The Workplace Coach

The Gallup Organization, a global analytics and advisory company, conducts extensive research on employee engagement and organizational performance. Their findings, based on over 10 million interviews with managers and employees, highlight 12 Elements of Great Managing for engagement and high performance. Consistently, employees worldwide have conveyed a clear message:

“If you do these things for us, we will do what the company needs of us”.

So far we’ve looked at the first two elements of being a great manager, setting clear expectations and ensuring your team has the necessary tools, resources, and systems to excel. This week we look at the third element which stems from the ability of a single straightforward statement to predict the performance of individuals as well as entire teams:

“At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.”

When employees talk about what they do best, they rarely frame the discussion in terms of a job description. They may form attachments to their professions to the point that being a salesperson, professor or nurse becomes part of their self-image but when it comes to what they do best, what they really enjoy doing, its more an instinctive part of them than any job title.

Here are a few suggestions for managers looking to increase engagement, productivity and performance in their teams.

1. Identify Individual Strengths: Look beyond job descriptions and recognize each employee’s unique talents and strengths. Understand that these talents are transferable and can be leveraged across different roles and industries.
2. Customize Job Roles: Where possible, help employees shape their roles to align with their natural strengths. Encourage them to utilize their talents at work, fostering a sense of fulfillment and motivation.
3. Maximize Optimal Experiences: Create an environment where employees frequently engage in tasks that resonate with their strengths. Embrace diverse approaches and styles, allowing each employee to succeed in their own unique way.

As long as the employee accomplishes the work objectives for which they are responsible, how the work gets done should not matter. There needs to be enough flexibility in the approach to work to allow each employee to succeed in a relatively unique way, applying his or her own style to the accomplishment.

The research clearly shows that teams and business units whose natural talents are aligned with their job demands achieve, on average:

• 15 percent more in sales
• 20 percent more in profit
• 24 percent fewer unscheduled absences
• 13 percent lower employee turnover.

Unfortunately, for all the evidence that this approach is good for business, only about one in three employees strongly agree that they “have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.” This means that managers who are able to provide these opportunities to their people stand to significantly improve productivity and performance in their teams.

For further information on this topic, or any other related to people management, feel free to reach out.  We’re here to help. 

The Workplace Coach.