seller. It was based on the results of The Gallup
Organization combing through its database of more than 1
million employee and manager interviews to identify the
elements most important to sustaining workplace
excellence.
In that book's sequel, "12: The Elements of Great
Managing," the authors incorporated the (by then) over 10
million interviews in order to deepen the focus on how
great managers inspire top performance in employees by
creating and sustaining employee engagement.
Each chapter in the book describes one of the 12 Elements
in detail, and wrapped around an explanation of the
element is the story of a manager who epitomizes that
aspect. Following is a brief summary of each of the 12
Elements.
The 1st Element: Knowing What's Expected
Too often employees don't truly know what is expected of
them at work. Overlapping responsibilities, lack of
ownership and accountability, general role confusion, and
a lack of willingness by managers and employees alike
contribute to the need for the First Element: job
clarity. The authors write that "knowing what's expected
is more than a job description. It's a detailed
understanding of how what one person is supposed to do
fits in with what everyone else is supposed to do." Every
employee should be able to make a credible connection
between their job and the mission and profits of the
business.
The 2nd Element: Materials and Equipment
Ensuring that employees have the materials and equipment
they need to do their work well serves two purposes for
the company: 1) having the right tools makes a job safer,
easier, and more productive, and 2) the employee's
perception that that company backs her up with the
equipment she wants and needs is a powerful psychological
motivator. It's encouraging that, generally, people want
to be productive and do their jobs well. They merely need
the proper materials and equipment to give them that
opportunity.
The 3rd Element: The Opportunity to Do What I Do Best
The authors contend that "Matching a person to the right
job, or a job to the right person, is one of the most
complicated responsibilities any manager will face." As a
consequence, no other element of managing has as much
depth as the Third: "At work, I have the opportunity to
do what I do best every day." The focus on the needs of
the job has led to an increased use of job benchmarking
while the identification of a person's talents has
resulted in the popularity of individual assessments such
as StrengthsFinder.
The 4th Element: Recognition and Praise
In the perception of employees generally, praise is
painfully absent from most companies and the workgroups
within them. In fact, it is not uncommon to find between
one-fifth and one-third of people who feel that their
best efforts are routinely ignored. So, the Fourth
Element is that, in the last seven days, has an employee
received recognition or praise for doing good work. The
authors feel that because of its power, low cos,t and
rarity, this element is one of the greatest lost
opportunities in the business world today.
The 5th Element: Someone at Work Cares About Me as a
Person
People treat each other differently when they form a
personal connection and, as such, employees give more
effort in a group when they feel they are more than just
a number. The business, then, reaps the rewards of
greater teamwork. The Fifth Element is that "My
supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as
a person."
The 6th Element: Someone at Work Encourages My
Development
Mentors have existed throughout the ages, and the Sixth
Element, that there is someone at work who encourages my
development, requires this kind of guidance through
personal interaction. Statistics indicate that having a
mentor is fundamental, a part of the unwritten social
contract workers anticipate when they are hired. However,
to be effective, these relationships must form naturally
and not be forced. It is noted that in regards to having
a mentor, many companies look better after new employees
than they do their longstanding, loyal employees.
The 7th Element: My Opinions Seem to Count
Incorporating employee ideas pays back twice. First, the
idea itself often is a good one. Second, that the idea
comes from the employees themselves makes it much more
likely they will be committed to its execution. To the
second point, the authors write that "No matter how
strong the external incentives, they never seem to
measure up to the internal drive of advancing something
that is at least partially one's own idea." Welcoming
employee opinions also produces greater feelings of
inclusion among workers.
The 8th Element: A Connection with the Mission of the
Company
The degree to which a team agrees with this statement is
predictive of its performance on a wide array of
measures: The mission or purpose of my company makes me
feel my job is important. While many of the other
Elements relate to the job itself and getting the job
done, the Eighth Element is strictly an emotional need,
as if the employee can't energize himself to do all he
could without knowing how his job fits into the grand
scheme of things. Once the employees' basic needs are
fulfilled, they search for meaning in their vocation.
People gravitate toward a larger purpose.
The 9th Element: Coworkers Committed to Doing Quality
Work
The authors write that "Few factors are more corrosive to
teamwork than the employee who skates through life taking
advantage of the much harder work of others." Thus, the
Ninth Element is: My associates or fellow employees are
committed to doing quality work. In an average team, only
about one in three employee strongly agrees that her
associates are committed to doing quality work. When 2 +
2 equals 3 instead of 2 + 2 equaling 5, the low
performers need to be addressed, whether it's a lack of
skill or will (or both), since they drag the entire team
down.
The 10th Element: A Best Friend at Work
In response to the original Gallup poll questions, a
Washington Post columnist wrote "A best friend at work?
What is this? High school?" The Chicago Tribune warned
managers to be careful: "Friendships at work can lead to
jealousy, envy and sloth." The most controversial of the
12 Elements is the Tenth: "I have a best friend at work."
Gallup noted that they would have dropped this statement
if not for one stubborn fact: It predicts performance.
The authors note that "Something about a deep sense of
affiliation with the people in an employee's team drives
him to do positive things for the business he otherwise
would not do."
The 11th Element: Talking About Progress
The Eleventh Element is measured by the statement: "In
the last six months, someone at work has talked to me
about my progress." The authors write that "... the
annual review isn't all it's cracked up to be, but
receiving regular, insightful, personal feedback is
intensely powerful to workers." Since we are often not
competent at self-critiques and self-evaluations, it is
imperative that a manager, a coach, or a mentor be able
to hold up a mirror to an employee. From the Gallup
study: a manager who primarily focuses on his employees'
strengths essentially inoculates them from being actively
disengaged. Those managers who focus on weaknesses
achieve lower results, but the manager gets credit for at
least "focusing" on the individual. The worst-performing
managers were those who essentially ignored their team.
Of note: nearly two-thirds of employees who are actively
disengaged say their boss is asleep at the wheel,
providing little or no feedback of any kind.
The 12th Element: Opportunities to Learn and Grow
At the pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid is
"self-actualization," fulfilling one's potential. The
dictionary definition of career revolves around the idea
of successively greater accomplishments: Career -
professional progress: somebody's progress in a chosen
profession or during that person's working life. For many
people, it is progress that distinguishes a career from
employment that is "just a job." The authors note that "a
wealth of research - at least 200 studies - proves that
challenging employees to meet goals motivates higher
performance. When employees feel they are learning and
growing, they work harder and more efficiently."
An Element Unto Itself: The Problem of Pay
Asked why they do not include a compensation question
when assessing employee engagement, Gallup responded that
"answers to a pay question are so bundled up in
psychological complexities that asking it usually causes
more problems than it solves." For the purposes of this
book summary, I will merely include the summary
statements that the authors discuss regarding pay:
Higher pay does not guarantee greater engagement.
Good and bad employees are equally likely to think
they deserve a raise.
Some incentives can backfire, decreasing employee
motivation.
Money without meaning is not enough compensation.
Pay is more about status than about paying the bills.
Pay comparisons among employees spark intense
emotions.
In most countries and companies, people consider
their pay a private matter.
While individual pay usually should not be public,
compensation criteria should be.
Compensation works in concert with each of the 12
Elements.
Most employees who feel generously compensated repay
the gesture.
Kevin Brimhall founded JFD Performance Solutions in 2003
to 1) help companies align their people and processes
with their goals to achieve improved results and 2) help
individuals reach more of their potential. Our focus is
on team and individual performance, business development
and organizational effectiveness... assisting companies
achieve a profitable and customer-focused advantage to
compete in a rapidly changing environment. It's all about
helping people succeed, and when they do, so do their
businesses. Visit http://www.jfdperfsolutions.com to
learn more.
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