Creating A Happy Workforce
by Miki Saxon
Yesterday I said that creating a happy, i.e., productive, innovative, caring, workforce, was 80% MAP and 20% money-based employee support initiatives.
Everyone who writes or talks about management, or is interviewed as a role model, says the same thing in a variety of ways.
It boils down to what people want
- respect;
- honesty;
- shared commitment;
- clear communications as to where the company is going, how it’s going to get there, what’s expected of them and how it all fits together;
- an ethical culture; and
- authenticity throughout.
No details, they’re available in dozens of places, including this blog, along with plenty of how-to’s.
Now, let’s say that you’ve done your best to implement what you’ve learned (at whatever level you are), but you’re not getting the expected results. Productivity is still elusive, your people seem apathetic and you have more turnover than is healthy.
What’s wrong? What are you missing?
The answer is most likely deep within your MAP.
As you’ve read over and over, the key to all this is authenticity—translated that means you believe what you’re saying.
But having worked through this with hundreds of managers over the years I can say that frequently one or more of the “required” attitudes weren’t synergistic with their MAP.
They used the right words, even thought the right thoughts, but deep down they didn’t really believe—and their people knew it. Not ‘knew it’ as conscious thought, but knew it as a gut feeling; knew it because every time their manager said one particular thing they found themselves mentally squirming and didn’t know why.
What they did know was that it made them uncomfortable and worried them. The discomfort sat in the back of their mind nibbling away and their productivity went down, which made them still more uncomfortable and created fertile ground for any opportunity that came along.
The solution to this is simple, but very uncomfortable since it requires you to turn you eye inwards to find the offending MAP and then do what it takes to change it.
Now to the 20% that requires money.
Employee support usually falls in four categories.
Technology
When budgets are tight, new technology may be unavailable, but that’s just one piece of supporting your people and you can often work around at lest part of it. Brainstorm with your people and find solutions within the parameters with which you have to work.
Training
Training can be done if you get everybody involved. Here are four things to do within your organization that cost little to nothing.
- Build a useful library, both hard copy and online, that includes classic and current information and runs the gamut from traditional to controversial to off-the-wall. Encourage your people to read up on subjects that interest them, whether or not it directly applies to their expertise.
- Choose “topics of the month” based on both need and interest, and then encourage free-wheeling discussions on a regular basis.
- Adapt scheduling so people can start to use, and become proficient in, the new skills about which they are reading and talking.
- Support brown-bag classes (better yet, buy lunch if you can) in which they can teach their skills to others. Add cross-working assignments whenever possible to ensure cross-training.
Career opportunities
Providing career opportunities is easier than you think—and also more difficult. It requires you to do everything in your power to help your people acquire the skills necessary for them to take the next step in their chosen career path—that’s the easy part.
The difficult part is doing it even though you know that the person will leave, whether your group or the company, in order to take that step.
Rewards
The tighter the economy the more difficult it becomes to provide financial rewards—or so it seems. Overcoming this challenge goes back to authenticity and honesty.
You start by explaining clearly exactly what your financial constraints are, both yours as a manager and the company’s. Your people aren’t stupid, they’ll know if what you say is true. In the thousands of people I’ve talked with over my 25 years as a recruiter I never found one that didn’t have a pretty good idea of what was going on in their company.
Once that’s done, get creative. Ask your people for ideas and involve them in finding creative ways to provide incentives with what you do have to spend—just don’t do anything that isn’t synergistic with your MAP.
Doing all this is the best gift you can give your people—and yourself.
If you’d like to talk more about it feel free to call me at 866.265.7267—no charge, no joke.
