Understanding what
it takes to motivate and manage your people
In
1998, Gallup, a major research company set out to measure what makes
for a STRONG WORKPLACE.
A strong workplace is one that:
- Attracts the most productive
employees
- Retains the most productive
employees
- Scares away those individuals
who have no intention of being a productive employee
They looked at 24 different companies in 12 distinct industries,
a total of 2,500 business units. They talked to 105,000 employees
and asked the companies to rank their business in terms of performance
by using the measures of Productivity, Profitability, Staff Retention
and Customer Satisfaction. What they found is that measuring the
strength of a workplace can be simplified to simply asking just
12 questions. These 12 questions capture the most important information.
They allow you to measure the core elements needed to attract, focus
and keep talented employees. Here are the 12 questions:
- Do I know what I have to do today?
- Do I have the things I need to do my
work right?
- At work, do I have the opportunity
to do what I am best at, every day?
- Have I recently received recognition
or praise for good work?
- Does my manager understand me or seem
to care about me as a person?
- Is there someone at work who encourages
my development?
- At work, do important people listen
to my opinions?
- Do the activities of the company I
work for make me feel like my work is important?
- Are the people I work with committed
to doing quality work?
- Do I have someone who personally cares
for me at work?
- In the last 6 months, have I talked
with someone about my progress?
- At work, have I had the opportunity
to learn and grow?
The interesting thing is that questions about pay, benefits, senior
management, company image or organisational structure showed NO
LINK TO PERFORMANCE
AT ALL!
Gallup provided business managers with a mighty service by publishing
this information. What does this tell us?
- Every one of the 12 questions
relates to management ability.
- People work for managers
not companies.
- Employees go to work
for a company because they like the company.
- Employees leave companies
because they can’t stand being managed by bad managers!
So in addition to knowing the key goals of the company, their part
in it and being hired to meet the behavioural requirements of the
role, people need to be managed properly. That demands certain competencies
to be delivered by their managers.
How
do you ensure that your people are able to respond positively?
You select managers for their ability to manage PEOPLE
and you educate them about SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP. That’s
what we can help you to do and we do it well.
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