by Brian Clark | Employee Engagement, Performance, performance management, succession planning, talent retention, Uncategorized
We have heard this statement over and over “People join organizations and quit managers.” But is there any truth to it? According to two different research reports, one reason people leave organizations is due to the boss. Kenexa research shows that 30% of turnover is due to the boss. Forbes completed a study titled, “Why Your Top Talent is Leaving in 2014 & What It’ll Take to Retain Them” and they cite that 37% of top talent is leaving due to Boss’ Performance.
Research conducted by Gallup, Inc. supports the statistics from Kenexa and Forbes. They go on to quantify the qualities employees want in a manager. The top four are:
- Managers who show care, interest and concern for their staff
- To know what is expected of them
- A role which fits their abilities
- Positive feedback and recognition regularly for work done well
One of the reasons employees leave is because of their boss. So, to improve retention, we need to improve boss’ performance. How do organizations improve management performance? Here are a few ideas:
- Set clear performance expectations. Your leaders need to know that you expect them to be good leaders and that you want them to show their employees that they care, are interested in them, provide feedback and recognition, to provide employees with a job that fits their abilities and that employees understand what is expected of them.
- Train your leaders. Offer your leaders management development opportunities on the qualities and capabilities you want your leaders to demonstrate. Ensure that the courseware helps your leaders apply the training on the job. Remember – your leaders will only become good at being a leader if they practice the content in the courses they completed.
- Be a good role model. Model the qualities you expect of your leaders.
Author: Cindy Pascale
Cindy Pascale is the CEO and co-founder of Vado and has 16+ years of HR, Training & Development and OD leadership experience and 12 years running talent management, development and assessment companies. Vado is the e-learning courseware provider ‘changing the face of learning’.
by Brian Clark | Announcements, e-learning, Webinars
According to CareerBuilder.com, 21% of employees plan on finding a new job in 2014. Are you ready to lose 1 out of 5 of your employees? I don’t think so because you know that turnover is costly. There are the obvious costs – hiring, interviewing, and training costs. And there are the less obvious cost of turnover such as running your business under staffed, or losing top talent and even worse losing talent to your competition. So, it makes sense that every company needs to take action to do what they can to minimize turnover. And one way to do this is through development.
Studies show that employees who are offered career development and general development opportunities are more likely to stay with their organizations and stay for a longer period of time. In fact, according to a study conducted by Kenexa 30% of people leave due to lack of professional development.
But that is only half of the equation. What about your managers? The old saying is “employees join organizations and quit their boss”. This puts the focus on your management development process. In fact, a recent Forbes study showed that the one of the top three drivers of turnover was boss performance. Have you trained your managers and developed their capabilities to treat employees as the valuable resource they are?
On August 12 [11am AEST], we will be delivering a webinar where we will talk about why retention is important, how employee development and management development can lower turnover. Additionally, we will be showing some solutions you can use to drive retention through development. This will be a highly interactive session. So, please come prepared to share your employee and management development stories that led to higher retention rates. The session is going to be so interactive, instead of calling this a webinar, maybe we should call it a “Discuss-inar”!
Hope to see you on August 12! Space is limited so please register by email to : RSVP Email You will receive a confirmation email.
by Brian Clark | culture, Performance, performance management, strategy
One of the most commonly mentioned issues by leaders of organizations in my client community is the lack of execution and follow through. This critical issue spans from lack of follow up calls by the sales team to entire projects stalled or abandoned due to lack of execution and accountability up and down the hierarchy.
There are a number of causes of lack of execution and accountability. I will touch on some of them here as a primer. Given the enormity of the issue across all types of organizations, I will devote more time in future writing to this set of topics and offer some real solutions. These issues can be solved. In the meantime they are costing your organization time and money. Lack of execution and accountability also contributes to low performance cultures and morale. Who wants to work with a team that never celebrates the victories of completed projects, big deals won and new initiatives delivering results?
- Communication lacks clarity and specificity. This was really hammered home to me once when a colleague showed me a graphic illustrating how many people in an organization hear a message but do not retain it, how many understand the message and take no action, how many want to take action but do not know how and of course the smallest number of all; how many hear the message and take action. It is scary and if you are a leader of an organization you should be scared.
- Top to bottom and bottom to top accountability is lacking. If the senior leadership do not keep each other accountable then it is unlikely that middle management is accountable and if middle management is not accountable then the rest of the organization is not accountable. Guess what you have? A crappy paralyzed culture that will slip into to a ‘doom loop’ if it has not done so already.
- Nobody is listening. We all remember the ‘voice of the customer’ as a big thing a decade or so ago, [it is still important]. How many leaders and managers really listen to their people? I mean really listen. I have worked with firms who have implemented collaboration platforms to try to alleviate this and the people are too shit scared to be honest enough to make a difference. I bet most people doubt whether the leadership would even acknowledge, let alone, take action on input from employees. If things are not getting done, it could be that people have some input and ideas on why this is happening.
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There is another biggie that can be added to this list; the organization has not strategic objectives. Most people would be amazed to realize that many businesses do not have strategies let alone a business plan.
I will dive more deeply into this topic area in future posts. This whole issue of execution is a big deal and there are a lot of facets to the issue. I will do my best to offer some ideas for solutions.
by Brian Clark | e-learning, learning management systems, LMS
We are very fortunate to welcome some great new clients to our community. As we commence these implementation projects we have been engaged in conversations about how best our new clients can develop a communications strategy to ensure a successful ‘go-live.’ I have captured a few of the tips in the following bullet points. You will notice the process is virtually identical to a branding initiative.
- Develop strong awareness and a reputation before the LMS reaches the ‘go-live’ stage.
- Build loyalty in your organisation by establishing a great name for the LMS environment and focusing on the benefits that will flow to all persons in the organisation willing to use the LMS.
- Get to know your audience[s] for the LMS. You may be rolling out to only a pilot group or your entire enterprise. In either case you should research your audience demographic profile to help you understand their expectations and preferences. When you understand your audience you are better able to cater for diversity.
- Adapt and configure the LMS to suit your audiences. You might be able to segment the user population to cater for the diversity of users. Learning and other content can be designed to meet the needs of different audiences and avoid the bland one-size-fits all style that plagues many learning environments.
- If you don’t know then ask your people. Get out and meet with different types of people in different parts of your organisation. You can set up webinars or short face to face meetings to gain a better understanding of your audiences. You will also be doing a great job at establishing awareness and loyalty to the LMS project.
- Keep the messaging consistent in all of your communications. If the system will have only limited accessibility or content then make sure you communicate this. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is sending mixed messages. For example, some people will become very enthusiastic about online learning and other capabilities of the LMS. If the system is only going to be used to store competency profiles, there will be discontent.
- Make sure the user experience is consistent with the expectations of the audience. If there is going to be a staged roll-out of certain features make sure you communicate this up front. First impressions count. Consider using different learning environments for different audiences.
- Use the power of association to foster greater interest in the LMS. For example you may include content from the organisation’s leadership team. Engage thought leaders both inside and outside your organisation to contribute content.
- Use familiar domain names for your LMS. Using familiar domain names ensures the LMS is seen as part of your IT systems architecture and not simply a bit of software ‘we have for the fun of it.’
- Promote using your organisation’s social and collaboration tools and events. In these days of enterprise social platforms and knowledge portals, signs and posters around the workplace are still effective. Keeping a blog about the LMS roll-out is another great way to engage your audience. Use whatever you have and keep it updated and fresh to instil the importance of this project in all your people.
by Brian Clark | e-learning, e-learning modules, performance support
DOTS Talent Solutions has added an extraordinary new toolkit of modules to our existing library of over 200+ business titles. Our new toolkit consists of 20 modules designed to help new leaders and managers succeed in positions of authority. Our new range of modules is based on the best-selling book From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership. This is the latest book by Kevin Eikenberry.
The 20 modules in our toolkit covers topics such as:
- Making the transition from peer to leader
- Communication
- Coaching employees
- Managing change
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Commitment to goals and success
Not only is this toolkit essential for emerging new leaders and managers, it is also a useful refresher course for those already in positions of authority. According to Kevin Eikenberry, 40% of new managers fail within 18 months of their promotion. This is often due to not receiving training in how to work effectively with people, managing workloads, mediating conflict, managing projects and much more. Often new managers are required to take on a roll of authority over people who were previously peers.
Every module in the ‘Bud to Boss’ toolkit includes:
- A short video
- Complete instructions on applying the learning ‘on the job’
- A ‘job aid’ to help keep you on track
If you are a new or emerging manager this toolkit may be the difference between struggling with a new role of authority or building a foundation for a successful career. If you are responsible for learning and development, succession planning, or a manager wishing to promote talent, our new toolkit will help you avoid the culture killing experience of a failed new manager. Get in touch with us and we can learn more about what you need and assist with a demo of our new toolkit.
