In the Blink of an Eye
If you enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, you'll also like his second book. In Blink, Gladwell helps us understand how we make choices with little or no deliberation, seemingly in the blink of an eye. I think his examination of the subconscious behavior of speed-daters can help you recognize how to retain your employees longer.
Gladwell describes a particular speed-dating program that asks participants to list the qualities they're seeking in a date. Before participants take part in the speed-dating, they fill out a questionnaire ranking the importance of such attributes as attractiveness, intelligence, and ambition in a prospective partner. After partaking in the speed-dating, participants complete the ranking again, as well as rating each "date" they met that evening. Comparing the before-and-after rankings provides some helpful insight into employee retention.
In Gladwell's example, a speed-dater initially lists her ideal partner as intelligent and sincere. But during the speed-dating process, she finds herself attracted to a good-looking man who makes her laugh. Then on the post-speed-dating questionnaire, she specifies attractiveness and sense of humor as the qualities she's seeking. What happened? She subconsciously altered her perception of what's important in a man to correspond to the traits of the person she met and really liked.
Here's where this concept applies to retaining your employees. Let's say an employee repeatedly tells you that his greatest aspiration is to become a vice president of your company. You proceed with that knowledge, and do all you can to help him reach that goal as a way to keep him inspired to stay. At last, you're able to reward his hard work and long hours with the coveted title. Then one day, he tells you he's leaving to go to an employer with a flexible work schedule that allows for greater work-life balance. But, you remind him, I just fulfilled your wish of becoming a VP. That's not as important to me as it once was, he says. No one would blame you for being confused. But, just like speed-daters, our employees can change their minds about what's important when they recognize something more attractive. Being a vice president--and the accompanying time commitment--might seem highly desirable to your employee, until he holds his newborn child for the first time.
If leaders assume that what their workers value never changes, they overlook what really may inspire their employees to stay. What if you actually ask your employees what they value? In other words, what if you interview them as if you were hiring--or rehiring--them? You might well learn that a valued employee's greatest wish, rather than becoming vice president as you assume, is to raise healthy and successful children. So what can you, as a leader, do to help that employee accomplish this goal? Can you build flexibility into the work schedule that will accommodate being present for a daughter’s dance recital?
You must "rehire" your workers in this way often. Ask your employees why they want to work here. I guarantee your employees are asking themselves that question, and that their answers will vary at different stages in their lives. Maybe an employee once hoped to earn a spot on the executive floor; then along came children and a change in priorities. Or maybe the children are now grown, and the employee is ready to resume a climb up the corporate ladder. Without knowing when changes in aspirations take place, you may continue to make erroneous assumptions about what your workers want. And your employees will be gone in a blink of an eye.
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Gladwell describes a particular speed-dating program that asks participants to list the qualities they're seeking in a date. Before participants take part in the speed-dating, they fill out a questionnaire ranking the importance of such attributes as attractiveness, intelligence, and ambition in a prospective partner. After partaking in the speed-dating, participants complete the ranking again, as well as rating each "date" they met that evening. Comparing the before-and-after rankings provides some helpful insight into employee retention.
In Gladwell's example, a speed-dater initially lists her ideal partner as intelligent and sincere. But during the speed-dating process, she finds herself attracted to a good-looking man who makes her laugh. Then on the post-speed-dating questionnaire, she specifies attractiveness and sense of humor as the qualities she's seeking. What happened? She subconsciously altered her perception of what's important in a man to correspond to the traits of the person she met and really liked.
Here's where this concept applies to retaining your employees. Let's say an employee repeatedly tells you that his greatest aspiration is to become a vice president of your company. You proceed with that knowledge, and do all you can to help him reach that goal as a way to keep him inspired to stay. At last, you're able to reward his hard work and long hours with the coveted title. Then one day, he tells you he's leaving to go to an employer with a flexible work schedule that allows for greater work-life balance. But, you remind him, I just fulfilled your wish of becoming a VP. That's not as important to me as it once was, he says. No one would blame you for being confused. But, just like speed-daters, our employees can change their minds about what's important when they recognize something more attractive. Being a vice president--and the accompanying time commitment--might seem highly desirable to your employee, until he holds his newborn child for the first time.
If leaders assume that what their workers value never changes, they overlook what really may inspire their employees to stay. What if you actually ask your employees what they value? In other words, what if you interview them as if you were hiring--or rehiring--them? You might well learn that a valued employee's greatest wish, rather than becoming vice president as you assume, is to raise healthy and successful children. So what can you, as a leader, do to help that employee accomplish this goal? Can you build flexibility into the work schedule that will accommodate being present for a daughter’s dance recital?
You must "rehire" your workers in this way often. Ask your employees why they want to work here. I guarantee your employees are asking themselves that question, and that their answers will vary at different stages in their lives. Maybe an employee once hoped to earn a spot on the executive floor; then along came children and a change in priorities. Or maybe the children are now grown, and the employee is ready to resume a climb up the corporate ladder. Without knowing when changes in aspirations take place, you may continue to make erroneous assumptions about what your workers want. And your employees will be gone in a blink of an eye.
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Employee Retention: Leveling the Playing Field
Small business operators often ask me, "How can I compete with the big players in my industry?" To be sure, major-sized competitors enjoy cost advantages that are tough for smaller companies to beat. Let's face it, if you're a retailer who stocks anything that Wal-Mart sells, odds are they're buying it-and selling it-for less money. And your larger rivals are able to flex their purchasing power when acquiring raw materials, health insurance, utilities, and everything else needed to run a business of any size. But in all likelihood, your opponents have one serious weakness that you can exploit: employee retention.A new research report published in December by AberdeenGroup, Inc. sheds light on how you can use employee retention as a decisive advantage. The report, titled Retaining Talent: Retention and Succession Planning in the Corporate Workplace, states that 85 percent of surveyed human resources executives said "attaining and keeping talent was the primary challenge keeping them awake at night." The report describes the negative effects turnover has on all companies, regardless of their size: loss of key employees reduces productivity; the average cost of recruiting, hiring, and training replacements is over $13,000; it takes, on average, eight weeks to find and hire a new employee; high turnover affects the morale of the workers who stay behind; and frequent staff changes alarm customers and lead to customer dissatisfaction. These effects should not surprise anyone. However, what is surprising is how few companies make employee retention a primary business strategy.
The Aberdeen report cites some reasons managers give for failing to actively address retention. The top explanation, given by 52 percent of respondents, is that the type of rewards that entice employees to stay cost too much. Of course, financial rewards factor into retaining employees. But the report stresses an equally critical activity:
"A vital part of employee lifecycle management is recognition of the employee as an individual. Too often employees can feel unappreciated or over stressed. Knowing that their organization cares about their personal and professional needs is a powerful way employers can ensure retention."There was a time when the most desirable employers were those who offered the best perks. That led some companies to add expensive benefits like fitness centers, in-house childcare centers, and take-home catering. But these days, studies have shown that employees are focusing less on the financial rewards and more on the values rewards. Today, people seek out employers whose values are consistent with their own, and look for ways to satisfy their interests and needs by aligning with an organization's mission. If you need proof of this trend, compare the qualities on Fortune's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" from this year to five years ago.
Organizations are slow to recognize the role of values in retention. So here's your opportunity to get a jump on the competition. To keep employees, you must keep them aligned to your company's values. Do that by identifying shared aspirations-that is, show them how aligning with the purpose of the enterprise will help them achieve their own goals and meet their own needs. Once workers see that connection, they won't want to go anywhere else. And while the giants are scrambling to find employees, you'll be happily growing your market share.
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Are You Getting Good Leadership Advice?
For the most part, people earn their leadership roles by demonstrating other job-related skills. There you were, just minding your own business, fulfilling your duties in accounting, production, or sales, when someone put you in charge. Ask for guidance, and you're likely to get truly poor leadership advice. In fact, countless management sages advised me during the early days of my corporate career, "Leadership is not a popularity contest. Your employees don't have to like you; they just have to respect you." Accordingly, in my first few management roles I felt a bit spineless when-in my heart-I truly cared what my employees thought of me as a leader, and as a person.
Watch this short video and see why leadership can feel like a scary business. Without good advice-let's face it-we often make it up as we go along.
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As far as I know I am under in a good leadership. Do not be offended by the criticism of a leader if they often do that. They are only coaching and mentoring to do things right. Good leaders give good advice, but I am not saying they are always right. They are just human who can also commit mistakes.
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We're Number One!
Is pride more important than survival to the leaders of Ford and GM? The two carmakers have recently-and nearly simultaneously-announced that they are eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, closing dozens of factories, and accumulating billions of dollars in red ink. Yet just when you'd expect forestalling bankruptcy to be their primary focus, the companies began feuding over which has the top-selling brand in the country. In other words, all might be nearly lost, but we're still number one.
Earlier this year, GM's Chevrolet division began running ads proclaiming itself America's best-selling car for 2005. Then last weekend, Ford disputed that claim, citing industry market research indicating it sold more cars last year than Chevy. "We will be contacting GM as early as Monday to ask them to withdraw all of the leadership claims for the Chevrolet brand," Ford announced in a statement.
While Ford and GM engage in what amounts to a corporate spitting match, they seem to be losing sight of the obvious: they're both hemorrhaging market share! Ford and Chevrolet sales were down 4.8 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, in 2005. However, in the same period, Toyota's sales rose 10.5 percent. Clearly, leaders at Ford and GM had better shift their attention from a pointless rivalry to staying in business.
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Earlier this year, GM's Chevrolet division began running ads proclaiming itself America's best-selling car for 2005. Then last weekend, Ford disputed that claim, citing industry market research indicating it sold more cars last year than Chevy. "We will be contacting GM as early as Monday to ask them to withdraw all of the leadership claims for the Chevrolet brand," Ford announced in a statement.
While Ford and GM engage in what amounts to a corporate spitting match, they seem to be losing sight of the obvious: they're both hemorrhaging market share! Ford and Chevrolet sales were down 4.8 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, in 2005. However, in the same period, Toyota's sales rose 10.5 percent. Clearly, leaders at Ford and GM had better shift their attention from a pointless rivalry to staying in business.
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CYA: How to Stop Micromanaging
I was speaking about giving away authority at a workshop recently, when one participant offered her justification for being a micromanager. "That's a great theory," she said. "But when it's my butt on the line, you can bet that I'm going to micromanage." Her statement highlights a leadership paradox: managers know they should not micromanage, but empowering others conflicts with our natural instinct to protect ourselves against things we fear-things like rejection, failure, embarrassment, or retaliation. Most managers embrace the concept of empowerment, but the perceived emotional danger of letting go overcomes many others. So some managers, it appears, prefer to live with the stigma of being a micromanager rather than risk looking bad if their empowered employees fail.
If you demonstrate micromanagement tendencies, you too might argue that it's justified. But by altering your internal beliefs, you can avoid micromanaging behavior. Surprisingly, it is the expectations micromanagers have for themselves that must change. Leaders who consider themselves highly effective are more apt to view all workers as teachable and capable. Managers who attribute their employees' accomplishments to their own success as leaders will probably help their workers grow. You must believe, regardless of your perceptions of each employee's potential, in your own abilities to teach and inspire.
Freely giving away their authority requires micromanagers to set high expectations for their employees. But more importantly, they must demand greater things of themselves.
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If you demonstrate micromanagement tendencies, you too might argue that it's justified. But by altering your internal beliefs, you can avoid micromanaging behavior. Surprisingly, it is the expectations micromanagers have for themselves that must change. Leaders who consider themselves highly effective are more apt to view all workers as teachable and capable. Managers who attribute their employees' accomplishments to their own success as leaders will probably help their workers grow. You must believe, regardless of your perceptions of each employee's potential, in your own abilities to teach and inspire.
Freely giving away their authority requires micromanagers to set high expectations for their employees. But more importantly, they must demand greater things of themselves.
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The Price of Greed
In her book, Pigs at the Trough, political columnist Arianna Huffington describes how shady businesses, and the insatiable bosses who run them, are getting filthy rich while thumbing their noses at the law. As she puts it, "In corporate America, crime pays. Handsomely. Grotesquely, even." Huffington's observation is right on, and it makes the following news report particularly gratifying.
American International Group announced this week that it would pay $1.64 billion to settle allegations of bid rigging, price fixing, and fraud. Experts report that the deal, reached with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department, is the biggest regulatory settlement with a U.S. company. AIG, the world's largest insurance company, still faces shareholder lawsuits that will increase the overall cost of the scandal.
Spitzer and company are sending a message to business leaders who believe that crime pays. There's a price tag on greed-and it's a big one.
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American International Group announced this week that it would pay $1.64 billion to settle allegations of bid rigging, price fixing, and fraud. Experts report that the deal, reached with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department, is the biggest regulatory settlement with a U.S. company. AIG, the world's largest insurance company, still faces shareholder lawsuits that will increase the overall cost of the scandal.
Spitzer and company are sending a message to business leaders who believe that crime pays. There's a price tag on greed-and it's a big one.
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In The Case of PEOPLE V. ENRON, Will Your Jury Find You Guilty?
There are plenty of interested people watching the fraud trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Certainly, Enron investors who collectively lost $64 billion are paying attention. No doubt, Enron employees--many of whom owned company stock through their 401(k) plans, are interested as well. As are the 26,000 former employees of Arthur Anderson, who lost their jobs after Enron prosecutors charged their company with obstructing justice. You would expect these concerned people to be engrossed with the proceedings. But you might be unprepared for the trial's effect on your employees.
With the publicity surrounding such a high-profile case, it's hard to ignore the media coverage even if you want to. Employees can't help seeing a newspaper headline or hearing a newscaster mentioning the trial. And each reference to the case silently fuels the growing all-bosses-are-crooks stereotype resulting from the onslaught of highly publicized corporate scandals.
How does this affect you even if you're not the CEO of a scandal-plagued conglomerate? Simply put, employees subconsciously apply the stereotype to managers at every level, and that includes you, too. So before you can earn your employees' trust, you have to prove yourself innocent of being a scoundrel.
Every day, countless business people have to work extra hard to disprove the labels others assign to them. African Americans must work tirelessly to prove they're not lazy. Women must show their toughness, lest they appear too emotional for the high-pressure business world. And now, leaders in positions ranging from CEO to front-line supervisor must prove their integrity. But it's not as simple as proving you're not stealing company funds.
In leadership, integrity requires consistency between an organization's spoken values and its leaders' actual behavior. Of course, if your organization lists "protecting company assets" as a value, employees want to know you're not taking the petty cash home with you. But just as importantly, if "promoting work-life balance" is one of your company's values, employees need to hear you encouraging them occasionally to leave early to catch their children's soccer games. As in court, you must show them--beyond the shadow of a doubt--that you live by the values you profess.
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With the publicity surrounding such a high-profile case, it's hard to ignore the media coverage even if you want to. Employees can't help seeing a newspaper headline or hearing a newscaster mentioning the trial. And each reference to the case silently fuels the growing all-bosses-are-crooks stereotype resulting from the onslaught of highly publicized corporate scandals.
How does this affect you even if you're not the CEO of a scandal-plagued conglomerate? Simply put, employees subconsciously apply the stereotype to managers at every level, and that includes you, too. So before you can earn your employees' trust, you have to prove yourself innocent of being a scoundrel.
Every day, countless business people have to work extra hard to disprove the labels others assign to them. African Americans must work tirelessly to prove they're not lazy. Women must show their toughness, lest they appear too emotional for the high-pressure business world. And now, leaders in positions ranging from CEO to front-line supervisor must prove their integrity. But it's not as simple as proving you're not stealing company funds.
In leadership, integrity requires consistency between an organization's spoken values and its leaders' actual behavior. Of course, if your organization lists "protecting company assets" as a value, employees want to know you're not taking the petty cash home with you. But just as importantly, if "promoting work-life balance" is one of your company's values, employees need to hear you encouraging them occasionally to leave early to catch their children's soccer games. As in court, you must show them--beyond the shadow of a doubt--that you live by the values you profess.
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Author George Brymer's comments about the leaders who get it, and those who never will.
