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Traditional management is about control and accountability and some of the ways we handle accountability breeds fear and kills employee engagement.   70% of our employees are disengaged and 44% of exciting employees cite their manager as their primary reason for leaving.  We need to retool our managers to leave command and control, fear-based management ideas behind.  Managers should be leaders in creating environments based on collaboration and support for doing the best work.  They should be the champions of projects and communicators of clear expectations.  They should play a supportive role, helping the people they manage by making sure all of the roadblocks to success are removed.  They should work to build solid, positive work relationships with employees that create, energize and support a highly motivated workforce. Managers need a new mindset and new skills around their approach to managing people. A manager’s focus should be on moving people to get things done not just moving to get tasks done.  Management must demonstrate it C.A.R.E.S™

Traditional Management Structures and Theories Aren’t Keeping Pace

When you think of traditional organizational hierarchies, managers are typically positioned above their direct reports.  I once worked on an organization chart with a client who insisted that he be at the bottom of the organization chart as his role was to help and support his staff to get their work done easily and effectively.  He felt depicting it any other way sent the wrong message.   There is something to that.  There is or should be a supportive component to management, yet many managers don’t see it that way.  Many organizations don’t see it that way either.  The manager’s key responsibility should be to create work experiences that satisfy, inspire getting the work done, motivate to meet the goals, boost productivity and increase the bottom line.  You don’t create experiences that inspire and satisfy through fear and control.

People have evolved.  They don’t want to be told what to do. They want to be involved in creating the solutions for what needs to get done.  Making this shift in thinking makes a huge difference in employee motivation and engagement and we need to better prepare our managers to think differently about their roles in the organization.  This is a key strategy for engagement and retention.  Flattening the hierarchies and involving employees as partners in solving problems and creating innovative solutions can increase productivity, profit, job satisfaction, results, loyalty and employee retention.

We all know that numbers are the language of business.  Are we collecting numbers that measure how well managers are performing their roles as motivators, relationship builders, coaches, communicators, innovate problem solvers and how well they carry the torch of a people culture?

Do Your Employees Feel Like Management CARES?

We have developed the C.A.R.E.S.™ Method of Management and Leadership Development to help retool managers and tie their success to employee satisfaction, productivity, building trust and collaboration to achieve results rather than just completing tasks and assignments.  This can go a long way toward reducing fear and bias by improving transparency, communication, acceptance, and appreciation.  C.A.R.E.S.™ stands for Coach, Align, Appreciate, Relationship, Relationship Bias, Expectations & Supportive Leadership.

People want to be understood, have a deeper level of connection especially in this detached world where much of our communication is masked in social media and handled on devices.  People are starved for human connection, respect, caring, appreciation and being listened to and heard.  It is simply human nature.  People have evolved and management has not kept pace.  Most people want to do a good job and they don’t need to be managed in the same way we have thought about it for decades.  They want to have input into your success.  They want to be a part of something.  They want to belong.  The talent you seek has progressed beyond the basic work for survival.  Organizations need to level up their management game so they are supporting the talent they want with the needs and desires the talent is pursuing.  Show your employees management C.A.R.E.S.™

I would like to invite you to learn more about the C.A.R.E.S.™ Method of Management.  We have developed a class that offers valuable information about how to manage differently, How To Develop Productive Employees That Stay.  Follow this link to register for and get immediate access to the class with our compliments.  REGISTER FOR THE CLASS HERE   Enjoy.

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Strategist, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs, senior executives and business owners to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com

Is your management style preventing you from getting the results you need from your team? Some styles can actually hurt your team.  Take this quiz to discover your management style and what you can do to be a better manager.

Answer each statement with “T” for True or “F” for False.

1. _____  I prefer to make all decisions myself.  The buck stops here.
2. _____  I am a strategic thinker.  I always have a clear vision for the future.
3. _____  I encourage my staff to learn and grow even if it means they grow out of their current position.
4. _____  I create a competitive environment to help motivate employees.
5. _____  When it comes to work decisions, two heads (or more) are better than one.
6. _____  My staff should handle their own jobs.  I only get involved if something goes wrong.
7. _____  When I make a decision it’s final.  I don’t want further discussion or questioning.
8. _____  I am not heavily involved in the day to day with my staff.
9. _____  I have strong people skills and high Emotional Intelligence.
10. _____  If you set lofty goals and a brisk work pace, employees will be motivated to step up.
11. _____  I ask for and seriously consider others ideas before making a decision.
12. _____  Employees should have the freedom to experiment with their work assignments.
13. _____  I need to be involved in all projects to be sure nothing gets off track.
14. _____  I am a risk taker.
15. _____  I believe collaboration is key to getting things done.
16. _____  It is important to push people to meet goals.
17. _____  I value employees that challenge ideas and the status quo.
18. _____  I would describe my management style as “hands-off”.  My staff knows what to do.
19. _____  It is important for a manager to assert their authority.
20. _____  I am a natural leader.  Please follow me even if I don’t have the title.
21. _____  I hold myself out as a mentor to help my employees get to the next level.
22. _____  It is the manager’s duty to set the work pace for their group.
23. _____  I routinely encourage all employees to share their ideas.  Everyone has a contribution to make.
24. _____  I create the time and space to encourage creativity and innovation.

Record the Questions You Marked “T” True in the Management Style Grid Below

There is no one Management Style that is best.  The best managers can use many styles and are able to match the style needed to the situation or to the employee’s needs.  New or inexperienced employees may benefit from more direction and instruction typical of the Authoritative style.  Styles like Lasses-Faire and Consultative may frustrate the new hire but be welcomed by the accomplished professional with many years of experience.  Below you will find a brief description of each style.  Try to develop some of the characteristics of the styles you are missing or are weak in on the quiz.

AUTHORITATIVE – A strong authority and decisive leader who takes control.  They naturally expect people to follow them and abide by their decisions.  They can be powerful and may tend to micromanage.  They don’t usually need the input of others to make their decisions.  This style of management is good in a crisis situation or with new or inexperienced employees.  Experienced professionals may not respond well to this style of management.

VISIONARY – The visionary manager is strategic, inspirational and charismatic.  They have an uncanny ability to think on their feet and may formulate plans, ideas and decisions while talking.  They are emotionally intelligent, natural leaders that people seem to follow because of their charisma and vision.  This style of management is especially good with experienced professionals.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP – This style has strong people skills and high emotional intelligence.  They cultivate high trust with their supportive style and encourage collaboration.  They create a learning environment and often serve as mentors or coaches to employees.  This style of management encourages and helps to improve performance.

PACESETTER – The pacesetter sets lofty goals they expect people to follow.  They push people to achieve by fostering competition and setting the pace in the workplace.  Those that are new or inexperienced may find it difficult to work under a pacesetter.  Although some workplace competition can be healthy, too much can create a cut throat environment and resentment among team members.  This style can be effective in a sprint to complete a project but is not often a good day to day, long term style.

CONSULTATIVE – This management style encourages idea sharing because they believe that two heads, or more, are always better than one.  They naturally consider the ideas of others in their decision making process.  They value independent thinking and those that challenge ideas.  This style is very effective in getting people to contribute.

LASSEZ-FAIRE – This is a hands off style of management.  This style only gets involved when something goes wrong.  They believe in the freedom to experiment.  They easily create the space and environment for creativity and innovation.  This style works well will experienced employees where a boost to innovation is needed.

Click the image above to learn more about how Motivational Management can help you improve your leadership style.

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Strategist, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs, senior executives and business owners to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com

Is Management Driving Talent Out of Your Organization?

Many companies suffer from high attrition rates. They have trouble holding on to top talent, but do senior leaders understand the reasons why?  The typical length of stay in a job has been steadily decreasing.  The average length of stay is currently hovering just under 3 years and predicted to fall in the future.  It’s hard to get a solid return on your hiring investment when employees don’t stick around.  Senior leaders are left asking themselves why the organization can’t keep good people.

High attrition rates can mean many things including poorly motivated employees, unsatisfying work, poor communication, fear, tension, conflict in the workplace and outdated management styles and philosophies.  In the Gallop Organizations Report, State of the American Manager, Gallop found that “one in two employees have left their job to get away from their manager at some point in their career”.  Are your managers driving your top talent away?

It is difficult to get the answer to that question.  Even if a company does exit interviews, employees are typically not forthcoming and often omit important information because they have already moved on from the problem mentally now that they are on the way out the door.  If a problem does come to light, the problem is most often seen as related to that staff member.   On rare occasions, an individual manager may be cited but typically there is little or no effort to get to the root cause.

Consider this example.  A leading design firm had difficulty retaining highly creative people in its sales and design areas.  Talented, highly proficient people who were producing good work, seemed to be enjoying it and were well qualified for their position would leave suddenly surprising the organization by their departure.  Exit interviews produced reasons that were not insightful as people cited “a better commute”, “opportunity for advancement” or “more money” as their reason for leaving.  When one talented employee leaves or departures are separated by time, those cited reasons might make sense; but when it happens more than once, or around a specific time period or department, there is often something else going on.  This situation came to a head in this organization when a manager had a loud exchange with a staff member that resulted in the staff member quitting.  It seemed the manager was “correcting” the employees work with a red pen like a teacher might correct a test.  Not a behavior that encourages creativity and innovation especially given the creative and subjective nature of the work.  This bad boss behavior not only drove talent away, but it kept staff members from having the freedom to create their best work.

Bad Boss Behaviors That Contribute To The Problem

There are a lot of bad boss behaviors out there and they are major reasons employees leave, According to a study done by BambooHR in March of 2017, the number one bad boss behavior cited is the boss taking credit for employees work.  That behavior is followed by other low and no trust-related behaviors such as the failure to advocate for raises for employees, not backing employees up in a dispute, micromanaging them rather than trusting them to do their job, setting employees up to fail knowingly or unknowingly with a lack of clear expectations, failure to give adequate direction, training and dwelling on an employee’s weaknesses rather than recognizing and using their strengths.

Houston, We Have A Management Problem

Leadership needs to recognize the signs of a systemic problem in management and that these problems can be a major reason talent leaves an organization.   Most managers are promoted to management because they excelled in whatever area they worked in, not because they are skilled managers or even have the potential to be skilled managers.  Add to that the fact that most managers get very little training in the skills needed to manage and it becomes clear why the problem is so pervasive.

Managing people is more than just getting tasks done.  Managing people requires skills that support creativity, innovation and motivate people to be inspired contributors to your organization regardless of their position.  In order to be successful, a manager needs to enjoy working with people, have emotional intelligence and be skilled at building relationships.  A relationship of trust between employees and their manager is key to creating productive, engaged employees who stay.

In an organizational chart, a manager’s role is depicted as superior to their staff.  But in reality, good managers support their staff by understanding their strengths, setting clear expectations, aligning strengths with what needs to be achieved, co-creating results through coaching and supporting, then appreciating and celebrating the results achieved. We call it C.A.R.E.S™ – Coach, Align, Appreciate, Relationship, Expectations, and Support.  Unfortunately, these skills are rarely taught and even more rarely measured and rewarded in organizations today.

If we want productive and profitable employees who stay, we must make an investment to develop managers who C.A.R.E. and eliminate the fear, uncertainty, and lack of skills in many managers that can lead to bad boss behaviors.

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Expert, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs and senior executives to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com

Think Motivation Doesn’t Matter?  The Relationship between Motivation, Mistakes and Money

We know we have a problem with employee engagement and productivity.  We all experience it and we find in statistics published by the Gallup organization year after year that only 30% of employees are really engaged in the jobs they have.  That leaves the other 70% of American workers disengaged in their work.  Disengaged employees can be careless.  They make mistakes.  They develop complacency resulting in lower productivity, creates the need for extra time and effort troubleshooting errors and correcting mistakes that result in rework costs.  They often suffer from lack of creativity and innovation.  They can cost you money not only in lost opportunity costs, they can damage to your quality, your reputation, and even cause you to lose customers.  All these hidden costs directly impact profit because they are costs that are not anticipated and not factored into pricing.  Disengaged employees are responsible for a majority of the hidden amounts of money that seep out of your business and eat up your profit.

The Disengaged Employee

Gallup defines the disengaged employee in two ways.  One is the people who have mentally checked out.   They’re putting in their time, they’re doing an okay job, but the energy level, the passion, and the caring isn’t there. They’re just going through the motions. They aren’t paying enough attention, to catch mistakes.  I call those people the walking dead in organizations.

The second type Gallup refers to as the actively disengaged. These employees are very unhappy and it’s not enough just to be unhappy, they’re actually acting out their unhappiness.  I call them the actively enraged.  Every day they’re actively undermining all of the good things that are going on in your organization by consciously or subconsciously expressing their unhappiness in ways that spread to other employees and that hurt the company.

When we look at the Gallup study, we see that there are eight aspects of the engagement problem.  Gallup studies productivity, turnover, safety issues, shrinkage, absenteeism, quality, and even safety of your customers.   All of these issues are related to your people.  Any glitch in any of these areas can come back to chew up your profit because People Power Your Profit™.

The study goes on to say that a 22% profit improvement, and 21% productivity improvement can be gained when people are more engaged in what they’re doing.   Motivating people can also create as much as 37% less absenteeism and 41% fewer mistakes.  The relationship between motivation, mistakes and money is clear.

Unfortunately, much of what has been done to increase employee engagement and motivation over the last few years has not moved the needle.  Benefit based, cookie cutter solutions are easy to implement but have a short term impact.  Employees care more about their work experience, their colleagues, their future, the company culture, the companies social and environment footprint and how they are managed than additional perks and benefits.

What are Employees Looking For?

Employees are looking for purposeful, meaningful work and a work experience that fits them.  We advocate viewing employees as individuals with unique needs and creating a custom work experience for an employee based on those needs.  It requires that leadership think differently about employees and how we manage them. We have created a system we call the M.A.T.C.H.™ System that makes it possible, in reasonably short order, to position a company to implement a customized work experience for employees that helps align an employee’s work related needs and desires with the organizations.  This system provides a longer term solution that can help increase engagement, motivation, and productivity and that will have a positive impact on the bottom line.

It is time as leaders to rethink the outdated paradigms around employees and management.

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Expert, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs and senior executives to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com

People Power Your Profits, Engaged People.

According to the Gallup organization and their studies on engagement done over the last few years, only about 30% of American workers are engaged in their work.   The engaged employee is the person that has a passion for what they’re doing. They have a profound connection with their company and they believe in their work. They’re the people in your organization that drive innovation, that care, that really move your organization forward.  Unfortunately, you only have about 30% of your workforce that falls into that category.

It’s a known fact based on this study that customer ratings can be improved through engagement.   A 10% improvement can be made if you have more engaged employees.  A 22% profit improvement, and 21% improvement in productivity, can be gained all because people are more engaged in what they’re doing.   You will also experience as much as 37% less absenteeism and 41% fewer mistakes equating to better quality, better profit margin, better safety which translates directly to the cost of your insurance.

People are responsible for a majority of the hidden amounts of money that seep out of your business.  Businesses need to acknowledge that their success is tied directly to their ability to attract, motivate and retain good people, NOT to their ability to sell and move products and services.  People bring the creativity, the ideas behind all of the innovation needed to stay viable in the marketplace. People design the products and services that your customers need and want. People build the relationships with other people, your suppliers, bankers, customers and other employees. Those people nurture and care for all of your business relationships through the dealings they have every day.  The actions they take or do not take turn into the money that you are in business to earn.  People deliver your products and services. And if something goes wrong, they are the face of your company, the first line of defense for customer care.  How they interact with the customer or the supplier or the vendor directly impacts your company’s bottom line and its reputation.

Everything can be traced back to people.  Your people should be treated like gold. And yet, companies typically view people as a commodity they can always get more of, as an expense they have to keep in check.  People are actually an asset, an investment and your job as an employer is to attract and retain highly engaged people, people who care and are actively invested in what they do.  Then your job is to provide them with a workplace and a work life where they can excel, be successful and bring success to your organization.  People Power Your Profits™ and the right mix of people in the right roles, in an environment created for all to thrive can be a business strategy that gives a business a competitive edge.

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Expert, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs and senior executives to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com

To Attract and Retain Talent, Your Company Must Be a Great Place To Work

Gallup studies reveal that 51% of employees are actively looking for a new job.   Did you know half of your workforce is looking for greener pastures?  Is your organization a revolving door?  If you are always searching for new people is it because you are growing or is it because you are losing the retention battle and you have as many or more employees leaving out of the back door as you are trying to hire and welcome into your organization at the front door?

It is our job as business owners and senior executives to create an environment that beckons people to come to work.  Not only do we want them to show up, but we want them to show up with a level of enthusiasm, dedication, and engagement that will produce their best work.  It takes more than getting on a list of top places to work.  It requires that we create high performing workplaces, places where high performing employees enjoy working.

We have identified a number of characteristics we believe it is important to think about as we build our businesses into high performing workplaces.  This is by no means an exhaustive list but we have seen each of these characteristics impact the employee motivation and engagement success of the companies we have visited and have had the chance to do work in.  Some of these characteristics are physical in nature, some cultural.  Some of the characteristics are procedural but all have an impact on how your employees feel about working for you, what it says about how you value them and the work they do for you on a daily basis.  We need to pay more attention to these factors bringing them into our conscious view and continue improving them to create the high-performance workplace.

Basic things that might get taken for granted such as location, aesthetics, cleanliness to deeper intrinsic things such as relationships, attitudes, values, habits and processes can all impact how an employee feels about working for you.  Leadership openness and availability play a big part as well as how management manages.  Something as simple as the seating chart can send a message and upset the delicate balance of a great place to work.  We have created an assessment tool to help you determine if your organization is a High Performance Workplace, one where the top talent is attracted to work and stay.  To take the assessments click this link:  High Performance Workplace Assessment

Nancy O’Keefe, MBA, MS, is a Workplace Expert, Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author of the Book Unlimited Talent:  What Every CEO Needs to Know to Win the Workforce War.   She works with CEOs and senior executives to create profitable and productive workplaces that attract, motivate and retain great people. She is a thought leader in strategy, management and cultivating talent.  She can be found at https://nancyokeefeconsulting.com