OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE & DEVELOPMENT - THE BETTER WAY

As an employer, wouldn’t you just love to know which of your employees were intending to leave your employ in the near future? You bet you would! 

Tipping off employers as to which of their employees are planning to leave soon is the mission of HiQ, a new company that scrapes data about thousands of employees from their LinkedIn profiles. It then sells this data to employers who are concerned that their employees might be thinking about leaving their company. 

Legal issues aside, this seems to be a rather roundabout, expensive way to deal with employee attrition. Once you have obtained some information indicating that some of your employees are job searching, what do you do? If you directly confront them with the knowledge of their plans, you risk alienating them further. In addition, you might even face some legal or at least employee relations issues. Perhaps the only way to relieve the frustration of knowing what is likely going to happen but not being able to confront this situation directly, is to fill your hiring pipeline with likely replacements. At the end of the day, however, you still have not dealt with the underlying issue of what is motivating your employees to leave.

Fortunately there is a better approach to this dilemma. A Gallup Poll in 2015 quoted in Fortune magazine stated that 50% of adults in the workforce had quit a job to get away from their manager. Other research by the Gallup organization has shown that what employees want most from their supervisors/managers is communication. Another fascinating study by Randall Beck & Jim Hunter indicated that Managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement!  

Not only does this information show how crucial managers are in engaging employees, it also gives a strong indication of how to effectively deal with this issue. What if Employee Engagement could be increased by improving the relationship between managers and their direct reports through conversations?

Actually, this exactly what an Employee Engagement initiative called Optimizing Performance & Development does. It concentrates on improving the relationship between managers and their direct reports through facilitated conversations on six specific topics. 

Wow the Employees with the Company’s Ideals

In this initial conversation, the manager discusses the organization’s vision, mission, and values to help the employees understand and appreciate the company’s ideals. In doing so, they become emotionally attached to the organization and identify with it. 

Establish Rapport by Clarifying Management Expectations

In this conversation, the manager discusses the type of relationship s/he would like to have with his/her employees. For example, s/he will communicate what excellent job performance looks like in the role of the manager, describe his/her role as the department’s manager, including management style, priorities, what s/he needs from the team to enable him/her to become the best manager s/he can be and finally, help the employees to understand his/her performance expectations of them.

Help the Employees Feel Like They Belong

This is the discussion in which the employees discuss the expectations they have of their manager, the organization and the work experience so the manager can better customize the employee’s future workplace experiences.

Employees can also identify their preferences, i.e. the job factors that they value most and least. In turn, the manager can point out any available/desirable current and future job opportunities that might suit a particular employee.

This is the time for employees to identify their strengths and passions (likes/dislikes) and to match their strengths/passions to any current & potential future roles.

Help the Employees Feel a Part of Something Bigger Than Themselves

In this discussion, the manager describes department’s role to help employees understand how their department is aligned with the organization’s mission, vision & objectives.

The manager also supports employees in establishing SMART goals for the coming year that are aligned with their department’s and the organization’s goals.

Help the Employees to Grow

In this conversation the manager and the employees identify opportunities/resources that will help them achieve their immediate (30 - 90 day) and mid-range goals (6 - 24 months) development goals.

Support Creating a Future

This is the conversation in which the manager assists the employees in creating a future with the organization by supporting them in developing their Individual Development Plan (IDP) re: their 2-5 year career goals.

Future Pace This Process/Next Steps

In order to keep abreast of all the activities created by these conversations, the manager needs to keep current with ongoing developments and issues. To do this, it is imperative that s/he make regular appointments with his/her staff at least every one two months in order to: 

1. Keep employees aware of any new developments in the organization’s & department’s vision, mission & objectives.
2. Support employees in on-going goal setting, barrier identification & removal, and future career directions.
3. Discuss progress, problems, resource needs, I.D.P’s etc.

By discussing these crucial issues, a manager can get to know his/her team very well. In turn, the employees can feel supported and valued by their managers. It is at this point that employees feel motivated to perform at their best. It is at this point that they feel engaged with their company! It is at this point that management can be reasonably sure that their employees are not going to leave for greener pastures.

Finally, given all the positive outcomes resulting from high employee engagement, such as:

• increased productivity & profitability                     
• improved product/service quality 
• improved employee performance
• excellent employee retention
• improved work environment
• low absenteeism & employee turnover 
• low accident rate
• few complaints/grievances

It’s a ‘no-brainer’!

For more articles on the benefits of high Employee Engagement, please go to   www.engage2perform.ca or message me on LinkedIn. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/zrobackmichael