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ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH TOTAL COMMITMENT
| Guest post by: Dr Adalat Khan |
Article Overview: Excellence is an excellent word and excellent companies strive for achieving it. Many factors contribute to the excellence of companies chief among them is employee’s commitment. Without commitment no company can think of achieving excellence. Commitment is rather a key ingredient for improving quality and productivity, reducing defects, increasing profitability and decreasing costs.
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Free Download - COMMUNICATION FOR HUMAN EXCELLENCE By Dr Adalat Khan |
ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH TOTAL COMMITMENT
Excellence is an excellent word and
excellent companies strive for achieving it. Many factors contribute to the
excellence of companies chief among them is employee’s commitment. Without
commitment no company can think of achieving excellence. Commitment is rather a
key ingredient for improving quality and productivity, reducing defects, increasing
profitability and decreasing costs.
However these days one of the major problems by all
companies is the lack of total commitment from their employees. In Malaysia it
is a common complaint that employees are no more loyal as they used to be in
the past. As a result of lower commitment employees leave their companies for
slightly higher pay. Some manager’s joke that today’s employees will leave
their company even for a 50 cents increased salary offered by other companies.
Lack of loyalty is not only faced by Malaysian
companies but in other countries, companies also complain of this problem. And
to cope with this problem they have adopted many programmes and strategies,
which tries to restore employees’ commitment. For example, Xerox is now
spending US $400 million a year on management programs and consultants to
retrain its employees what they call “focus on commitment to the organization”
DEFINITION OF COMMITMENT:-
Commitment may be simply defined as, “ an attitude
of people for deploying their total resources towards the achievement of
certain goals”.
From this definition we can pick up certain elements
which lead to people’s commitment. These elements are:-
1.
Commitment is an attitude:-
Commitment is an attitude a psychological frame of
mind which motivate people to work towards certain goals. So for a commitment
to exist in a person they must have a positive attitude. Negative attitude is
one of the major reasons for non-committal approach. It will be necessary to
mention here that one of the toughest jobs is to change people’s attitude.
Managers can train employees with new skills and impart them with new knowledge
but quite often than not they find it extremely difficult to effect changes in
people’s attitude.
2.
Use of resources:-
Committed people commit their total resources, which
include going extra mile for achieving goals assigned to them. According to
Dennis G. MacCarthy the author of the best seller book” The Loyalty Link” most
employees give 60 percent of their time and attention for their jobs. It is
enough to do what must be done in most cases. But to achieve excellence
employees need to give 100% commitment. For example, if an employee who drives
a delivery truck, all that he ought to know the customer address and the number
of the cartons for delivery. An ordinary driver will deliver it at the
doorstep. However committed drivers will not just dump them at the door step,
rather they will go an extra mile of helping the customer to take it inside the
store. That extra 40 percent effort is called discretionary effort, which can
be called commitment.
3.
Achievement of goals:-
The third dimension of commitment is goal
orientation. Committed people not only work hard but also are also smart enough
to know the ultimate results, which are expected of them. Commitment thus means
striving till the achievement of ultimate goals.
OTHER QUALITIES OF COMMITTED EMPLOYEES:
In addition to the three major elements that account
for employees’ commitment the following other qualities are commonly found in
committed employees.
1.
Understanding and total support to the company’s vision and goals:-
Committed employees understand, share and support the
company’s vision and goals and consistently try towards achieving them. It will
be a mistake to call a person committed just because the person is staying in
the company. If the same person does not share the company’s aspirations and
goals, he can not be called a committed person. In fact it will be good for the
company that he leaves the company, so that the company will be a able to
replace him and hire a better person.
2.
Consider their company as a
good place to work in:-
Another criteria for employees’ commitment are their
perception of the company they work for. If they find their company as one of
the best places to work in they will be urged to work longer and stay in the
company.
3.
Positive and “can do” attitude:-
Positive attitude is one of the greatest qualities of
people as it inspires them to work harder and smarter. Positive attitude
towards one’s company’s goals, bosses, fellow employees can also enhance a
person’s commitment.
4.
Customers focus:-
Customers are the most important people who should be the
priority of everyone in the organization. Employees must do everything to serve
customers, which in turn will lead to satisfied customers. At the end of the
day customers satisfaction counts more than any other thing and by focusing
their efforts towards customers satisfaction employees can accomplish this
goal. In essence real commitment means having a customer focus, which include
producing goods and services which meet or exceed customer’s satisfaction.
5. Seeking continuos improvement:-
Lastly, another factor which entitle employees to be
called “committed” is their desire to seek new knowledge, skills and attitudes
which help them and their companies in getting excellent results. An
organization consists of its people and if people do not renew their
capabilities it can lead to their demise.
BENEFITS OF
COMMITMENTS:-
1.
The key to excellence:-
Commitment is the key for achieving excellence. In fact
with commitment excellence is predictable in business, personal and other areas
and without it failure and mediocrity is predictable. No business, organization
or person can dream of excellence without total commitment. So to inspire
people to achieve excellence we have to fist gain their total commitment. I would
say that ten committed persons are better than having hundred non-committed
persons.
2.
Make things happen:-
The hardest step in achieving excellence is commitment, without
which nothing can happen. So to make things happen a company needs employees
who are committed and loyal.
3.
Leads to loyalty:-
Committed employees will stay loyal with the companies
than those who are not committed. The main reason is their desire to complete
the things they start and grow along with the company. Non-committed people on
the other hand are just killing time and the moment they spot a better
opportunity elsewhere they would quit the existing company.
4.
Job satisfaction:-
One of the major dissatisfiers for people is not achieving
result they work for. And no one can achieve any good result without total
commitment. So when a person is committed he/she achieves better results which
in then positively reinforces their ego and thus leads to job satisfaction. And
job satisfaction is one of the key drivers for people to work harder and stay
longer in their companies.
5.
Commitment leads to better
customer satisfaction:-
Committed
employees go the extra mile to satisfy customers. This leads to loyal customers
and loyal customers means good business. In fact according to a research loyal
customers are more profitable than new customers.
WHY PEOPLE LACK
COMMITMENT:-
Before we suggest how to gain commitment from employees we
should identify the roadblocks which hamper employees commitment. The following
are some of the factors which retard employees’ commitment. These are:
1.
Poor reward and
recognition:-
People will not feel like doing their best and will settle
for mediocrity when they feel that their employers’ commitment in terms of
reward and recognition is lacking. Commitment is a mutual phenomenon when
employers what to get the best from their employees and do not reciprocate it
with proper reward and recognition people will not give their commitment.
2.
Dead-end jobs:-
Work, which does not offer opportunities for growth and
promotion, is one of the greatest reasons for employees’ de-motivation and
non-commitment. A recent study carried out by “ The Loyalty Institute “ of AON
consulting in USA found out that jobs which deprive employees from self
development and growth opportunities leads to high dissatisfaction and
employees disloyalty.
3.
Managing by intimidation:-
Mistreating people, and managing them by threats, screams
and embarrassment also leads to employee’s dissatisfaction, which in turn
weaken their commitment. In a best seller book “ The Loyalty Link” Dennis G.
McCarthty has identified managing by intimidation as one of the seven ways
which undermine employees loyalty.
4.
Negative
working environment:-
Non-acceptance by colleagues, poor cooperation too much
politics, and other negative behaviors by colleagues, supervisors and other
people in the company can also hamper commitment. At the end of the day people
want piece of mind, which if not available in the work environment will
discourage them to show total support to its company.
5.
No job
security:-
One of the major needs of employees is job security. If
the employee feels that he/she can lose his/her job anytime then they would not
be committed towards the achievement of the company.
6.
Negative
attitude:-
Some people by nature are not committed to anything and
anyone and as such they would not be committed to their employer. Commitment is
an attitude and those who lack it will find it difficult to totally commit
themselves to their jobs.
STRATEGIES
FOR IMPROVING COMMITMENT:
One of the main reasons why many companies have miserably
failed in their improvement programmes and wasted millions of dollars is their
fallacy to discount the importance of human resources. Programmes like
Reengineering, TQM, Cost reduction etc have miserable failed because they
overlooked the importance which people can play in the success or failure of
any improvement programme. No amount of computerization, automation, standardization
or re-organisation effort can get any result if people are not committed to
make it succeed. If employees’ commitment play such pivotal role in the success
or failure of an organisation then managers must make all out effort to gain
it. I have developed a 10 points strategy which could result in the improvement
of employees commitment. These points are:
1.
REWARD AND RECOGNITION:
Top on the list of strategies for gaining total
commitment from employees will be a proper reward and recognition system. The
system should include both material as well as psychological rewards. Reward
begets commitment and the bottom-line for any employee to work is to earn
proper reward and recognition. This is the main why everyone works and once
this is properly given to an employee he will be motivated to invest more in
his/her job. Employee’s perception of the reward and recognition can also
affect their commitment. Genghis Khan one of the greatest emperors in the
history is well known for effectively using this strategy even for gaining
loyalty from defeated enemies. Genghis Khan’s army in addition to Mongols also
included Chinese, Indians and other ethnic races. After defeating them he would
assimilate them into his army. However never ever these people revolted against
him, one of the main reasons being his policy to positively reward and publicly
recognize those who showed better results. As a result the empire created by
Genghis Khan was the largest Land Empire ever created by anyone in the history
of mankind. This proves that a barbarian and brutal person like Chenghis Khan
also knew the importance of reward and recognition as one of the key factors
for winning commitment and loyalty from others.
2.
PROVIDE GROWTH
OPPORTUNITIES:
Another powerful weapon, which can cause
deeper commitment among employees, is the growth opportunities provided by the
company. Growth and development is an inborn need of human beings and reaching
there is everyone’s desire. How can companies provide growth opportunities for
their employee? There are many ways, which a company can adopt to help its
employees grow. Providing opportunities for assuming greater responsibility,
promotion, value-added job, meaningful and worthwhile job, and learning culture
enable employees to grow and develop. Once they recognize that the growth of
the company will result in their own growth they will be more than willing to
put in committed efforts.
3.
RESPECT AND BOOSTING SELF
ESTEEM:
Whether a person is a sweeper or a chairman they
equally need respect. A good manager respects people at all levels and this
respect communicates to them that the manager has a high opinion of them and
their potential. In turn they will always try to prove him right by doing
whatever is necessary. In 1989 on a consultancy assignment I was attached to Medtronic’s
International Holland, a pacemaker manufacturing company. That time the company
had initiated a major organisational improvement programme involving quality
teams. In one of the meetings while talking to the factory workers who were
involved as teams, the general manager Mr. Frank Sprenger addressed them and
said “We are very lucky to have you in this factory paying only for your two
hands, and using your brains for free. You are very capable people because each
one of you has this excellent asset. We would highly appreciate if from today
onwards in addition to your hands you also use this greatest asset for bringing
new ideas and suggestions on how we could improve our performance” I could see
the light of joy and pride in their eyes. They really felt great and respected.
As a result they committed with their hearts and souls and did make the project
a total success. The company achieved enormous results. This experience
exemplifies the fact that people when respected will do their best to attain
success for any project or company plan.
4.
PROVIDE VISION AND GET IT SUPPORTED:
Commitment can not be achieved from people if they
do not know the answer to the basic question “Commitment towards what?”. In
view organisations and its leaders must provide a compelling vision of the
future for its employees. People will act if they know and can visualize what
they are supposed to achieve. An effective leader will motivate people by
giving them a vision of what they can become, and how they can transform their
organisations. During some of the training programmes I conduct an exercise
called “Vision 2000 for my company”. The exercise requires the participants to
write in their own words what they would like their organisation and department
to become in year 2000. They are also required to describe how they would
commit themselves towards the achievement of these visions. It is amazing to
note that most of the times, not only senior managers but also employees at
supervisory levels come up with excellent visions and ideas. They also
sincerely want to achieve the attainment of the visions. It could be due to the
fact that people are vision directed. As such every organisation must provide a
clear vision to its people. Additionally employees must be also helped to align
their actions towards the achievement of the vision. A good vision should be
challenging, meaning something worth the extra effort and sacrifice.
Challenging your employees to create new standards of excellence produces
powerful and positive results. A vision should also be articulated in simple
and easy to understand language. Writing a vision, incomprehensible by a common
person is good as a showpiece on the wall, but if the achievement of results is
aimed the vision should be articulated in simple terms and layman terminology.
It is necessary to note that a vision is a group
effort and it must be communicated, shared and supported by everyone in the
company. Towards this end a good manager will also try to make the company
vision compatible with the employees’ individual visions and dreams in life. It
could be done through showing employees how the achievement of the organisation
will contribute to their lives in the form of increased salaries, better
working conditions, career advancement or shareholdings. People will give their
best shots once they are clear about rewards-as they say people work for their
reasons not ours.
5.
MUTUAL COMMITMENT:
The only way to restore employees’
commitment is to restore employers’ commitment. This means that employers in order
to expect support from employees should first initiate it in terms of leadership
by example or self-commitment, being responsible to employees needs and sharing
the benefits. This also means providing proper tools and equipment, adequate
training and other inputs needed by the people for successfully performing
their jobs.
6.
PROVIDE GOOD WORKING
ENVIRONMENT:
Today
most of the working people spend their major portion of time at work. From
morning to late evening people late evening people work in their workplaces and
when return to their houses they feel dead tired. One major factor which
employees would highly appreciate is the existence of a congenial working
environment, where they are happy to work with others. Teamwork, cooperation, friendship
with colleagues and bosses, and mutual respect are some of the signs of a good
working environment which attract employees and retain them to stay longer with
a company. In contrast, too much politicking, back biting, turf wars, and other
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About the Author: Dr Adalat Khan
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Dr Adalat Khan or fondly also know as Dr. Khan is an authority on leadership, self leadership and management and communication skills. For the past 23 years he has impacted and positively influenced the lives of thousands of people all over the world and coming from various cultural backgrounds. Dr Khan is a popular and highly demanded keynote speaker, and seminar leader frequently sought by corporations, organizations, associations and universities around the world. Dr. Khan is a terrific orator and a great influencer. He is known among his trainees and pupils as a Great Coach, Great Mentor, Enthralling Speaker, and above all a Great Human Being. Academically Dr. Khan holds a number of prestigious qualifications including Doctorate in Business Administration, Master of Business Administration, a degree in law and various post-graduate diplomas. His academic pursuit took is spread over three continents and many countries. He is a visiting professor to a couple of local and foreign universities in the USA. His training and consultancy experience covered over almost two decades include. He providing consultancies to Medtronics International (Holland) the biggest pace making company in the world in their switch over to Japanese style of management, German Agency for development Co-operation (GTZ) for designing and conducting Entrepreneurship training, the Swiss Government for developing policy for the promotion of small and medium scale industries. Dr Adalat Khan is a successful entrepreneur and a president of two companies. He is the president of MINA RESOURCE www.mina.edu.my a leading Malaysian Management consultancy and ,educational organization and Mina Management Institute www.mina.edu.my . He is also the member Advisory Council of American Central University www.acusa.net . He is an internationally renowned trainer and consultant, registered on the roasters of ILO United Nations, The Islamic Development Bank, The Asian Development Bank and The Commonwealth Secretariat. His training clients include some of the Fortune 500 companies and he has also conducted many training program for Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), and International Youth Centre (IYC). During the past 15 years he has worked, trained and consulted with manufacturers, Government agencies, Banks, Insurance companies, and International agencies both in Malaysia and other countries. He is Certified trainer with The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia, The Institute for Supervision and Management (ISM) UK, German Agency for development Co-operation (GTZ), The American Academy of Education, AED-USAID and is also Able Toast Masters, Toast Masters International-USA. A prolific writer who has written several articles publications, which are published in United Nation's publications, international magazines, WORLD EXECUTIVE DIGEST, and Management Times, and News Straits Times etc. He also reqularly writes for the American Chronicles, The California Chronicle, The Frontier post and many other international papers. His latest articles are listed at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewByAuthor.asp?authorID=2009 .
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP AND CERTIFICATIONS:
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In addition to the three major elements that account for employees’ commitment the following other qualities are commonly found in committed employees.
1.
Understanding and total support to the company’s vision and goals:-
Committed employees understand, share and support the
company’s vision and goals and consistently try towards achieving them. It will
be a mistake to call a person committed just because the person is staying in
the company. If the same person does not share the company’s aspirations and
goals, he can not be called a committed person. In fact it will be good for the
company that he leaves the company, so that the company will be a able to
replace him and hire a better person.
2.
Consider their company as a
good place to work in:-
Another criteria for employees’ commitment are their
perception of the company they work for. If they find their company as one of
the best places to work in they will be urged to work longer and stay in the
company.
3.
Positive and “can do” attitude:-
Positive attitude is one of the greatest qualities of
people as it inspires them to work harder and smarter. Positive attitude
towards one’s company’s goals, bosses, fellow employees can also enhance a
person’s commitment.
4.
Customers focus:-
Customers are the most important people who should be the
priority of everyone in the organization. Employees must do everything to serve
customers, which in turn will lead to satisfied customers. At the end of the
day customers satisfaction counts more than any other thing and by focusing
their efforts towards customers satisfaction employees can accomplish this
goal. In essence real commitment means having a customer focus, which include
producing goods and services which meet or exceed customer’s satisfaction.
5. Seeking continuos improvement:-
Lastly, another factor which entitle employees to be
called “committed” is their desire to seek new knowledge, skills and attitudes
which help them and their companies in getting excellent results. An
organization consists of its people and if people do not renew their
capabilities it can lead to their demise.
BENEFITS OF
COMMITMENTS:-
1.
The key to excellence:-
Commitment is the key for achieving excellence. In fact
with commitment excellence is predictable in business, personal and other areas
and without it failure and mediocrity is predictable. No business, organization
or person can dream of excellence without total commitment. So to inspire
people to achieve excellence we have to fist gain their total commitment. I would
say that ten committed persons are better than having hundred non-committed
persons.
2.
Make things happen:-
The hardest step in achieving excellence is commitment, without
which nothing can happen. So to make things happen a company needs employees
who are committed and loyal.
3.
Leads to loyalty:-
Committed employees will stay loyal with the companies
than those who are not committed. The main reason is their desire to complete
the things they start and grow along with the company. Non-committed people on
the other hand are just killing time and the moment they spot a better
opportunity elsewhere they would quit the existing company.
4.
Job satisfaction:-
One of the major dissatisfiers for people is not achieving
result they work for. And no one can achieve any good result without total
commitment. So when a person is committed he/she achieves better results which
in then positively reinforces their ego and thus leads to job satisfaction. And
job satisfaction is one of the key drivers for people to work harder and stay
longer in their companies.
5.
Commitment leads to better
customer satisfaction:-
Committed
employees go the extra mile to satisfy customers. This leads to loyal customers
and loyal customers means good business. In fact according to a research loyal
customers are more profitable than new customers.
WHY PEOPLE LACK
COMMITMENT:-
Before we suggest how to gain commitment from employees we
should identify the roadblocks which hamper employees commitment. The following
are some of the factors which retard employees’ commitment. These are:
1.
Poor reward and
recognition:-
People will not feel like doing their best and will settle
for mediocrity when they feel that their employers’ commitment in terms of
reward and recognition is lacking. Commitment is a mutual phenomenon when
employers what to get the best from their employees and do not reciprocate it
with proper reward and recognition people will not give their commitment.
2.
Dead-end jobs:-
Work, which does not offer opportunities for growth and
promotion, is one of the greatest reasons for employees’ de-motivation and
non-commitment. A recent study carried out by “ The Loyalty Institute “ of AON
consulting in USA found out that jobs which deprive employees from self
development and growth opportunities leads to high dissatisfaction and
employees disloyalty.
3.
Managing by intimidation:-
Mistreating people, and managing them by threats, screams
and embarrassment also leads to employee’s dissatisfaction, which in turn
weaken their commitment. In a best seller book “ The Loyalty Link” Dennis G.
McCarthty has identified managing by intimidation as one of the seven ways
which undermine employees loyalty.
4.
Negative
working environment:-
Non-acceptance by colleagues, poor cooperation too much
politics, and other negative behaviors by colleagues, supervisors and other
people in the company can also hamper commitment. At the end of the day people
want piece of mind, which if not available in the work environment will
discourage them to show total support to its company.
5.
No job
security:-
One of the major needs of employees is job security. If
the employee feels that he/she can lose his/her job anytime then they would not
be committed towards the achievement of the company.
6.
Negative
attitude:-
Some people by nature are not committed to anything and
anyone and as such they would not be committed to their employer. Commitment is
an attitude and those who lack it will find it difficult to totally commit
themselves to their jobs.
STRATEGIES
FOR IMPROVING COMMITMENT:
One of the main reasons why many companies have miserably
failed in their improvement programmes and wasted millions of dollars is their
fallacy to discount the importance of human resources. Programmes like
Reengineering, TQM, Cost reduction etc have miserable failed because they
overlooked the importance which people can play in the success or failure of
any improvement programme. No amount of computerization, automation, standardization
or re-organisation effort can get any result if people are not committed to
make it succeed. If employees’ commitment play such pivotal role in the success
or failure of an organisation then managers must make all out effort to gain
it. I have developed a 10 points strategy which could result in the improvement
of employees commitment. These points are:
1.
REWARD AND RECOGNITION:
Top on the list of strategies for gaining total
commitment from employees will be a proper reward and recognition system. The
system should include both material as well as psychological rewards. Reward
begets commitment and the bottom-line for any employee to work is to earn
proper reward and recognition. This is the main why everyone works and once
this is properly given to an employee he will be motivated to invest more in
his/her job. Employee’s perception of the reward and recognition can also
affect their commitment. Genghis Khan one of the greatest emperors in the
history is well known for effectively using this strategy even for gaining
loyalty from defeated enemies. Genghis Khan’s army in addition to Mongols also
included Chinese, Indians and other ethnic races. After defeating them he would
assimilate them into his army. However never ever these people revolted against
him, one of the main reasons being his policy to positively reward and publicly
recognize those who showed better results. As a result the empire created by
Genghis Khan was the largest Land Empire ever created by anyone in the history
of mankind. This proves that a barbarian and brutal person like Chenghis Khan
also knew the importance of reward and recognition as one of the key factors
for winning commitment and loyalty from others.
2.
PROVIDE GROWTH
OPPORTUNITIES:
Another powerful weapon, which can cause
deeper commitment among employees, is the growth opportunities provided by the
company. Growth and development is an inborn need of human beings and reaching
there is everyone’s desire. How can companies provide growth opportunities for
their employee? There are many ways, which a company can adopt to help its
employees grow. Providing opportunities for assuming greater responsibility,
promotion, value-added job, meaningful and worthwhile job, and learning culture
enable employees to grow and develop. Once they recognize that the growth of
the company will result in their own growth they will be more than willing to
put in committed efforts.
3.
RESPECT AND BOOSTING SELF
ESTEEM:
Whether a person is a sweeper or a chairman they
equally need respect. A good manager respects people at all levels and this
respect communicates to them that the manager has a high opinion of them and
their potential. In turn they will always try to prove him right by doing
whatever is necessary. In 1989 on a consultancy assignment I was attached to Medtronic’s
International Holland, a pacemaker manufacturing company. That time the company
had initiated a major organisational improvement programme involving quality
teams. In one of the meetings while talking to the factory workers who were
involved as teams, the general manager Mr. Frank Sprenger addressed them and
said “We are very lucky to have you in this factory paying only for your two
hands, and using your brains for free. You are very capable people because each
one of you has this excellent asset. We would highly appreciate if from today
onwards in addition to your hands you also use this greatest asset for bringing
new ideas and suggestions on how we could improve our performance” I could see
the light of joy and pride in their eyes. They really felt great and respected.
As a result they committed with their hearts and souls and did make the project
a total success. The company achieved enormous results. This experience
exemplifies the fact that people when respected will do their best to attain
success for any project or company plan.
4.
PROVIDE VISION AND GET IT SUPPORTED:
Commitment can not be achieved from people if they
do not know the answer to the basic question “Commitment towards what?”. In
view organisations and its leaders must provide a compelling vision of the
future for its employees. People will act if they know and can visualize what
they are supposed to achieve. An effective leader will motivate people by
giving them a vision of what they can become, and how they can transform their
organisations. During some of the training programmes I conduct an exercise
called “Vision 2000 for my company”. The exercise requires the participants to
write in their own words what they would like their organisation and department
to become in year 2000. They are also required to describe how they would
commit themselves towards the achievement of these visions. It is amazing to
note that most of the times, not only senior managers but also employees at
supervisory levels come up with excellent visions and ideas. They also
sincerely want to achieve the attainment of the visions. It could be due to the
fact that people are vision directed. As such every organisation must provide a
clear vision to its people. Additionally employees must be also helped to align
their actions towards the achievement of the vision. A good vision should be
challenging, meaning something worth the extra effort and sacrifice.
Challenging your employees to create new standards of excellence produces
powerful and positive results. A vision should also be articulated in simple
and easy to understand language. Writing a vision, incomprehensible by a common
person is good as a showpiece on the wall, but if the achievement of results is
aimed the vision should be articulated in simple terms and layman terminology.
It is necessary to note that a vision is a group
effort and it must be communicated, shared and supported by everyone in the
company. Towards this end a good manager will also try to make the company
vision compatible with the employees’ individual visions and dreams in life. It
could be done through showing employees how the achievement of the organisation
will contribute to their lives in the form of increased salaries, better
working conditions, career advancement or shareholdings. People will give their
best shots once they are clear about rewards-as they say people work for their
reasons not ours.
5.
MUTUAL COMMITMENT:
The only way to restore employees’
commitment is to restore employers’ commitment. This means that employers in order
to expect support from employees should first initiate it in terms of leadership
by example or self-commitment, being responsible to employees needs and sharing
the benefits. This also means providing proper tools and equipment, adequate
training and other inputs needed by the people for successfully performing
their jobs.
6.
PROVIDE GOOD WORKING
ENVIRONMENT:
Today
most of the working people spend their major portion of time at work. From
morning to late evening people late evening people work in their workplaces and
when return to their houses they feel dead tired. One major factor which
employees would highly appreciate is the existence of a congenial working
environment, where they are happy to work with others. Teamwork, cooperation, friendship
with colleagues and bosses, and mutual respect are some of the signs of a good
working environment which attract employees and retain them to stay longer with
a company. In contrast, too much politicking, back biting, turf wars, and other
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Article Tags:
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Dr Adalat Khan,
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About the Author: Dr Adalat Khan
RSS for Dr Adalat's articles - Visit Dr Adalat's website
Dr Adalat Khan or fondly also know as Dr. Khan is an authority on leadership, self leadership and management and communication skills. For the past 23 years he has impacted and positively influenced the lives of thousands of people all over the world and coming from various cultural backgrounds. Dr Khan is a popular and highly demanded keynote speaker, and seminar leader frequently sought by corporations, organizations, associations and universities around the world. Dr. Khan is a terrific orator and a great influencer. He is known among his trainees and pupils as a Great Coach, Great Mentor, Enthralling Speaker, and above all a Great Human Being. Academically Dr. Khan holds a number of prestigious qualifications including Doctorate in Business Administration, Master of Business Administration, a degree in law and various post-graduate diplomas. His academic pursuit took is spread over three continents and many countries. He is a visiting professor to a couple of local and foreign universities in the USA. His training and consultancy experience covered over almost two decades include. He providing consultancies to Medtronics International (Holland) the biggest pace making company in the world in their switch over to Japanese style of management, German Agency for development Co-operation (GTZ) for designing and conducting Entrepreneurship training, the Swiss Government for developing policy for the promotion of small and medium scale industries. Dr Adalat Khan is a successful entrepreneur and a president of two companies. He is the president of MINA RESOURCE www.mina.edu.my a leading Malaysian Management consultancy and ,educational organization and Mina Management Institute www.mina.edu.my . He is also the member Advisory Council of American Central University www.acusa.net . He is an internationally renowned trainer and consultant, registered on the roasters of ILO United Nations, The Islamic Development Bank, The Asian Development Bank and The Commonwealth Secretariat. His training clients include some of the Fortune 500 companies and he has also conducted many training program for Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), and International Youth Centre (IYC). During the past 15 years he has worked, trained and consulted with manufacturers, Government agencies, Banks, Insurance companies, and International agencies both in Malaysia and other countries. He is Certified trainer with The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia, The Institute for Supervision and Management (ISM) UK, German Agency for development Co-operation (GTZ), The American Academy of Education, AED-USAID and is also Able Toast Masters, Toast Masters International-USA. A prolific writer who has written several articles publications, which are published in United Nation's publications, international magazines, WORLD EXECUTIVE DIGEST, and Management Times, and News Straits Times etc. He also reqularly writes for the American Chronicles, The California Chronicle, The Frontier post and many other international papers. His latest articles are listed at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewByAuthor.asp?authorID=2009 .
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP AND CERTIFICATIONS:
* Certified trainer- The Human Resource Development Council (PSMB), Malaysia.
* Certified trainer- The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia.
* Certified trainer by The Institute for Supervision and Management (ISM) UK
* Certified trainer- German Agency for development Co-operation (GTZ)
* Certified trainer by The American Academy of Education, AED-USAID.
* Member of United States Distance Learning Association-USDLA,
* The Planning Forum USA
* MALAYSIAN SOCIETY FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT,
* NED United Nations.o Able Toast Masters, Toast Masters International-USA.
Free Articles & Book Excerpts
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Comprehensive emergency management
Islamic Leadership Principles
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Click here to visit Dr Adalat's website
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COMMUNICATION FOR HUMAN EXCELLENCE
ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH TOTAL COMMITMENT
GOOD FOLLOWERS MAKE GREAT LEADERS
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Re: First Facebook Ad - Experiment!
- Hi GT,
Thanks for the prod!
As you know, this was my first ever Facebook campaign and results have been... so so!
Here are the latest stats:
Impressions 115,246
Clicks 44
CTR 0.038%
CPC $0.75
CPM $0.29
TOTAL SPENT $33.04
Subscribers 1
Sales 1
A single sale brings in $100 so I'm ahead of the game, but won't be for much longer at this rate!!
I tweaked the ad a couple of times. I also need to point the ad to a landing page. At the moment it sends people straight to the sales page. I'm going to set up a Facebook Fan page and see if that converts better.
The Cost Per Click has been slowly going up. I was getting a better rate, but suddenly clickthroughs have dipped down to ZERO on Saturday, and just 1 per day thereafter. Best number of clicks in a day was 6. The ad is now in its second week. I'm letting it run for four weeks to try and see if any pattern emerges.
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About the Author: Dr Adalat Khan RSS for Dr Adalat's articles - Visit Dr Adalat's website Click here to visit Dr Adalat's website COMMUNICATION FOR HUMAN EXCELLENCE ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH TOTAL COMMITMENT GOOD FOLLOWERS MAKE GREAT LEADERS |
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