Moved...Please Click: "The ExcitementProgram"

Blogger has been great training for me, but I wanted to change the name of my blog to "The Excitement Program" which is the name of my team achievement system and my only service that I am marketing through the http://TheExcitementProgram.typepad.com blog, seminars, videos of the seminar, and a book to be published next year.

"Enthused and in gear" in short supply

Who are they training and what are they training? The relationship between managers and employees is the key to engagement, yet few employees are engaged.

CCH® HR MANAGEMENT —
9/20/06
Employee engagement still isn't a reality warns BlessingWhite

The latest Employee Engagement Report by global consulting firm BlessingWhite indicates that even though the majority of employees express positive feelings about their work, their employers and even their managers, less than one-fifth are fully engaged in their work. "Engaged employees are not just happy or proud. They are what we call 'enthused and in gear,' focusing their talents to make a difference in their employer's success," explains Christopher Rice, BlessingWhite's President and CEO. "We found that only 18 percent of our survey respondents had all the pieces of this engagement puzzle in place." There were 714 participants in the survey.

According to the report, lack of alignment is a primary reason for so few employees being fully engaged. Rice observes, "For the third year in a row, our survey results indicate that strategy isn’t getting very far out of the boardroom. Although more respondents this year indicate that their organization's strategy is well communicated (41 percent vs. 33 percent in 2005), only 19 percent indicate that they believe daily work priorities are linked to a clearly communicated strategy. Our findings suggest that a lot of well-meaning, hard-working employees are spinning their wheels on work that may not matter much to their employers. Sooner or later, their attitude will take a nose-dive or they’ll burn out."

Another key finding: Strong manager-employee partnerships lead to more engaged employees.

Recognition: Another Management Misunderstanding?

Add recognition to the list of "givens" that should be a constant in a business. Yet this article in management-issues, points out that it is often not the case. And it is just another area of motivation that common sense should rule the day, but seldom does.

People skills are the key to leading and managing people, but obviously many businesses don't invest in making certain they are a part of their culture.

Recognition is involvement.

It is equally the case that involving people in problem-solving and decision-making adds to their sense of value and worth.

Asking employees their opinions, asking them to help solve problems or implement improvement and providing them with opportunities to discuss important decisions goes a long way towards minimizing the social distinction of the management hierarchy.

But many organizations still don't get it. Instead, they try to persuade employees that they are respected by simply handing out snappy titles and business cards. But the realities of status are not mitigated by slogans that only profess equality.

If leaders do not value their employees, then calling them 'associates' – just like canned praise, cheap merchandise and clichéd mission statements - cannot camouflage that reality.

Is Common Sense the Latest Management Fad?

After a couple of months of gearing up to start my frontline leadership training business and, hopefully sooner than later, finish and market my book, I had to take a break to survey the current frontline leadership and management landscape.

It appears to be somewhat complex and confusing to my keep-it-simple mindset.

It all began the day it occurred to me that evidently it is new news to many that the reason many employees leave a company is because they are dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Or that engaged employees are significantly more productive than employees who are not engaged. (When did "engagement" replace "involvement?") Or that praising employees can be highly beneficial and motivational? Or that people who are treated fairly respond to direction better than people who are treated poorly. etc, etc...

After thirty years of leading highly successful "teams" through an educate, motivate, and appreciate philosophy, I assumed those "management concepts" were simple common sense that most people would have learned long before they became leadersa and mangers.

So when and why did they forget?