How do you measure employee engagement? Why do you measure it? Why is it important? If employee engagement is a means to an end – productivity, performance, creativity – then why not measure success in terms of your purpose? Scientifically, the more directly you measure something, the less opportunity for error and bias is created.
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Employee engagement ideas to raise productivity
Employee engagement is the way to raise productivity. This is widely accepted now. But how do you install “employee engagement”? The hint is that it isn’t software, it isn’t surveys, and it isn’t perks or benefits. What is left you might ask? Watch the video?
Continue readingProductivity through Gamification – The Sequel
Just a little more to wrap up on Gamification. It really is THE way to make work fun and addictive! Just look at the popularity of Social Media, engineered to grab your attention and make you play the game. Good luck with your Games. Just make sure that you manage the Game and that the people working for you are not playing a Game of their own! We are always here to help.
Continue readingPositive management
Have a look at the management practice in your organisation for a moment. I’m sure you give people objectives, goals or targets and check to see they have accomplished them. That is catching people out who have failed! Wouldn’t it be better if the management process helped people achieve what was needed. The video has a trivial example, but what could you do in your organisation?
Continue readingPraise the person, criticise the behaviour – Performance Review
Whether you do annual Performance Reviews or have adopted a process of regular ‘chats’ the title applies – Praise the person, criticise the behaviour. It is possible to have a conversation about what they did, their behaviour, as something apart from their self. You can have a dispassionate discussion as to why the behaviour was not appropriate, not optimal. It is impossible to discuss what went wrong when the person feels attacked and threatened. Conversely, when someone has done something well, praise the person for the behaviour. The balance makes a person feel more positive about their work, their manager and their employer, so they seek to achieve more positive feedback. Don’t forget “Praise the person, criticise the behaviour”! I’d call that a win-win, wouldn’t you?
Continue readingAdvanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
And not just advanced technology! Anything that is achieved that is outside people’s expectations and experience is either magic or simply not true? This is exactly why I made this Executive? What do you and what should you do? The higher you are in an organisation the more you should be looking outside, looking for opportunities and threats. In medieval times the King would have a Jester. A Fool who would tell him things he didn’t want to hear, things that would upset his cosy existence. What do you do to get outside your cosy existence, your comfort zone? Where do you look for the magic, the next innovation, the game-changing technology?
Continue readingFocus on improvement, not results
We all have targets don’t we? The target at the top determines the strategy and the direction of the organisation. Have you ever been on a trip with your children and five minutes down the road they start with “are we there yet?” If you have you know how annoying, frustrating and miserable the journey can be! It’s supposed to be a fun trip! Is your Boss one that asks “are we there yet incessantly”? Don’t be the Boss that asks that! Watch the video for what to do instead – the clue is in the title!
Continue readingWhat people want: Achievement, Recognition and then Money
What people want from their employment is obvious. If only people were that simple! Of course, we all need money to live, but how does that explain the millions of hours of volunteer work that is done every year? What is their reward? If you are designing your work environment so that money is the only reward, you are relying on the weakest of three primary work motivations. You can expect to pay a lot!
Continue readingAre you an Executive? What do you do and what should you do?
Are you an Executive? A Director, perhaps the Chief Executive? What do you spend you time doing? Do you spend it on “comfort work”? Work that makes you feel busy, work that you are competent to do but work that should be delegated? If you are busy, keeping your head down, who is steering the Corporate vessel? Who is looking for the rocks on the journey or the next innovation that could move you forward? Should you be doing routine handle-turning work? Or should you be building the future? Even worse is the truth of who is steering the vessel!
Continue readingListening to Government Business Advice is a bad idea
Why do I think listening to Government Business Advice is a bad idea? We are two weeks from the supposed date for Brexit. It looks like the decision, the form of the decision may take some while longer. Parliament can’t agree. Fiddling while Rome burns perhaps? Meanwhile, businesses are all demanding that the Government do something to make business more profitable. Unfortunately, there is no academic qualification, no apprenticeship scheme, no training whatsoever needed to be elected to Parliament. The only reason to look to the Government for help is because they have the money, our money. The Government does not understand business! The video has an example of why listening to Government Business Advice is a bad idea.
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