behaviour become acceptable. After all if one or two people don’t show up firing on all cylinders, why should the rest of the team?
Unfortunately, some managers struggle about where to draw the line and avoid having that difficult conversation. Very rarely does the negative situation just go away, and the result is layer upon layer of annoyance, frustration and resentment.
In the meantime, the person displaying the poor performance, unwanted behaviour or undeveloped skillset is often blissfully unaware they are causing such unrest; or they simply have been allowed to act in that way for so long, they think it’s acceptable.
It’s not all bad news, because with a simple systematic approach and a positive mind set, managers can have those difficult conversations and achieve a win/win result, increase confidence and achieve clarity about when to step in. Here is how:
1. Never act when you are feeling negative
Being impersonal and unattached to the problem are crucial determinates of a successful outcome. If you try to tackle a problem when you are feeling frustrated or angry, then you will likely be accusatory, or otherwise alienate the employee. There is nothing wrong with expressing your concern, but own your emotions, don’t blame someone else for them. If you feel uncomfortably emotionally charged, then wait until it passes and follow the steps below before planning how and when you are going to speak to the person.
“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy”. Aristotle
2. Gather your facts
Writing down your concerns with specific examples and more importantly quantifying the impact on the business or team is essential. Quite often you are so busy, you know incidents or situations keep happening, but the whole big picture becomes distorted, or blurred. Getting it down in writing, helps give you clarity and perspective.
3. Be clear about the standards you expect and why
Refer to organisational standards, or if they aren’t in place, take this as your red flag to set some. Instinctively you know when someone’s actions are below par. The trick to testing your instincts for validity is to identify which standard, code or policy the employee’s action is breaching. If you can’t identify any, then you haven’t set out your expectations, and this is your first step.
4. Decide what you want to achieve out of having the conversation
You are having the conversation because you need something about the person’s behaviour, performance or skill-set, to change. You need to be clear about the change you want to happen, when, and what the consequences are if the changes don’t happen.
5. State the facts and own your concerns
Never accuse, but own your concerns. Be factual and don’t personalise the feedback you are giving. So for example saying “This is what I am seeing, and I am concerned about the impact this behaviour is having on the team” Or “I see that only 10 customer accounts have been dealt with this week” Are much more powerful ways of asserting the problem than “You are disrupting the team by this behaviour” or “You aren’t productive enough, we need more from you”
6. Listen intently and keep an open mind
While you have a plan as to what you want to get out of the conversation, you also need to keep an open mind and listen intently to what the employee is saying. Most people want to do a good job and there may be many reasons as to why they aren’t meeting expectations or standards. You need to be flexible in your approach, depending on what the employee is reporting back to you.
7. Reach common agreement about standards, but where you can’t; be assertive
One of the commonest problems managers fear is that the employee dismisses their concerns as not important. So for example, if someone is 20 minutes late for work regularly twice a week, and their response is “Well it’s only 20 minutes it’s not a crime”, this where earlier research on impact is essential.
8. Encourage suggestions for resolution and develop a clear plan going forward
Your way isn’t always the right way, and the employee may well have solutions which you haven’t thought of and which work better for them. If the employee makes a suggestion which you don’t think will work, but they are adamant, let them have a go (assessing impact risk of course), simply restate the outcome you want and let them take the responsibility for achieving it.
9. Plan an appropriate time and setting to talk to the employee
Sounds obvious, but the timing is crucial. It’s no good having a conversation when there is a faith based holiday the next day, or they are planning to go on their annual holiday. You also need to think about what they may have to do to improve and how quickly it needs to be achieved. Much of course will also depend on the seriousness of the impact they are causing.
See also:
“When asked to rate their own confidence in dealing with difficult conversations with any other individual at work, over two thirds of managers (68%) rated themselves as either extremely or very confident. However, when we put the same question to HR managers, only one in five (21%) felt that managers in their organisation were either extremely confident or very confident to address difficult conversations and almost half (47%) of those surveyed felt that managers were either extremely or very unconfident. Furthermore, half of HR managers (48%) felt that difficult conversations are either frequently or often referred to HR when they could be effectively dealt with by the manager. Overall our results suggested that sensitive conversations are often being delayed, risking a detrimental effect on staff morale.” Handling Difficult Conversations At Work – lpc.org.uk
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
Probing Questions can really dig out the best candidate for any job.I was the recruitment campaign manager for a busy organisation in South East London for several years. At that time, recruitment was a little like painting the Forth Bridge, it was a continuous task. Not only was it difficult to consistently attract that elusive star candidate, but, an abundance of jobs and competitive salaries meant people moved on and up pretty quickly.
In those days the recruitment process was relatively simple, in that it consisted of the candidate sending an application in the post and then being invited to face to face interviews. I was trained in interviewing skills and had to reach a certain standard, you either passed or you were sent home in shame. I was videoed, given detailed feedback and trained in past . Simplistically this meant acquiring the knack of helping the candidate enlarge on key specific examples which displayed whether or not they met the criteria we were looking for.
For the majority of jobs, the key criteria consisted of some pretty simple requirements too. For example, what the candidate considered when they made decisions, whether the candidate took the initiative, made a difference, got on with the rest of the team and achieved results. There were more, but you get the picture. Although skill based criteria also had to be met, the main focus was about behaviours.
I took a break from interviewing for a couple of years, only to find that when I took up the reins again, it had all changed. Competence based interviewing had become the norm and the candidate expected an entirely different assessment process.
Always open minded about how to do things better, I embraced the concept, and learned all about the intricacy of competence standards, levels of competence, assessments, test and psychometrics. Pretty complex stuff, and as things have evolved it can be pretty lengthy too. One set of assessments I was involved in (I didn’t design it, I hasten to add) lasted three days.
Still, if it meant getting the right candidate, then time well spent. Competency based assessment was fairer, the new thinking exclaimed, because it concentrated on the skillset, mind-set and knowledge. Competency based interviewing would get the right people in the right job. Right?
The problem is though; I don’t actually think it did. When I think back to the type of people I recruited under past behaviour questioning, I hired people who took the initiative, made sound decisions, taking all the information into account. They dealt with difficult people with skill, and were team players. Very few got through the net that didn’t live up to their promise. Because when they were expertly questioned in detail about what they did in certain circumstances, it was difficult for them to make it up.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think skill and knowledge is important too. I just think that quite often we choose people simply on qualifications, skills and knowledge and the skill in determining their propensity to behave in certain ways has become a bit of a lost art.
What is really needed is a qualitative combination of both competence and past behaviour. Then the odds of getting the right candidate, has greatly increased by recruiting people with the right skills and the right behaviours.
So when recruiting, employers must of course set up the right selection method to get the right skills, competences and knowledge.
If it were me though, interviewing a key candidate, I would make a point of knowing the answers to the following questions, and if answered in the right way, I would be pretty sure I had the right person for the job.
1. Why this job?
Tests, purpose, alignment with your vision and values, and how much they have found out about the job, and why they think it fits them.
2. What is your most significant achievement at work?
Tests, effort, capacity for achievement, as well as an awareness of their ability to make a difference. It demonstrates their expectations about their contribution, and their ability to deliver results.
3. How did you contribute value to your team?
Demonstrates an understanding and awareness of being a team player and the way they, as individuals, play a part in making the team work.
4. Give me an example of a time when you recognised an improvement in the workplace was needed and what you did about it
Shows their ability to take the initiative, recognise problems and how they take responsibility to put them right – they are part of the solution
5. Give me an example of the most difficult person you’ve encountered at work and what you did
Demonstrates how they relate to others and their ability to handle difficult people
6. What has been your greatest learning curve at work?
Shows how they recognise and learn from situations or mistakes
7. Give me an example of when you have worked under pressure and what you did to manage the situation
Will show how they manage, if they take responsibility, are prepared to go the extra mile, and their attitude when the going gets tough.
There is a technique about how to give candidates the best opportunity to answer, such as allowing them time to remember, reframing questions and prompting them to explore their past. Additionally, once they have got a specific example, its important to get them to talk about what they did, what they said and why. This takes patience and great listening skills, as well as an ability to ask the same question in different ways.
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
What is the mysterious X Factor ingredient which makes your business great?That mysterious elusive quality of “the X Factor” existed before the popular shows. The Oxford Dictionary describes the “X Factor” as ” a special quality, especially one that is essential for success and is difficult to describe”. In the past I’ve asked the question “Does your business have the X Factor?” Of course we all want to be in the category of having the “X Factor”, but if your business is going to be successful, then that intangible essence must be identified.
Having seen and heard about successful leadership and businesses. I now believe that the “X Factor” for business, and indeed for most people or organisations or situation is actually the “E” Factor.
There are many “E” elements which can make a business successful. Think about Engagement, Excellence, Extra mile, Extraordinary, Empowerment… and I’m sure you can think of a lot more. But what I think is the biggest factor, the one which sets a business out from the rest is something which the majority of people relate to.
A few months ago, I read a blog post; entitled “101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking” you can find them here. It is a post from Marc and Angel Hack Life, a great blog. Of course I enjoyed the stories enormously, and mostly they brought tears to my eyes. (Go on read them and see how long it takes you!). It is one of the few blogs I subscribe to, and one when I share, attracts by far the most readers, shares and re-tweets across social media.
A few weeks ago I was at a seminar where a guy called Steve Trister of entertained by teaching delegates how to engage with an audience using this factor when presenting. Delegates found his presentation funny and enlightening, he had a throng of people around him when he’d finished wanting to know more.
Last week in the UK, we were entertained with “The Pride of Britain Awards”. If you haven’t come across this now national event, the programme celebrates stories of heroic acts of bravery and contribution. On the awards site the introduction states “Selfless, courageous, caring . . . our amazing winners make the world a better place”
Indeed I have recognised that what makes an “X Factor” contestant successful, is in fact this magic ingredient. (A TV singing competition for those uninitiated)
Yes, you have of course realised the magic ingredient I am talking about it is…
Putting all of those fairly recent experiences into context made me realise sharply that the things in life we really like, and really want more of engage us emotionally. So what? you might be saying… we’ve always known that successful businesses engage their customers emotionally. After all we are surrounded by a raft of advertising and marketing, which is intended to do just that, isn’t it?
I know it’s obvious, but then I got to thinking about what I spend my money on, and how emotionally engaged to the products or services I receive I am. And I realised it was very little. Of course we all have different personality types and because of that, we buy through different paradigms. Some organisations sell to people because “It’s all about you”, or others sell because, the target customers “will have no less than the best”. And some sell because they “like the tried and tested”, for example.
But what is the intangible emotional element which we all seem to share at some level? When we see the young people on X Factor doing well, despite the odds; when we see the young girl who saved her mum; or the soldier who risked his life, we feel something about it. When we read the stories about caring about one another, or significant people in our lives, we feel something about it. When we receive praise for something we’ve done brilliantly, or we are forgiven for a big mistake we’ve made. We recognise that at the core of who we are, we care about each other and we will sometimes move heaven and earth to demonstrate it.
I am a big Oprah Winfrey fan. If any of you watched her daily show, you know what I mean. If you don’t watch her, you might label her 25 year run as a female dominated magazine show. But actually it is much more than that. The majority of her employees at Harpo, her production company, were at the time the show was running, some of the most enthused, committed people I have seen. They told stories of working long hours, dedication and going the extra mile. They truly believed they were part of something much bigger than themselves. They were emotionally engaged. According to CNN in September 2011, Oprah was the 8th richest woman in the world. Undoubtedly, her employees’ dedication and commitment have helped her reach that enviable status. Not only that, her audience were hugely emotionally engaged with what Oprah had to offer. What Oprah had to offer was the “E” Factor. She helped people see the good inside of themselves. She helped them touch positive emotions which made people want more. She came from the paradigm that people cared about each other and recognised this was who they were at their core.
So how does this affect all of us “ordinary” people, going to our desks, maybe nipping out for a sandwich, and thinking about the routine tasks we might have to get through, or when we are facing the tough realities of our world of work right now? Well you can happily be a spectator, celebrate other people’s success, and there is nothing wrong with that. Or alternatively, you could show the world you have the “E” Factor.
Businesses who have the “E” Factor have the following qualities about them.
What about you? Does your business have the “E” Factor, if so I would love to hear from you.
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
Employee surveys can be costly mistakesDespite the heading, I do not advocate ditching your employee survey. Employee surveys are great ways to find out globally what your employees think about your organisation, their experience as an employee and also how bought into your vision, values, mission etc they are.
The problem is that an employee survey can become the big elephant in the room and create even more embedded views by the very people who should be advocating your business. If your employees feel obliged, or even worse cynical about completing an employee survey, then you should be picking this up from the survey results or lack of them.
I once ran an employee survey for an organisation about how well a team was doing “living” their vision and values. One of the values was, “Employees views will be surveyed about how well we are doing.” You would think that the team would rate that quite well, given they were going through an exercise which was doing just that. But no, about a third of the employees voted negatively; the team weren’t living up to that value. You can’t get away from the fact that, their denial was pointing to a deeper problem.
I have heard many managers dismiss employee surveys. If they don’t believe in them, well you can’t blame their staff.
So if your employee survey displays any of the following characteristics, my advice to you is to ditch it and start again.
I hope you found my list useful. If you have any reasons to add, or any views, I’d love to hear from you.
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
There are some great enlightened businesses out there who know that the secret to longevity and real business success is made up of two critical, unequivocal elements which include their employees. A great engaged workforce who love what they are doing and secondly fantastic innovative customer service. Yes, there’s a lot of other elements in-between and around, but none of those will amount to much if the two most critical factors aren’t in place. If you’re one of those businesses then great. Congratulations, please get in touch, I would absolutely love to feature you. If you aren’t, then I’d also love to hear from you as to why not , your employees are important right? The reason I suspect that there are businesses out there who don’t get the first two factors right is because of the report published by CIPD in October 2011 which discloses that stress and mental illness has become the biggest reason for absence across the UK. A discussion about the report , which can be found here http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2011/12/news-review-2011-sickness-absence.htm talks about the heightened threat of job insecurity, the perils of lack of work/life balance and the necessity for flexible working, and wellbeing strategies at work. A lack of attention to any of these for any business may well end up with a cost attached. So what are we to do? We can’t wave a magic wand and wish away the economic reality. We know that there are employees who have greater resilience to uncertainty and increased hours/workload, less pay etc. These unfortunately are the features of the economic climate that seem to be in play. There are some employees who find it more difficult to cope with such measures. I am an idealist. I would dearly like to think that we can make people happy at work. I am thankfully though through years of practical hands on experience, also a realist. I know that there are many factors to achieving an engaged workforce, not least the attitudes and beliefs of our employees. What I do know though is that we can help people navigate diffic ult terrain in a different way. A way which minimises stress and enhances work-life balance, and promotes engagement and commitment. Dame Carol Black has suggested a number of measures to help the situation. These are also outlined in the report above. The suggestions are helpful, although some may be difficult to implement in reality. I do understand though the realistic approach being suggested given the size of the problem. We all know that a sticking plaster is essential while we wait for healing to take place. Without the sticking plaster we may bleed for much longer. It’s also essential though that we need to practice not getting hurt in the first place. And this is where an internal people strategy is vital. A strategy to help your employers navigate the terrain; to understand how important their wellbeing and commitment is to the success of the business as well as to their own lives. You also need great people managers. Managers who know how to motivate and get the best out of your people are vital to the success of your business. Stephanie Bird of CIPD reported “Last year’s government-commissioned review of employee engagement highlighted the link between effective leadership and people management skills, enhanced employee engagement and improved business performance. Yet the UK invests less in management development than its main international competitors, and its managers are rated less positively by employees.” I have worked with organisations in the past who when it was pointed out that it might be beneficial to pay attention to the wellbeing, engagement levels and work/life balance of staff, have considered such scrutiny “naval gazing” when they should be focusing on the important outcome, customer focused results. It is sometimes a successful strategy to only focus on outcomes, in the short term. In the long term, though it doesn’t sustain or make the business a great success. If you don’t get the int ernal customer service right, then the external customer service will usually be hanging by a thread. Don’t let this happen to you. The right balance can be beneficial to your business. Additionally if you whip your employees with the “economic reality” stick and use it as an excuse not to pay attention to them, then in happier times, they will march through the door and take all of that experience and skill with them. Research is indeed now showing the benefits of a happier more engaged workforce. Why not plug into these benefits now, and make a commitment to your people for 2012. If you’d like to see more about solutions for managing employees, see related links below. What do you think about the issue? Do please post your comments. 
If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw". If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme. Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014. There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme. You can unsubscribe at any time! Click below to register for further information.
