Navigator Newsletter #158

PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE LEAD NAVIGATOR

A Tent in My Living Room?

My wife and I were once upon a time avid campers and hikers. I spent many years with my son in Scouts and more nights in a sleeping bag than I care to remember. My oldest daughter loves the outdoors and still likes to camp. Hannah, my middle child, only likes camping if there is a heated bathroom and a place to plug in her hair dryer—oh well. As a family, we were experts at making s’mores and cooking hotdogs on an open fire—ah, good ole days. I even remember one wedding anniversary when Cathy and I hiked the Appalachian Trail. We about froze to death, but we had a great time. Like all families, the kids got older, we got too busy, and the camping bug faded away. The gear got dusty and out it went at some yard sale years ago. Now the kids are gone but the bug is back.

This month we are heading to the mountains to revive a wonderful pastime. We bought a new tent and set it up in our living room just to see if we remembered how. Call me crazy–I guess when you are a consultant you want to work out the bugs and make sure everything is working operating correctly before you apply it to a real situation.

Best regards,

Greg

President and Lead Navigator

UPCOMING EVENTS & SPECIALS 

ON SALE! The Supervisors Passport to Success

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Free Ice Breakers and Team Building Exercises

Human Resource and Talent Management Toolkit CD

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Employee Motivation

THE BEATINGS WON’T STOP UNTIL THE MORALE IMPROVES

There is a direct correlation between bad management and high employee turnover.

Have you ever experienced a situation similar to this?

The president of the company was frustrated as he watched the sales slide lower during the past four quarters. The leadership team had a brainstorming session and decided the problem was their people.  They needed to “motivate” them. So they spent several thousand dollars and hired a motivational speaker to get their workforce fired up.

She gave a great speech and told everyone to think positively, dream big and to make a list of the top ten goals they needed to do to improve their sales. Then they spent another thousand dollars purchasing motivational posters and hung them on the walls around the office. Management was happy thinking this would solve their problem.

Sales improved for about a month and then in predictable fashion, sales started dropping again. So they fired the sales manager and hired a new one to rev up the sales team. Morale plummeted and then their best sales people started quitting one after one. OMG!

Now what? What did they do wrong? What would you do? 

The problem was not the people, but the sales process. Yes, it is important you hire the right people, but most of the time the real culprit is not the people, but bad management, bad processes and systems that hamper motivation, growth and efficiency. People want to do a good job. It is up to management to help them, not blame them.

My experience shows me 30% of what most people do at work is non-value added—wasteful rules, policies and sign off. Departments don’t talk to each other and their bureaucratic and diseased processes hamper and frustrate motivated people. When this goes on too long, it demotivates and as a result sales will drop, communication becomes dysfunctional, people become frustrated and employee turnover increases.

You can hire all the motivational speakers you want and hang all the inspirational posters you can buy, but if you don’t fix the real problems, processes, eliminate the bureaucracy and deliver great service you are dead in the water. Optimize your organization first—then bring in the marching bands and motivational speakers. You will have something to celebrate—I guarantee it!

Our consulting process is simple and effective:

1) Diagnose the symptoms
2) Identify the problem(s)
3) Implement a treatment strategy
4) Change the culture
5) Follow up and focus on continuous improvement

If you want to discuss your particular issue or to talk to one of our solution providers please contact us.

TESTIMONIAL

I have been President of Premier Platforms for 15 years. I asked Greg to work with my company to help us hire better people, build a more effective leadership team, improve communications and create unity between my departments. The results were amazing and immediate. I have hired many consultants and trainers in my lifetime and their results were minimal. Greg has a unique approach that is down-to-earth and highly effective. Within a short period of time he helped me improve my individual leadership skills as well as put processes in place that help my departments work effectively together. He revamped my hiring process and now we can identify and hire top people. As a result, my business is now seeing increased sales and a smoother, more effective organization. I am awestruck by the results. My only regret is that I should have asked for his assistance much sooner than I did. 

David Cooper
President, Premier Platforms

Facts and Trends 

28%
Percentage of firms that have bolstered employee-training initiatives despite the recession. About one-fourth of companies have cut back on professional-development programs in the past year. The survey is based on telephone interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies.

Source: Accountemps

2.8
Number of hours a day the average employee worries about personal job concerns such as layoffs.

Source: Lynn Taylor Consulting

54%
Percent of HR executives who consider employee engagement the biggest challenge companies face after job-cut announcements. The next biggest challenge, selected by 23 percent, is easing anxiety over the possibility of additional layoffs. Only 15 percent of HR executives said they consider the primary challenge to be ensuring that the quality and quantity of output remains consistent, despite having fewer employees.

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

65%
Percent of senior executives “highly” or “very highly” concerned that high-potential talent and leadership will leave once the economy turns (52 percent of 319 executives surveyed predict an increase in voluntary turnover at their companies once the recession ends, four times the number expecting a decrease).

Source: Deloitte, Forbes Insights

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HIRING AND SELECTION SOLUTIONS