January 2009 Newsletter

The Best Places to Work Roadmap: Leadership Through People, Listening and Success

Leadership through people listening and success is kind of the topic we love to talk about around here. As you do research (and we do lots of it) on leading people, you find there are a few things that all of the gurus, mavens and academic sources agree on and these few things not so ironically show up in all of the best places to work surveys we have seen. Assuming that you agree with our thinking on this topic, here are our recommendations on this subject:

• Leadership needs to be willing to listen to the workers ideas, concerns and dreams and act on what they are hearing.
• Involving people in the workforce to the fullest extent possible in day-to-day decisions maximizes the intellect available to your company and is desired by the people doing the work.
• Sincerely expressing appreciation for the efforts of your people is not something that you do when you think of it but instead something that you do often, consistently and fairly.

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Workplace Patience

In a recent news article the results on employee job satisfaction survey were released. The level of satisfaction has reached an all time low the article read. The number one reason was employees felt their job was boring. With the economy the way it is you would think most people would be happy just to have a job. With that being true people still want to be engaged and enjoy what they do. Employee development is not only a need but a necessity and finding the time and the patience to develop people is part of the challenge.

We often spend time discussing the employment cycle. An employment cycle is the whirlwind people go through from the moment they are hired. The cycle looks like this: A new employee is hired and the focus becomes quite clear to train him/her with the very best materials and to understand what the job requirements and everything in between. Once we have hired and trained an employee, we start the process of leading with clear expectations and clear directions. With great training and leadership the individual becomes part of the team and a productive member. Sometimes this happens quickly and sometimes it happens slowly. Usually at this point employees become the fabric of our daily lives and they become lost in the support piece. With support we continue to lead the team members but also support their goals and aspirations. This could be cross training them into a new role or handing more responsibility to them. With support it becomes a matter of time and patience.

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Hardening

A few years back when I started gardening, I decided to start some tomatoes inside from seed thinking that it would be neat to start the process from the very beginning. I was told by some more experienced gardeners that in order for my tomato plants to reach their fullest potential, I would need to make sure I didn't make the growing conditions too easy for the plants. They needed to be "hardened off", either by running a fan on them indoors or putting then outside on a windy day. If you don't "harden off" your seedlings, they typically don't do as well when you transplant them into the ground. The seedlings literally need to struggle in order to become bigger, stronger plants. I really love this concept because I feel that it can be applied to not only plants but to people as well. Very often it's our struggles in life that can be the launching point for our greatest successes. My connection to this notion comes from a time in my own life where I feel I was "hardened off." Although this experience is ugly and a little personal, I have decided to share it in the hopes that it will help someone going through a similar situation. I also believe that it is a good example of how life's misfortunes can help to facilitate our greatest achievements.

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What's New! Qualification* Series for Facilitators and Training Designers

This program is the answer to your organization's need for effective internal employee development, enabling your own leaders and facilitators to design and deliver powerful training and development programs every step of the way. It is inspired directly from our years of insights and experiences facilitating workshops, designing programs and helping teams to be the best they can be.

The eight-day Qualification Series begins on March 19th, 2010, and includes 64 total hours of application and practice. Presented by Priority Learning's expert consultants and facilitators, the Series provides a state-of-the-art foundation for both recognized and new practitioners of facilitation and training.

Click here to learn more.

Book of The Month

I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You by Terri Kabachnick

This book as it says on the cover in the white circle is about "Attacking the Spreading Virus of Disengagement". This book has under a hundred pages and, if you want to get to the root causes of disengagement in your organization, this is the book to read. Terri Kabachnick gets right to the point and has realistic ways to combat this very costly-to-the-bottom-line business challenge.

Recent Poll Questions

December Question: The people in our organization are using what percentage of their creative power?

A) 25% Winner

B) 50% (2nd)

C) 75% (last)

D) Very Little (3rd)

January Question: When discovering a high performer, the best way to reward that performance is to...

A) Give them a financial reward or gift. (last)

B) Thank them individually. Winner so far!

C) Recognize them in a group of people. (2nd)

D) Publicly (through news letter, etc.) recognize their efforts. (3rd)

You still have time to vote on this poll question. Click here to participate.

Please feel free to send us ideas for our poll questions or if you have read a book that you would like us to feature...Happy New Year!