What’s keeping L&D professionals awake at night? How has the pandemic affected our ability to learn? What awaits in 2022?

We asked these questions to 800+ L&D professionals in an October 2021 survey. Jay Campbell, senior vice president of product development, and David Witt, program director, analyzed the data.

They arrived at three key insights:

1. People are overloaded, tired, and “too busy to learn”
2. The level of connection is dropping
3. L&D is stretched and dissatisfied with the converted offerings

Campbell shared the findings in a November webinar. Here’s a summary of them.

Insight #1—People are overloaded, tired, and “too busy to learn”

People are exhausted and professional development has suffered because of it—that is the key takeaway from the survey findings. Here are some comments by survey respondents that support this:

• “Understaffed and overworked. With our team on scattered hybrid schedules, team members are doing extra work.”

• “Burned out leaders who are struggling to effectively manage hybrid teams.”

• “Feelings of overwhelm and anxiety seem to be crippling our ability to get and stay focused enough to identify what learning is actually needed, learn, and apply learning.”

Respondents’ comments reflect the depth of distress across the country. About four in ten adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder during the pandemic, compared to one in ten adults who reported these symptoms from January to June 2019.”[1]

Our mental state effects our ability to learn. Someone in the throes of anxiety or depression will struggle to incorporate new information. With the country in the midst of a pandemic, leaders at all organizations are fighting to meet their daily responsibilities and setting professional growth to the side—something L&D professionals have witnessed.

Longer workdays is another culprit behind our weary state. The average workday lengthened by 48.5 minutes in the weeks following stay-at-home orders and lockdowns across the U.S. in March.[2]

The weight of the pandemic, psychological distress, longer hours at work—it’s no surprise that L&D professionals say that their people feel overloaded, tired, and “too busy to learn.”

Theme #2—The level of connection is dropping

An organization’s culture is like a tapestry. It is a weaving together of relationships based on shared values and norms.

The pandemic is starting to unravel organizational cultures.

“The tapestry is fraying. It’s weakening our feelings of social cohesion and teamwork. It’s disconcerting to see this happening,” noted Campbell.

Comments from survey respondents echo Campbell’s insight:

• “Learning how to be more connected when some are here some of the time, some are never here, and others are here all the time.”

• “Emotional disconnection, loneliness and lack of purpose…people are on a lone journey with little support and feeling very vulnerable.”

• “Weak relationships due to working remote”

Third-party data provides additional evidence of the phenomenon. An analysis of emails, calendars, instant messages, video/audio calls, and workweek hours of 61,182 US Microsoft employees over the first six months of 2020 found “a decrease in synchronous communication and an increase in asynchronous communication.”[3]

What does that really mean?

“We are connecting less frequently, working in silos, and have smaller networks. The computer screen is the only place where we do connect. Isolation is the emotional state of the moment. It’s a strong word, but it’s the right one. At the same time, though, people like the flexibility of remote work, which has so many benefits,” Campbell shared. “We are all in the middle of a huge experiment.”

Theme #3—L&D stretched and dissatisfied with converted offerings

­When the pandemic struck, L&D professionals leaped into the breech and converted face-to-face offerings into virtual ones. Yet, they are dissatisfied with what they accomplished in 2022.

“L&D professionals all share a difficult challenge: converting a growing backlog of material to virtual delivery while lacking the resources to do it. And not knowing how to make the material engaging. This is a pressing need, but many are struggling to meet the challenges of the day,” said Campbell.

Learner engagement is another pervasive problem. Findings in the survey bolster this. In fact, some 59% of respondents said more learner engagement is needed in their virtual and digital designs, with concerns about ‘engagement’ appearing in one out of six responses across this large population.

Take a deeper dive into the findings of our L&D Trends for 2022. Watch the webinar here.

[1] https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/#:~:text=During%20the%20pandemic%2C%20about%204,June%202019%20(Figure%201)

[2]  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/04/remote-work-longer-days/

[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01196-4

Now that public health initiatives are controlling the pandemic, the return to the office is a hot topic.

The Ken Blanchard Companies wanted to know what leadership, learning, and talent development professionals felt about the return. In a June 23 poll, three questions were asked as a part of a webinar series exploring the hybrid work environment. 195 HR / L&D professionals responded.*

1. Which of the following best describes the business environment you are returning to?
2. Which of the following best describes your organization’s response to this environment?
3. What does “return to the workplace” look like in your organization?

BUSINESS DISRUPTED

Which of the following best describes the business environment you are returning to?

Some 77% of the 195 respondents experienced moderate to major disruptions to their business environment. 7% identified their environment as completely disrupted. 44% described their business world as substantially to severely changed.

MORE CHANGE COMING

Which of the following best describes your organization’s response to this environment?

Covid sent a shock through the world. Businesses are still experiencing the aftershocks and are reimagining how they’ll operate in a post-pandemic world.  Some 68.9% of respondents are making “moderate” to “major” changes in their strategy.

Covid compressed a decade’s worth of change into a year. What will the new workplace look like?

HYBRID WINS

What does “return to the workplace” look like in your organization?

The pandemic redefined the role of the workplace. Leaders must now establish the post-pandemic office. What will the post-pandemic office look like? According to the leadership development professionals polled, a hybrid arrangement where employees come in two/three days a week. (Of note: 20.8% still aren’t sure what they’ll do.)

One thing is certain. Post-pandemic work policies are evolving. Still working on yours? Check out helpful articles, blog posts, upcoming webinars and an infographic summarizing the survey results courtesy of The Ken Blanchard Companies. Access all resources at https://resources.kenblanchard.com/hybrid-work-environment

*195 HR / L&D professionals polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies on June 23, 2021

Trust and empower employees. Respondents identified they look for leaders who believe in them enough to trust them with significant responsibilities and to empower them to use their experience and knowledge. As one respondent put it, “When my manager trusts me, it makes me want to do an extremely good job so I don’t let her down and so that trust increases.”

Provide regular feedback to everyone. Respondents indicated a strong desire for positive feedback when it is deserved—for example, when they show advances in learning a new task or when they offer ideas that benefit their company. They also want to know when they make mistakes or do things wrong. The important caveat? They want the person giving the feedback to respect them as someone who wants to grow and improve.

Make sure goals and expectations are clearly stated—and hold people accountable for achieving outcomes. Survey participants identified that they want leaders to hold them accountable but they don’t want surprises. As one respondent put it, “People don’t like surprises, so managers should make expectations clear up front.” Another survey respondent said, “When the manager explains goals, the employee can take ownership.”

Be open to hearing new ideas and input from everyone. As one respondent stated, “When managers listen to people’s ideas, energy levels can soar. It makes employees feel important and valued.” Respondents also indicated that Millennials want active, involved leadership, a feeling of collaborative teamwork, and unstructured access to information. Implicit in this finding is that information and ideas flow in both directions—from manager to employee and from employee to manager.

Do not micromanage. One respondent noted, “Leaders need to trust their people to do their jobs, but they also need to be available for help when needed—such as when an employee is new in a task.” One key point that came out of the research: the majority of those surveyed expressed a desire to be allowed space for trial and error. This allows the employee freedom to learn from mistakes while having their manager nearby to ward off larger problems.

The report highlights that the growing Millennial generation of workers is looking for clear definitions of expectations, regular feedback, and a receptive ear by managers about their ideas. They do not want to feel micromanaged, but trusted and empowered. They embrace transparency from their managers and want the opportunity to contribute.

You can access the complete report, Millennials in the Workplace: How Do Managers Inspire Them? at the Blanchard website. It contains additional analysis as well as advice for Gen Xers and Boomers, and is available free of charge courtesy of The Ken Blanchard Companies.

That’s what Scott Blanchard, principal and EVP with The Ken Blanchard Companies, found out the hard way when his company lost a critical long-term account. An ongoing contract was terminated overnight when a new senior leader removed the entire learning and development department.

In a new article for Ignite! on Making the Business Case for Developing Your People Blanchard shares how that experience drove him to explore why some organizations see and believe the tangible value of investments in training while others don’t. He also shares how it provided the impetus to build a business case that would satisfy even the most hard-nosed of executives.

Understanding employee development

Blanchard discusses how the key was showing the correlation between leadership practices and employee development. He combines research that shows how strategic and operational leadership impacts organizational vitality together with some personal experience he’s had in making presentations to senior executives. In those presentations, Blanchard asks senior leaders to consider a typical employee in their organization and the key goals or critical tasks they are asked to perform as a part of their jobs.

In most healthy growing organizations, people are highly accomplished at some aspects of their job, decent in others, disillusioned with a few aspects, and just getting started with the new tasks.

Blanchard asks the group of leaders to self assess where their own people are at with the various tasks they are responsible for.  Once that’s completed, Blanchard puts together a group composite. The senior executives are surprised to see that the distribution is generally stacked up at the Disillusioned Learner or Capable, But Cautious, Performer levels. (See Figure One: Typical Task Development Levels.)

Typical Task Development Levels (Blanchard Ignite! Newsletter June 2012)

Blanchard goes on to explain that, “If you operate with 75% of your people at a Disillusioned Learner or only a Capable, But Cautious, Performer level, you are going to have very anemic financial performance and low levels of passion and engagement.

“This is exactly what we are seeing in today’s work environment. The result is an organization operating at 65 to 70% of potential. In our research into The High Cost of Doing Nothing, the impact of this untapped potential is costing the average organization over $1 million per year.”

Leverage development levels effectively

For senior leaders looking to develop their people more effectively, Blanchard has some recommendations.

•  “When people start off as Enthusiastic Beginners it’s important that you grab a hold of their momentum and enthusiasm and prepare them for the inevitable Disillusioned Learner stage. It will come, so it’s important to acknowledge it, make it OK, and help people push through it.”
• “When you get to the Capable, but Cautious, Performer stage remember that you can’t stop there—that will only get you lackluster financial performance. Instead, push through to a place where employees become Self-Reliant Achievers.”

What’s the development level of the people in your organization? 

The best companies invest in their employees, supervisors, and managers. They know that people are the key to bringing plans to life and creating a sustainable advantage for your organization. Take time to develop your people. It’s one of the best investments you can make!

To learn more, check out Making the Business Case for Developing Your People

.

As reported in (2005) The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham, page 21, Figure 3.1

Yes, compensation was a factor in 12% of the cases, but look at some of the other issues that drove people away—growth, meaningful work, supervisor skills, workload balance, fairness, and recognition—to name a few.

What type of environment are you providing for your people?

Author, speaker, and consultant Leigh Branham, who partnered with PwC to analyze the results of the study identifies that trust, hope, worth, and competence are at the core of most voluntary separations.  When employees are not getting their needs met in these key areas, they begin to look elsewhere.

Wondering how your company would stack up in these areas? Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself.  How would your people respond if they were asked to rate their work environment  in each of the following areas?

• I am able to grow and develop my skills on the job and through training.
• I have opportunities for advancement or career progress leading to higher earnings.
• My job makes good use of my talents and is challenging.
• I receive the necessary training to perform my job capably.
• I can see the end results of my work.
• I receive regular feedback on my performance.
• I’m confident that if I work hard, do my best, demonstrate commitment, and make meaningful contributions, I will be recognized and rewarded accordingly.

Don’t wait until it’s too late

Better compensation is only a part of the reason why people leave an organization.  In most cases it is a symptom of a more complex need that people have to work for an organization that is fair, trustworthy, and deserving of an individual’s best efforts.  Don’t take your people for granted.  While you may not be able to provide the pay increases you were able to in the past, there is nothing stopping you from showing that you care for your people, are interested in their long term development, and are committed to their careers.

He shares that fact and some of the causes as a contributing author in Performance Management: Putting Research into Action. Using the results of a Metrus Group survey he identifies six gaps that get in the way of organizational alignment. While each factor on its own isn’t enough of a problem to explain the overall poor alignment figure, Schiemann believes that it is the cumulative effect of each gap that explains the overall misalignment.

How would you score?

Take a look at some of the key alignment factors that Schiemann identifies below.  As you look at the numbers from other companies, ask yourself, “How many of these alignment factors could I cumulatively answer “yes” to on behalf of my company?”

From Performance Management: Putting Research into Action (2009) page 53, Figure 2.2 “Why Strategies and Behavior Disconnect: Percentage of Rater Agreement.” The percentages represent the cumulative agreement of raters for each element and for the ones above that element.

Strategies for closing the gap

For leaders looking to close the alignment gap in their organizations, Schiemann recommends seven key steps:

1. Develop a clear, agreed-on vision and strategy.
2. Translate the vision and strategy into clear, understandable goals and measures.
3. Include and build passion for the vision, strategy, goals among those who are implementing them.
4. Provide clarity regarding individual roles and requirements and link them across the organization.
5. Make sure that people have the talent, information, and resources to reach the goals.
6. Give clear, timely feedback on goal attainment.
7. Provide meaningful incentives to encourage employees to develop or deploy sufficient capabilities to achieve the goals.

All good performance begins with clear goals

No organization can perform at its best with only 14% of its people rowing in the same direction.  Take some time this week to check in with your people.  Are their key goals and work objectives in line with the overall strategy of your organization?  Do they see how their work fits in and do they have the tools, resources, and authority to get the job done?

Take the time to set (or reset) a clear direction today.  It can save a lot of time, work,  and wasted effort down the road.

To get at that, they shared five key questions from WD-40’s annual engagement survey and asked the audience how many of these statements they would personally agree and/or strongly agree with.  Here are the questions (and the percentages of positive responses.)  See how this stacks up with your experience.

In my organization/company…

1. I am treated with dignity and respect. (78% agree/strongly agree)
2. Employees work passionately toward the success of the organization. (52% agree/strongly agree)
3. I am allowed the freedom to openly discuss an alternative point of view concerning issues at our company/organization with my supervisor. (71% agree/strongly agree)
4. My supervisor respects me. (77% agree/strongly agree)
5. I know what results are expected of me. (68% agree/strongly agree)

Then Ken Blanchard asked one additional question to highlight the connection between performance management and culture.  After the initial results were shared, he asked, “Do you believe that you, as an employee, benefitted from your last review with your supervisor?”

Over 58% of the 500 people in attendance said “no”.

Blanchard and Ridge used this final question as a springboard to share their thoughts on what makes up a successful performance management system for employees.  They identified three key components.

1. Clear, agreed-upon goals.
2. Consistent day-to-day coaching designed to help people succeed.
3. No surprises at performance review.

The core of their message was that it’s all about trust and respect.  Organizations that treat people as valued team members by taking the time to structure jobs their properly, provide direction and support as needed, and focus more on helping people succeed instead of evaluating them, are the ones that create engaging work cultures that bring out the best in people.

What’s possible?

But does it work?  That’s where Garry Ridge’s experience at WD-40 really caught my attention.  After working at this for the past 10 years, Ridge answers, “absolutely” and he has the numbers to back it up.

Check out these responses from WD-40’s most recent survey on the same questions Ken Blanchard asked the audience.

1. At WD-40 Company I am treated with dignity and respect. (98.7% agree/strongly agree)
2. Employees at WD-40 Company work passionately towards the success of the organization. (98.6% agree/strongly agree)
3. I am allowed the freedom to openly discuss an alternative point of view concerning issues at WD-40 Company with my supervisor. (98.3% agree/strongly agree)
4. My supervisor respects me. (98.0% agree/strongly agree)
5. I know what results are expected of me. (97.7% agree/strongly agree)

The numbers at WD-40 are at least 20 points higher in all categories and an eye-popping 46-points above the audience survey response when it comes to question number two, “Employees at WD-40 Company work passionately towards the success of the organization.”

Ridge also has the bottom-line impact numbers you’d expect with the company experiencing consistent growth over the time period and record sales for the most recent fiscal year.

How about your organization?

Strong performance management is a basic key to success but its implementation is very uneven in today’s organizations.  Some companies have strong processes in place while others leave it up to the discretion of the individual manager. 

What’s your company’s approach to performance management?  How is it working? 

If you could use a more consistent, proven approach, check out the process that Blanchard and Ridge suggest in their book Helping People Win at Work.  It can be implemented at any level in an organization.  To see the complete presentation Blanchard and Ridge conducted check out the webinar recording posted up at Training Industry by clicking on this link.

Good performance management is a basic to better performance.  Don’t let an uneven approach create inconsistent results.  Your people deserve better.  Conduct a performance review of your performance management system today.

 The three big culprits? 

1. Employee turnover.  Poor leadership is responsible for up to 30% of the reasons why people leave their organizations according to exit interviews conducted by The Saratoga Institute.
2. Customer turnover. Poor leadership negatively impacts employee satisfaction, which in turn negatively impacts customer satisfaction and retention. Research published in Harvard Business Review calculated that every 5 point change in employee satisfaction scores caused a 1.3 point change in customer satisfaction scores.
3. Employee productivity.  Poor leadership leads to poor employee productivity.  Research from Blanchard shows that direct report productivity can be improved 5-12% through better management practices. 

Most senior executives instinctively know that leadership impacts the bottom line, but quantifying that impact has been a challenge in the past.  This new white paper (and the free online calculator that the information is drawn from) is a great way for leaders to put some facts behind their suspicions. 

You can download a copy of this new white paper, Making the Business Case for Leadership Development: The 7% Differential here.  If you are interested in calculating what poor leadership practices might be costing your organization, also check out Blanchard’s free online Cost of Doing Nothing Calculator.  This is the same free online calculator used by survey respondents in the white paper.

The top three job factors that the respondents identified as most important were

• Meaningful Work
• Autonomy
• Task Variety

The top three organizational factors that respondents identified as most important were

• Procedural Justice (Fairness)
• Collaboration
• Performance Expectations

In a follow-up question, the respondents were asked who they felt had the primary responsibility for influencing and improving each of the factors. Surprisingly, respondents identified themselves as having the primary responsibility for several of the factors. The one exception was on the factor of Feedback, where 82 percent of the respondents saw the responsibility as primarily being in the hands of the supervisor.

To see the complete survey results, download Employee Work Passion: What’s important in creating a motivating work environment and whose job is it?

If learning is important to success in today’s complex business environment, why don’t more organizations take the time to train people in the skills they need more effectively?

It’s because most managers and leaders are not trained how to teach according to Dr. Vicki Halsey, Vice President of Applied Learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies.   Most leaders are more accustomed to telling instead of teaching—and are often disappointed when they check back to see how people are doing with applying new skills.

If you want your people to pick up new skills more quickly, Halsey recommends addressing six areas when rolling out a new initiative.  Have you got a new program that you are getting ready to launch?  See if you you’ve covered these six basics to maximize learning and application.

1. Energize learners.  Set the context for learning before anyone steps into the classroom.  What can people do to get up-to-speed on this subject?  What can they read, or who can they talk with, to become as excited about this topic as you are?
2. Navigating the content.  Is the presentation learner friendly? Have you put together a good structure that includes breaking the content down into bite-sized chunks that people can easily digest?  Or have you designed this as a lecture type presentation where you will be doing all the talking and it will be a challenge just getting through the content—let alone actually retaining anything?
3. Generate meaning.  Have you connected the dots so people see why learning this new content is important?  People need to see why they should take the time to invest in learning new skills.  Your job as a leader is to provide that meaning.
4. Apply the learning.  What does this new skill look like in the real world?  Have you included some opportunities to practice the real life application of this new skill—or is that something you are leaving up to individual learners to figure out for themselves?
5. Gauge and celebrate.  How will you measure if people are really doing something different with the content?  Don’t be vague on this point.  What is the business metric you are looking to impact?  ROI is something you need address at the beginning of a new initiative—not after the fact.
6. Extend the learning.  How will you keep the initiative alive beyond the initial rollout?  New habits take time to develop and a lot of support in the early days.  What is your follow-up plan?  How will you ensure that skills learned in the classroom are applied back on the job?

A 2010 Bersin report shows that organizations that successfully create strong learning cultures are more likely to be strong innovators in their markets, more likely to get to market before competitors, and more likely to be a market-share leader.

Learning new skills is an important necessity in today’s work environment.  Don’t leave it to chance in your organization.  Take a proactive approach to teaching people new skills.

In a recent webinar for The Ken Blanchard Companies, WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge asked participants to assess their performance review system.  Over 400 people shared their thoughts in three key areas. Here are their responses to each question.  How would you have answered these same questions on behalf of your organization?

Our organization’s performance review system provides valuable feedback and direction to employees. 

•         Strongly agree               (24%)
•         Slightly agree                (54%)
•         Slightly disagree            (13%)
•         Strongly disagree          (  8%)

Employees don’t receive surprise feedback at the end of the year that they never received during the year. 

•         Strongly agree               (38%)
•         Slightly agree                (35%)
•         Slightly disagree            (19%)
•         Strongly disagree          (  6%)

Our performance review system builds trust between managers and their people. 

•         Strongly agree               (18%)
•         Slightly agree                (47%)
•         Slightly disagree            (22%)
•         Strongly disagree          (10%)

A good performance management system provides employees with feedback and direction that they can use throughout the course of the year to improve performance.  A poor one focuses solely on evaluation.  When that occurs, employees are often surprised by their year-end assessment with detrimental impact on trust and morale.  Don’t let that happen in your organization.  Find ways to help people win along the way by providing clear goals, day-to-day coaching, and frequent, informal feedback throughout the year.  

 To learn how Garry Ridge has created just such a system at WD-40, be sure to check out the on-demand recording of 3 Keys to Effective Performance Management.  You’ll hear about the results of the polling and Ridge’s prescription for success.

• Managing labor costs
• Sourcing and recruiting from outside the organization
• Evaluating workforce performance
• Efficiently allocating the workforce
• Retaining valued talent within the organization
• Enhancing workforce productivity
• Developing future leaders
• Developing workforce skills and capabilities
• Fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing

Next the researchers asked the human resource executives which of the nine challenges were the most important from their perspective and which did they feel least prepared to meet successfully.  Three of the nine challenges appeared on both lists

1. Developing Future Leaders—HR executives say the ability to develop future leaders will have the greatest impact on their organizations’ future success. Yet, only one in three believes they are prepared to do this effectively.
2. Developing Workforce Skills and Capabilities—Executives identified developing workforce capabilities as the second of their most important imperatives, but rated their effectiveness in this area among the bottom three as well.
3. Fostering Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing—HR executives also rated their organizations as least effective and least prepared in fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing.

How does this match up with your experience? Are these the same concerns you have for your organization?  While the IBM study does not provide specific solutions for addressing each of these areas of concern, it does present some questions that can get you thinking about these issues in your own organization.  To download a copy of the complete study (and also take a self-assessment in these key areas) visit the Insights from the 2010 IBM Global CHRO Study web page.

First, the employees’ ranking

1. Job security
2. Benefits
3. Opportunities to use skills and abilities

Next, the HR professionals’ ranking

1. Relationship with immediate supervisor
2. Job security
3. Communication between employees and senior management

While both lists have job security in their respective rankings you’ll also see that benefits are only on the employee list while “relationship with immediate supervisor” and “communication between employees and senior management” are only on the HR professionals list.

What accounts for this discrepancy?  The difference is perception.  While benefits are certainly important to employees the issues that HR professionals are hearing about in their offices are relationships with immediate supervisor and overall communication.

What does this mean?  Two things.  One, as an HR professional, don’t let data summaries distract you from the most important message.  People are unique, with unique needs and desires.  Every individual perceives their work environment differently.  Survey results should never take the place of one-on-one conversations.

Two, as a manager, remember that you are on the front lines in making sure that everyone has a voice and feels listened to and heard.  Don’t assume you know what your employees want and how they feel about the way that things are going.  Take a minute to sit down and find out where your employees stand personally with each of the issues identified in this year’s SHRM report. To see all of the data collected along with some ideas for action steps, be sure to check out the complete report here.

Tom goes on to talk about the power of appreciation and his belief that bosses-managers-leaders (not to mention parents and teachers and spouses) should express appreciation more often.

So why don’t people recognize others more often?  That was a question Senior Consulting Partner Mark Paskowitz of The Ken Blanchard Companies asked 650 people who joined him for a webinar on Reward & Recognition on a Limited Budget earlier this week.  Mark asked participants to choose from among the five reasons he hears most often in his work with clients.  81% of the audience responded.  The rank ordering?

1. Lack of time (25%)
2. Not part of their personality style (20%)
3. Lack of awareness (15%)
4. Lack of skill/competence (15%)
5. Afraid of leaving someone out (6%)

The general sense is that recognizing and expressing appreciation can seem like a complicated process sometimes.  It doesn’t have to be.  A quick word of appreciation, a sincere thank you, and just noticing on a daily basis is all that is required in most cases.  For more ideas on how to get started, check out yesterday’s post on Don’t Overthink Recognition and Praise.  For a more complete look at the entire subject of reward and recognition, check out the recording of Mark’s webinar.

Catching People Doing Things Right Twitter Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Lance Dumigan, today’s winner in our Twitter contest to “catch people doing things right.”  Lance was recognized by Deborah Mourey.  Lance will be receiving a personally autographed copy of his choice of one of Ken Blanchard’s latest books.  Congratulations Lance—and good on Deborah for taking the time to recognize him!

CCL surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 companies for its Understanding the Leadership Gap study. Researchers asked executives and managers from an array of corporations and government agencies to consider a set of 20 leadership skills.

Respondents then ranked those skills in terms of how important they will be for success five years from now and how accomplished their colleagues are at them today.  The biggest gaps?  Executives in the U.S., India and Singapore identified the four most important leadership skills needing work as: 

1. Leading People–knowing how to hire, direct and motivate talented staff
2. Strategic Planning–translating vision into realistic business strategies
3. Inspiring Commitment–recognizing and rewarding employee accomplishments
4. Managing Change–dealing with resistance to change and involving colleagues in the design and implementation of change 

As you look into the future, what do you see?  Are these the biggest gaps for your organization?  More importantly, do you have a plan in place for addressing them?

The 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork found that “employee-engagement levels for all workers at the surveyed companies dropped 9 percent since last year — but the number was nearly 25 percent for top performers.”

In addition, “more than one-third (36 percent) of top performers said their employers’ situation had worsened during the past 12 months and the percentage who would recommend others accept jobs at their companies had declined by nearly 20 percent.”

Although HR leaders may be limited in what they can do financially, the article recommends getting creative in looking at other ways to help high performers feel valued.  While money is important, and high performers need to feel that they are being treated fairly in this area, there are other factors to consider including reward, recognition, and growth opportunities.

Ryan Johnson, vice president of research at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based WorldatWork, says that “one of the easiest things to do in an environment like this is to sit down with someone and have a discussion about their career development and where they’re headed in the organization.”

Johnson also suggests that, “simply letting high performers know that their performance is recognized and that they’re important to the company can be motivating.”

For more ideas on how you can let your high performers know that you care about them during tough economic times, be sure to check out the entire article.  For more information on other factors that lead to increased levels of engagement, also take a look at Employee Passion: The New Rules of Engagement on The Ken Blanchard Companies website.  Both of these resources can help you identify ways to build (or rebuild) engagement levels in your organization.

What does the economy look like from your perspective? Are things improving, getting worse, or staying about the same?  Take a minute and share your thoughts in our new poll below.

That’s what we found out in our new white paper From Engagement to Work Passion which takes a further look at the concept of employee passion.  This is a continuation of our research which identified eight basic components that all employees need in order to feel valued, focused, and productive at work.

Overall Sample—Aggregate Results

(1,212 responses, six-point scale with 6 representing “present to the fullest extent”)

1. Meaningful Work                               4.75
2. Autonomy                                         4.50
3. Collaboration                                     4.06
4. Connectedness to Colleagues            4.04
5. Connectedness to Leader                   3.91
6. Fairness                                            3.81
7. Recognition                                       3.74
8. Career Growth                                   3.63

According to the data, Meaningful Work and Autonomy are most present in today’s work environments while Recognition and Career Growth are least present.

You can access the complete report at Blanchard Perspectives and White Papers

Key Findings 

• More than half of companies (52 percent) have already made layoffs, up from 39 percent two months ago. However, the number of companies planning layoffs has fallen ten percentage points from 23 percent to 13 percent.
• Forty-two percent of companies have already put salary freezes into place, an increase from only 13 percent two months ago.
• Sixty-nine percent of companies have revised their merit increase budgets for 2009. The median increase at those companies has decreased from 3.5 percent to 1.5 percent.

While most companies are now settling in to what many believe will be a long recession that will not bottom out until the end of 2009 or into 2010, the good news is that, according to this report, it looks like the majority of the layoffs, salary and hiring freezes, and resetting of merit increase budgets have already been announced.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The 2009 results represent feedback from more than 1,700 executives, line managers, and training and human resource leaders from a range of companies, industries, and countries. Since 2003, over 6,700 leaders have participated in this ongoing study. Here are some of the highlights from the press release:

“Participants in the most recent Blanchard survey were asked to describe their organization’s overall outlook in regards to the economy, training expenditures, expected cuts, and coping strategies.  In addition, the survey touched on corporate issues relating to organizational, HR, and management challenges. Responses focused on the most important aspects of future corporate growth and employee development, as well as how employees are prepared to deal with these and other hurdles. Some of the survey’s top responses include:

Tactics for Coping in a Down Economy

–         Invest in productivity and performance

–         Cut travel costs

–         Increase focus on branding and differentiation

2009 Top Organizational Challenges

–         Economic challenges

–         Competitive pressure

–         Growth and expansion

2009 Top Management Challenges

–         Managing change

–         Creating an engaged workforce

–         Reducing costs

Types of Training to be Offered in 2009

–         Leadership skills

–         Managerial/supervisory skills

–         Customer service skills

With the expectation that the economy will begin to recover within the next year, survey respondents also predict that their corporations will not make drastic cuts to training budgets. Fewer than 1 in 5 state that their organization plans to spend significantly less money on training in 2009, as compared to 2008. This desire to maintain an adequate level of training points to the identification of corporate development as a way to ride out the storm of economic turmoil, while also refining and realigning each organization’s own learning infrastructure.

While recent news has highlighted the downsizing of well-known companies, the Blanchard survey results show signs that corporations are looking inward to survive current conditions instead of resorting to the old playbook of cuts, cuts, and more cuts. Companies seeking to decrease costs along all facets of the organizational structure are not, the survey suggests, primarily targeting personnel and marketing. Only 29% of respondents listed personnel layoffs and cuts as ways their companies plan to cope with the down economy, while marketing cuts came in at 14%. More than 60% plan to invest in productivity and performance-maximizing strategies, while another 46% plan to focus on their corporate branding and differentiation.”

You can view the entire Blanchard 2009 Corporate Issues Survey findings at:

http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_2009_Corporate_Issues_Survey.pdf