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The Other Way… Beyond Technology to Leverage Your Investment in Your People

Written by: Ian Cook

Article Overview: Proposes a comprehensive learning curriculum to enhance so-called soft skills and attitudes at three distinct leverage points in an organization: managers, teams, and individual contributors.

The Other Way… Beyond Technology to Leverage Your Investment in Your People

"Our people are the key to our success?"

How so very often we have heard executives mouth these words. But then, how very often we have also heard their people mutter words such as, "Oh yeah, well, if we really are the key, how come they don't... "

Of course, it is true that in this competitive, knowledge-based and customer-driven economy your people are absolutely vital to how your enterprise performs. After all, pretty well everything is done between and through people.

Yet, it never ceases to amaze me why management powers-that-be don't devote more effort to accessing all the talent that they have paid for. There is such a phenomenal additional return to be generated if they only would.

Two ways to tap into potential employee contribution

I am going to assume you are not like "them" and that you do want to access some of that rich untapped potential contribution of your employees. How do you go about it? Well, you have essentially two ways.

The first way is by leveraging employee production through technology. It's no surprise that technology is the fulcrum of choice. It brings results relatively quickly and these results tend to be clear and measurable. You can actually calculate a rate of return on your investment in technology. And, clearly, high-tech processes and information management systems have a remarkable impact on the speed and quality of analysis and decisions people make.

But while technology tools leverage the human work around information and distance, there remains a second, even deeper reservoir of untapped employee potential. I refer to the human element—what some people call the "soft side." This element involves both an internal and external focus.

The most successful and productive individuals possess a strong internal will to do better, to contribute more, to stay focused on results, and to grow and become even more effective. They intrinsically value other people and they work hard at mastering interpersonal skills and gaining a better understanding of themselves.

This emotional intelligence translates into effectiveness around:

• interfaces with other people in and beyond the organization
• customer/client service
• resiliency in face of challenges and change
• bringing out the best in staff
• harnessing group synergy for creativity and fast results

Move the fulcrum for leverage

The good news is positive attitudes can be developed and people skills can be learned. All you have to do is move the fulcrum...

In physics, you move a FULCRUM along a lever to create mechanical advantage. This increased leverage enables you to apply the same amount of FORCE and yet move a greater WEIGHT.

Let’s apply this metaphor to your organization. The "force" is your investment in the salaries, wages, benefits, and fully allocated costs of your people. Three key "fulcrums" are:

1. the leadership style of your managers and supervisors
2. the processes and interpersonal dynamics of your teams
3. the degree of personal accountability your staff accepts for their own performance.

The "weight" moved is the level of results your people generate.

You deserve a high leverage return on your investment in people ... and it is there for the taking!

A curriculum for development–at all levels

Allow me to propose a curriculum to enable your organization to access the part of your employees’ potential that shows up for work each day but is not activated. I group recommended programs into three areas: Leadership, Team Synergy and Individual Contributor Effectiveness.

Leadership


Nothing inspires people more than great leadership. At its core lies the persistent application of vision, involvement of followers and a belief in their fundamental ability to perform well.

Leadership is not just for top executives. Nurture it at all levels. Teach it to your managers, supervisors, project leaders and lead hands. Whether guiding a department through a period of transition, creating a supportive, gratifying atmosphere for staff, or coaching the best from a struggling performer or high potential employee, the aspiring leader must be sensitive. He or she must be aware of both the impact of his/her own style and the current needs, fears and hopes of those whom he/she leads.

Your leaders should be learning how to:

• Get great results through others by…
• Motivating and focusing their staff
• Recognizing and rewarding achievement
• Developing an effective leadership style
• Understanding and flexing to the styles of others
• Clarifying vision, mission, values, and priorities
• Ensuring high performance standards and results
• Coach for individual and team performance
• Manage change and personal transition
• Deal with conflict, resistance and so-called "difficult people"
• Chair a meeting effectively


Team Synergy

Whenever people collaborate to perform a task or make a decision, they encounter a potential minefield of conflicting perceptions, agendas, needs and work styles. Members of high performing teams focus on results and are willing to address, when required, how (well) they work together.

Teach your teams how to:

• Boost their performance by...
• Understanding human dynamics in groups
• Establishing agreed-upon operating guidelines
• Clarifying deliverables, expectations, roles and leadership
• Creating trust and openness
• When stuck, taking time out to deal with it
• Building individual member buy-in to a shared vision
• Tap into the creative potential of the group
• Kick start a newly formed team, to bring it quickly up to full performance
• Run their meetings effectively

Individual Contributor Effectiveness


What’s called for is an attitude on the part of employees that accepts personal accountability at work, combined with a distinct set of skills in four areas:

• Self-Direction—Establishing purpose and goals for one’s job and career:
• Identifying (and updating) what motivates them in their work
• Determining their personal strategic career direction
• Planning, to transform their job and career goals into action




• Self-Awareness—Of one's own style, needs, preferences and impact on others:
• Taking stock of their skills, knowledge, experience, attitudes, external resources and overall current situation
• Obtaining feedback on how their style is experienced by others




• Self-Management—Daily focus on one’s priorities and maintenance of positive mental, emotional and physical states:
• Self-organization & time management
• Harnessing cognitive and creative capacities through mental techniques
• Performing well under stress
• Maintaining health and physical fitness




• Self-Presentation—Expressing oneself in a variety of ways:
• Clear, assertive face-to-face communications
• Networking and influencing others
• Projecting the appropriate, professional image
• Concise and persuasive writing
• Negotiating for win/win


While you cannot outright purchase positive attitudes and motivation to contribute extra effort, your leaders, at all levels, can coax it out. Smoothly functioning teams can foster a spirit of going the extra mile. But, ultimately, it is up to the individual.

What is your organization doing to develop these skills and attitudes? Make a strategic investment in them. Move those fulcrums. And then leverage your investment for organizational and business success.

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Article Tags: accountability, ian cook, leadership, leadership style, personal accountability, team synergy, teams
Referred by: http://upwardaction.com



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