This month I have been explaining the benefits of proactively managing your employees engagement as the recession begins to lift.
You can read the whole article here in the HR Networking Magazine.
Kim
Archive for the ‘organisational culture’ Category
Proactively managing employee engagement
Monday, July 26th, 2010Leadership is defining and enabling the culture
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010In my view leadership is about creating a vision and inspiring followership. A critical part of which is to create the right environment or culture where people feel inspired to work collaboratively towards a common goal.
In the past 25 years, the concept of organisational culture and the positive impact that it has on business results has gained wide acceptance. Simply put, the culture is the way things are done around here. It is the norms, expectations, symbols and guidelines that enable or inhibit employees to engage and align to the strategy of the business and deliver their best performance.
Over this time there have been many studies which have shown the correlation between managing the culture and business performance. It is possibly the most critical factor determining an organisation’s capacity, effectiveness, and sustainability. It also contributes significantly to how customers and prospective customers perceive the organisation’s brand image and brand promise.
I am often asked what leaders can do do manage the organisational culture more effectively.
It is a simple process but one that needs leadership and management input and should be reviewed each time there is a review of the strategy or business plan.
- As part of the strategy review process – define the culture that will enable success.
- Conduct a quasi gap analysis – where are we now against where we want to be
- Create a route map of those interventions that will move the culture closer to the desired state
- Evaluate results – over time, it is possible to both assess impact of investment in for example development and/ or correlate the investment in culture on bottom line results
In the recently published 10th annual survey of ”UK’s Best Workplaces’ compiled by The Great Place to Work Institute found that:
- Europe’s Best Workplaces grew their revenues by 15% on average, in the midst of the recession;
- Sickness absence in the UK’s Best Workplaces was 30% lower than the national average saving those organisations £20,760 per 100 employees per year;
- Almost 90% of employees in the UK’s Best Workplaces believe that management is open and honest in their organisation, against the national average of 55%
Solid justification for managing organisational culture. Please do get in touch to share your experience or if you would like more information.
What do you think of employee engagement surveys?
Friday, April 23rd, 2010I have quite a simplistic view of how to drive high performance and business results; that is to create optimal alignment and engagement.
By alignment, I mean building confidence in the strategic plans, direction of the business and the capability of the leaders to deliver it. Engagement means, to me, how much a part people feel they have, that is, can they see that what they do contributes and is a valuable part of the business success.
I regularly recommend conducting employee engagement surveys to understand the base line and to assess the impact of investment in focus areas. I have recently come up against a lot of negativity about the merits of these surveys. I’d really like your views and also any thoughts on what could be used as an alternative to measure employee engagement.
When is a team not a team?
Monday, March 22nd, 2010We all work as part of a team or do we? Team working is very much part of what is considered to be the most effective way of working. That said we often use the word team without really thinking what it means.
Over the last couple of years we have worked extensively with teams to help them identify ways to improve their individual and collective performance. There is often surprise and sometimes a sense of unease when we start to question whether the team is and should be a team or a group of people who work together. So what is the difference:
A team is a group with a shared purpose and every member is committed and accountable for delivering the purpose. The team understand that each member is interdependent upon the other which creates a strong commitment to working together. To achieve high performance, individual team members understand their strengths and those of the team and how these can be used to best effect.
A working group is often brought together for a short period of time and are created because of their diversity. This group can be highly innovative and creative.
Teams and working groups can both be very successful in what they are aiming to achieve but as is the case with so many things the key is to understand what they are trying to achieve, how best to deliver it and how to monitor progress and success.
Clarifying our services
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Did you wait with great excitement for the new Harry Potter book to be released. For me today, the excitement is about the same. Over the last couple of months a colleague and I have spent hours defining our values, services and approach in a way that can be published in a brochure.
Today is the day, the printed version has arrived.
A few years ago I read an article about Tom Hanks. He is one of very famous people that has a common condition called ‘imposter syndrome’. Any minute on set he expects someone to tap him on the shoulder and say what are you doing. The inference is that he doesn’t believe that he is good at what he does.
I have to confess to having a sense of how he feels. As I flicked through our brochure – there is a bit of me that says – is this really us…..
If you would like a copy of our new brochure. Please request a copy via our website www.advanceconsultancy.co.uk
Are you missing an opportunity to improve performance?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Most of us have two roles at work; our functional responsibilities for example, Accountant and our role as part of a team. I find it fascinating that when we recruit or assess performance, even for the most senior roles, the focus on our team role is very often secondary and is assessed very subjectively based upon gut feel about how the individual fits with everyone else and how they fit in with the culture. As you can imagine the real risk here is that everyone in the team is very similar in outlook, background or experience. This misses the point that difference and diversity can bring great value.
A colleague and I have developed a suite of diagnostics called Team Dynamix to assess team ’shape’ and identify their strengths and limitation in delivering their business objectives. The tool has both qualitative and quantitave elements and we are getting great feedback on the value of the report and recommendations. One client, a research organisation gave us the following feedback -
We now truly understand that the the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We have promoted and valued team working for a number of years but it is only now that we can see it delivering results.
I firmly believe that people want to work as part of a team but that they can’t do their best work unless they understand the team dynamic, the strength and contribution of each individual and how ang gaps will be managed. We are trying to build some case studies and good examples of high performing teams and how this has been achieved. Please do tell me about your own experiences.
Thanks
Kim
Have we learned anything from the credit crunch?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009I have been interested in listening to the news over the last couple of days about the crash of Lehman Brothers’ and the role it played as the catalyst of our current economic situation.
Additionally, this week, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama have spoken out about the governance of banks and in particular the payment of bonuses. It is clear that businesses have been driven by measures of financial performance almost in isolation.
Have we really learned from our mistakes?
We are working with an organisation who have taken what I believe to be a very enlightened approach. They are stepping back to understand their values. They are defining what they as a business stand for and how this translates into their every day work including their interaction with staff, customers and suppliers.
It is a big investment of time and money and requires a strong commitment from the leadership team. That investment and commitment is fuelled by the very strong belief that consumers are much more discerning than they ever have been about the ethical standards of businesses. This company see their values as becoming a differentiator and as a consequence will lead to improved profitability.
What do you think? Are values based businesses the way forward?
Do you create the opportunity for best performance at work?
Thursday, September 10th, 2009One of my clients was telling me that she was concerned that one of the top performers in her team is perceived as lazy by her colleagues. To me, this seemed to be a contradiction, however, she went on to explain that this person regularly takes time out during day whilst others are busy ’slogging away’.
Over time, we have moved away from traditional manufacturing and now rely on our brains rather than our hands to work. Have we changed our working practices to perform to the best of our abilities?
The conversation above suggests not and indicates that unless we are seen to be doing something we are not working. In our modern knowledge economy, thinking is not seen as working.
There is a mountain of research to show that we are most productive and produce better quality when we work in short bursts. Equally having the freedom to think and reflect is the best way to be innovative.
This sparked my interest and I talked to a sales team. Interestingly, the two top performing sales people took time to reflect, think and plan. What was most interesting was that neither of them did it during work time. One did it whilst jogging and the other when he got home every evening.
How typical is this? I am very keen to know how time spent thinking is seen by you or by your organisation. Please let me know your thoughts.
Are the symbols in your organisation supporting your culture?
Friday, July 31st, 2009A friend was telling me that he thinks that the motivational pictures that you often see in training rooms are naff. In fact, he believes that because they are perceived as insincere they have a demotivational effect.
Symbols in business have a very powerful impact. Think about the large M of McDonalds or even a Coca – Cola glass bottle. They are instantly associated with the brand and what that particular business stands for. Businesses often make a massive investment in their brands and imagery and also in the marketing of them to heighten customer awareness.
What often goes unnoticed is the more subtle symbols in the workplace and the impact that they have on employee behaviours and attitudes. I have a client who wants to shift the culture to one where people feel empowered to make the right decisions for customers. This is a well thought through proposition and they have calculated the return they expect to get on the investment on development.
Everyone is talking about it but the change is not happening as quickly as they had hoped. In walking into the offices there are signs everywhere, you know the sort – don’t do this, do that, put it here etc. Within the work environment there is almost no opportunity for empowerment. These signs have now been removed; some replaced with more encouraging statements and slowly the signs of change are apparent.
I am very interested to hear about symbols and there impact in your organisation.
Thanks
Kim
Transfer learning for better results
Monday, July 27th, 2009One of the good things, I think, that has come from the credit crunch is an increase in the popularity of business coaching. I’ve spoken to a few of our clients to try to understand why they are choosing to invest more in coaching now when spending is often reigned in and most state that it’s because 100% of development activity is focused upon the individual client and delivers results for them as well as their business.
The current economic climate has required many businesses to change – often requiring them to deliver the same or better results with less resource. Many of our clients have given very positive feedback about the value of exploring different approaches and scenarios as well as planning how they will implement their response to confidential issues.
Sustainability is really important to us at The Advance Consultancy and although it sometimes goes un-noticed I think that the coach plays a vital part in helping the individual learn new tools and frameworks to shape their thinking, visioning and planning in a way that increases creativity and gives courage to take appropriate risks.
It’s great that today’s business leaders are realising that coaching is a very effective process for increasing skills and effectiveness within the workplace and delivering results.
Kim
