Archive for the ‘Management Skills’ Category
Disengaged employees
I had forgotten, until I came across an article recently, how bad the problem of disengaged employees is within the workplace. It caused me to look again at Gallup which has a 30 year history of recording such information (see the link below for more details).
Today, according to Gallup, some 50% of the workforce is not engaged with 20% actively disengaged. In other words around 70% of the workforce is going to work without any real interest in the work they are doing. Gallup points out that this leads to poor morale, low productivity and reduced earnings per share.
Gallup suggest 12 elements that link to management. Look at these 12 statements and reflect on how many relate to you.
1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my organisation makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
As a manger it may be worth reflecting if you are doing all the things you need to be doing to ensure yes answers to each of these questions.
If you are not then it may well be that you have a high percentage of disengaged people in your team.
For the Gallup survey have a look at:
http://www.gallup.com/consulting/121535/Employee-Engagement-Overview-Brochure.aspx
Why delegation goes wrong
Recently I was working with a manager who informed me that he didn’t delegate any responsibilities to his team. I was shocked and disappointed and asked why. “Well, he said, every time I delegate a job to one of the team they always screw it up, so it’s easier and quicker to do it myself”.
No doubt it will be no surprise if I tell you that the person screwing up the delegated task was the manager himself. Further investigation revealed two fatal mistakes; he only ever gave grot jobs to be done and he never spent time telling his team member what he wanted from them.
Delegation only works if the manager is prepared to spend time explaining the task, getting agreement from the team member, explaining precisely what the outcome should be, gives them the authority as well as the responsibility to do it as well as any necessary information. The manager also needs to agree times when he and the team member meet to review the delegated task and make sure it is on track. Also, he needs to make sure that there is a time frame for doing the work; and he must trust them and not micromanage.
The other big must is that at least some of the jobs he delegates are interesting, challenging and ultimately rewarding.
If this manager had followed just those simple guidelines then he might have achieved more success, built a more skilful team with higher levels of motivation and greater loyalty to their manager.
He has promised to try again, we wait and see how he does.