What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.
OK, I like to read various marketing and management books in an effort to continually improve my skills. Anybody remember Marketing Warfare? At one company, we even had a “war room” for dealing with competitive issues.
For this book that attempts to explain the links between employee satisfaction and business performance, data was analyzed that was collected by Gallup over 25 years, using 80,000 managers, 1 million staff, and 400 companies.
Four Keys of Great Managers
1. Select for talent (recurring patterns of behavior). Find the match between talent and role.
2. Define the right outcome. Turn talent into performance by defining the right outcome and letting people find their own route toward the outcome.
3. Focus on a person’s strengths, not their weaknesses. Remember that each person is different.
4. Find the right fit. Assign roles that give the people the greatest chance of success.
Rules of Thumb
1. Don’t break the bank. Employees must follow certain required steps for all aspects of their role that deal with accuracy or safety.
2. Standards rule. Employees must follow required steps when those steps are part of a company or industry standard.
3. Don’t let the creed overshadow the message. Required steps are useful only if they do not obscure the desired outcome.
4. There are no steps leading to customer satisfaction. Required steps only prevent dissatisfaction; they cannot drive satisfaction. To transform a customer into an evangelist, they need (in increasing hierarchical order) accuracy, availability, partnership, advice.
The Measuring Stick
How can you measure human capital, the strength of a workplace? Distilling down the massive amount of data resulted in twelve questions (answered on a scale of 1-5) that supposedly effectively measure the core elements needed to attract, focus, and keep talented employees.
1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my manager seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone who encourages my development?
7. Do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of the company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?
What about stock options, high pay, etc.? Those benefits attract all people. The above twelve factors attract and keep the most productive ones.
An interesting book…
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