I heard a speaker this week say, “stop trying to work so hard in making things stay the same or maintaining the status quo.” Hmmm…think with me just for a minute from the different life areas – people performance from a development perspective, customer interaction from a sales perspective, our faith practices and our beliefs as to what we think is true and right, our family interactions, our vision, our core beliefs and even what we think is fun! What might be new, fun, exciting, profitable, and enriching if we breakthrough our comfort zones? How about we become more engaged in our own lives?
In my coaching and visits this past week engaged employees is still at the core in most senior executive minds. The reason is simple, the overwhelming research that continues to be published states that engaged employees out perform their competition. As an employee, leader, manager, Vice President, C-Level Executive it is about the willingness to be “all in” during the work day; the willingness to give discretionary time and effort in order to achieve the desired outcomes. At the heart of engagement is one relationship with the manager, and depending on one’s temperament, it can be on a slippery slope. Hint: Engagement is an issue that goes high into an organization regardless of the pay.
In the last 5 work days I was in three executive meetings where engagement was on the top of their minds. In every case, the central theme of concern was building into all levels of supervision and the fundamentals of leadership to impact job performance (productivity) through engagement. The challenge is, as business is improving, new leaders are being promoted based either on past supervisor experience in a non-manufacturing environment or due to exceptional work habits. In both cases these new promoted leaders are not prepared to lead people. Sound familiar?
It reminds me of past Mid-Week Mentors when we talked about the six actions that needed to be taken to “Wake Up Your Business.” Action #5 was to be committed to train your people in order to add value to your organization in order to help others become more internally motivated – taking self-initiatives to execute outcomes verses externally motivated – waiting to be told what to do by your boss.
Here is what I heard are the fundamental leadership skills that are currently lacking:
- Communicate in groups through participation or in front of groups as a leader
- Time management – prioritizing and the willingness to change or focus on outcomes
- Accountability – holding themselves and others accountable for business results; not just hard work
- Running effective meetings – organizing, facilitating and then effective follow-up
- Motivate employee to want to perform at higher levels verses must do
- Coach employees to a higher level of excellence – performance improvement
- Deal with people issues – human relations; getting along more graciously with others
- Really listen to resolve conflict through win-win solutions
In a Nutshell: The executives who were talking to me last week want an engaged work force led by leaders who can sustain business results through people.
Engagement Review: Based on recent research by Dale Carnegie & Associates, leaders produce an increasing number of engaged workers with the following leadership characteristics:
- a. Lead with inspiration
- b. Maintain a positive attitude about people and the organization
- c. Be enthusiastic about your job, organization, brand, and the people you work with
This is what we do at Dale Carnegie Training… if we can help you with any of the above core fundamentals please reply to this email and we will have a conversation our research shows an ROI of 202%. The key is not just buying content but to have the content delivered in context of your business outcomes. This has been the biggest change in training and development in my 25 years. Igniting workplace enthusiasm is a process not an event the key is to decide to get started.
Note:
Do not miss next week’s Mid-Week Mentor. I will be making a major announcement related to the eight fundamental life areas that all executives need to be encouraged to explore. You will also see Paul Batz Seven F’s applied as well in my announcement. Details are being finalized this week. Perhaps in the future, some or many of you may choose to join me in my efforts to make a difference on Planet Earth. At the core of Level V Leadership is learning how to give back; I know of no greater feeling of accomplishment and self-actualization.
Human relations Principal of the Week:
“Today is life – the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.”
– Dale Carnegie