Boost Your Organization's Culture
Using training to give your organization's culture a boost for current and prospective employees is imperative for 2010 and the upcoming decade. To remain competitive and increase productivity, businesses must hire and retain high-achieving employees. That's difficult to achieve if your culture has a negative reputation and does not engage employees.
The Disengaged and Dissatisfied
Disengaged employees create a culture of absenteeism, conflicts, turnover, declining work quality, loss of productivity and reduced customer satisfaction. This affects an organization's bottom line with loss of customers, diminished revenue and reduced market share.
In the Conference Board's annual job satisfaction survey, 22 percent of respondents said that they don't expect to be in their current job in a year. John Gibbons, program director of employee engagement research and services, said, "The data throws up a big red flag because the increasing dissatisfaction is not just a 'survivor syndrome' artifact of having coworkers and neighbors laid off in the recession."
Although many leaders consider recruitment and employee retention critical to business, few are actually prepared to address the issues with the appropriate training. A Towers Perrin study of 650,000 employees found that fewer than two out of three believe that management provides a clear business direction, down from 1 out of 100 in the last study.
Communication Training: Road Map for a Better Culture
Training leaders for enhanced communication skills improves their ability to provide a clearer picture of what is expected from employees. Providing a roadmap for employee engagement boosts morale and helps transform your business culture for the better.
Studies show that improving employee morale creates an effective workplace culture regardless of organization size or industry. A Sears study, in conjunction with the University of Michigan Business School, linked employee satisfaction with customer retention. It found that as employee satisfaction improves, so does customer satisfaction, and this can increase quarterly revenue by about 1.6 percent.
So what does improving an organization's culture accomplish? Effective and productive cultures have the following characteristics:
Effective workplace practices
Opportunities for two-way communication and feedback about what is and is not working
Flexibility in the workplace
Supervisors and managers who treat employees with respect and dignity
Effective problem-solving and conflict management skills
Demonstrated value of employees
Excellence in Customer Service for both internal & external customers
Supervisor and co-worker support for employees
Employee input into management decision-making
Collaboration between management and employees in deciding schedules, developing customer service protocols and designing solutions for efficient business operations
Managers who seek to bring out the best in workers by providing training and enrichment opportunities
According to a National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) conducted by the Families and Work Institute (FWI), organizations that adopt effective workplace principles have employees who are more loyal, engaged and productive:
Eighty-three percent of employees express high levels of job engagement and commitment.
Eighty-one percent express high levels of job satisfaction.
Preparing Leadership
Driving the imperative for transforming a culture is a multigenerational and highly complicated workforce challenge. Stephen Parker, chief commercial officer of Healthy Companies, said, "Our research indicates widespread uncertanity about the future. Many CEOs will be severly tested in the decade ahead. CEO's are struggling to build trust with their employees."
Research is indicating that mid-level and first-level leaders are lacking in readiness to fulfill workforce challenges. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) conducted a study called "Understanding the Leadership Gap." Among the competencies identified were the following:
Building and mending relationships
Compassion and sensitivity in showing understanding to human needs
Acting resolutely when dealing with problems
Being culturally adaptable
Coaching and encouraging employees to develop their careers
Inspiring commitment by recognizing and rewarding employees' achievements
Leading people by directing and motivating them
Managing change effectively
Respecting individual differences
By training leaders in these areas, organizations can take the first step in achieving a better culture.
Prescription for Transformation
Communication Strategy offers training programs and tools to help organizations get started in building a more positive culture:
Start with a Leadership Skills Assessment™ to pinpoint the individual training needs of managers and supervisors. This assessment is linked to Vital Learning's Leadership Series™ programs that address critical leadership competencies.
Consider Essential Skills of Leadership™ and Essential Skills of Communicating™ as foundational training.
Leadership mini-series packages are available to incorporate into training plans.
Flexibility of both classroom-based and online training formats provides opportunity for creative learning opportunities, such as collaboration and coaching.
Employee Engagement survey and post survey management learning process via our alliance with The Coffman Organization
Management assessment and competency-based training via the Managerial assessment of proficiency ( MAP ) and Managing To Excel
Contact us today to assess with us if we are a good match to help you assemble a cultural transformational training plan. Call us at 212 362 5215 or e mail info@communicationstrat.com
Contact: David Hellman (info@communicationstrat.com)
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