Employee Engagement
Client Conversations: Insights into the State of Employee Development
Jul 21st
Over the past few months we have been checking-in with Global Novations’ clients regarding the current state of their employee development programs. So many aspects of the workforce have been impacted by the recent economic headwinds and we wanted to hear directly from clients about how they were affected. The following two posts were an outcome of those conversations, originally published on the ViewPoint blog: http://www.novations.com/blog/
Client Conversations: Managing “What’s In It For Me?”
Motivating employees to embrace learning & development opportunities at a time of increasing disengagement is no small task (see the ConferenceBoard report “U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”). It requires a purposeful acknowledgement of the “what’s in it for me” factor behind employee motivation. We culled the following approaches to this dynamic in recent conversation with clients:
1.) People want to be part of delivering great results
2.) Ongoing development paves the way for future opportunities
3.) Local recognition is motivating
Read the complete post here: http://www.novations.com/blog/?p=177
Client Conversations: What Employee Development Programs Look Like Today
For the past 15 months the Learning & Development professionals we work with at Global Novations have had the unenviable task of balancing the reduction in formal learning investments with the need to continue increasing the capabilities and contribution of reduced workforces. What resulted are some valuable lessons-learned that will shape how we manage employee development moving forward.
Employees own their own development: This was a consistent theme from clients; the pervasive belief that development may still be a shared responsibility, but employees are responsible for owning and driving the process.
Lateral movement: increasing contribution doesn’t mean changing roles: Too many employees and managers operate with an outdated belief that you need to move “up” the ladder with a formal role change in order to increase your contribution to the company. This belief-system is at odds with the current trend of organizational flattening
Development on the job: As most industry indicators continue to signal a steady reduction in formal training investments, client organizations continue to embrace the “development on the job” approach; leveraging carefully selected “stretch” job assignments, job shadowing, and job-sharing as formal learning opportunities.
Read the complete post here: http://www.novations.com/blog/?p=163
Joblessness and the Employee Tipping Point
Jan 8th
If the title sounds like a modern business fable, maybe that’s because we’re living in one: Employers slash jobs to manage profitability in the wake of a poor economy. Employers push managers to do “more with less”. Managers actually pull off the miracle. Employers start to rethink the need to re-hire and re-invest. Joblessness becomes the new reality. Employee morale, engagement, and job satisfaction plummet. Workers unite in battle during a bloody revolution dubbed “the 4 day Blackberry War”.
Okay, so I made up that last part. But everything else is a true statement on the modern state of the workplace. Yes, many of the difficult decisions employers made regarding workforce reductions and compensations restrictions were necessary. Yes, in most cases they achieved their desired outcome and stabilized performance. That’s not my issue here. It seems that during a time defined by paralysis, too many leaders are willing to risk inaction over action. And the results are increasingly disengaged and unhappy employees (see the ConferenceBoard report “U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”: http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=3820)
From the ConferenceBoard report “U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”
Holding your existing employees hostage because they don’t have any other employment options is not a strategy. Employee’s who understood the business necessity, and even supported, the job/compensation/budget slashing actions of their employers, are quickly losing patience.
In the absence of a larger, more substantial organizational change, employers need to make positive improvements where they can:
- Re-recruitment strategy. Identify the key performers with strong internal networks. Address their needs and concerns first as part of a re-recruitment strategy. This key constituency needs to understand Leadership’s strategy and buy into it. Building morale with this group and getting them aligned with Leadership’s vision will enable them to influence other employees and balance the decline of good-will.
- Engage all employees. Most likely managers are still relying on a few key team members as their top performers. The organization can no longer tolerate a manager’s inability to engage and motivate team members who have traditionally been marginalized. These employees were originally considered qualified and competent when they were recruited. A lack of performance may be attributable to their manager’s improper positioning and treatment of them. Regardless of the cause, it’s time to eradicate the problem.
- Direct and open communication. Yes, I am aware that this advice is old hat, but how many executives actually follow it? Leadership continually underestimates their employees’ abilities to manage the cold, hard truth. Not providing information inadvertently creates a negative reaction, and the distribution/creation of misinformation ensues as employees try to fill the void. Even if your plans for future reinvestment aren’t clear, be direct and open about that fact to employees. Keep the workforce abreast of the progress, even if there is no change.
Economic recovery is going to be slow and more difficult than we are all accustomed to. Right now all indicators point to employee dissatisfaction with how their employers are managing the process. Obviously there are constraints, but what’s being done today isn’t creating the positive momentum an organization needs to move forward.
