What is two-way communication?

“Outstanding Leaders Appeal to the Hearts of their Followers, not their Minds.” ~ Source Unknown

Ask any organization about their internal communications and they will point to their intranet website, used to communicate key initiatives to their employees. They’ll talk about the quarterly CEO updates, where the top executives go “live” and stream their inspirational leadership across the company. And they’ll point to their ongoing newsletter from HR executives that brings all of the employees up to date on the latest and greatest “Human Resource” initiatives.

What is missing from these communication methods is obvious. These are one-way communication vehicles, not two-way. And, even if that quarterly CEO update includes a phone line for employees to call in on or a message function to pose questions electronically, you are still only engaging a small percentage of your employees. True two-way communication is not possible through push mediums alone.

More importantly, the key component of any real two-way communication is the clear indication that both parties are listening to each other. In all of the methods discussed above, the message is “communicated” out, but there is nothing to indicate that any message is welcomed back or that the “communicator” has any intention of truly listening.

The problem is obvious from both sides of the equation. From the executive side, how can you possibly listen to 500 - 50,000 employees with a variety of diverse ideas and thoughts? After all, even the best intentioned employees are likely to have some ideas that are so totally impractical it can be difficult not to laugh out loud. From the employee side, regardless of how you might be encouraged to communicate, do you really believe the CEO is going to listen to you?

The answer to this challenge is not nearly as difficult as it might at first seem because the employees don’t need to talk with the CEO one on one to be heard. Nor do the top executives need to react to every message sent their way. In fact, many companies have “solved” this problem through some type of formal survey process. They commission an Organizational Survey to get input from across the company. When the survey is complete, they review the results to understand the organizational concerns. They may even take action on some of those major concerns … maybe… But if they do, those actions are sometimes not obvious to the employees. As far as the employees are concerned they’ve been asked for their input, and they’ve been ignored.

Is it any wonder that most employees don’t take Organizational Surveys seriously?

Organizational Surveys can serve as a vehicle for two-way communication, but only if the employees KNOW that their responses are being taken seriously. In simple terms that means:

1. Publish the results of the survey. And not just the good parts; but the bad parts and the not-so-bad parts as well. In other words, management must be willing to “open their kimono” and share everything with the employees.
2. Actions resulting from the survey must be visible across the organization and tied directly back to the survey itself. In other words, don’t just announce a “reorganization”. Instead, be honest and announce that it is being done in response to the survey.
3. It can’t be a “one and done” arrangement. Provide regular progress reports on what is being done based on the survey and don’t let it slip away into history.
4. Measure again. At regular intervals, possibly every 2 years, repeat the survey to look for improvement or areas of decline. And, again, be honest as to why the survey is being done and be willing to share the results again as well.

This is just a start on what you need to do, but I think you get the idea. Actions that are visible and can be traced directly back to employee feedback is one of the key ways that employees feel heard. And feeling heard is a key requirement for employee engagement.

So, is that it? If I do the things mentioned in the last several blogs will I have an engaged organization?

Unfortunately, there’s still more to it. By doing the things listed you have opened the door for engagement, but as of yet, no one has walked through that door. A big part of employee engagement comes from lower levels of the organization and even from the employees themselves.

We’ll discuss some of those ideas next week.


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

To Get Engagement…Be Engaged

When an organization makes a conscious effort to become an “engaged organization” the question always comes down to “how” this can be done. In small organizations it is relatively easy to sit down with your employees and talk about what you want to do and why you want to do it. Then, by demonstrating the behavior you want and expect from your team, you begin to change the culture.

In larger organizations the concept is similar but the time frame is longer because you have so many more people to reach, plus you need to “sell” this concept at the various levels of the organization. And let’s be honest, there will be instances of managers in the organization who will not buy into the concept regardless of what is said or implemented. That means planned turnover; hiring and training of new personnel. None of this makes the job easy, but it is also not impossible.

For larger organizations, a strategy needs to be developed and implemented at various levels of the organization. This strategy is based around a very simple concept:

If we want our customers and employees to be engaged with us, we first need to engage them.

There are a variety of ways to engage your employees in your business. And, once you engage the employees, the customers will follow right along.

Most of the methods of engaging employees are not really new, although the mechanism itself may be new. Ideas like:

• Suggestion Box
• Open Door Meetings
• Skip Level Meetings
• Kickoff Sessions
• Company blogs or newsletters
• Staff Meetings
• Etc.

Like I said, most of these are not new and can be implemented the old fashion way, or through new social media/internet connections. What turns these from run of the mill employee communication mechanisms into employee engagement tools is simply a matter of how they are used and viewed by the employees. When these tools are viewed as an active and constructive method of interacting with the leadership then they have a purpose and further the process of engaging the employees. But when they are viewed as one-way mechanisms that don't encourage participation and discussion, they will not engage your employees.

How do you change the way these old fashioned communication tools are viewed?

By remembering that communication is actually a two-way connection. In other words, use these tools to actively interact with your employees, encourage them to respond, and act on their comments. This is the part of communication that so many executives miss and it really is the key to engaging your employees. Engage them in a two-way dialog as opposed to just top down communications.

I’ll cover this in more detail next week.


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

Open the doors for Employee Engagement

The concept behind employee engagement is a simple one. If you engage your employees in your business, the employees will be happy and engage the customers. And, when the customers are happy and engaged, your profitability increases. Customers who are truly engaged with your business understand that they are special and will be treated well. They know that, when things go wrong, your company and your employees will do everything in their power to make it right. They believe deeply that you will do what is best and not try to take advantage of them in any way.

In short, your engaged customers trust you. And nothing is more valuable in business than your customers.

To paraphrase Herb Kelleher, "Happy employees make for happy customers. Happy customers make for happy shareholders."

I was speaking with a friend recently who was a top salesperson for a Denver area furniture chain and he related to me a problem with one of their customers. The customer was unhappy about a mark on the furniture she had purchased and was causing quite a commotion. My friend was called in to help resolve the issue.

He listened to her complaint, agreed that she had a reason to be concerned, and worked out a solution that satisfied her. All was good again, until the owner of the chain happened to walk by. The customer recognized the owner and decided to tell him about her experience. She started to relate her experience to the owner and within 30 seconds he responded, “So what? You’re not happy? Give her the money back and get her out of my store.”

That owner not only lost a customer that day, but he also lost one of his top salespeople as my friend quit as well. Only my friend didn’t leave his job that very day, he actually worked there for nearly 3 more years. He just quit trying. That was the lesson he took away from the owner.

There are a lot of ways for you to engage your employees in your business so that they will buy into the vision and go above and beyond for both the company and the customers. And the first way to engage your employees is to model the behavior that you expect from them. When the entire executive team, not just the CEO, walks the talk about the value of the customer and demonstrates this regularly through their words and actions, the employees will do the same.

Of course as I noted above, the opposite is clearly true as well. When the executive team models poor behavior and attitudes, the employees see and imitate that behavior as well. And this is true whether or not you know all of your employees individually or if you have 50,000 employees. Employees take their lead from the clues left by the executive team. And, if you don’t think your employees notice those clues, watch your behaviors in addition to hearing your words, and see and talk about the disparities between your words and actions, then you are very much mistaken.

Model engagement and inclusion with your employees and customers and you will find that your employees engage and include your customers, and your customers engage and support your business.

We’ll talk more about other methods of encouraging engagement in our next blog.


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

How Do You Encourage Engagement?

I was talking with a friend recently and we were discussing my favorite topic – employee engagement. My friend runs a small business, the kind where he still knows all of his employee’s names, the names of their spouses, and most of their kids. But his business is growing and he knows that it won’t be long until that is no longer possible. And, he is rightfully concerned about how his business will change when he no longer has that level of intimacy with his employees. Until now he has done an excellent job of communicating his vision to his team members and then using his personal relationships with them to reinforce his thoughts and get their ideas and buy-in. Since many of his employees deal with their customers every day, he wants to make sure that they are fully engaged with the business because that means they will try and fully engage the clients as well.

His question was a simple one. How do I continue to fully engage my team when I no longer have the luxury of knowing them all so personally? Can you really have an engaged team without the personal connection?

For many, the concept of employee engagement works well with small, intimate organizations where the team members almost feel like part of the family. Camaraderie plays an integral role in keeping everyone involved and engaged in the organization. But, just like a family can sometimes lose touch when it gets too big, they believe that having more employees automatically leads to less engagement.

And, to some extent, this is probably true. After all, it’s easier to get 5 people to buy in to and dedicate themselves to a vision than it is to get 500. And what happens when that 500 turns into 5000, or 50,000? Is it even possible to have an engaged organization of 50,000 people?

Absolutely.

Employee engagement is not about knowing the names and spouses of each employee. Nor is it about company picnics, bowling teams, or night’s out at the ballgame. Employee engagement is about making every employee believe in the common vision. It’s about knowing that, in some way, they can impact the vision and that their ideas, suggestions, and concerns really matter. Employee engagement is about caring what people think and encouraging them to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Of course, you don’t want to ignore the personal side of the equation, but just because you know your employees’ names and who their spouses are does not mean that they are engaged or care about the business or its customers. Engagement only happens when they know that they can make a difference.

The question becomes, how do I encourage my 500th employee to be as engaged as my 5th employee is? How can I obtain their buy in to the vision and promote their buy in?

What has to happen for them to know that their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions do matter and that we want them to impact the business?

We will be discussing this concept more in the next few weeks.


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

The Legacy of Walt Disney

Too many people underestimate the value of a legacy. In fact, too many leaders at all levels of the organization don’t even think about what will happen after they are gone. Oh, sometimes they will have groomed a successor, but even that is hit and miss. For a variety of reasons, leaders have engaged in short term thinking and have equated that with “nimbleness” in the marketplace.

Of course, another way to look at this nimbleness might be directionless.

The validity of thinking long term, creating something bigger than yourself, and leaving a legacy that can be built upon is no further away than Anaheim, CA. or Orlando, FL., or at any one of the other Disney Parks worldwide.

Walt Disney had a vision for something bigger than most people could even grasp. He wanted to build “the happiest place on earth”, where parents could take their children and be able to live in a fantasy world. And he wanted his new “world” to be isolated from surrounding business, and traffic, and congestion in general. To accomplish this new world, Walt Disney purchased over 27,000 acres of land near Orlando. When he announced his plans for his new world people thought he was absolutely crazy. After all, most of that 27,000 acres was swampland and not suitable for building.

I won’t bore you with all of the details but Walt Disney World in Orlando opened for business on October 1, 1971; about 5 years after the death of Walt himself. The fact that his legacy carried on and allowed this park to be built even after his passing is truly extraordinary, but that is just the beginning. Epcot Center was added in 1982, 16 years after his death and the Disney Animal Kingdom was opened in 1998.

Today the tradition continues, and the Magic Kingdom is indeed the “happiest place on earth” just the way Walt envisioned it. If you have visited the Magic Kingdom you are no doubt aware of it’s isolation from surrounding businesses, meaning that you are truly lost in Disney’s world. And, if you are like me, you were stunned by how clean and fresh everything looks all the time. Rides come and rides go, but technology is a key component of the Disney magic, and this company remains in the forefront of their industry and are more nimble than companies 1/3 of their size.

All of this happened because of the dream of Walt Disney and his ability to vest his dream in those around him. He left a clear legacy for his company that guides their decision making even today. Employees at all levels of the organization are introduced to Walt’s legacy, and the culture he created, while morphing over time, remains as strong today as when he first communicated it to his team.

The culture of Disney is not perfect, but it’s an excellent example of what a leader can do if they want to. It’s what they can do if they think big, think broad, and incorporate their vision into the company’s culture. Because the culture you leave behind is the building block for your legacy.

What is the culture that you have built in your 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

A Leader’s Legacy Part 3 - When the Legacy Survives the Leader

We’ve been talking about the importance of a leader leaving a legacy and how that legacy can impact an organization for years to come. Just as you want to build a house on a firm foundation that will last for years, and maybe even generations, the same is true when you build a company. A true leader has a vision for the company and builds a strong foundation through the company’s mission, vision, and values. In fact, the visionary leader creates a culture and embeds it so deeply in the organization that it not only survives that leader’s time as President or CEO but it will actually outlive the leader.

If you’ve ever had the privilege of working in a strong, well run company with a strong, visionary leader then you know what I’m talking about. A visionary leader imparts on an organization something much stronger than the goals and objectives; something much more dynamic than a 5 year plan; and something much longer lasting than just the company’s mission statement. A leader of this type wants to create something bigger than themselves, something that will last more than a lifetime.

When I think of leaders of this type, a few different names come to mind. Henry Ford built a company based on his own values and it stays true to most of those values today. Thomas Jefferson, in writing our Declaration of Independence, created something much bigger than himself. And William (Bill) McGowan founded MCI Communications and built a company in his own image. Unfortunately for Bill McGowan, his legacy could not survive the telecom shakeout of the late 1990’s and was lost in the merger with WorldCom.

But, there is one name that truly stands out. This is a man who created something so much bigger than himself; a man who thought big, dreamed big, and acted even bigger; a man whose vision was so clear and his ability to communicate that vision so compelling that his legacy survives nearly 50 years after his death.

His name is Walt Disney.

Is there a man, woman, or child in the United States over the age of 7 years old who has not heard of Walt Disney?

For that matter, there are not too many adults anywhere in the world who do not know of Walt and what he stood for?

Walt Disney passed away in 1966, yet the legacy he left has survived him even to this day. And, while his company has undergone numerous management changes over the years, they remain steadfast to the values and principles that Walt Disney espoused when he created his company.

We’ll talk a little more about the legacy that Walt Disney left in our next edition.


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

What is the legacy of a leader? – Part 2

In last week’s blog we started talking about the legacy of a leader and the intangibles that remain after a leader is gone. Real leaders at every level of an organization need to be thinking about their legacy and what will happen to the organization once they are no longer a part of it. A true leader is always thinking about the long term impact of their actions and not just about what will happen today or tomorrow. But, there are far too many people out there in positions of leadership who think only about the here and now.

Many leaders do think about leaving their imprint on an organization and seek to clearly delineate their time as a leader versus those of a predecessor. And, while this imprint can be positive, too often we see leaders who make change for the sake of change without regard to the implications for the organization as a whole. For example, we’ve all seen leaders assume control of an efficient, functioning organization, only to turn it dysfunctional sooner than anyone thought possible.

When leaders focus only on the short term, or focus on themselves rather than what is best for the organization, they tend to chase away top performers, lose sight of the true goals of the organization, and create top heavy organizational charts which revolve around them. And, while these leaders may occasionally provide short term results, their true legacy is the long term despair of the organization – broken only by the short term elation and joy at the announcement of their departure.

When leaders focus on the long term and create a plan to leave the organization stronger than when they arrived, they build an organization with a vision for the future, instill the values to support that mission, and find talented people to carry the mission and vision forward. Leaders with this focus not only create results for today, but also for the future. You can feel the imprint on the organization years after they have been gone; managers quote them, employees are still empowered with the values they set forth, and decisions are made that are consistent with the long term vision they so clearly communicated.

In our next issue, we will talk about one such leader – a leader who created a legacy with such clear values and such a strong mission that it survives and thrives more than 50 years after his death.


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