Welcome to the July 2007 issue of Rise & Shine
Your Leadership Solutions and Resource Newsletter!
Bright Lights (Tips/Solutions)
This will be the final month of our discussion of Rising Sun’s The 10 Keys of Effective Supervision™. To review, the 10 Keys of Effective Supervision™ are:
- Support Growth - Providing support for both an employee's personal and professional development.
- Unite With Your Team - Being available/accessible to employees both personally and professionally.
- Praise Others - Offering ongoing praise and encouragement to employees for appropriate performance, attitude and behavior.
- Expect Excellence - Setting high expectations for employee performance, attitude and behavior.
- Require Accountability - Upholding/reinforcing each individual employee's responsibility to the organization.
- Verify Potential - Developing an atmosphere of hope and confidence for employees and supervisors.
- Instill Independence – Allowing and/or encouraging employee autonomy and/or independence.
- Share Continuously - Establishing a system of ongoing two-way communication between employee and supervisor.
- Optimize Ownership - Creating opportunities for employees to contribute to and feel a part of the organization.
- Reinforce Relationships - Creating opportunities for employees to care about and share with each other on a personal basis
Traditionally, when business leaders talk about "supervision," they are usually referring to the managerial or leadership function of overseeing the productivity and progress of employees – typically those employees who report directly to the supervisor. However, stemming from our experiences in providing both training and supervision to employees, Rising Sun's approach to supervision takes a very different perspective – defining supervision more from a coaching and mentoring perspective than from a managerial perspective.
As research clearly demonstrates, it is not only in the best interest of the employee, but also the business to pay close attention to the supervisor/supervisee relationship. This relationship is critical to the success of an individual and ultimately the organization. We need to have well trained supervisors who are prepared to provide the necessary and appropriate guidance, structure, and encouragement to their staff.
Taken all together, the information presented above describes a more positive and strength based approach to supervision. From this perspective, supervision has less to do with teaching and evaluation and more to do with establishing an environment which encourages individual growth and development.
(For more information, see this months featured white paper)
World Views (In the News)
The Coming Crisis In Employee Turnover
Most companies take it as an article of faith that they've done right by their employees. Each year performance reviews are given, promotions granted and, in a number of cases, raises and bonuses are handed out. No need, then, for managers to worry about their staffing plan, much less about which leaders and employees will stay, which will leave and what you should do about both scenarios. They're covered. Right?
In today's competitive work environment, managers should think again. Such complacency is based on an illusion, making it unwarranted. Leaders and managers are fielding increased recruiter calls, and employees are seeing a swell in help wanted ads. Employees at all levels are taking note of the job market.
Given events over the last five years, this employee exodus should surprise no one. Back in the late 1990s, some companies, especially those in the high-tech industry, pulled out all the stops to court job candidates and ensure employee satisfaction. If employees expected it or merely asked for it--the option to telecommute, flexible hours, lunchtime massages, you name it--they pretty much got it. In the bid to draw talent, companies promised the world. Then came the recession, followed by Sept. 11, 2001.
How quickly the pendulum swung, with companies slashing these very benefits and perks, freezing salaries and implementing layoffs. Soon employees found themselves working longer hours for proportionately less pay, forced to do more with less and often perform a job designed for two or three workers--all with mounting stress. Meanwhile, companies tended to remind employees to stick around because they should feel lucky to have a job in the first place and better days were coming. Our U.S. economy saw good productivity gains, but at what cost? We will pay for that now.
The backlash has begun. Those same employees are finally emerging from a take-it-one-day-at-a-time attitude toward job longevity and a what-should-I-do-with-my-life-now introspection. All too many employees have come to regard corporations as promise breakers and, as such, hypocritical and untrustworthy.
In particular, employees assign these less than complimentary attributes to their managers. Workers no longer see the point of company loyalty, while many feel betrayed and angry. Indeed, many of those who feel violated by employers actually begin a job search as an act of revenge.
Corporate America can win the war against employee turnover, and averting this crisis is imperative to the U.S. economy. Companies with a long-term strategy for talent acquisition and retention will have a significant competitive advantage in the decade ahead. The incentives to create a pre-emptive, realistic staffing plan that both accurately reflects and ensures future growth should be irresistible. Guess how much a company of 40,000 full-time employees is likely to save by slashing its annual turnover from 40% to 15%? Roughly $140 million per year.
Make retention a top priority
The reason why most people quit a job, the real reason, often has little to do with logic and less to do with anything as quantifiable as salary and how much vacation time or dental coverage is available. Employees leave because they feel slighted. Nobody made these employees feel like they were part of something bigger than themselves, much less what role they should play.
Provide your leaders with help on how to lead
The decision to leave is almost invariably a raw emotional one. In looking for a place where the grass is greener, your average employee is basically searching for a boss who will treat them fairly.
Make your workplace the best that you can
Employees understand market strategy, and they know if the competition is doing better than your business. The "boomers" and the "Gen Y" employees both want flexible work hours, challenging assignments and opportunities to grow. In today's workplace, employees leave because they can.
If the only service you really give your employees now is lip service, you've got to resolve to do better. Treat your employees as you would your own stockholders. Take no one for granted, least of all your most valued people. Recognize excellence. Level with your employees about your decisions--explain to them why with straight talk. Show a little heart. Above all, remember that just as workers leave for emotional reasons, it is also why they stay.
(Adapted from Bernadette Kenny, Forbes, April 25, 2007)
Rays of Hope (Stories/Parables)
Mistakes
Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they're going to make mistakes.
-Ross Perot- |
New Horizons
Question of the Month
Beginning with next month's edition of Rise & Shine we are going to be responding to questions raised by our readers. We are particularly interested in your questions related to:
- Employee Engagement/Morale
- Employee Turnover/Retention
- Productivity
- Team Performance
- Leadership/Supervision
To submit a question, please click here and complete all required information.
*Selection of questions to be answered is strictly at the discretion of the Rise & Shine staff.
Guest Columnists
Also beginning with next month's edition of Rise & Shine we are going to be sharing insights and interesting information from friends and colleagues around the country. Look for this new section in next month's edition.
Thank You
On behalf of all of us at Rising Sun Consultants, we want to thank you for reviewing the July edition of our Rise & Shine Newsletter. As always, we invite you to visit our website (www.risingsunconsultants.com) and encourage you to submit a question for a future addition of Rise & Shine.
Until next month: Always Keep Your Eyes on the New Horizon! |
