Emenex Weekly News 11 February

Emenex Weekly News

Each week we bring you news, opinions and research on Employee Engagement, Leadership and Motivation, along with some thoughts on practical workplace applications.

70:20:10 Model is Most Effective For Learners

Research reported in CIPD’s People Management magazine involving 1,600 learners from around the world, has found that the 70:20:10 is the most effective learning model. The research found that staff following this model were:

four times more likely to demonstrate a faster response to business change (30% vs 7%)
three times more motivated (27% vs 8%) and
twice as likely to report improvements in customer satisfaction scores.

The research also found that L&D professionals were sceptical of the model as it implies that formal learning is ineffective and and could be used as justification to cut training budgets.

Our own experience of using and supporting organisations to implement the model (70% workplace application; 20% coaching; 10% formal learning) endorses the main outcomes of the research.

Rather than questioning the effectiveness of formal learning, the 70:20:10 model emphasises its importance and helps bring a focus to formal learning through workplace application with support from organisational leaders. [What is important is that learning is part of day to day working life, rather than a separate activity with no ownership by the individual or line management. Ed]

It’s time to move beyond engagement. Empower and align employees with organisational priorities to build a culture of high performance, well being and career satisfaction. To learn more, call 03450 523 593

Blog: Starting your career? Some points to consider. . .

In our business we get to talk a lot about “careers”. This is a hot topic in our home at the moment; not only for our 20 year old son, who has moved away from home to further his education, but also for our daughter who has just chosen her GCSE options.

There is some career guidance that you just don’t get given (well – I didn’t)… I have given the topic a lot of thought over the years and I have gathered a list of what I wish I had known about when I started on my career path. Read more.

Take Charge of your career, team or organisation by aligning individual goals with organisational priorities. To learn more, call 03450 523 593

Forget Cultural Fit – Hire For Cultural Contribution

Culture is a key factor in the emenex extraMILE™ model for employee engagement, so it’s not surprising that this article caught my eye. Derek Irvine discusses some of the findings of a new book by Adam Grant – Originals. Grant suggests that companies need to move away from hiring for “cultural fit” and towards hiring for “cultural contribution.”

Grant’s argument is that ‘fit’ (for which many companies recruit) can only give you more of the same without really adding anything new. Cultural contribution, suggests Grant, seeks to find those new employees that can add something to the culture that already exists – to find the gaps, identify what is missing, and strive to strengthen it. In other words, original thinkers with original ideas.

And there is ample opportunity for organisations to encourage “Originals” in the scope of every day work. In essence, it means expanding the definition of what it means to work according to core values. Recognition programmes should encourage the contributions of “non-conformity” as a way to enhance a shared notion of culture.

As Irvine asks: How does your organisation recognise cultural contribution?

The Pursuit of Happiness

A blog by CIPD Chief Executive Peter Cheese highlights the importance of wellbeing forming part of an organisation’s DNA, rather than a series of initiatives. ONS statistics show that stress, depression and anxiety being the biggest source of long-term absence for non-manual workers in the UK, with 15.2m days and 4.5% of GDP lost in 2013. Peter Cheese argues that implementation is a key issue with organisations failing to recognise that the causes lie at the heart of the organisation – where the corporate culture is misaligned, where job pressures are becoming too great, or management behaviours are inappropriate.

For Mr Cheese the pursuit of happiness starts with building a sense of purpose and engaging employees with meaningful work, personal growth and a greater sense of equality and fairness [A viewpoint that closely resembles our own and reflected in our client work. Ed]

5 Ways to Engage Middle Management

Middle managers often feel like they are on the front lines alone, and they crave feedback and advice from their managers and company leaders.

Gallup recently published a report, The State of the American Manager 2015, and found that only 35 percent of managers are engaged. Shockingly, this is only five percentage points higher than overall employee engagement among U.S. workers. There clearly is a correlation: when managers are engaged, employees are engaged, and profitability increases. So how do you engage mid-level managers? Here are five ways from CHRO, Sirmara Campbell Twohill writing for Training (full article here):

1. Build relationships: At every level, employees want exposure to leadership, and this is especially true for middle management. They often feel like they are on the front lines alone, and they crave feedback and advice from their managers and company leaders.

2. Seek input: Too often middle managers feel removed from the decision-making process of the company—they receive directives from absent senior leadership and don’t feel like their opinion is truly valued.

3. Say thank you: Management can be a thankless and difficult job. In most companies, managers let their teams take the praise, and enjoy doing so. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge the progress and accomplishments of a manager.

4. Invest in them: Just because an employee has climbed the proverbial corporate ladder into management doesn’t mean his or her desire to grow and learn has stopped.

5. Hold them accountable: Managers aren’t untouchable. They rose to their position because they were strong leaders and performed well. They held themselves and their peers accountable to achieving goals and high standards. This doesn’t and shouldn’t stop once they reach management.

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