How to Cultivate Engaged Employees — 1 of 6 related posts

Modesty
Churchill was wise!

Harvard Business Review’s September issue is chock full of great articles, but one in particular caught my eye: “How to Cultivate Engaged Employees” by Charalambos Vlachoutsicos.  The author, a former international business person and current adjunct professor in the international MBA program at Athens University of Economics and Business, lays out six basic guidelines for encouraging employees to be engaged and excited about your mission. He believes, and I agree, that the behavior of managers can reinforce or destroy a sense of mutuality between employees and the organization. I’m going to explore each of the six guidelines in this post and the five that will follow.

 Guideline #1: Be modest

This might seem counter-intuitive to anyone who has worked hard to climb a business ladder. After all, hiding your light under the proverbial bush is not the traditional way to shine at work! But as managers we have to find a way to cultivate the light in others, which means standing back a bit so we don’t cast a shadow on employees (if you’ll forgive the tortured metaphor!). As I describe in chapter 57 of my book Building a Winning Business, leaders let the light shine on others!

This isn’t as difficult as you might think. Just make a concentrated effort to give away credit when it is deserved. And always err on the side of giving too much praise versus not enough. I believe it is important to give specific, sincere praise and to put it in writing when possible. Sharing credit will pay you back in spades as people become more energized and excited about their work, realizing that their effort is important and recognized.

Besides giving away credit, modest leaders take the blame and then quickly move on to coming up with solutions. I’m very intentional about pointing out my own past business mistakes, which I believe has helped to create a culture at Intertech in which people are not afraid to fail. Everyone has heard me talk my own mistakes and problems, so they know it’s ok to try something and fail themselves. As my father used to tell me, “If you do nothing, you won’t make any mistakes.

standardSeptember 10Tom SalonekLeadership

Book Takeaway Post: Verify the Story

First Date
Don’t expect to see someone’s true personality on a first date

An outside HR consultant once told me, “There are three places where you can’t always see someone’s true personality: on a first date, at church, and at a job interview.” This year, a Wall Street Journal article stated over 1 out of 10 people lie on their resume.  When it comes to recruiting talent, as the saying goes, “trust but verify.”

Verifying a job candidate’s history is a key part of the interviewing process.  Increase the odds of hiring someone whose personality, values, and work ethic match your own by thoroughly checking them out before extending an offer of employment.  At Intertech, we do multiple verifications/assessments:

  • Candidates complete an online personality assessment to determine fit to the job and our culture.  My experience shows, “People are hired for skill and fired for personality.”
  • Reference checks are done for the three past employers.  When performing reference checks, be sure to ask the questions correctly.  For example, don’t say “Frank said he was your top salesperson… is that true?” Instead, ask, “How did Frank stack rank compared to your other salespeople?” Just like in a casual conversation, open ended questions get better answers.
  • Near the final stage of the process, we perform a background check.  The Small Business Association has a complete list of background check options along with defining what’s legal for employers to screen.
  • For salespeople in particular, we request W2 copies for the past three years.   We match up what they said with what the W2 shows.  If there are discrepancies, we pass.

Consistently doing the above, helps us assess someone’s “real” personality.  If you’re reading this and still in the dating scene, try one or more of the above steps and let me know how it goes!

standardAugust 28Tom SalonekBook Takeaway Post

Last in the series: “The power of collective intelligence in organizations”

Two Way Street
Working well with a vendor/partner is a two way street!

This is the last post I’ll make related to the work of MIT Professor Tom Malone and his interesting book, The Future of Work. Previously I told you about Malone’s concept of how technology is enabling collective intelligence at a level never seen before and how that is changing how people work.

Another trend Malone cites as a driver for radically different work is what he calls the “e-lance economy” comprised of electronically connected freelance workers or independent contractors that combine in unique configurations on a temporary basis to accomplish specific projects. An e-lance model already is common for the motion picture and construction industries. Malone predicts that this way of organizing will become more common in other industries.

That approach also is common in the IT world and is the model on which Intertech has been based since we started 20 years ago. I devote six chapters in my book Building a Winning Business laying out my thoughts on how to work effectively with vendors. Takeaways #39-#40 describes how to supplement your team with carefully selected vendors and to work the interview process. Takeaways #41-42 deal with the importance of communication and taking the time to get the project off on the right foot.

Just about what you might expect, right?

What might surprise readers is the chapter (#43) on how to be a good customer. Yes, you read that right. Working effectively with vendors of any type is a two-way street. Good customer-vendor relationships require both parties to participate, communicate and share responsibility for a successful outcome. I won’t reiterate everything in the chapter here but I will tell you that communicating – early and often – ranks high on the list!

standardAugust 23Tom SalonekLeadership