Shoot for the moon

When did you last talk to an employee? Not just your direct reports, or your senior management team, but the people out there at the ‘sharp end’, driving rubber-tyred gantry cranes, preparing invoices and hauling on mooring lines? And when you had the conversation, was it in your workplace or theirs?

No matter what they’re doing, all those people have the power to influence profitability, and they’ll exercise that power subconsciously, in the way they tackle jobs and talk to customers because of the way they feel about the company. Or stand that last thought on its head, and it becomes something entirely different – the way the company makes them feel about it. And viewed in that context, managing that perception effectively is as important as any other management task, because if the perception is a negative one, part of the responsibility for that lies with the management team.

It’s long been the case that the way a company is viewed by its employees is different from the way it’s viewed by its executives. That’s understandable enough; the two groups stand at widely different points in the company’s landscape, so the view is bound to be different. But shouldn’t it be the same? Shouldn’t everyone be working towards the same principal goal, even though their jobs and responsibilities might differ wildly?

Of course they should. But employees without the ‘view from the Boardroom’ need some other motivation to deliver to the best of their ability; to focus on the task in hand, and not be distracted from other quarters.

Traditionally, the way to encourage that is with hard cash; bonuses based on achievement of a range of key performance indicators. That’s fine in the good times, so long as the KPIs have been chosen carefully, and everyone understands the rules. However, a large and heavy spanner is thrown into the works when, as we’ve seen in the recent past, the economic climate prevents businesses from performing so well, and the funds aren’t there, even though the need for employees to perform most certainly is.

But is that what people really want, in the days when so many more people in employment probably already have a large HD TV, a decent car, and a good foreign holiday? At any rate, they undoubtedly have far more possessions and travel further than their parents and grandparents. Do they want something else out of life in the 21^st century? A survey by respected pollster Gallup suggested staff can be given an incentive without financial burden on their employers. They discovered that seven out of every ten workers thought non-monetary forms of recognition provided the best motivation.

And one of those probably means seeing more of you and your senior management team members.

Management gurus have been touting the notion for years, under the banner of ‘managing by walking about’, but just because it’s neither new nor cutting edge doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea.

Turning up to talk to employees on an informal basis is a powerful way to earn their respect and get them on course. They learn about you; understand your pressures, and your hopes and aspirations for the business. They cease to feel they’re just a number, have the opportunity to ask questions, and hear honest answers.

All of a sudden you’re communicating, learning about their pressures, issues and concerns, and a common vision can emerge. The dialogue can also bring forward other ideas for things employees find rewarding and that might, with your intervention, have a positive effect on profitability; thoughts about job security, enhancements to the working environment, training and qualifications.

Some of that might be free at the point of delivery, and on that basis can continue when times are hard financially. Employees might also have ideas for improving business efficiency, and if nothing else they’ll undoubtedly have an improved perception of the organisation because someone has taken the time and trouble to listen to them. Furthermore, a study by the Northwestern University in Chicago established a direct link between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and company profitability – significantly even when the employees in question didn’t have direct customer contact.

In the KFC fast food chain the thought was summed up much more succinctly by Gregg Dedrick, the company’s former president, when he was senior vice president of Human Resources. He said of his restaurant managers: “They just want to know that they are valued.” Note the subtle distinction; it’s not about them being valued, but knowing that they are. The same was proved by audit company KPMG, which estimated it saved at least £1.9m ($3m) in a year by reducing staff turnover because the staff they already had in place were happier and positively motivated, and therefore less likely to take their talent elsewhere.