| Five
Ingredients for Alignment
Are your
employees aligned with what you want them to do? In
his most recent book, The 8th Habit, Steven Covey reported
on a Harris Interactive poll of 23,000 US Residents employed
full time within key industries. Consider these findings:
- Only
37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what
their organization is trying to achieve and why.
- Only
1 in 5 was enthusiastic about their team's and organization's
goals.
- Only
1 in 5 workers said that they have a clear line of sight
between their tasks and their team's and organizational
goals.
- Only
half were satisfied with the work they accomplished at the
end of the week.
- Only
15 percent felt they worked in a high trust environment.
Here
are five ways to align your employees with the company for
greater performance and achievement.
Planning. Do you have a strategic plan?
Do your employees know what it is? Do they know their
part in it? Can they repeat the vision statement without
looking at it? How can employees be aligned with company
objectives when they don't know what the objectives are?
Hiring
the Right People . To have the happiest and
most fulfilled employees, they need to be matched to their
work in terms of their behaviors, rewards/culture and personal
skills. Finding the right people and putting them in
the right spots is essential to alignment. The best
way to do this is to have a system for hiring that includes
understanding the job--not just the duties and tasks, but
the attitudes and habits the job requires.
Honesty AND Integrity. Tell the truth
and act on it. Simple AND complicated! Give employees
the facts, unvarnished and uncensored. Tell it in person,
don't leave it to e-mails or memos. Employees
become uneasy whey they know what's going on but don't know
why (the rumor mill). When you give your word (honesty)
make sure that you keep it (integrity).
Respect. Several studies done over the past
several years show that employees want respect more than they
want money. Alignment is much easier to accomplish if
you respect employees as individuals and recognize them for
what they contribute to the organization. Treat your
employees as partners in your business, not just hired hands.
Leadership. The definition of leadership
hasn't changed much during time. Leaders are people
that get things done. In an organizational setting,
getting things done means having your people pulling in the
same direction--the direction you set! That means you
must make the organization's direction--the vision--clear.
You must reinforce that vision in your words and in your actions.
Tackle the tough decisions now!
Remember
these five basic principles and your company will outperform
your expectations!
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