“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” - Charles Dickens
Recently I had a very interesting experience when visiting two companies. Both companies were of similar size, in similar industries, with similar revenues, but different levels of profitability.
When I walked in the door at the first company I was met by a smiling receptionist who asked my name, and who I was there to see. She called back to confirm my appointment and then offered me something to drink while I waited. She continued working while talking with me and answering the phone.
“Are you here for a job interview?” she asked.
“No” I replied. “Are you hiring?”
“I think in some ways we always are” she replied. “We don’t post our job openings any place, but we always seem to have new people here. I think they are always looking for the right people.”
All this time she was completing paperwork at her desk, talking with me, and answering the phone with a smile in her voice.
A few minutes later my appointment came out to greet me and we headed back to her office. The walls of the office were adorned with group photos of the employees in their various endeavors. Some were clearly work related, celebrating the launch of a new product or service. Some were of the groups at play outside of the office.
Later, during a break in my meetings, I bumped into a technical employee who looked like he had been having a very rough day.
“I’ve been here since 2AM” he told me. “I got paged in for a technical issue and have been working it ever since.”
“Does this happen a lot?” I asked.
“It happens” he replied. “I don’t mind. It’s what I do.”
He went on to tell me how much he liked his job, liked the company he was working for, and how calling him in made him feel “special” because he felt needed. Was he getting paid extra for coming in at 2AM? Nope. But he didn’t give that much thought. He liked what he was doing and where he was working and that was what was important to him.
A few weeks later I walked into the other company. At the receptionist desk it was clear that I was bothering the young lady who was trying to read her magazine.
“Sit” she said, and I complied.
I tied to make small talk by asking her how she liked her job.
“No one likes their job” was her response. “I get paid to be here.”
Looking around the office area you could not help but notice the sparseness. Lots of cubes; some occupied, others not. The walls were either bare or they had those silly, framed motivational posters.
“Soar like an eagle” one said. Another one extolled the positive aspects of teamwork.
Once again, I found myself with the opportunity to chat with a couple of the employees. They weren’t very talkative and didn’t have much to say. They were watching the clock, anxious for 5PM to arrive so they could leave.
I asked one employee how long they had been working their. He replied with an expletive.
“Why are you still here?” I asked him.
“It’s a job” was the reply.
I had other conversations with people at both of these companies, but the pattern was very consistent. At the first company the employees were happy and engaged. Being there was more than just work for them, it was part of who they were. They didn’t look for or ask for special privileges or extra pay. Instead they looked at each day as a chance to be with their friends and do things that they liked and enjoyed. They didn’t have jobs. Instead, they were part of something bigger.
At the second company, the people I met did as little as possible, as seldom as possible. They viewed each day as another day in their life that they would never get back. By doing as little work as possible, they hoped to stretch out their jobs as long as they could so they would keep getting paid. I actually heard them use the word “peons” when talking about their role in the company. The people they worked with were not their friends and they couldn’t wait for the day to end so they could leave.
Profitability?
The first company, probably due to the high level of employee dedication and engagement, was profitable and moving forward. Not surprising, the second company was struggling every day with profitability declining.
As an employee, or as a CEO, ask yourself this question.
Which company would you rather work for?
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Leaders: Are You Measuring Your ROE?
If you are a business executive you are no doubt familiar with the concept of ROI. ROI stands for Return on Investment and measures the increase in value or profitability on money that is spent. For example, if the company spends $1000 on marketing they expect additional sales in excess of $1000 to cover their costs and provide them with additional profits. Failure to earn back the dollars spent plus additional revenue will likely result in them not investing more on that same plan.
Businesses routinely measure their ROI on all types of expenditures and are constantly looking to maximize their ROI by comparing their various investments against each other. The higher the ROI the happier the company.
So what is ROE?
ROE stands for Return on Employees and measures the value that you are receiving from each employee in comparison to the salaries and benefits that they are paid. The more return you receive from each employee the more you want to continue to invest in them. While those employees who have a small or negative return might find themselves being replaced by new employees with a higher potential.
Why have you never heard of ROE?
Maybe because most companies fail to measure the return from their biggest ongoing investment: their employees.
For most companies, the closest thing they do to measuring their ROE is the annual performance review. The purpose of the annual performance review is to identify where each employee is doing well (providing a positive return) and those areas where the employee is not doing as well (providing no or very little return). Theoretically, the annual performance review is the perfect time to accurately measure the ROE of every employee in the organization and determine who to invest in, where to invest, and how much to invest.
Of course you and I know better. For too many managers the annual performance review is an unpleasant task that is required to be completed, in a limited timeframe, following a rigid format, that doesn’t allow or encourage any real attempt at measuring how valuable each employee really is. Managers often view performance reviews as a chore, required by Human Resources, forced on them when they have the least available time and keeps them from doing the things that are really important, like completing their weekly status reports.
It’s no wonder that most performance reviews are not worth the electrons used to create them.
It’s time for companies to take a whole new view of their employees and start to measure the return each employee brings them. Performance reviews are a possible place to start, but not the way most companies currently do them. It’s time to start looking for a Return on Employee for every employee, and that means providing the same diligence to our employees that we do to all of our other investments.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Businesses routinely measure their ROI on all types of expenditures and are constantly looking to maximize their ROI by comparing their various investments against each other. The higher the ROI the happier the company.
So what is ROE?
ROE stands for Return on Employees and measures the value that you are receiving from each employee in comparison to the salaries and benefits that they are paid. The more return you receive from each employee the more you want to continue to invest in them. While those employees who have a small or negative return might find themselves being replaced by new employees with a higher potential.
Why have you never heard of ROE?
Maybe because most companies fail to measure the return from their biggest ongoing investment: their employees.
For most companies, the closest thing they do to measuring their ROE is the annual performance review. The purpose of the annual performance review is to identify where each employee is doing well (providing a positive return) and those areas where the employee is not doing as well (providing no or very little return). Theoretically, the annual performance review is the perfect time to accurately measure the ROE of every employee in the organization and determine who to invest in, where to invest, and how much to invest.
Of course you and I know better. For too many managers the annual performance review is an unpleasant task that is required to be completed, in a limited timeframe, following a rigid format, that doesn’t allow or encourage any real attempt at measuring how valuable each employee really is. Managers often view performance reviews as a chore, required by Human Resources, forced on them when they have the least available time and keeps them from doing the things that are really important, like completing their weekly status reports.
It’s no wonder that most performance reviews are not worth the electrons used to create them.
It’s time for companies to take a whole new view of their employees and start to measure the return each employee brings them. Performance reviews are a possible place to start, but not the way most companies currently do them. It’s time to start looking for a Return on Employee for every employee, and that means providing the same diligence to our employees that we do to all of our other investments.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
When is the Right Time to Invest in Leadership Training?
There is an old saying for newbies looking to invest in the stock market.....
Buy low and sell high.
The concept is quite simple. You want to buy a stock when it is low, say $10 a share, and then sell it when it reaches a higher value, allowing you to cash in and collect your profits. It’s such a simple concept that many investors get wrong. They watch a stock that they like and watch it go up. Once it has proven that it will go up, they buy it. Of course, while they were watching the stock, they missed much of the run up in price. Sometimes they wait so long to invest that the stock run up is over and the stock is actually on the way down. This causes the investor to lose money. Of course, they also lost all of the potential earnings while they watched the stock go up.
Ideally an investor would identify a potentially hot stock and buy the shares when they are down in price, someplace near their recent low price. Then, when the stock goes up, they share in those gains and sell the stock when it is near its peak. That’s the way smart investors make money in the market.
The same concept is true when it comes to investing in the leadership of your organization. This investment is not in a stock, but in your employees and in their leadership skills. By investing in leadership training for your key employees you make money by having them do their best work for you. Like stocks, you want to identify those employees with the most potential and then invest in their leadership development early in their career, to assure yourself of the highest return. If you wait too long to make that investment, you don’t get the full benefit from their growth. Or worse, they may take the things that they have learned and use them to help your competitors grow. The ideal time to invest in someone is when you have identified their potential but while their greatest growth is still in front of them.
Many companies fail to make the investment in their employees. Like the “stock investor” who watches a lot of stocks but never actually makes an investment, these organizations hire people with good potential but never pull the trigger on their development and, therefore, never receive the appropriate return. Or, they wait for the “right time” for training (meaning a time when business is good) before they invest in their future. Of course, once business is good they can’t afford to pull their employees out for training, and hence they again miss the opportunity.
When should you invest in your employees? As soon as you identify their potential; as soon as you understand how much they can help you; as soon as you realize that their development can mean more profit for your organization.
In other words, to make the most from your investment in your company and your employees, you want to invest as soon as possible. Because the sooner you invest, the sooner you can get the return you deserve.
At ECI Learning Systems, we identify your future leaders and provide leadership training designed to provide a long term impact to your organization.
If you found this message helpful, I would encourage to you pass it along to your friends and co-workers and encourage them to subscribe to the Fusion™ Blog as well.
Until next time…..
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Buy low and sell high.
The concept is quite simple. You want to buy a stock when it is low, say $10 a share, and then sell it when it reaches a higher value, allowing you to cash in and collect your profits. It’s such a simple concept that many investors get wrong. They watch a stock that they like and watch it go up. Once it has proven that it will go up, they buy it. Of course, while they were watching the stock, they missed much of the run up in price. Sometimes they wait so long to invest that the stock run up is over and the stock is actually on the way down. This causes the investor to lose money. Of course, they also lost all of the potential earnings while they watched the stock go up.
Ideally an investor would identify a potentially hot stock and buy the shares when they are down in price, someplace near their recent low price. Then, when the stock goes up, they share in those gains and sell the stock when it is near its peak. That’s the way smart investors make money in the market.
The same concept is true when it comes to investing in the leadership of your organization. This investment is not in a stock, but in your employees and in their leadership skills. By investing in leadership training for your key employees you make money by having them do their best work for you. Like stocks, you want to identify those employees with the most potential and then invest in their leadership development early in their career, to assure yourself of the highest return. If you wait too long to make that investment, you don’t get the full benefit from their growth. Or worse, they may take the things that they have learned and use them to help your competitors grow. The ideal time to invest in someone is when you have identified their potential but while their greatest growth is still in front of them.
Many companies fail to make the investment in their employees. Like the “stock investor” who watches a lot of stocks but never actually makes an investment, these organizations hire people with good potential but never pull the trigger on their development and, therefore, never receive the appropriate return. Or, they wait for the “right time” for training (meaning a time when business is good) before they invest in their future. Of course, once business is good they can’t afford to pull their employees out for training, and hence they again miss the opportunity.
When should you invest in your employees? As soon as you identify their potential; as soon as you understand how much they can help you; as soon as you realize that their development can mean more profit for your organization.
In other words, to make the most from your investment in your company and your employees, you want to invest as soon as possible. Because the sooner you invest, the sooner you can get the return you deserve.
At ECI Learning Systems, we identify your future leaders and provide leadership training designed to provide a long term impact to your organization.
If you found this message helpful, I would encourage to you pass it along to your friends and co-workers and encourage them to subscribe to the Fusion™ Blog as well.
Until next time…..
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
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