by Jane Perdue | Leadership
The leadership team at BIG isn’t big on new year’s resolutions. They’re gone faster than the time it takes for us to munch our way through a bag of gumdrops.
We are big, however, on commitment and personal leadership.
Commitment to personal improvement, ongoing learning, exploring, making a positive difference that lasts, and developing others.
Why?
Because when people feel confident, involved and valued…magic happens.
People build connections, character and confidence to lead BIG.
They learn, take risks and work BIG.
They inspire themselves as well as others to grow wings and embrace possibilities beyond what they thought or dreamed possible. They give back, believe in themselves and live BIG.
This kind of BIG has nothing to do with size and everything to do with heart…with meaning…with caring…with thinking more about we and less about me.
Daniel Maher said “confidence is courage with ease.”
Achieving this level of personal grace requires getting your BIG on. That means:
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- Understanding your strengths and knowing how to use that knowledge for leading, guiding, teaching and encouraging others
- Knowing that the small things do make a BIG difference, so don’t be afraid to start small. The important thing is getting started
- Recognizing that you may be holding yourself back from BIG things because you’re thinking small. Don’t be afraid to take the BIG leap forward toward your dreams – jump and grow your wings on the way up
Audrey Hepburn once said that “the best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”
To help others get their big on,
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- Let them know that it’s OK to fail, but it’s not OK to hold back from trying because they’re afraid of failing. That’s a lot like spending your life in a rocking chair. The ride may be comforting but you won’t get very far
- Agree to be their accountability partner. Meet up periodically to learn what they’ve done, then encourage them to keep going
- Help them embrace and practice the polarities of life: things like being both confident and humble or focused on both task and relationship
Grab some big, bold, brave thinking and start living your best life, full of confidence and courage…and help others do the same.
Here’s to you!
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
Gregory is the CEO for a small manufacturing firm that’s struggling to retain market share. The company has a long and proud history of financial success, so the poor business results are troubling.
To right the ship, the leadership team introduced multiple changes in how the business is run and staffed. While these changes were necessary for staying in business, they caused turbulence in employee morale and prompted employees to lose confidence in the ability of the firm’s management team.
The decline in employee confidence troubled Gregory and his team. He wondered if they might not have changed too much, too fast. (more…)
by Lisa Jackson | Leadership
Today’s guest post is from Lisa Jackson and Gerry Schmidt, corporate culture experts who teach how SMALL changes in corporate culture get BIG results in innovation, engagement, and workplace productivity, in an unprecedented era of rapid change and transformation. Visit them on the web.
A leaders’ job is to Go First.
Good leaders are good at being out in front with employees and customers whose insights directly impact the company and its customers.
This attunement fosters unified vision, essential trust, and a connected tribal spirit: the conditions for accomplishing great work.
However, in today’s dynamic world, most leaders also struggle to align (and re-align) people and teams toward continuous adjustments and changes to their strategy.
Imagine 2,000 (or 20,000!) people all attempting to hit a continuously moving target at the same time. (more…)
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
A small company in economic distress engaged a research firm to help explore options for salvaging the business. The research firm suggested a series of small group meetings with employees to gain their perspective.
The company was reluctant to do so, yet decided to give the employee sessions a try, hoping to hear suggestions for improving productivity which they considered key to their survival.
The first question asked in the employee sessions was “tell us how to improve (name of the firm) so they can remain in business.” A few concrete suggestions for improvements to work flow and production schedules were offered.
However, employees at all levels of the organization – from administrative assistant to warehouse to shop floor to management – were fixated on talking about how badly they believed they were treated by top management.
Consider these comments, illustrative of 80% of the feedback:
- “My boss makes me feel like a piece of equipment, something to be used and discarded at his whim.”
- “The only thing senior leadership cares about is the numbers. If your results are good, it doesn’t matter what kind of person you are; and some of them are pretty despicable.”
- “When I reported a safety problem, my boss said I could quit if I didn’t like it. She said there were plenty of other people who would be happy to take my job.”
- “The guys in the ivory tower don’t even know us folks on the shop floor exist. We’re just a way for them to get their bonuses.”
When the research firm relayed the interview results to the company’s senior management team, the CEO quickly ended the meeting and fired the research firm on the spot, saying they had obviously botched the assignment.
Beware the warning signs of profits before people
If you’re a manager in an organization where company performance needs improving:
- Try to remember the last time someone in senior management walked the shop floor, asked questions of employees and really listened to their answers. If it’s been more than three months, schedule a walk around asap.
- Ask yourself if you have been ignoring the early warning signs of employee distress, things like turnover or low morale. Employees not sharing information with their boss. Whispering that stops when anyone in management walks by.
- Explore how senior management truly thinks about employees: are they viewed as assets or a means to drive profit?
- Are employees who share bad news dismissed as quickly as the research firm as?
- Do you feel valued, like you really matter; or do you feel like your efforts are only a means to someone’s economic end?
- Do you trust your colleagues, superiors, and your CEO? Do they trust you?
What have you experienced as far as principles and trust being sacrificed for profit?
Image source: morgueFile.com
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
“All you OD folks want to make things so difficult. Making my employees happy is simple. Just serve up pizza on Friday and you’re pretty much done with it.” ~Business Owner
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Mine differs considerably from this fellow’s!
From my perspective, keeping employees motivated day-in and day-out isn’t the result of one-time events like parties, cookouts, passing out cupcakes on Tuesdays or pizza on Friday. These overly simplistic approaches put employees on the same level as trained seals who will patty-cake to get their sardine!
Great leaders build a trusting and giving environment where employees motivate themselves because they feel valued, appreciated, and even loved. (Love at work is a good thing!)
In addition to the qualitative benefits, plenty of positive quantitative benefits accrue to employers that equally value results and relationships. John Baldoni provides some great examples:
“…strong employee engagement promotes a variety of outcomes that are good for employees and customers. For instance, highly engaged organizations have double the rate of success of lower engaged organizations. Comparing top-quartile companies to bottom-quartile companies, the engagement factor becomes very noticeable. For example, top-quartile firms have lower absenteeism and turnover. Specifically, high-turnover organizations report 25% lower turnover, and low-turnover organizations report 65% lower turnover. Engagement also improves quality of work and health. For example, higher scoring business units report 48% fewer safety incidents; 41% fewer patient safety incidents; and 41% fewer quality incidents (defects).”
7 ways to foster real employee engagement
Gallup’s latest survey shows that a meager 13% of employees are engaged. Here’s some simple ways to reach the other 87%.
- Communicate openly, honestly, and frequently.
- Let your employees know you have their back.
- Let employees make decisions.
- Offer a heartfelt “thank you”
- Seek out and listen to employees’ feedback.
- Say I’m sorry and mean it.
- Deal quickly with employees who aren’t doing their jobs.
If you’re regularly doing these seven things, then the cupcakes on Tuesday and pizza on Friday are icing on the employee engagement cake.
I’d love to hear your reaction to the boss’s quote at the beginning of the post and say what recommendations you have for building employee engagement?
Please share!
Photo source: morgueFile
by Jane Perdue | Leadership
If, for some reason, you have a hankering to earn the moniker “Bad Boss of the Year,” remember to add these ten things to your daily ‘to do’ list and be a *real* winner.
1. March in the front door, proceed directly to your office, make no eye contact with anyone or engage them in conversation. Hey, you’re the boss. People should know that you have big, really big, things on your mind. You don’t have time for silly little pleasantries like saying “hello” or asking someone how they are.
2. Summon people to your office, right this very minute, and don’t bother telling them why you want to see them. Worry is good. Fear is better. You’ll tell them the subject when they arrive – why should you have to repeat yourself, for goodness sake.
3. Bask in the glow from the higher-ups when “your” good idea produces success. Quickly push your employees in front of the bus when “their” idea fails.
4. In John’s performance review, gloss over his performance and tell him how great he did. In the succession planning meeting with your peers, publicly announce that he’s a loser and on the fast-track out the door.
5. Hand out work assignments using as few words and directions as possible. You pay people to figure it out, right?
6. Demand that you approve every decision, no matter how large or small, before anything happens. Only you know best; that’s why they pay you the big bucks.
7. Set aside special time for the department tattle-tale to rat out co-workers and spill all the juicy juice about the latest office gossip. An informed boss is no doubt a good boss.
8. Flip-flop, either publicly or privately but both is best, on the important directive you briefly outlined yesterday. Don’t want anyone getting too comfy or set in their ways, do we?
9. Make sure your team members do not get assigned to cross-functional project teams or any other venue where they might hob-nob with people from other departments or levels within the company. Who knows who they might meet or god forbid, even impress.
10. Demand innovative thinking yet publicly humiliate anyone vulgar and brash enough to generate a new idea.
Here’s a call to action to make this ‘to don’t’ list as long as we possibly can.
Add at will and share widely so others can add their “best” suggestions, too!
Image source: Gratisography
