Dear Madeleine,

I am in leadership development and talent management for a global manufacturing firm. A reorganization initiative will take place early in the second quarter of this year, causing some redundancies and a reduction in personnel. We know this change will bring a lot of anxiety and we’re trying to put some resources in place to help people understand and prepare for what’s going to happen.

Very specific parts of the business will be affected, which will create stress across the organization. Most of the resources I’ve seen are framed around managing a crisis. But we don’t view this reorganization as a crisis—we see it as part of our cost reduction and growth story.

How do we help leaders support their teams in this challenging time? How can we still retain our best talent and keep them engaged and focused on our long-term objectives?

It would be great to have your perspective on this topic.

Managing the Reorg

_____________________________________________________________________

Dear Managing the Reorg,

You are right—if you can help people feel that a reorganization is simply a normal part of business life, everyone will be better off. And, ultimately, the more information you can share with people, the better.

In our change model (you can find an e-book on the topic here), the first stage of concern is Information Concerns. Managers can often handle most of these concerns in groups, which can be a time saver.

People with Information Concerns want to know:

• What’s really going on?
• What’s wrong with the way things are now?
• What do we hope to accomplish?
• Why now?
• What opportunity will I have to raise questions and voice my concerns?
• How do people I respect feel about this change?

The next stage, which is often overlooked or given short shrift, is Personal Concerns. Managers might perceive employees at this stage to be overly self-absorbed or even whiny, so the urge to avoid conversations is strong; however, people may need a safe forum to share difficult emotions such as fear or guilt. Managers may also be tempted to avoid tackling personal concerns because they may not have answers to all the questions being asked. If that’s the case, they should tell the truth and commit to brainstorming and design thinking sessions to figure things out.

It can be a challenge to surface these concerns in group settings, so time-starved managers will need to schedule additional one-on-one conversations. This is an excellent investment of time early in the process, because addressing personal concerns early and well will prevent unpleasant surprises down the road. Allowing people to express their feelings generally diffuses their fears.

People with Personal Concerns want to know:

• How will the change impact me personally?
• Will I win or lose?
• Will my workload increase?
• How will my relationships be impacted?
• Will I be able to figure out how to get things done in a new way?
• How do I find the extra time I will need?

Our CHRO, Kristen Costello, invented a novel approach to ensuring that we retain our best people. It is called the Triple R Conversation. It is a powerful, focused, and detailed take on a stay conversation. The three Rs stand for Reflect, Reconnect, and Revisit. This conversation requires that manager and employee have a trusting relationship.

The employee is asked to prepare by reflecting on why they have stayed, how invested they are in the mission of the organization, what they enjoy most about their job, and what their biggest challenges are. In the conversation, the manager gets more detail about the person’s career goals and their hopes and dreams. The manager also shares ideas and plans that might be considered. They continue to show an interest in the person’s growth and evolution after the meeting. It is critical that the manager not make promises they aren’t certain they can keep—that will do more harm than good.

For more detail and some excellent questions, read this article: Take a “Triple R” Approach to Stay Interviews by Kristen Brookins Costello. The best time to start having these kinds of conversations is right now. They create an outstanding foundation that will serve to help everyone weather any storm that might be coming.

One thing I have observed over years of working with senior leaders managing change is that by the time the change is announced, they have been thinking about it and discussing it with their peers for so long that they are bored with the whole thing. It is easy to forget how disconcerting it was—and the sheer volume of adrenaline that was released—when they first heard about the change. It is easy to forget that they have had a chance to process their own concerns for months, and just because they are over it and ready to move on doesn’t mean others are. This is especially true for leaders who are not only accustomed to a lot of change but who thrive on change. It can be hard for them to remember that most of their employees are not like them at all.

To sum it up, here are some do’s and don’ts for change conversations:

Managers must:

• Share as much information as they can
• Stay positive about the reasons for the change
• Draw attention to the mission of the business and how the change will help fulfill that mission
• Trust that any employees who leave the organization will get proper support and will most likely find comparable work in other companies
• Listen for the stages of concern from the employee, reflect back what they hear, and give the person a chance to experience emotions without judging
• Answer questions when they can and commit to finding answers or coming up with an answer as a team when they can’t
• Remember that many individuals can become very alarmed in the face of change, even if the reasons for the change make sense to them
• Express empathy for how hard change can be for some people
• Prioritize group and one-on-one conversations about the change
• Show an interest in each individual who reports to them and demonstrate a willingness to help each person grow and develop by asking thoughtful questions

Managers must not:

• Allow their workload or their attitude about the tedium of change management to interfere with helping everyone understand the details and implications for the change
• Reveal negative opinions about the change – their own or other leaders
• Blame or demonize any one person or group of people for requiring the change
• Cast doubt on decisions that have been made
• Overdramatize the situation by using language that casts people who still have jobs as lucky or those who don’t as doomed
• Try to get away with superficial check-ins; e.g., asking someone how they are doing and not really paying attention to the response
• Show impatience with how much time some people need to process
• Judge voicing concerns to be naysaying or a challenge to the change
• Give in to the impulse to tell people to get on with it—people will come around at different speeds and pushing will only spark resistance

Just as we were all getting used to living in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous), now we are tasked with operating in a BANI world (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible). If this language is new for you, or intriguing, you might like: What BANI Really Means. As a student of history, I would submit that the BANI moments are more a part of our common experience than we believe. We are all just muddling through, grappling with the human condition.

The best things a leader can do to take care of their people during a change are pay attention, listen a lot, reassure when they can, and be kind.

Love, Madeleine

About Madeleine

Madeleine Homan Blanchard is a master certified coach, author, speaker, and cofounder of Blanchard Coaching Services. Madeleine’s Advice for the Well Intentioned Manager is a regular Saturday feature for a very select group: well intentioned managers. Leadership is hard—and the more you care, the harder it gets. Join us here each week for insight, resources, and conversation.

Got a question for Madeleine? Email Madeleine and look for your response soon. Please be advised that although she will do her best, Madeleine cannot respond to each letter personally. Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

Quitting your job for a new one is the new normal.

Almost 4 million Americans resigned from their positions in June 2021.[1] More turnover is on the horizon: Some 40% of the global workforce is “considering leaving their employer in the current year,”[2] while “95% of workers are contemplating a job change.”[3]

This amount of turnover is historic. A record-breaking 10.9 million jobs were open at the end of July 2021.[4]

The pandemic is driving the turmoil. Americans are reassessing their priorities because of it, and they’re looking for jobs that offer remote work possibilities, greater fulfilment, career advancement, and flexibility.

The High Cost of Turnover

Turnover­ always demands your attention—and especially so at this unprecedented moment. To start, turnover is incredibly costly for a company: 30% to 40% of the annual salary for entry-level employees; 150% for mid-level employees; and up to 400% for highly skilled employees.[5]

What about the unquantifiable cost of turnover?

When a high performer leaves, so do their expertise, brilliant ideas, and contribution to the cultural fabric. An even more worrisome trend is high performers leaving with their colleagues for greener pastures.[6]

Tips for Keeping Your High Performers Happy

Keeping top performers at your company in this time of extraordinary change is critical. Here are some tips your managers can use to help them stay. 

Give high performers the spotlight: This is your time as a manager to flip the script. Instead of you telling your high performer what they should do, ask them how they accomplished something so impressive.

Let them talk. Let them share. Let them teach their colleagues.

When people share the strategy behind their successes, they feel energized and appreciated. It also increases their confidence, giving them the courage to take on even more strategic projects.

Let them choose new challenges: A high performer has earned the right to explore. Encourage them to pursue projects that are interesting. Don’t pigeon-hole them even though they are an expert at an important task.

Ask your high performer, “What interests you? How would you like to contribute?” Give them the opportunity to use their talents.

When your high performer takes on a different kind of challenge, they’ll be an enthusiastic beginner at the start of the project—the honeymoon phase, when we’re filled with excitement and enthusiasm. That state drives retention: When people love their work, they’re 50% more likely to stay at their jobs.[7]

Show appreciation: Let your people know that you’re grateful for their contributions. They’ll be even more engaged and productive. Make your words of praise specific if you want them to have the most impact.[8]

Don’t assume your people know that you appreciate them. Research shows that leaders believe their people know how they feel about their work, when in fact, they don’t.[9] And when people feel unappreciated, they start looking for another job.

Since the brain stores data in images, not words, saying things like, “Good job! Way to go! Nice work!” goes in one ear and out the other. 

For appreciation to stick, you need to share what they did, the effect it had, how it made you feel, and your gratitude for their partnership and efforts. For example: “When you stayed after the meeting to address the client’s hesitation, you deepened her trust and showed that we want to exceed customer expectations. I’m so grateful for your dedication, empathy, and desire to help everyone be successful. Thanks so much.”

Help your people take care of themselves: Just because someone is a high performer doesn’t mean they’re immune to stress. They can be so busy doing fantastic work that they forget to take care of themselves. Then one day, they wake up and say, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Your job is to remind your team that self-care is their top priority. Here are best practices you can use to keep your high performers happy:

• Hold walking meetings—even when they’re virtual. Instead of sitting in front of a monitor, everyone calls from their cell phones, pops ear buds in, and meets while moving.
• Offer to buy those interested an exercycle or treadmill.  Sounds expensive? Not compared to hiring someone new.
• Give people a brain break in meetings. Ask your team to stand up and have someone lead them in exercises for five to ten minutes. Most teams usually have someone who can do this. If you don’t, you’ll find plenty of free online fitness videos.
• Let people know when you are taking care of you. Share, “Today I am doing my run from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.” Be the example. Help people celebrate self-care.
• Oh, Won’t you stay? You’ve heard a high performer wants to leave. Why not ask, “What would it take to make you stay?” You’ve nothing to lose at this point and may be pleasantly surprised that you meet their demand.

The Great Resignation is causing a flood of resignations. Now you know how to stop the surge and keep your best people.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/success/how-to-quit-your-job/index.html

[2] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work#:~:text=Today%2C%20our%20research%20shows%20that,major%20pivot%20or%20career%20transition

[3].https://www.yahoo.com/now/youre-not-only-one-whos-102605650.html

[4] https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_actsubs&utm_content=signinnudge&deliveryName=DM150635

[5] https://www.clickboarding.com/employee-turnover-what-is-it/

[6] https://hbr.org/2021/01/your-star-employee-just-quit-will-others-follow

[7] https://www.fastcompany.com/90679528/i-spoke-to-5000-people-and-these-are-the-real-reasons-theyre-quitting?partner=feedburner&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feedburner+fastcompany&utm_content=feedburner&cid=eem524:524:s00:09/23/2021_fc&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=Compass&utm_campaign=eem524:524:s00:09/23/2021_fc

[8] https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-little-things-that-make-employees-feel-appreciated

[9] https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-little-things-that-make-employees-feel-appreciated

The Great Resignation. The Great Attrition. The Mass Exodus.

The historic turmoil taking place in today’s workplace has been given many names—and for good reason. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record-breaking 10.9 million jobs were open at the end of July 2021.[1]

This unprecedented turnover will stretch long into the future. Some 41% of the global workforce is “considering leaving their employer in the current year,” while “95% of workers are contemplating a job change.”[2]

All this turnover comes at a staggering cost: 30%–40% of the annual salary for entry-level employees; 150% for mid-level employees; and up to 400% for highly skilled employees.[3]

The costs are particularly steep for the sales function:

• The average salesperson needs 15 months before becoming a top performer.^[4]
• A company spends on average $106,374 for a salesperson’s salary, health care, etc., before the person starts to reach their quota.[5]
• The annual turnover rate for salespeople is 27%—twice that of the overall labor force.[6]

A little reflection reveals a sobering conclusion: A company cannot succeed if there is significant turnover in its sales force. The cost of the investment, the long lead time before success, the risk of a salesperson quitting, and the opportunities lost along the way are financially crippling.

The Pivotal Role of the Sales Manager

Sales managers have an oversized influence on the struggles and successes of a salesperson.

Gallup found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units.[7] An article in Harvard Business Review went even further:

High-performing sales leaders reported an overall average annual quota attainment of 105% compared to 54% for underperforming sales managers.[8]

The same article stated that when salespeople rate their manager as being excellent or above average, 69% of them exceed quota.[9]

So how can sales managers help their new hires?

Using SLII® with New Hires

SLII®, the world’s most taught leadership development solution, is a proven way to help salespeople succeed. It categorizes a person’s capability for a given task or goal into four categories:

• D1—Enthusiastic Beginner. You’re usually at D1 when you’re starting to learn something new.
  • Remember how you couldn’t wait to ride a bike? You were at D1 on that goal.
• D2—Disillusioned Learner. You inevitably discover that what you’re trying to learn is harder than you first thought.
  • Pedaling, steering, and keeping your balance was trickier than it looked at D2.
• D3—Capable, but Cautious, Contributor. You need to build your confidence in using the new skill.
  • At D3 you could now ride around the block, but your first outing to a crowded park was a bit intimidating.
• D4—Self-Reliant Achiever. You’re highly competent at a task and committed to doing an excellent job.
  • When you reached D4, you could help your younger sibling learn to ride!

SLII® teaches managers to match their leadership style to an employee’s needs by using the appropriate directive and supportive behaviors. The four leadership styles are S1 (Directing), S2 (Coaching), S3 (Supporting), and S4 (Delegating). When leaders match their leadership style with an employee’s development level on a particular task or goal, the person develops competence, motivation, and confidence. And because their development leads to new career opportunities, they stay with your company.

New salespeople are at D1 or D2 on many tasks. They have considerable commitment (motivation and confidence) but little competence, even if they were a top performer at their previous job.

Here are examples of Style 1 leadership that sales managers can use to get new hires off to a fast start:

• Give clear goals
• Set timelines for accomplishing them
• Prioritize tasks
• Create a step-by-step learning plan
• Show what a good job looks like
• Give access to resources
• Share generous feedback on progress

Sales managers should also acknowledge a new hire’s transferable skills and commitment. People at D1 on a specific task or goal are receptive to direction when you acknowledge their commitment.

Sales managers can also paint a picture of success. That means showing the new hire what a good job looks like instead of letting the person develop bad habits as they struggle to find their own way. This tactic works because brain stores information as images, not words.

Time Well Spent

Millions of people worldwide are reevaluating their careers because of the pandemic. Competition for talented sales professionals is fierce. What’s a sales manager to do?

Take the time to invest in your new hires. Use SLII® when you lead. It will pay returns for years to come.

You can learn more about the impact that SLII® can have in your organization by downloading the new eBook Turning New Hires into Top Performers… Quickly. Looking for more content specific to sales management? Check out Meeting the Quota Challenge: Critical Skills Every Sales Manager Needs to Excel. Both downloads are free courtesy of The Ken Blanchard Companies.

ENDNOTES

[1] https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_actsubs&utm_content=signinnudge&deliveryName=DM150635

[2] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work#:~:text=Today%2C%20our%20research%20shows%20that,major%20pivot%20or%20career%20transition.

[3] https://www.clickboarding.com/employee-turnover-what-is-it/

[4] https://www.indeed.com/career/salesperson/salaries

[5] https://www.sba.gov/blog/how-much-does-employee-cost-you#:~:text=There’s%20a%20rule%20of%20thumb,little%20harder%20to%20pin%20down.

[6] https://hbr.org/2017/07/how-to-predict-turnover-on-your-sales-team

[7] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231593/why-great-managers-rare.aspx#:~:text=Companies%20fail%20to%20choose%20the,of%20the%20time%2C%20Gallup%20finds&text=Managers%20account%20for%20at%20least,severely%20low%20worldwide%20employee%20engagement.

[8] https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-7-attributes-of-the-most-effective-sales-leaders

[9] https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-7-attributes-of-the-most-effective-sales-leaders

Now that we’ve dealt with the initial implications of leadership and development in a COVID environment, L&D professionals are increasingly turning their attention to what the future will look like in a post-COVID world.

Remote working will not go away after COVID—in fact, many research firms predict that 2021 will see the number of employees permanently working from home double from pre-COVID times. If these predictions are correct, organizations will need to transform how they manage their workforce in several important areas.

For example, from what I understand from client sessions as well as research I’ve been reading, at least half of employees may look for other jobs if their current employer doesn’t provide a work-from-home option in the future. It doesn’t have to necessarily be full-time, but it must be an option. That’s going to require a major shift in the day-to-day leadership practices of managers worldwide. Although the immediate need to keep doors open and lights on has been met, there is a lot of work to do to keep working from home a viable alternative.

In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need to implement a lot of policies that should have been in place before COVID. For instance, people who worked remotely used to feel like second class citizens who often were forgotten about when it came to development opportunities, being informed on what was going on in the organization, and, of course, social gatherings. Once nearly everyone was working from home due to COVID, this situation drastically improved. Many people report that they know their team members much better now than they did before.

But there are still issues to be resolved. A majority of at-home workers feel overworked and have trouble setting boundaries when there is no explicit end to the workday. Solving this problem may require more discipline around how, when, and how often we meet using online platforms.

Managers also need to be more aware of each individual’s home office setup. One colleague of mine is working out of a 400-square-foot apartment in Hong Kong with his wife and two children. They both work and homeschool their kids. That’s radically different than my home setup with a separate office and two monitors.

For managers, this means recognizing if somebody’s kids aren’t able to go to their physical school, there may be a certain time during the day when they’re in class and need their parents’ attention. That parent won’t be able to attend a meeting during that time. Kids will end up back in the actual classroom, of course, but it will still be important for remote managers to be aware of people’s personal environments.

Performance management will also change. Measuring an employee’s productivity by the amount of time they sit in an office chair was never the right thing to do. The future of work is to measure by outcomes. That means managers will have to become even more skilled in proper goal setting—clearly identifying what is to be accomplished by when, and having reporting processes that are transparent to everyone.

Management now will be seen as more of a partnership. Good managers will check in with their people instead of checking in on their people. These new post-COVID leaders will make regular one-on-ones a priority just to see how people are doing, and will ask questions such as “How’s it going?” and “What do you need from me?” In the future, we will see more shared scorecards that everyone can access and keep up to date so all members of the team can see what their teammates are up to.

L&D has an important role to play in this future. We’ve made great strides in converting content to virtual and digital formats over the past 12 months. The next step will be refining our content to address the new skills needed for leading in a virtual world.

Training can help. In addition to goal setting, performance management, and day-to-day coaching, we will help future leaders build awareness, trust, and community. You can learn more about the complete list of 12 skills The Ken Blanchard Companies has identified here.

As we all step into this new virtual world together, leadership qualities such as being available and being responsive are more important than ever. These characteristics will be valued more highly than were some of the qualities we thought we needed from leaders in the past. Successful companies will work on equipping their virtual leaders to excel in more areas like these.

To learn more about some of the ways The Ken Blanchard Companies can help you on your post-COVID leadership journey, visit the Leading Virtually homepage on the Blanchard website.

Dear Madeleine,

An employee recently left. She worked for me for 18 months. She never really seemed to want to be here, never got very good at her job, and never developed relationships with anyone on the team. At best, she seemed apathetic. She rather unceremoniously gave two weeks’ notice right before the holidays and it was inconvenient for me to have to replace her so quickly. In her exit interview with HR, she gave no indication of why she was leaving.  

After several weeks, I got an email from her asking me if I would be a reference and write her a recommendation. I have never received this kind of request from someone I didn’t enjoy working with and who made no effort to develop a relationship with me. I don’t want to say yes, because I don’t know any positive things I would say about her. And I really don’t feel like writing a recommendation, because, frankly, she left me high and dry.

Can I just say no? It seems…

Mean and Stingy

________________________________________________________________

Dear Mean and Stingy,

You can absolutely say no. But, since you seem like a decent person, you could also meet her halfway.

It sounds like your former employee (FE) did nothing to create relationships, never committed to the job, and left you in the lurch. You could tell her you don’t feel like you got to know her well and don’t know that anything you say would make a positive impression, and therefore she may want to use someone else as a reference. If she wants to pursue the issue with you, so be it. When potential employers check references, they don’t always ask detailed questions. They are often just making sure that employment history is accurate. I got a call from an outsourced service checking a reference recently, and it was clear they just wanted to make sure my former employee showed up for work and didn’t commit any crimes. If FE still wants to take her chances, she can—or she can use your HR partner to confirm the claim of employment.

If you end up writing the recommendation, you could ask her to write one herself and send it to you so you can edit and add personal touches. Again, you would only tell the truth. She must have been good at some things. You say she “never got very good”—does that mean she got good enough?

Of course, you have no way of knowing what was going on for FE while she worked for you. Maybe she was going through a hard time. Maybe she is super private and shy, and it’s difficult for her to connect with people. You have no idea why she left you high and dry, but she must have had her reasons. I would encourage you to try not to judge her. It would only be mean and stingy if you said mean and stingy things about her to others.

The fact that you are concerned with being mean and stingy makes me think that isn’t how you see yourself or what you are aiming for as a leader. When in doubt, take the high road. You have almost nothing to gain by being stingy and absolutely nothing to lose by giving FE the benefit of the doubt.

So, be kind, don’t judge, and tell the truth. No one can ask for more than that.

Love, Madeleine

About the Author

Madeleine Homan Blanchard is a master certified coach, author, speaker, and cofounder of Blanchard Coaching Services. Madeleine’s Advice for the Well Intentioned Manager is a regular Saturday feature for a very select group: well intentioned managers. Leadership is hard—and the more you care, the harder it gets. Join us here each week for insight, resources, and conversation.

Got a question for Madeleine? Email Madeleine and look for your response here next week!

Measuring the Impact and ROI of Leadership Training, a new ebook just published by The Ken Blanchard Companies, shows how training and development professionals can calculate an estimated return on a proposed training initiative by looking at the bottom-line impact of better leadership in three areas: employee retention, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity. Utilizing Blanchard’s ROI methodology, readers will be able to demonstrate that leadership development programs produce a return on investment of at least 8:1 after program participants adopt new skills.

More discoveries from the ebook:

• Better leadership practices reduce voluntary turnover by up to 32 percent.
• Better leadership practices improve customer satisfaction scores by up to three percentage points—the equivalent of 1 percent of annual sales. That equals $1 million in increased revenue for companies with $100 million in sales.
• The largest benefit of better leadership skills is improved employee productivity. Citing a case study with a large financial service firm, the ebook identifies that better leadership practices can generate productivity improvement of between 5 and 12 percent. When calculated as a percentage of annual payroll using the same $100 million dollar company, that’s an amount equal to at least $2 million per year!

According to the new ebook, leadership training generates a large return on investment because of the multiplier effect. When organizations train one manager, it creates an improved work environment for seven or more individual contributors who report to that manager.

Leadership, learning, and talent development professionals who want to learn more about calculating the impact of their proposed training initiatives can download the on-demand ebook from The Ken Blanchard Companies for free! Use this link: Measuring the Impact and ROI of Leadership Training.

I am a mid-level manager with a large team in a low-profile but significant government agency. I say significant because substantial numbers of citizens depend on us for critical services.

The chaos here has been profound over the last year or so. Senior leaders keep quitting or getting fired, mandates turn on a dime, and my boss is so demoralized that most days she just comes to work and shuts her office door. She could be playing solitaire on her computer all day, for all anyone can tell.

The mission and goals for my team are straightforward, though, so we keep plugging along and serving our constituents. I have lost some of my best people who have gone to the private sector—and because of the leadership vacuum and the budget freezes I have not been able to replace them. Of course, this has put more pressure on my remaining people.

I don’t know how much longer we can go on this way. I am very close to retirement so I know I can hang on, but I feel terrible for my people. I would need to hire at least five people in order to do the job we are supposed to be doing.

I am running out of steam here and I’m tired of fighting with no support.

Feeling Paralyzed

Dear Feeling Paralyzed,

Wow. This sounds like an exhausting and tricky situation. But you are not ready to walk away, so you might as well create a plan to keep going.

It sounds like you don’t have much to lose—which in a messed-up way could afford you an opportunity here. This would really depend on your relationship with your boss, but I wonder if you could knock on her door, interrupt her game of solitaire, and request her assistance. Tell her you need her and you need guidance, direction, and support to solve the problems you are grappling with. Maybe she’ll buck up and get her head back in the game.

If you can’t do that, I guess you are truly on your own. I mean, seriously, it sounds like there isn’t anyone paying enough attention to fire you! Go ahead and submit requests for hires to HR and see if you can get that ball rolling. If that won’t work, you will just have to do your best with the hand you’ve been given.

Look at the numbers and figure out what you can do with your limited work force. Explain your thinking to your team and inspire them to do their best with a lousy situation. You probably won’t be able to do everything you want to do, or feel you should do, but you can do something. The people you serve will really appreciate it.

What else can you do but your very best? Who is going to stop you?

Fight on!

Love,

Madeleine

About the author

Madeleine Homan Blanchard is a master certified coach, author, speaker, and cofounder of Blanchard Coaching Services. Madeleine’s Advice for the Well Intentioned Manager is a regular Saturday feature for a very select group: well intentioned managers. Leadership is hard—and the more you care, the harder it gets. Join us here each week for insight, resources, and conversation.

Got a question for Madeleine? Email Madeleine and look for your response here next week!

Without a clear sense of the positive financial impact, it’s easy for a leader to dismiss a new proposal as being too disruptive, too expensive, or too time consuming.

An analysis of more than 200 organizations by The Ken Blanchard Companies found that every year of delay in improving leadership skills costs the typical organization an amount equal to 7 percent of their total annual sales.  This represents millions of dollars each year—because poor leadership behaviors not only increase the loss of high potential employees, they also lower the employee work passion and productivity of the people who remain with the company.

Employee Retention

Research originally conducted by Leigh Branham, a leading authority on turnover and retention and author of The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, identified that at least 9 percent and possibly as much as 32 percent of an organization’s voluntary turnover can be avoided through better leadership skills. Branham, who partnered with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in conducting 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.

Employee Work Passion

Research conducted by The Ken Blanchard Companies using its Employee Work Passion Assessment has found significant correlation between positive work intentions and a leader’s ability to build trust, use coaching behaviors, and create an engaging work environment. This environment includes high levels of Meaningful Work, Autonomy, Growth, Fairness, Collaboration, and Feedback, along with six other factors (see complete list here.) Failure in any of these areas on the part of the leader leads to lowered intentions on the part of employees to perform at a high level, apply discretionary effort, remain with an organization, endorse it to others, and act as a good corporate citizen.

Employee Productivity

Providing employees with the tools, resources, direction, and support they need to perform at their best is the key to creating a high performance work environment. Research conducted by Dr. Paul Leone with a large Fortune 100 financial services company involving 300 managers and 1,200 direct reports found a 5 to 12 percent increase in productivity among direct reports of managers who attended leadership development training and immediately began using the new skills they had learned.

Leadership Impacts the Bottom Line

Leadership matters! After all, leaders help employees set goals. Leaders make sure those goals are in alignment with overall corporate strategy. And leaders are responsible for providing the direction and support employees need to succeed on a daily basis.

Even though a leadership development initiative—like any change—can be disruptive, difficult, and financially challenging, taking no action is often the most expensive option of all.

Most executives instinctively know that strong leadership is essential for overall organizational success. By evaluating and improving leadership practices throughout their organization, leadership, learning, and talent development professionals can remove a persistent drain on financial performance and allow their organizations to grow and thrive.

# # #

Want to learn more about quantifying the impact of leadership training?  Join us for a free webinar!

Making the Business Case for Leadership Training

Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 9:00 am Pacific Daylight Time

Organizations lose millions of dollars each year due to poorly trained leaders. In this webinar, David Witt, researcher and author of The Ken Blanchard Companies eBook 7 Ways Poor Leaders Are Costing Your Company Money, will share how poor managerial behaviors negatively impact engagement, alignment, productivity, and employee retention.

Drawing on original research conducted by The Ken Blanchard Companies, Dave will explore:

• The 7 biggest gaps between employee expectations and leader behaviors
• The 3 ways to measure the bottom-line impact of leadership training
• The 5 keys to leadership training that works

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to evaluate your current level of leadership readiness, how to measure the impact of your leadership development, and how to get started on deploying training that makes an immediate difference. The event is free, courtesy of The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Register here!

I love being permanently connected to the world and I adore the feeling of control I get from remaining on top of everything that comes my way. I guess this means I don’t really know how to distinguish between work and life anymore. They’ve merged into one.

Many articles online feature people who chip away at the time they spend with their families and friends, lose sleep because they’re too busy speaking to the boss or check work email during dinner or on weekends. But this goes beyond work interfering with life. What happens when life interferes with work?

What do you do when a message comes in from a friend who works a different shift so weekdays are the only time they have to chat? What happens when your plumber is available to fix the sink only during your working hours? What if you need to go to your child’s school play on a Friday morning?

For me, the lines between work and life are so blurred that I can barely see them. Generally, when I’m physically in the office I’m at work and when I’m out of the office I’m not at work. However, I work remotely one day a week, so my physical location isn’t much of a distinction. I often check work email when I’m out of the office—and I often check messages from friends when I’m in the office.

These fuzzy boundaries have no effect on my productivity. I’m still an effective member of my department team and I get my work done. If I need to concentrate on a task, I set my phone to Do Not Disturb so that I can focus. If I take a lunch break with a friend and we run late because we are busy catching up, I work a little later to make up the time and get everything finished. So far, I haven’t had the feeling that work is taking over my life. I can still easily walk away from email, go read a good book, and switch off from all electronic connectivity.

I love this flexible approach to working and balancing my life however I please. In earlier posts I have identified that, as a millennial, I’m drawn to the concept of flexible work—and today’s technology makes this work style increasingly achievable. When my parents were my age, as soon as they stepped out of the office they weren’t readily contactable, so their work needed to be completed before they left. Now, I can leave the office at 5:00 p.m. and continue to work if I want to. If I were job hunting and found two equivalent jobs at different companies, one offering flexible work and the other offering a 9-to-5 fixed schedule, without a doubt I’d happily choose the company that offered flexible work.

Organisations who want to attract younger workers need to be increasingly open to flexible work while at the same time deciding how their company will define the concept. Can people check their social media occasionally in exchange for an extra 30 minutes of work, or will their policy be more (or less) strict than this? Are employees allowed to take half a day off with the understanding that incomplete work will be finished another time—for example, taking a morning off in exchange for working into the evening? Could people have the freedom to compress their work week into four 10-hour days and take Friday off?

It is important to note that flexible working does come with a price—and it isn’t for everyone. Stuart Heritage, writing for The Guardian, identifies in his article that each employee needs to make sure they are the right kind of person for flexible work. If you can’t make a clear switch between your work and your personal life it might not be the right move for you. Employers must take on the burden of not only recognising the symptoms of burnout and identifying when people are working too hard, but also calling out someone when their life is taking over and their work output isn’t quite up to scratch. Keep in mind, too, that flexible work isn’t possible for all professions. My mum, for example, is a nurse. She can’t exactly nip out on a Tuesday afternoon to do her Christmas shopping and then pop back in later to finish her shift, when there are patients in need of urgent care.

What do you think? Do you think organisations need to harness the flexibility of new technology and changing attitudes, and be open to flexible work for their employees? Do you think there’s a place in today’s constantly connected global market for people to choose when, where, and how they work? Or do you think it’s more important for employers to control the exact hours employees work to maximize productivity and avoid employee burnout? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Dear Madeleine,

I manage the logistics department of a global aeronautics engineering company. My job is intense—my whole team works like crazy when we are on deadline and relaxes a little bit when things aren’t so hot, which still means 50-hour workweeks. I think it is important for people to get a bit of a break because when we are on, we are 100% focused and we cannot make errors. 

So I came in to work on Monday to find that my boss—who has been amazing—has been fired! No reason given. Enter a new boss, someone who was apparently hired to vastly increase our output. I am sick at heart at the unfairness of it all, and I have no idea why they let my boss go. He was smart and funny, really cared about us, ran a tight ship, and always made really good decisions. I want to call my former boss to find out what happened and to share how sad I am to see him go. Is this something I can do? I am so worried about my team. 

 Shell-shocked

Dear Shell-shocked,

I am so sad for you; it is terribly jarring to come in to work thinking it is business as usual only to find someone that important is simply gone.

You have no way of knowing why he was let go, so be careful of assumptions. The fact that your boss’s replacement is already in place leads me to believe it was all very carefully planned. Your company has probably just given no thought whatsoever to managing the human side of big change. That is pretty normal.

There is no law that says you can’t contact your old boss. There is no reason whatsoever not to maintain the relationship with someone who was obviously an excellent leader and someone you admire. You might ask him to be a mentor to you. He may be able to share what happened or he may not; either way, it’s possible he will have some tips to offer on managing your political landscape.

Be careful of rumors about why the new person was brought in. You don’t actually know what your new boss’s mandate is, or how he will execute on it. I understand that you are worried about your future—the brain, after all, hates uncertainty—but give yourself a break and try to relax until you know what is going on.

You can, however, prepare. Get your ducks in a row and update the job description, performance plans, scorecard, or output stats for each of your people so you are ready when the new boss asks for them. Be ready to make your case for the ebb and flow of work being critical to the work product.

Finally, try to manage yourself. Change is hard under the best of circumstances and it sounds like your company is scoring an epic fail on helping you and your team with this one. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a good leader for your people, providing them with perspective and reassurance until you all know more. You can also be a role model for staying open to possibility and the potential of new and better ways of doing things.

Breathe deeply and stay grounded.

Love, Madeleine

About the author

Madeleine Homan-Blanchard is a master certified coach, author, speaker, and cofounder of Blanchard Coaching Services. Madeleine’s Advice for the Well Intentioned Manager is a regular Saturday feature for a very select group: well intentioned managers. Leadership is hard—and the more you care, the harder it gets. Join us here each week for insight, resources, and conversation.

Got a question for Madeleine? Email Madeleine and look for your response here next week!

Dear Madeleine,

I am a manager who has done well at a professional services company. I run a large and growing group of entry level professionals who manage logistics and customer service for the entire organization.

I absolutely love my job. I enjoy helping people be successful as well as being seen as someone who adds value to the company.

Here is my problem: our organization is growing so fast that other departments keep pinching my people!

We are dedicated to hiring from the inside and giving people the opportunity to grow, and I love seeing my team members succeed. But I’m getting tired of having to constantly hire and train new people. It’s happening so much that I’m starting to feel taken advantage of. What to do?

Robbed

Dear Robbed,

Congratulations! The reward for excellent work is … more work. And the reward for being a developer of people is watching them move up to bigger and better jobs. It stinks for you, but you might feel better about things if you shift your outlook. Otherwise, it won’t be long before your feeling of being taken advantage of deepens to resentment. And, as they say, resentment is like taking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die. Don’t let that happen!

Here are some ideas:

Spread your impact: You love helping people be successful so it is a good idea to stay focused on that. Be intentional about expanding the love. Maybe you could set up a little deal with your people—a kind of pay-it-forward plan. Tell them you will do everything in your power to develop them and help them achieve their professional goals. In return, you ask that they do the same with their own people once they start supervising others, so that your positive actions will continue on both in your organization and ultimately out in the world as your people grow and move to other employers.

Systematize your hiring: Accept the reality of your situation and get ahead of it. Become friends with your company’s recruiter if you aren’t already, and discuss the situation with that person. The constant call for new hires creates a need for you to keep a pipeline of potentials. Identify places where you can look for newbies entering the workforce—local schools, perhaps? Spread the word with career or job counselors that you hire regularly, so that they will send you their best candidates. Make your situation clear on your LinkedIn page—lots of people use LinkedIn to hunt for job opportunities. This way, you will have people coming to you and won’t feel like you are starting from scratch each time you need to fill a position.

Automate your onboarding: It is tedious to have to repeat the same new hire training over and over. Create a manual, make some videos, and delegate some of the sharing of details. And have the departing people train their replacement before they go.

Get Recognized: You may actually be the last person to figure out that this is happening, but if your people keep getting pinched it is because your colleagues are on to your talent! So talk to your boss about arranging an incentive and recognition plan for your extra work. Maybe you should get a bonus every time one of your people is plucked? Or if money isn’t a motivator, ask yourself what would be.

Finally, enjoy the fact that you are a force for good in the world—and that a huge group of people will always remember you as one of their best bosses.

Love, Madeleine

About the author

Madeleine Homan-Blanchard is a master certified coach, author, speaker, and cofounder of Blanchard Coaching Services. Madeleine’s Advice for the Well Intentioned Manager is a regular Saturday feature for a very select group: well intentioned managers. Leadership is hard—and the more you care, the harder it gets. Join us here each week for insight, resources, and conversation.

Got a question for Madeleine? Email Madeleine and look for your response here next week!

This issue presents a tremendous challenge for organizational leaders. Even worse than dealing with the effects of people who leave your organization (studies show replacing employees can be 1.5 to 3 times their annual salary), you have to manage these disengaged workers who have decided to “quit and stay.” You’re still paying them to under-perform and ultimately undermine the effectiveness of your organization!

In conducting over 19,000 exit interviews of employees who voluntarily left their jobs, Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, identified four basic needs that weren’t being met that started people on the path to disengagement and ultimately quitting a job.

The Need for Trust — The number one priority for any leader is to build trust with his/her team members. Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship, and in the workplace it’s a non-negotiable if leaders desire to tap into the full effort and passion of their employees. Employees won’t give you their best if they don’t believe you have their best interests in mind. They will shy away from taking risks or making themselves vulnerable if they don’t feel safe and trusted. They expect company leadership to deliver on their promises, to be honest and open in communication, to invest in them, and to treat them fairly. The ABCD Trust Model is a helpful tool for leaders to understand what it means to be trustworthy and build trust with others.

The Need to Have Hope — I’ve had the privilege of meeting football legend Rosey Grier, a member of the “Fearsome Foursome” when he played with the Los Angeles Rams, and now a Christian minister and inspirational speaker. He said something I’ve never forgotten. When speaking about his work with inner city youth in Los Angeles, Rosey said “Leaders aren’t dealers of dope, they are dealers of hope!” So true…leaders are dealers of hope. We need to instill a sense of hope in the people we lead. Our people need to believe they will be able to grow, develop their skills, and have the opportunity for advancement or career progress. It’s our job as leaders to foster that hope and support our employees in their growth.

The Need to Feel a Sense of Worth — Despite its struggles and challenges, work is an intrinsically rewarding experience for people. We derive a tremendous amount of self-worth from our work, whether it’s something we’re employed to do or whether we volunteer our time and effort. Employees have a need to feel confident that if they work hard, do their best, and demonstrate commitment and make meaningful contributions, they will be recognized and rewarded appropriately.

The Need to Feel Competent — Employees need to be matched in jobs where their talents align with the challenges of the work. If the work is too simple, then it’s easy for people to lose interest and become disengaged. If the employee is in over his/her head and the work is too challenging, it can lead to discouragement and frustration. Leaders are on a constant quest to find ways to place employees in that sweet spot where they are challenged at just the right level. But it’s not all on the shoulders of leaders to do this work. Employees need to take responsibility for their own development and learn how to manage their motivational outlooks.

Ignore these four needs at your own peril! Poor leadership results in tremendously high costs to organizations, as my colleague, David Witt, discussed in a webinar yesterday. I encourage you to view and listen to the recording. He shares a wealth of research and information that illustrates the importance of effective leadership. You’ll be exposed to several resources, including additional research from Leigh Branham, that will help you improve your own leadership practices.

Randy Conley is the V.P. of Client Services and Trust Practice Leader at The Ken Blanchard Companies and his LeaderChat posts normally appear the fourth or last Thursday of every month. For more insights on trust and leadership, visit Randy at his Leading with Trust blog or follow him on Twitter @RandyConley.

The article describes the results of a Gallup study showing that employees want communication, a trusting relationship, and clear measurement standards from their immediate supervisor.

I messaged some of my friends to learn why they posted the article. They all replied that the findings matched their own experience and they wanted to share. In fact, each of them told me about how a negative experience in one of these areas had resulted in their search for a new place to work.

That’s pretty sad.

The findings identified in the Gallup study are consistent with those uncovered through research by The Ken Blanchard Companies on the subject of Employee Work Passion. We frame these elements as Connectedness with Leader, Feedback, and Performance Expectations. Blanchard research shows that when there are significant gaps between what employees expect and what they actually experience at work in these areas (as well as nine others), their intentions to stay with the organization, perform at a high level, apply extra discretionary effort, be a good organizational citizen, or endorse the company to others are lowered.

That’s even sadder!

Here’s the good news. Leaders can help create the type of environment people are looking for at work. One strategy we recommend for all leaders is to increase the frequency and quality of their conversations with their direct reports.

A good way to start is by scheduling a special type of one-on-one meeting in addition to performance review meetings.  In this meeting, the direct report is responsible for setting the agenda and capturing the required action steps. The manager’s job is to simply show up and listen.

This kind of meeting helps in many ways. The leader shows an interest and commitment to the employee’s success by listening to what is working well and providing feedback in areas where the employee needs help. And by taking the time to clarify performance expectations, the leader demonstrates to the employee that not only is their work important, it also plays a valuable role in achieving overall organization objectives.

What can you do to create connection, provide better feedback, and set clearer performance expectations with your people? As my Facebook friends point out, we all could benefit from better communication with our leaders.

For more ideas, be sure to read the Blanchard white papers, Ten Performance Management Process Gaps, Are Employees’ Needs Being Met by One-on-Ones?, and Employee Work Passion: Connecting the Dots. They are all available, free of charge, from the Blanchard research archives.

About the Author

Mary Ellen Sailer, Ed.D., is a Coaching Solutions Partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching Services team. Since 2000, Blanchard’s 130 coaches have worked with over 14,500 individuals in more than 250 companies throughout the world. Learn more at Blanchard Coaching Services. And check out Coaching Tuesday every week at Blanchard LeaderChat for ideas, research, and inspirations from the world of executive coaching.

The 950-person study looked at the correlations between three different motivational outlooks—Disinterested, Suboptimal, and Optimal—and five subsequent intentions to act in a positive manner—apply discretionary effort, perform at a high level, endorse the organization, remain with the organization, and be a good organizational citizen.

As expected, people who identified their motivational outlook as Disinterested showed no measurable correlation to exhibit the five desirable behaviors. However, the research showed that people with a carrot and stick (gain reward or avoid punishment) motivational outlook, labeled Suboptimal by the researchers, also showed no measurable correlation back to positive intentions.

Only people who identified their motivational outlook as Optimal—participating in a project or task because they were able to link participation to a significant value, life, or work purpose—showed a strong correlation.

Implications for Leaders

For managers—especially those using rewards and sanctions as performance management tools—this new data requires a rethinking of the best way to go about encouraging long term high performance. For best results, the Blanchard researchers suggest six ways managers can build stronger links to positive intentions.

• Encourage autonomy—by inviting choice and exploring options within boundaries
• Deepen relatedness—by sharing information about yourself and the organization, showing empathy and caring, and discussing your intentions openly
• Develop competence—by emphasizing learning goals and not just performance goals and by providing training and appropriate leadership style matching a person’s level of development
• Promote mindfulness—by encouraging self-reflection and asking open-ended questions that identify options
• Align with values—by helping individuals align goals to their identified values and by exploring natural interest and enthusiasm for a goal
• Connect to purpose—by providing rationale and big picture overviews to help individuals connect the goal to a work or life-related purpose

The research cautions leaders that taking motivational short cuts may spur action short term, but may do more harm than good long term. Instead, take the time to connect and align work goals in a way that builds autonomy, relatedness, and competence. You can learn more about the research—including source materials and additional tips for leaders, by downloading the 12-page white paper, A Business Case for Optimal Motivation.

• You made a bad hire—and the person does not have the skills or ability to learn the skills needed for the job, or is not a cultural fit for your organization; or

• The individual’s bad attitude negatively affects others and the work—no matter how much coaching and encouragement you provide.

In my experience, most of the time we can avoid letting someone go by following a simple four-step process that eliminates the problem instead of the employee.

Step 1: Set clear expectations for performance. 

People need to know what a good job looks like. Leaders must be able to paint a clear picture of the results they want employees to achieve. That includes clear measures of success. Performance is sometimes off target because clear targets were never set.

Step 2: Provide day-to-day coaching.

Make time to provide direction on new tasks, to praise progress and acknowledge results, and to listen and encourage as needed. The amount of direction and support you provide should correlate to the person’s competence and commitment on each goal or task. Make sure you get to know each individual personally so that you may effectively adapt your coaching to their situation.

Step 3: Hold regular one-on-one meetings.

At least once a month, get together with each of your direct reports to discuss how things are going. The best one-on-ones are scheduled by the manager but led by the direct report. It is their chance to share progress, talk about obstacles they are facing, and work with you to solve problems.

Step 4: Catch performance problems early and solve them together.

The sooner you catch a performance problem, the easier it is to address. As soon as you notice a pattern of poor performance, have an open discussion. Involve the person in solving the problem. Set a time to follow up to ensure that the problem is solved.

On the surface, these four steps may seem like common sense—but they are far from common practice. Take some extra time with your people. Following these four steps will not only dramatically reduce the number of performance problems in your team but also result in an increase in overall employee productivity, engagement, and retention.

About the author

John Hester is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies who specializes in productivity and performance management.

Researchers from The Ken Blanchard Companies teamed up with Training magazine to poll a cross-section of 456 human resources and talent management professionals. The survey found gaps of 29 and 39 percent between how often direct reports had career conversations with their leaders when compared to how often they wanted to have those conversations.

29% Gap in Job Development Conversations

Survey questions in this section asked respondents if their immediate manager conducted performance planning in a way that resulted in at least one developmental goal that would help a direct report progress in their current job. Questions asked respondents to evaluate the frequency with which their leader discussed job assignments that would help to broaden the direct report’s job experience and knowledge. Questions also asked respondents to evaluate how often their leader discussed the training needed to improve the direct report’s performance during the current performance period and whether the leader made time and resources available to help the employee get the training they needed.

39% Gap in Career Development Conversations

In this section respondents were asked to evaluate the degree to which their leader prepared them for career advancement. Questions asked respondents to evaluate the degree to which their boss understood the steps needed to prepare the direct report for career advancement, explained the organization policies and procedures that impacted career development, and discussed potential career opportunities for the direct report. Questions also specifically asked if the leader clarified the steps a direct report could take and whether the boss felt those steps were fair and reasonable.

Make sure managers are taking the time to have “stay” interviews so they can avoid having “exit” interviews

Leaders play a key role in job and career growth. This survey suggests that significant gaps exist between employee expectations and what they are experiencing at work. Left unaddressed, these gaps create a drain on overall organizational vitality through lowered employee intentions to stay, endorse, and apply discretionary effort as needed.

Retention experts Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni, authors of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, believe that job and career growth conversations are one of the most powerful and under-utilized tools at a leaders disposal.  In an article for Executive Excellence, they identify that:

• Conversation has the power to touch employees’ hearts and minds.
• Genuine career development isn’t about forms, choreographing new assignments, or orchestrating promotions. It’s about having quality conversations that facilitate insights and awareness, explore possibilities, and inspire responses that drive employee-owned action.
• When leaders reframe career development in terms of ongoing conversations—rather than procedural checkpoints or scheduled activities—theyhave more flexibility and the chance to develop careers organically.

Mirroring the sentiments of the respondents in the Blanchard survey, Kaye and Giulioni identify that:

• Shorter conversations fit better with the cadence of business today
• Frequent, ongoing dialogue communicates a genuine commitment to the employee and development
• Iterative conversations allow employees to layer awareness, insights, and action more naturally
• The ongoing nature of the conversation keeps development alive in everyone’s mind (vs. tucking it away for a formal meeting.)

Growth opportunities at the job and career level are important drivers of employee work passion and one of the better ways that leaders can show team members that they care and are invested in them. Be sure that your leaders are taking the time to discuss ways that employees can improve their skills in their current role and also how they can continue to advance in their careers.  You can learn more about the Blanchard research by accessing the white paper, Ten Performance Management Process Gaps (and How They Negatively Impact Employee Intentions).  Read more of Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni’s thinking by reading Career Conversation: It’s today’s common sense competency.

That analysis found a 14-point customer satisfaction gap, a 16-point employee productivity gap, and a 45-point employee retention gap which translates into over $1 million dollars for the average organization.

In looking at the ways that leadership impacts each of these three areas, separate Blanchard research into the Leadership-Profit Chain and Employee Work Passion has found that better day-to-day operational leadership practices—including those that promote autonomy, collaboration, connectedness, and growth can significantly improve employee intentions to stay with a company, perform at a high level, and apply discretionary effort in service of company goals.

Taking some first steps

Looking to identify and address operational leadership in your own organization?  Here’s a three step process for getting started.

1. Double-check on goal alignment at the team and department level.  Make sure that all team members are working on the highest priority tasks.  Ask managers to check in and review priorities with their people.  Make sure the work is meaningful, on-target, and contributing to overall organizational goals.  You’ll be surprised at the amount of misalignment that occurs over time.
2. Identify what people need to succeed at their high priority tasks.  Depending on their experience and confidence with the tasks they are assigned, people can be Enthusiastic Beginners, Disillusioned Learners, Capable, but Cautious Performers, or Self Reliant Achievers.  Each of these development levels requires a different style of leadership—either Directing, Coaching, Supporting, or Delegating.  (Surprisingly, without training only 1% of managers are skilled at identifying and being able to deliver all four styles when needed.)
3. Make sure managers meet with their people on a regular basis.  While it is always best for managers to be able to adapt their leadership style to perfectly meet employee needs, that doesn’t mean that they should put off meeting on a regular basis to review goals and provide direction and support as best as possible while learning.  Even if managers aren’t perfect, people still appreciate a chance to talk, discuss progress, and ask for help.

Begin today

Academic research has established a strong correlation between leadership practices, employee engagement scores, and subsequent customer satisfaction scores.   The bottom line is that leadership practices matter. Encourage your leaders to review goals with their people, identify how they can help, and set up a regular time to review progress.  Take care of the people who take care of your customers.  It’s good for them—and your business too!

Interested in learning more?  Join me for a free webinar!

On October 30, I am going to be presenting a more in-depth look at the Cost of Doing Nothing analysis and sharing some strategies for addressing it.  This is a free webinar courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies.  Over 500 people are registered and I hope you’ll join us also. Use the link below to learn more.

High Potential Leadership: Three Strategies to Boost Your Bottom Line

You’ll learn that:

• Less-than-optimal leadership practices cost the typical organization an amount equal to as much as 7% of their total annual sales
• At least 9% and possibly as much as 32% of an organization’s voluntary turnover can be avoided through better leadership skills
• Better leadership can generate a 3 to 4% improvement in customer satisfaction scores and a corresponding 1.5% increase in revenue growth

LEARN MORE >

“It’s all about values and principles. It’s not about the numbers.”

Leaders, perhaps the most ambitious, will tell you that this is their mantra—but when you take a close look at what’s really going on, let’s face it: it is all about the numbers. It’s about hitting goals, frequently even at any cost. The urgent sprint becomes the norm—the new zero point. Actually, it’s now a condition of employment. “You want to work here—this is how you behave.”

Frequently though, organizations don’t recognize the damages of a long-term, “success at any cost,” strategy. Short-term gains may come at the cost of long-term emotional loss.

This may not be a big problem for a business in temporarily lean economic times, when there aren’t many alternatives for people on the payroll. The employees are inclined to stay right where they are. Actually, they may not have any other options. After all, other opportunities are few and far between.

But what about after things start improving? As the human marketplace emerges from contingency plans and belt-tightening, leaders need to be especially aware of what’s going on around them. Previously loyal employees may be hearing of, or actually getting, other opportunities, internal or external. Regardless of where they go, you’ve lost them. And by the way, who do you think gets the most offers, your average producers or the very best?

Here are three ways to reconnect with your people and move forward:

1. Encourage feedback from associates, and then act on it, even if it hurts. Now more than ever, don’t assume everybody is a happy camper. The fact that you haven’t heard any complaints is not necessarily good news. What you don’t know can hurt you. A common leader reaction when good people leave is, “I had no idea he or she was floating resumes out there.” That’s tragic when you think about it.
2. Open your eyes and ears to discouragement and resentment. Emotions like these eat at people’s hearts and poison relationships. If you ignore this condition, it multiplies. When people are uninformed, they accentuate the negative—and the reality is rarely as bad as the scenario they create in their minds.
3. Don’t try to use the same skills that were appropriate in different times. Don’t act like the Lone Ranger. Don’t singlehandedly swoop in to give your people a quick fix. Share news now more than ever. Talk about issues. Problems won’t go away on their own—you must address them. Delaying will only compound the situation.

Finally, as a leader, it’s very possible that you may have been feeling the same stress as your people.  You might have felt put-upon when a lot has happened that was out of your control. But whatever you do, don’t make excuses or offer evidence that you’ve been victimized like everybody else—even if it is true. Remember that you’re the one who chose to be a leader. Play the hand you’ve been dealt. Don’t blame others. After the crises, everybody must face a new reality. That reality starts with the person in charge. That’d be you.

About the author

Dr. Dick Ruhe is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies.