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6 Strategies to Develop a Loyal Workforce

When we ask managers how they know that certain employees are not loyal to them, we are sometimes intrigued–and dismayed–with their definition of loyalty.

For some managers, if an employee questions what the manager is doing or trying to accomplish, the manager sees that questioning as obvious evidence of a lack of loyalty. For other managers, if the employee speaks the truth, and the truth is not what the manager cares to promote throughout the organization, the manager perceives that honest communication as showing a lack of loyalty. In another instance, a manager is actually asking employees to lie. The employees who would not lie were described as not being team players. Other managers try to instill fear or use threats in their attempts to breed a loyal workforce. In still another instance, a manager was perplexed that the employee was not loyal because the employee had been given “gifts” along with a promotion and a “big” raise.

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What Separates the Best-of-the-Best Organizations From the Worst-of-the-Worst?

For 20 years, Peter Barron Stark Companies has been a leader in conducting annual employee opinion surveys. We have surveyed over 250 organizations, and our PBS Best-of-the-Best benchmarks (those who rank in the top 25 percent in our employee opinion surveys) are based on nearly 100,000 employees’ opinions. In a recent statistical correlation study, we made some exciting discoveries we are proud to report for the first time. We have identified the specific areas you need to focus on to achieve the same standard of excellence as the Best-of-the-Best organizations—and we have learned the one thing that all organizations in the lowest quartile, the Worst-of-the Worst, have in common—the one area in which your organization must never compromise: Supervision. The higher quality of supervisor or leader that you have, the higher your organizational results and engagement scores will be. (See the Eleven Stupid Things that Managers Do to Mess Up Workplace Excellence.) Although the Best-of-the-Best companies score better on almost every question of the survey, the following categories were unique and statistically significant.

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This blog entry has been adapted from the June issue of The Quest for Workplace Excellence (sign up here)

As a leader, you have the ultimate responsibility for your behavior. You are the role model for your team. You are the only person who decides if you will act ethically. When it comes to honesty, respect, fairness, and especially safety, there is no off season.

Being ethical (or unethical) is reflected in everything we do. As a leader, our choices affect not only ourselves, but those working around us as well. It’s easy to make excuses for ourselves and be blinded by our own biases, but our customers, employees and peers are trusting that we are honest and fair individuals. There is no better time than now to re-examine habits and make sure that they are in alignment with this vision.

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The text below is taken from SHRM’s blog entry, Employee Engagement Marathon – Monday Recap, written by David Bowles

A San Diego local, Peter has an impressive resume and clearly lots of experience. He is also a talented and funny speaker who had a full house in the palm of his hands.

His speech was based on what appears to be his proprietary database of 250 companies employing 100,000 people, and which he leverages to make statements about the top 10 factors which bring about employee engagement. He does this by analyzing the top 25% of his database to see what secrets he can wring out of the data.

He started out by looking at the leader vs. manager question, something which our Wednesday speaker, Marcus Buckingham, has also done. Peter doesn’t take the Buckingham approach of splitting these jobs into quite different categories, he sees leaders as a higher level of manager whose qualities lead people to follow them, that being the crucial difference.

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At the SHRM 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Peter and Mary Ellen Slaytor of SmartBrief on Workforce, discuss ways to increase employee engagement which will improve morale, productivity, motivation and retention.

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Tackling Podium Panic

In your quest for workplace excellence, you will undoubtedly be called upon to make presentations. Whether they are for your work team, or for the CEO, we want to position you for success.

In an early episode of Seinfeld, Jerry states, “Surveys show that the #1 fear of Americans is public speaking. #2 is death. Death is #2. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.” It is clear that the fear of presenting before a group can be intimidating and upon occasion, actually cause physical stress. If you have experienced butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, weak knees or lost sleep for a week before your scheduled presentation, read on.

First, you must understand that in areas of your life where you have deep- seated confidence, you’ve been there before, again and again. In areas where you excel, you’ve had considerable practice. For example, if you are an IT whiz, you’ve spent years honing your craft. You didn’t just show up on the scene with a high level of expertise and confidence. Bit by bit, you built a solid skill set. As the skill set was building, so was your confidence.

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Hint: It’s Not Money

Slowly but surely, the job market is beginning to improve and unhappy employees will be able to execute their exit strategies soon, if they have not done so already. If your focus over the past few stressful years has shifted from employee engagement to the bottom line, realize that you are not alone and that you can still get back on track.

To get back in the game, you need to take the time to find out what your employees want from their jobs and from you – and it’s usually NOT more money.

In our experience, employees have told us what matters most to them, is the ability to:

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Common Manifestations of Employees’ Anticipation of the Unknown

The past few years have brought many changes to companies, good and bad. Although the economy seems to be turning around, many organizations will still be facing major changes to come, mostly for the best. As a leader, realize that employees react to organizational changes in a variety of ways—some positive and some negative. It is important for managers and supervisors to understand that these reactions are simply a normal part of the process employees go through during periods of change. The following are some typical responses to be aware of:

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Revisiting the Performance Appraisal Process

Performance appraisals can be an organization’s greatest leadership tool. So why are performance appraisals often “the job nobody wants”? This is because of the way the appraisal process is designed and implemented. Organizations that establish their strategic objectives and values, design their appraisal system to specifically measure progress toward these objectives, and involve their employees in the process report substantial increases in productivity and morale, and outperform organizations without performance management systems in almost every measurable financial and productivity category.

Many of the organizations we work with have experienced dramatic changes in both the way people work and the actual outcomes of the work when they developed a different approach to their appraisal system. Their new system clearly outlines individual performance objectives, provides employees with feedback about areas of success and areas needing improvement, and recognizes employees for their contributions to the organization.

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Handling talented, but toxic, employees

May 2010 Quest for Workplace Excellence

When you think of the driving force behind the choices of leaders when coaching employees, what emotion comes to mind? Is it appreciation? How about passion? Optimism? For many managers it is those. For some managers, unfortunately, the driving force is fear. Fear of what an employee will say or do if things do not go their way.

These employees who are causing fear in leaders are typically the employees who are the top performers, obtaining great results, but are still managing to leave a path of destruction behind them. They are not pleasant to work with. They throw fits. They threaten to quit. Never are they accountable for their actions, and if they are held accountable, giving the manager the cold shoulder is a common response. However, because of extensive knowledge, experience, etc., they are, or at least they convince others that they are, indispensable. This gives them leverage, and they use their talents to drive fear into their managers by holding them hostage.

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What to expect when you begin to hold employees accountable

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There’s always a fairly good reason to procrastinate when giving feedback to a challenging employee. What if the employee pulls an attitude and holds you hostage? What if the employee gets hurt feelings and quits? What if the employee stops talking to you? Or, perhaps, there’s just no time. Be honest, there’s no time because you’re typically spending way too much time cleaning up the messes left by your challenging employee!

During our twenty years in the business, we’ve heard hundreds of great excuses for not dealing with performance issues. When managers get down to the real reason for procrastinating when giving feedback, they often admit to either not knowing how to give feedback, or lack confidence in their ability to provide feedback that will motivate the employee to improve. While there are many coaching models, perhaps the simplest approach is to focus on helping the employee develop their skills to achieve optimum performance.

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By Michael Mink, Investor’s Business Daily

Effective leadership can result in a stronger bottom line and account for up to 70% of an employee’s job satisfaction. With that comes increased productivity and better employee retention.

To be a supervisor who brings out the best in people, incorporate the following:

Be clear. Communicate company goals, says Peter Stark, co-author of “The Only Leadership Book You’ll Ever Need: How to Build Organizations Where Employees Love to Come to Work.”

Stark suggests a litmus test: “Ask (employees) on the front line what their three to five goals are and how their goals align to the (company’s) vision. When people are clear on the bull’s-eye, they will be much more productive and efficient.”

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10 Steps to Negotiating a Pay Raise

Several times a year, participants will ask us, “Do you have any tips for asking for a raise?” Any negotiation regarding a sensitive issue like a raise can be difficult to negotiate. It is difficult because if your boss agrees to the raise, it almost always has multiple implications like an impact to her budget or creating a situation where other employees feel they are also entitled to a raise. For you, not getting the raise could ultimately impact your ability to live in the style you envision or have become accustomed to living. Asking for a raise can also be a risk. Not asking for a raise can carry a personal price. So, if you are going to tackle this topic, you need a plan. The following 10 tips will help you in maximizing your chances of obtaining a raise.

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By Ricky Martinez, via mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS — Maureen Downer is seeing signs the recession is waning.

“For a while there, we would see 500 people a day in our service centers, even as many as 900 a day,” said the programs manager for Michigan Works! in Kent and Allegan counties.

“It’s really not at that higher level anymore.”

To help employers share ideas, gain momentum and get more people back to work, Michigan Works! is offering the Spring Into Action seminar May 13 at Western Michigan University’s downtown Grand Rapids campus, 200 Ionia Ave. SW.

The free half-day event includes a keynote speech by Peter Barron Stark, a San Diego-based management consultant who has authored nine books.

There will be seven breakout sessions on human resources, social media, employment law, training, emerging jobs and Michigan Works!

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We often train clients’ employees in the art of customer service, but, up until recently, we have not touched on the power of Social Networking as it relates to creating highly satisfied, loyal customers. Our goal is to share with you information that will raise your awareness about the power of Social Networking when it comes to customer service.

It has been predicted that Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the main sources where people will soon be getting all their news from. Recently, we realized that this is where the NEWS gets their news from. Shortly after we felt the 7.2 Easter earthquake here in San Diego, we turned the television to CNN to see if they had any reports on the magnitude, central location, etc. After only three minutes had passed, CNN reported on the earthquake, saying that they heard about it through users’ updates on Twitter.com. Then they presented a live screen cast of Twitter user’s comments on the event which were coming in by the hundreds every few seconds. Twitter informed thousands of people, including major national news stations, before the USGS was able to.

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This blog is based off of April 2010′s Quest Article which outlines new trends in customer service.

Something is changing our society and our businesses, no matter how we feel about it. Whether we embrace it with open arms, or deny it, Social Networking sites like Yelp.com, Twitter.com and Facebook.com, (just to name a few) are changing the way we live our lives and, unavoidably, are changing some of the ways we run our businesses.

Before the Internet explosion, customer service rants and raves (but, let’s face it, mostly rants) were passed on through word of mouth, to a handful of the customer’s friends via phone conversations or in-person gatherings. Sometimes the company heard about the rants and raves through a letter or a phone call through which the customer had to press several different buttons to speak to the right person. Many disgruntled customers simply gave up and the company remained clueless.

Today, because of the Internet and the popularity of Social Networking sites, customer reviews can be sent to hundreds of people almost instantly. This should give organizations something to think about, because, most likely, customers’ experiences with your organization can be read about by hundreds of people including current and potential customers. Suddenly, the power has shifted from the hands of a few high level executives to the fingertips of blog owners, and Social Networking site users. This is why great customer service is paramount, especially today. With sites such as Yelp, Twitter and Facebook and even Google Maps, customers can immediately share their experiences, good and bad, with hundreds of people.

Online customer reviews can be wonderful, but they can also be startling. If you approach the situation correctly, you can get Social Networking on your side.

As a way to communicate with their customers, many companies have even created their own profile on popular Social Networking sites. If your company plans on doing so as well, here are a few things to keep in mind about Social Networking in relation to customer service:

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As leaders, we are responsible for making decisions daily. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we don’t make our decisions alone. Over time, most of us have learned that the best decisions involve input from others. We’ve also learned that getting others involved takes more time than making the decision on our own. And, time is something none of us has in excess. So, gaining confidence and skills in the art of leading a group to consensus will ultimately save time, plus enhance your reputation as an effective decision maker.

Our experience has proven that the best way to reach a collective decision is by leading the group to consensus. When consensus isn’t used and management dictates the decision without employee input, people feel “talked at” rather than “talked to” and may even feel manipulated. If we involve people to a point, but ultimately vote to determine our course of action, we’ll end up with winners and losers. The losers will find it difficult to get excited about an action they did not vote for. Consensus, however, allows us to ultimately end up with a decision that can be supported by the entire group. While participants may conclude that the final decision is not their personal favorite, they agree that they can support the decision for the good of the organization.

Following these seven tips can help you effectively lead a diverse group of participants to consensus:

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Peter tells a humorous story about a woman in the TSA security check point line whose actions are clearly not in line with her goal.

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Recently we came across several quotes that were taken from actual Performance Evaluations. For those of you who have struggled writing evaluations, we thought you would enjoy a little humor in your day.

Quotes taken from actual evaluations:

“Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.”

“His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.”

“This associate is not so much of a has-been, but more of a definitely won’t be.”

“Works well under supervision. Especially when cornered like a rat in a trap.”

“When she opens her mouth, it seems that this is only to change whatever foot was previously in there.”

“He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.”

“This young lady has delusions of adequacy.”

“He sets low personal standards and consistently fails to meet them.”

“This employee should go far! The sooner he starts, the better.”

“This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an Idiot.”

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