Last week we discussed how one or more events can cause a lack of trust within an organization and I noted that today’s economy is certainly contributing to the high levels of mistrust.
So, how can you rebuild trust in an organization once it’s been lost?
As I mentioned last week, the first step is acknowledging the problem. Once everyone is in agreement and ready to tackle the lack of trust that exists, you must identify what caused the trust issue in the first place.
It's different in every organization, but until you identify the cause you can't do anything to correct it. It might be as simple as those unplanned layoffs, or the issue might go much deeper than that. If you are lucky, the lack of trust can be traced back to a single event. It’s more likely that there are a whole series of events that created the hole that exists today. The simple reality is that you will need professional help to uncover all of the reasons. And, yes, outside consultants bring in their own set of trust issues, so this is a process that you won’t want to rush. You’ll need to have a detailed plan in place to assure your employees that they can trust the consultants before they’ll ever offer honest feedback on why they trust or don’t trust you.
Second, you need to fess up. Admit that there is a problem to your employees. This is a big shock to many organizations who want to implement a program without ever acknowledging fault in the first place. Too many executives are afraid of “opening up the kimono” for fear of showing weakness. But let’s face reality, you're not telling them anything that they don't already know. All that is really happening is that you’re finally acknowledging what they have been talking about for months or years.
Third, you need to take specific, honest action to start rebuilding trust. Notice that I said "start." This is going to take a long time and every misstep will set you back even deeper in the hole. This step starts with sharing the honest results of your Organizational 360° Survey with the entire team. No hiding bad results, no glossing over poor performing executives, no ignoring the obvious elephant in the room. If you don’t show the warts, and if those warts aren’t consistent with what the employees provided in their feedback, then the war will be lost right there.
Finally, you need to constantly remind your employees of the changes that you are making. The only thing more difficult than changing your behavior is getting credit for changing your behavior. That’s another reason why it is important to acknowledge the problem to your employees.
There is not a silver bullet to building trust in an organization. The steps to build trust are not mystical or steeped deep in psychology. The key to building trust is in understanding that you need to build trust and that you need to make sure your actions are consistent with your words.
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/
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What To Do When Trust Has Been Shattered – Part I
While the economy continues to batter more and more organizations, executives are finally starting to understand what will happen when the economy does turn around.
Their employees will leave.
Why?
Because they can.
The early 20th century set the marker for a lack of trust between management and employees. The result of that lack of trust were labor unions that sought to protect the rights of the common worker against companies that took advantage of their employees, ignored their rights and desires, and used and discarded them like an old tissue.
Is this starting to sound familiar?
I don’t think there is much chance of a sudden resurgence of labor unions to protect today’s white collar workers because the 21st century worker has many more options than their earlier 20th century counterparts. But the impact on companies’ bottom lines could be just as dramatic. Because when knowledge workers leave an organization, they take knowledge, history and customers with them.
To counter this impending catastrophe, many companies have focused on the need to build trust in the organization in an effort to engage the employees and convince them to stay. But the lack of trust is not just between management and employees; it is now firmly embedded within the management itself. In other words, managers cannot start building trust within the organization, because they themselves don’t trust the organization. They believe, and in many cases rightfully so, that this new emphasis on trust is not so much a change of heart for the organization, but merely the latest management fad that will soon be forgotten.
If you are an executive and this describes you, stop reading right here. I can’t help you.
If, on the other hand, you have a sincere desire to build a well functioning team of highly engaged and motivated employees who trust their management and want to see the business succeed, then read on.
There is nothing so difficult to gain, and so easy to lose, as someone’s trust. This is certainly true at an individual level, and even more true when we are talking about an organization. And, rebuilding trust that has previously been lost is even more of a challenge.
So how do you go about rebuilding trust?
Let's state the obvious first. Until you acknowledge that you MIGHT have a trust problem you will never be able to solve it. Hopefully the fact that you have read this far indicates that you see this part of the problem. In line with this first item is getting the rest of the executive team to acknowledge this problem as well. Sometimes the issue is so obvious that everyone can easily acknowledge it. Other times you may need empirical proof of the lack of trust. An Organizational 360° survey, when properly administered can clearly highlight this issue for your organization. When effectively administered the results will be like a flashing red light that cannot be denied.
Tune in next week as we discuss what to do now that everyone acknowledges there is a lack of trust in the organization.
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/
Their employees will leave.
Why?
Because they can.
The early 20th century set the marker for a lack of trust between management and employees. The result of that lack of trust were labor unions that sought to protect the rights of the common worker against companies that took advantage of their employees, ignored their rights and desires, and used and discarded them like an old tissue.
Is this starting to sound familiar?
I don’t think there is much chance of a sudden resurgence of labor unions to protect today’s white collar workers because the 21st century worker has many more options than their earlier 20th century counterparts. But the impact on companies’ bottom lines could be just as dramatic. Because when knowledge workers leave an organization, they take knowledge, history and customers with them.
To counter this impending catastrophe, many companies have focused on the need to build trust in the organization in an effort to engage the employees and convince them to stay. But the lack of trust is not just between management and employees; it is now firmly embedded within the management itself. In other words, managers cannot start building trust within the organization, because they themselves don’t trust the organization. They believe, and in many cases rightfully so, that this new emphasis on trust is not so much a change of heart for the organization, but merely the latest management fad that will soon be forgotten.
If you are an executive and this describes you, stop reading right here. I can’t help you.
If, on the other hand, you have a sincere desire to build a well functioning team of highly engaged and motivated employees who trust their management and want to see the business succeed, then read on.
There is nothing so difficult to gain, and so easy to lose, as someone’s trust. This is certainly true at an individual level, and even more true when we are talking about an organization. And, rebuilding trust that has previously been lost is even more of a challenge.
So how do you go about rebuilding trust?
Let's state the obvious first. Until you acknowledge that you MIGHT have a trust problem you will never be able to solve it. Hopefully the fact that you have read this far indicates that you see this part of the problem. In line with this first item is getting the rest of the executive team to acknowledge this problem as well. Sometimes the issue is so obvious that everyone can easily acknowledge it. Other times you may need empirical proof of the lack of trust. An Organizational 360° survey, when properly administered can clearly highlight this issue for your organization. When effectively administered the results will be like a flashing red light that cannot be denied.
Tune in next week as we discuss what to do now that everyone acknowledges there is a lack of trust in the organization.
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/
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Hidden Costs of Employee Turnover
Managing a business is a big job. Whether you are the CEO who has to worry about the entire organization or a mid-level manager with responsibility for a small department, every day is filled with stress as you try and find ways to do more work with reduced resources. Most managers have a variety of methods to measure their success. They have productivity metrics, departmental objectives, and sales goals. Ultimately all managers and leaders are judged by their results on the bottom line through the Profit and Loss (P&L) statement.
When looking over your P&L you see such items as Sales, Rent, Salaries, Utilities, Supplies and of course, Taxes. Good executives know how to manage their P&L and are experts at digging down into the details to find ways to save money by buying supplies in bulk, eliminating unproductive product lines, and eliminating unnecessary expenses. But the cost of employee turnover is a hidden cost that most companies spend no time thinking about. I’m convinced that if companies actually measured the cost of employee turnover they would take an entirely different view on the issue of Employee Engagement – and spend more time focusing on how to get their employees to want to stay and not go to a competitor.
What is the cost of employee turnover?
Most estimates range from 150% of the employee’s salary for rank and file workers to 250% for managers and above. This means that to replace an employee who has a salary of say, $50K, it will cost you $75K in addition to the salary of the new person. To replace a manager or executive could well cost you $250K - $300K.
Pretty expensive, isn’t it?
But most managers don’t think about the cost of employee turnover because these expenses don’t show up on the P&L statement and therefore they can’t be seen. And because they aren’t visible, none of them get managed.
Inexperienced managers and executives look at employee turnover as a cost savings. Since they are no longer paying the salary of the person, they believe that turnover actually saves them money. Of course, if this person was doing work that is totally unnecessary then maybe you are saving money.
What kind of hidden costs are associated with employee turnover? Here are just a couple of examples:
How big a problem is employee turnover?
A 2009 study from Deloitte found that 49% of the respondents planned to look for a new job in the next 12 months.
Can you afford to lose half of your work force? Worse, can you afford to lose half of your work force when the employees that leave are the employees with all of the knowledge?
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/
When looking over your P&L you see such items as Sales, Rent, Salaries, Utilities, Supplies and of course, Taxes. Good executives know how to manage their P&L and are experts at digging down into the details to find ways to save money by buying supplies in bulk, eliminating unproductive product lines, and eliminating unnecessary expenses. But the cost of employee turnover is a hidden cost that most companies spend no time thinking about. I’m convinced that if companies actually measured the cost of employee turnover they would take an entirely different view on the issue of Employee Engagement – and spend more time focusing on how to get their employees to want to stay and not go to a competitor.
What is the cost of employee turnover?
Most estimates range from 150% of the employee’s salary for rank and file workers to 250% for managers and above. This means that to replace an employee who has a salary of say, $50K, it will cost you $75K in addition to the salary of the new person. To replace a manager or executive could well cost you $250K - $300K.
Pretty expensive, isn’t it?
But most managers don’t think about the cost of employee turnover because these expenses don’t show up on the P&L statement and therefore they can’t be seen. And because they aren’t visible, none of them get managed.
Inexperienced managers and executives look at employee turnover as a cost savings. Since they are no longer paying the salary of the person, they believe that turnover actually saves them money. Of course, if this person was doing work that is totally unnecessary then maybe you are saving money.
What kind of hidden costs are associated with employee turnover? Here are just a couple of examples:
- The cost of another employee filling doing this persons work until they are replaced. If they were an hourly employee, you are now paying the person filling in overtime.
- The cost of loss productivity from the person who is temporarily filling in for them.
- The cost of running an ad to fill the opening
- The cost of time to review all of the resumes submitted
- The cost to interview the applicants
- The partial productivity of the person as they are getting trained
- The loss in productivity from the person training them
- The direct training costs for the new employee for things like employee manuals, training software, etc.
- The loss in customer knowledge that will now result in lower sales
- The cost of all the paperwork associated with both the person leaving and the new person coming on board. This is not just new hire paperwork, but also the insurance and benefit paperwork for both the new and exiting employee.
How big a problem is employee turnover?
A 2009 study from Deloitte found that 49% of the respondents planned to look for a new job in the next 12 months.
Can you afford to lose half of your work force? Worse, can you afford to lose half of your work force when the employees that leave are the employees with all of the knowledge?
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/
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Let's Get Physical (with apologies to Olivia Newton John) - Part 2
In our last blog entry, I described a little bit about the physical environment that I used to work in and compared it to the physical environment of my counterparts in the corporate office. The differences were dramatic, but what really stuck in my mind was the impact that the physical environment had on the morale, creativity, and productivity of my counterparts.
While our office space in Akron, Ohio was nothing special, the environment that my counterparts worked in was literally draining them of their desire and ability to do the work required. By no means do I mean to imply that people in plush offices do more work than people in regular facilities. But when employees are surveyed about what is important to them at work, the physical environment always rates high.
Why is the physical environment important?
Just think for a few moments about the term “spring fever.” It’s that feeling you get when, after a long harsh winter, you suddenly see the first signs of relief, a break in the weather, and a chance of something better in the future. It’s only when spring fever hits that you truly realize how much the winter has gotten to you. How it has slowly beaten you down over a few months, slowly sapping your energy and enthusiasm. But at the first whiff of spring your energy suddenly returns, your creativity is engaged, and you get restless. Restless because you want more sunshine, more warm weather, more spring.
When employees go to work in an unfriendly or unhealthy work environment, they don’t always notice it right away. But over time it slowly impacts them mentally and physically; reducing their effectiveness, reducing their productivity, affecting their attitude, and costing you money.
But then something happens. Maybe they visit a friend in their office, have a business appointment in a new location, or even do charitable work with their church. And they get that first whiff of a different physical environment. The area is well lit, cubicles are decorated with family photos, and music can be heard from a variety of sources. Suddenly your employee realizes what they have been missing. They have that whiff of new possibilities and they want more.
It’s springtime in their mind.
Of course, no employee would ever quit their job and tell their boss that they are leaving because the lighting isn’t good. Or that they’re upset because company policy doesn’t allow personal affects at their workspace. And they would never tell you that they want to go somewhere else because they can listen to their music. Instead they tell you that they’re leaving for a better opportunity, a job closer to home, or to follow their passion.
And what happens when they leave?
You lose their knowledge, their training, and their experience. You must now go through the painful process of hiring someone new, hoping that you get the right person, afraid that you won’t. And then there is the training that takes between 6 months and a year to complete. You’ve lost productivity as well, not to mention the institutional knowledge and the cost of getting a new employee up to speed.
Assuming of course that this person works out, and you don’t have to do it two or even three times to find the right employee.
Now, here’s the really bad news. Your office doesn’t have to be nearly as bad as a Dickens novel to be the kind of workplace that drains your employees. In the 21st century, employee expectations are higher. Without ever voicing it, they expect the workplace to be comfortable and inviting. And if it is not, they will slowly slip into winter in the office.
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/
While our office space in Akron, Ohio was nothing special, the environment that my counterparts worked in was literally draining them of their desire and ability to do the work required. By no means do I mean to imply that people in plush offices do more work than people in regular facilities. But when employees are surveyed about what is important to them at work, the physical environment always rates high.
Why is the physical environment important?
Just think for a few moments about the term “spring fever.” It’s that feeling you get when, after a long harsh winter, you suddenly see the first signs of relief, a break in the weather, and a chance of something better in the future. It’s only when spring fever hits that you truly realize how much the winter has gotten to you. How it has slowly beaten you down over a few months, slowly sapping your energy and enthusiasm. But at the first whiff of spring your energy suddenly returns, your creativity is engaged, and you get restless. Restless because you want more sunshine, more warm weather, more spring.
When employees go to work in an unfriendly or unhealthy work environment, they don’t always notice it right away. But over time it slowly impacts them mentally and physically; reducing their effectiveness, reducing their productivity, affecting their attitude, and costing you money.
But then something happens. Maybe they visit a friend in their office, have a business appointment in a new location, or even do charitable work with their church. And they get that first whiff of a different physical environment. The area is well lit, cubicles are decorated with family photos, and music can be heard from a variety of sources. Suddenly your employee realizes what they have been missing. They have that whiff of new possibilities and they want more.
It’s springtime in their mind.
Of course, no employee would ever quit their job and tell their boss that they are leaving because the lighting isn’t good. Or that they’re upset because company policy doesn’t allow personal affects at their workspace. And they would never tell you that they want to go somewhere else because they can listen to their music. Instead they tell you that they’re leaving for a better opportunity, a job closer to home, or to follow their passion.
And what happens when they leave?
You lose their knowledge, their training, and their experience. You must now go through the painful process of hiring someone new, hoping that you get the right person, afraid that you won’t. And then there is the training that takes between 6 months and a year to complete. You’ve lost productivity as well, not to mention the institutional knowledge and the cost of getting a new employee up to speed.
Assuming of course that this person works out, and you don’t have to do it two or even three times to find the right employee.
Now, here’s the really bad news. Your office doesn’t have to be nearly as bad as a Dickens novel to be the kind of workplace that drains your employees. In the 21st century, employee expectations are higher. Without ever voicing it, they expect the workplace to be comfortable and inviting. And if it is not, they will slowly slip into winter in the office.
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/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
