Seo Experts

Simple Ways to Reengage "Tuned-out" Employees

 

Upper Black Eddy, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/08/2013 -- A recent Gallup report found that the majority of American workers hate their jobs. Gallup wrote:

Just 30 percent of employees are engaged and inspired at work, according to Gallup's 2013 State of the American Workplace Report, which surveyed more than 150,000 full and part-time workers during 2012. That's up from 28 percent in 2010. The rest … not so much. A little more than half of workers (52 percent) have a perpetual case of the Mondays—they're present, but not particularly excited about their job.

The remaining 18 percent are actively disengaged or, as Gallup CEO Jim Clifton put it in the report, "roam the halls spreading discontent." Worse, Gallup reports, those actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. up to $550 billion annually in lost productivity.

Wakeup America, we can't afford for this to continue unless the goal is to become a third world economy.

One way to help change these embarrassing numbers is to invest in employee development and training instead of buying pool tables for the break-room.

A big part of this disengagement is due to the fact that in too many companies, especially large organizations, employees do not feel connected to the whole. They do their job, or not as it were, never understanding how their behavior impacts the corporation.

A friend who is a director in a large organization once told me a story about standing at the door of a hotel ballroom as the company’s managers left the Executive briefing. Top management had just revealed the company’s vision for the next several years. As the managers were leaving the briefing, my friend could overhear many of them saying things like, “That’s a great vision. I hope they can achieve it.” What?

The managers seem to have missed the fact they they were the “they” who would be achieving the end result. Unfortunately for the company, they did not see how the company’s vision affected them or their subordinates. This is an example of disengagement at its finest.

Like many organizations, the company had not taken their people through any formal training in strategic planning or even had them create a plan for how they and their department fit into the grand scheme of things. The company’s grand vision was not shared with the very people who would accomplish it.

Companies need to understand that one cannot motivate someone to do something. Motivation comes from the inside. You can, however, inspire people to become self-motivated. This is where speakers, trainers and coaches can bring lasting value to the organization.

Several years ago I was coaching a sales executive who wanted to be more successful and inspire his team to do the same. One issue he was having was that although his entire sales team reached their monthly quota, they never exceeded it. His challenge was how to get them to want to sell more. For the sake of that particular coaching session, we choose to focus on one particular, high performing salesperson to explore what might be happening.

When I asked my client what motivated this person, he told me he did not know. I explained that people do things for their own reasons, not yours and mine, therefore, it was important to know what his people wanted - what their “hot buttons” were - so that he could then use their own goals and aspirations to motivate them instead of trying to guess what they wanted or, worse yet, assume that what motivated him would motivate them. Many people, including my wife, Georgia, who was an executive in a giant tele-communications company once said that the most important thing to her was recognition, not money.

Most people in the workplace have never been exposed to personal development training and have little or no idea as to where they want to be in five years or how their job relates to their personal life. If they did they’d feel more connected and there would be a lot less disengagement at work.

If I want to motivate you and have you become more engaged at work, it’s then my responsibility to ensure you understand what you want for yourself and how your job fits into that. Then and only then will people get onboard.

When I first started in business, companies invested in employee training and personal development seminars. Since then organizations have cut these budgets, justifying that it was an unnecessary expense and could be done without.

Really? Then how do you explain losing $550 Billion as a direct result of disengaged employees?

Here are some suggestions you can implement right away to start re-engaging your people:

1. Recognize and reward great performance.

Study after study has shown that people are more motivated by praise and recognition than, in many cases, even money; although some top companies have instituted bonus programs to keep people engaged and working at peak levels of performance.

2. Bring your key team together.

Whether you schedule a formal workshop or strategic planning session or simply have one of your executive staff conduct it, bringing people together to share the company vision is crucial to success and growth in today’s working environment. This gives your team the opportunity to understand the overall vision and develop their own strategic plan from it.

3. Focus your meetings on what is working

Too many company meetings turn into gripe sessions or discussions about what went wrong. While it’s always worthwhile to learn from your mistakes, it’s counterproductive to dwell on them and replay them over and over. Focusing your discussions around what is working will, as like attracts like, move you toward more things that are working or will work.

4. Have your key team members coached

Bringing in an outside business coach, even in smaller companies, is one of the best investments you can make. By having an objective observer and accountability coach, you can ensure your on track and that your key deliverables are being met.

The horrendous problem of dis-engagement in the workplace is something that can and must be changed if America is to, once again, be a leader in the global economy of the twenty-first century.

Jim Donovan is a powerful thought leader who’s books and teachings have positively impacted the lives of more than a million people worldwide.

His willingness to speak openly about, what he calls his, “decade of destruction,” and share the ideas and techniques that enabled him to radically change his life, have made him a sought after speaker and trainer for business events and meetings.

Jim’s sense of humor, coupled with his unique life experiences allow him to connect with diverse groups. With more than half a million books in print and sixteen years as a speaker and coach, Jim Donovan is a recognized authority in the personal development field.

Beyond simple inspiration and motivation, Jim provides people with workable strategies that enable them to take charge of their own destiny and reach their full potential To learn more about his “Twenty-two Ideas in Forty-four Minutes” mini-seminar, developed specifically for the Healthcare industry, to help your people handle the pressures of today’s healthcare environment, please email Jim or call (215) 794-3826.

To learn more about how to be happier at work, please call Jim Donovan here (215) 794-3826 or click on his web link:

Contact: Jim Donovan
P: (215) 794-3826
164 Lodi Hill Road
Upper Black Eddy, PA 18972