Pages

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Achieving better business results with employee engagement

This creative short animation from the folks at explania.com explains the key issues involved in creating and leveraging engaged employees for sustainable business success. please click play to view the animation below:


How to use Employee Engagement to boost your business - Explania

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

How To Boost Employee Motivation With Better Leadership

It is an astonishing fact - repeatedly shown in numerous surveys - that two-thirds of the workforce are not engaged in their work. Imagine the magnitude of lost productivity and innovation this represents! It also lies at the heart of much workplace strife and it denies workers any chance of true satisfaction from their working life. It begs the question - what causes this lack of employee motivation?

No doubt the responsibility is shared - the workers may have limited vision and aspiration. They also inherit decades of conditioning which implies that work is something that has to be endured and that effort should be limited to the minimum. It's no accident that there are many more negative terms for work than positive ones.

But a good deal of the shared responsibility lies with those in authority. Much of what passes as leadership is ego-driven and rooted in self-interest. Much is small-minded, lukewarm or insipid.

When individuals are made leaders simply by position and title, they inherit authority rather than earn it. Often they are driven to protect their own position and spend more effort in preserving the status quo than in making genuine moves to advance the fortunes of the organization or the people working in it.

Meanwhile natural leaders of the future stay in the shadows. They either hold themselves back feeling they can't compete with the cultural bias or they are kept in the margins by the established power base.

The result is a shortage of true leaders - the leadership vacuum. The clear conclusion is that to win greater engagement and to transform levels of employee motivation, we need a leap in the standards of leadership.

This is where you could make a real difference. It means stepping forward, prepared to be visible. This takes courage and persistence. But most of all it takes the willingness to break with conformity. If you remain entirely within convention then the results you get will simply perpetuate all the faults and the lost engagement that are already familiar.

You have a rebellious side - if you don't believe me cast your mind back to your teenage years. It's likely that this was really active then - the part that does not want to conform; the idealist that refuses to compromise. Back then holding a principle was more important than expediency, and being sensible was akin to surrender.

Your rebel side is still alive now - it might just need awakening. Speaker and author David Whyte argues strongly for the outlaw - like a sort of Robin Hood - that lies within each of us:

"To preserve a sense of freedom even in the midst of rules and regulations is to preserve a part of our identities …to live happily within outer laws, we must have a part that goes its own way, that is blessedly outlaw no matter what the outward conditions"

It is from your outlaw that the passion can come to break with conformity enough to be a genuine leader and take your people with you.

------------------------

Trevor Hill works with managers and leaders who are striving to motivate their people. He helps them become inspiring leaders of highly-motivated teams. You can get a free copy of 'The 7 Biggest Myths About Motivating A Team - And What To Do Instead' from http://www.inspireandmotivateyourteam.co.uk/free-report

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

Permalink: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=177335

Monday, May 2, 2011

Corporate Training Can Resolve Communication Challenges in the Workplace 2

Successful communication is highly important in the corporate world. Whether it is communication between the business and customer, or internal communication between employees, both instances hold equal significance. Communication challenges in the workplace can cause problems and setbacks for the company, due to the lack of understanding during the communication process. In order to communicate effectively, working professionals must recognize a reasonable approach when dealing with difficult people or conversations. One must be forceful enough to avoid being taken advantage of, but not too assertive that he or she distances or upsets co-workers. He or she must fully clarify the message and make sure the receiver understands exactly what was intended. During corporate development training, company employees are able to work on improving their skills through learning how to communicate more efficiently.

Recognizing communication challenges in the workplace is the first step toward overcoming them. Even if the person holding information thinks that he or she has dispersed this information to all of the right people, this may not be true. Some people are better at communicating than others, and when someone who does not excel as a good communicator needs to discuss important information to their coworkers, problems can evolve for the whole company. Employees must be thorough and concise with their conversations so that the transferred information will not be misunderstood. When employees do not have the information they need complete their job tasks, time is wasted and mistakes are made. Therefore, management teams must effectively communicate information down the corporate ladder, and employees can then learn to report information back up the ladder to managers effectively.

In the broader sense, the purpose of corporate development training is to reshape the management teams, which will in turn give employees the expertise they need to move the company forward. Although some job positions may be phased out and replaced with new talent, the overall objective is to drive the success of the company itself. Managers communicate to make important decisions such as shifting between product and consumer markets. Once the corporate mission is presented and fully understood by every member of the company, their level of motivation will increase because they will understand how their work is contributing to the company overall.

Since the success of the company is reflected from the performance of its employees, team building exercises are necessary to improve skills. Adopting advanced communication practices will minimize communication challenges in the workplace and lead to a more flourishing and productive business. Through participation in the training, employees will learn ways to establish strong business relationships with the end goal of increasing the assets of the company. Restructuring both the goals of the company as a whole and communication processes within the work environment will allow the company to prosper and grow steadily. Overcoming poor communication processes will improve employee satisfaction while simultaneously strengthening the group mentality. Although improvements may not be instantly noticeable, the time and effort put into the progression is certainly valuable given the promising outcomes.

------------------------

David Shoemaker is Vice President of Learning Solutions and Innovation at eCornell. For more information on communication challenges in the workplace, corporate development training, or eCornell, please visit http://www.eCornell.com

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

Permalink: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=174278