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The Ideal Employee is a Waste of Time!
The idea of the ideal employee is a losing proposition and a total waste of time. There is no perfect person, so let’s stop looking for one or stop trying to be one.
We can’t change who people are. We can’t change their personality. We don’t have the right. What we can do is teach people to choose more successful and productive behaviors. We don’t change WHO they are, we change WHAT they do.
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Do your employees trust you? If not, does it really matter?
A
ccording to SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), employee engagement ranks highest on the list of concerns by HR leaders. Added to this, a recent Gallup Survey determined that disengaged employees cost the U.S. Economy between $450 billion and $550 billion. Wow!
Gallup went on to find that ONLY 30% OF EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGED, while 53% are disengaged and an alarming 17% are “actively disengaged”, meaning this last group is deliberately trying to undermine your business. Double wow!
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Talent Management from Recruitment to Retirement
A Single Solution – Surprisingly Different from the Rest!
From the moment you post the vacancy to the day they retire, talent management is a must. Countless tools promise engagement, ownership, optimized performance, and employee buy-in. Each leads us down a path then ultimately fails, leaving us searching for the next “sure thing.” It’s an endless and expensive cycle that misses the mark every time because it misses the main motivation for all employees, at every level.
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Performance Management Isn’t “touchy Feely.” Here’s Why.
At Team Excellence, we help organizations manage employees and relationships. That means we get into the “people stuff” that some in the business world refer to disparagingly (and incorrectly) as touchy-feely.
The behavioral sciences are often referred to as “soft sciences,” especially in regard to management disciplines, while finance, accounting, manufacturing, engineering, information technology, etc. are considered “hard sciences.” Because psychology, sociology, and other studies of human behavior and interaction are not as precise or black and white as their hard science counterparts, they haven’t been considered necessary or important to how one actually runs an organization.
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So, you’ve used a personality assessment… Now What?
We strongly believe in the need for greater self- and interpersonal awareness. Greater self-awareness is after all EQ step # 1 – it’s absolutely essential! The problem is that psychometrics or “personality tests’ are events, interesting experiences, and not much more than that.
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As for Millennials… You Got it! They Want it!
I just spoke at a corporate meeting this week for a client’s clients – their annual user’s conference. It was held at one of Hyatt’s best – nice conducive digs for considering new ideas. The audience was pretty much split right down the middle with Boomers and Millennials. It was a perfect opportunity to talk about a number of generational differences as they relate to trust, communication and collaboration. So I did.
I focused on three issues affecting how we work together, build trust, and achieve collaboration. I specifically talked about
- the accelerating process of change occurring in organizations,
- key differences within our multi-generational workforce,
- and the impact of human individuality.
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7 Factors of Employee Engagement… what managers really need to know!
Managers too often make the mistake of judging an employee’s level of engagement, and consequently their level of commitment, based on their own (the manager’s) yardstick of “normal”. The problem is people are all different and from a non-clinical perspective, there is no such thing as normal. Everyone is unique and has their own distinct style of intuitive behavior. Note I said intuitive behavior, not learned behavior. Let me suggest that you conside intuitive behavior to be an individual’s internal yardstick of what is normal (for them).
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The Little Blue Card
David never got his blue card.
David is my lifelong friend from childhood. He had it tough. One of a preacher’s nine kids, he always had to be perfect. David was never allowed to make decisions: they were always made for him. So when he grew up and left home, he made lousy decisions because he didn’t know how to make good ones.
David joined the army and was injured during training, hit on the head with the steel door of an army tank. He’s never been quite the same since. He also got mixed up in using drugs, and has been a real mess his whole adult life.
Years ago, David was admitted to a mental hospital in the beautiful and serene Napa Valley. I flew out to San Francisco, rented a car, and drove to Napa to visit David. This was one of the most powerful, yet upsetting and depressing weeks of my life.
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The pilot died! Or did he?
You and I need information whether it’s good or bad. Even with discouraging news we all “get through the moments” better with reliable data. Such is the lesson taught by an insightful Southwest Airlines pilot. This is a story I’ve told clients again and again.
Southwest is that little “pretend” Texas-based carrier according to a friend of mine who works for Delta, he believes Delta is a “real airline”. Southwest changed its industry. Many airlines in business when Southwest got started are no longer is business. And unlike some of its competition today, Southwest still makes money.
As we say in Texas, it’s my company plane!
Southwest Airlines has never had an onboard fatality. But years ago Southwest had a major situation.
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Building Working Relationships that Work
Do relationships at work matter? Obviously they do, or at least most people today think so. I sure do, it’s why I’ve been in the organizational relationships and development business for over 35 years.
Building working relationships that work doesn’t just happen. Like anything else, it requires knowledge, a defined strategy, commitment, and the development of skills – in this case, relational skills.
In inaugurating this blog as a part of our delivery of PSI Enterprise, my commitment is to provide an open-ended dialogue to share what we have learned through the years in working with clients to improve the performance of their people.
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