High Performance Engagement

The HPE (High Performance Employee Engagement Survey Instrument) has been designed using the highest standards of researched and organizational change management concepts.  It's long standing that alignment of the workforce to the customer, strategies, leadership and the enterprise is the ideal in maximizing business performance.

The latest research in engagement validates what we already know; that the essence for transformation lies in the hearts, soul and minds of employees. Learning how to get people "engaged" is the foundation for change and any effort to move mountains without the support and participation of the workforce is deemed for possible failure. We've developed a High Performance Engagement tool and for our engagement measures, we selected the research of the Canadian Conference Board, as it represents the most advanced insight in people motivators.

 To that end, High Performance Engagement measures three separate components: Rational Engagement Drivers (measuring retention components), Emotional Engagement Drivers (measuring whether the workers will give that extra discretionary effort to do what needs to be done) and thirdly, Operational Excellence Measures. The last is a customized approach to learning what are the barriers currently existing that prevent easily achieving the leaders stretch goals, or the vision, and to learn why these barriers exist. "Survey Intelligence" means that survey design is built for targeting unique solutions for the client. It's not an off the shelf tool whose value only lies in being able to compare your scores to others without any actionable consequences. The former translates to action, while the latter translates to learning what happened yesterday.

Customization of surveys means accountability. The ability for each workgroup manager to know exactly what they need to do in terms of engaging their employees to perform better, committed and more effectively for the benefit of the organization. It's the path for the workforce to be able to engage themselves in the "business of the business". Profitability or specific outcomes are the reward.

The HPE has been tested and proven to produce the statistics, outcomes, graphics, core relations between leaders and worker, and SWOT to provide the tools for each manager to be able to transform their workgroup into a strong "link in the value chain".



POWERFUL DIAGNOSTICS:
Great data results can only be translated by using a powerful diagnostic tool that allows unlimited analysis capability, right down to each department or demographic level. Each manager gets an x-ray of their department measuring the engagement levels of their work unit, along with a clear picture as to their need requirements the team needs to contribute to the "business of the business", instant action ability for "continuous improvement," become the norm, Each manager will have the ability to know exactly what they need to do, how to modify their actions, behaviors, values, habits processes to motivate a new dynamic workforce aligned to the corporate goals. (the Operational Excellence Measures). Multiply that power by each department, you have the means for rapid realignment for the best interest of the entire organization.
SurveyTelligence's powerful diagnostics are the key. They provide the ability to look below all averages, by each and every workgroup. Built in correlation analysis tool instantly identify and prioritize the specific actions steps for key, predefined drivers, cross tab, gap, SWOT, comparative, aggregation, histogram analysis are all included. This online powerful diagnostic tool sorts billions of data bytes into action steps for each manager and leaders. Its instant, virtual, and produces the most powerful, easy-to-use, graphics for change.


IMPLEMENTATION:
Change management happens when engaged employees are committed in heart, mind, body and soul to take that extra step in "giving all for the gipper". This level of commitment is found in football players, firefighters, Coast Guard personnel, Marines, etc , but seldom in the private sector. In fact in the private sector, their workers' expectations, drivers, motivators and commitment levels are entirely motivated by different expectations. The difference is clear. In the former, leadership is controlled and mandated; in the latter, it needs to be earned, usually from the most immediate supervisor.
Top leadership's role is to dictate the vision; the managers is to execute the business of the vision. Using the analytics of SurveyTelligence and its slicing capability, each manager of each department will have their own picture of the culture of their department, with the action steps to better engage their employees. This is the only effective means to align the people with the enterprise goals. Education, mentoring and coaching is a critical component.
A Train-the-trainer initiative is a rapid, inexpensive way to build an internal competency that will engage and align managers, which effort will endure long after the high priced survey consultants leave. With building an internal professional coaching staff, the ongoing mentoring creates an “accountability" by the managers. They soon know that this transformation is not "another flavor of the month". Senior management is quite serious and sustainability of expectation of change will be re measured.

SurveyTelligence Training Session Feedback

Last month Infotool Inc. held our very first SurveyTelligence Training Session where three prominent business consultants spent two and a half days learning and becoming certified in "Survey Intelligence".

The term "Survey Intelligence" includes organizational assessment building methodologies backed by academics and research linked to achieving organizational goals, data analysis, navigation of Infotool's reporting tools and presentation techniques to really "wow" a client. The participants worked together to present a case study to a Senior VP of a Bank. At the close of the session, each consultant received a plaque certifying each as a "Certified Survey Consultant".

We are excited to share with you some pictures from our session and feedback from our Certified Business Survey Consultants.





"The SurveyTelligence certification workshop was a most beneficial experience. Now in our management consulting practice, geared at improving holistic enterprise competitiveness, we have the right tool to discover key opportunities for aligning any organization and thus deal more effectively with all levels of resistance to change. SurveyTelligence also builds on inherent simplicity and a powerful statistical engine to dissect the critical information from the haystack of data in just seconds, presented with most impressive and useful graphics so management can focus on the important leverage points for organizational changes.

 Having SurveyTelligence will definitely facilitate dealing with resistance for change as we implement organizational and processes improvements for our clients."

-Michael Bolanos Davis ,SurveyTelligence Ecuador, February 20, 2011



"I attended the SurveyTelligence workshop expecting to learn about how I could implement a simple survey tool within my existing consulting practice. I came away from the session with a new vision for what my practice could, should and will be. That vision is now powered by the incredible diagnostic capabilities of InfoTool. It's one that will allow me to help my clients align their corporate strategy with the feet in the street as well as with their internal process and their clients. To experience the power of this program for the first time is to understand that the sky is the limit."

-Bob Woodcock, The Pulse Check, Canada, February 19, 2011



"To learn from the likes of Stan and George Labovitz was an awesome experience.  To learn about the incredible power of the InfoTool diagnostics that Stan developed. To learn how this information will provide powerful survey intelligence about a client’s people and the needs of their organization  was incredible.  Then to learn how to use that data to help them with that intelligence to propel their organization into a stronger, better, more capable group working together to be more engaged, more aligned with a goal of being more profitable/successful.  A stronger strategically sound team will be the end result.  It was a great seminar that I am only so glad I took the opportunity to become part of. "

- Bob Jacobson, Jacobson Solutions, US, March 23, 2011

For more information on our next Certified Survey Business Consulting Course, contact us at info@infotool-online.com or call us at 1(866)616-5552

Our SurveyTelligence Certification Success

Last week we had our first SurveyTelligence Certification Program for successful consultants to understand the power behind our diagnostic software. They learned how to effectively and efficiently build an organizational assesment resulting in short-term and long-term action items for CEO's to align their organization and achieve their corporate goals at every departmental level.    
From the training session, I even amazed myself as to the impact we could have on business growth using the alignment/diagnostic systems that we designed. It's one thing to have a process in your head, but when you see it rolled out to professionals and how their eyes lit up from the strength and promise of their new power , I knew we achieved a breakthrough.
The survey design is the "holy grail" as it created the road map for consultants to follow to guide the client. Using tools like The Structure Tree, Force Field and Contingency diagrams in design, the "achieve the vision roadmap" is shaped. Not only have you crystallized where you want to be, but you have defined, identified and shaped the competencies and barriers to get there. You are using leading indicators, not lagging ones where action is identified, selected, prioritized and demanded.
The Alignment systems thinking research approach we used (Power of Alignment, 1997-everyone got the book) allowed us to understand, see and describe dangers of misalignments, performance variations, and even SWOTS of each workgroup and manager on the journey to the "vision roadmap". The impact on the consultants was amazingly powerful and transformational.
The power of our diagnostics was the key, enabling them to take billions of data bytes see action plans emerge. The most powerful was the Predictive Matrix correlation analysis tool to actually pinpoint and selectt the most effective, impacting, ROI actions for aligning the organization to the "vision roadmap".
Lastly, the implementation plan. A rapid, effective, inexpensive, sustainable implementation plan that long survives long after the consultants leave. This is a gift the client gets which keeps giving.
This was a capsule of the 2.5 days of training; in fact the consultants wanted to extend the sessions to a full 3 days, as they wanted to practice more. The Consultant truly can become a true navigator for their clients by them using impactful survey intelligence managed by powerful diagnostics.
If we can build a business based on these principles, lets do it!

Question:

As a consultant, can you measure the value you bring to your clients? If so, how?

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-Year---New-Success-Story-.html?soid=1102643166220&aid=eJBIckgiQvU

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-Year---New-Success-Story-.html?soid=1102643166220&aid=eJBIckgiQvU

How Emotional Drivers Strengthen Employee Engagement

We can ask ourselves three questions:


“How much self-esteem does being associate with my company give me?”

“Don’t I feel proud when an outsider recognizes me by my organization or says good things about the company I work for?”

“Doesn’t it make me feel good when my organization wins a national or international award?”

Employee engagement is the advanced step to employee satisfaction. It involves commitment, loyalty, faith and pride in the organization, a willingness to advocate for the organization, and a sense of personal responsibility. It is about creating gusto in the employees for their roles, their work and the organization. It ensures they are aligned with the values of the organization, well informed and well integrated with their colleagues and culture.

To create greater motivation within employees for the work they do and increase their commitment towards the organization, corporates are now paying extra attention to the concept of Employee Engagement. Companies are introducing an inspiring and flexible work culture, employee-friendly policies and practices and a variety of employee benefit schemes.

Tools for employee engagement include: facility to work from home, flexible time, cab facility, crèche facility, training, career and personality development, performance appraisals, performance management, communication, equal opportunity, fair treatment, pay and benefits, health and safety, cooperation and family orientation, friendliness, open door policy, job satisfaction etc. These help the organization create a strong emotional bonding with the employees.

Few valuable company engagement programs include:

Many companies have introduced several exciting and refreshing practices to liven up their workplace in hopes of creating an environment conducive for explosive ideation and experience sharing where the management could connect with the employees both formally and informally. These policies encourage two-way interactions and help achieve objectives like filling in the Management communication gap, providing a formal platform for employees where they could express their ideas and suggestions (which are for larger interest of the organization and require attention and action), addressing personal grievances, counseling, etc.



Listening to employee ideas, acting on employee contributions and actively involving employees in decision making are essential to employee engagement. What employees want from their managers: Focus me, Know me, Care about me, Hear me, Help me, feel proud, Help me review my contributions, Equip me, Help me see my value, Help me grow, Help me see my importance, Help me build mutual trust, Challenge me.
Many organizations have social networking and micro-blogging services on intranet that enable employees to send, discuss and read messages, internal portal for podcasting, social networking within the organization by using blogs, forums etc. People can raise various issues, offer feedback and also communicate with the senior management through this portal.
A weekly or monthly column should be written by CEO on the intranet with company announcements, programs etc.

Companies need to organize Communication Meeting, every quarter where employees can directly interact with the senior management, periodically can share the future plans of the organization, define goals and expectations.

Employees should be rewarded and recognized for good performance with awards like Employee of the Month or annual awards, competitive compensation etc.

Internal Newsletters, Magazines and regular mailers play vital role in employee engagement.
A Few Activities to be done towards employee engagement:

Treating employees like a member of the company by giving them a day off on their birthdays and anniversaries, provide play and meditation courts for the employees or organizing self-management workshop – like Yoga, Art of Living to combat the work stress, employees’ kids participating in painting competition, festival celebration etc. can make work and life balanced. Some other activities can be organizing training sessions, promote and recognize team performance, system adherence, evolve an employee friendly and business focused policies, processes and systems with high degree of automation, giving a chance to showcase their extra-curricular activities on the occasions like annual day celebration etc.

Regularly organizing various internal events on various occasions like Holi, Diwali, Dussehra, World Health Day, Children’s Day, Independence Day, Republic Day etc., organize various inter-company competitions among employees Quizzes, Sports Tournaments, Music and Dance Competitions, Cubicle decorations etc. can create a culture of fun and spark at work. External initiatives like off-site meetings, team parties, and team-bonding games to promote camaraderie among employees and also encourage people to participate in various corporate events and can make working much more fun too.

The Seasoned Generation of Consultants and New Technology

Why is it that seasoned consultants/coaches are seemly in their comfort zone when they back away from the use of technolgy in their day-to-day practice? It's reminiscent of physicians who have a very low adoption rate when it comes to the use of new EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) in hospitals.

Maybe for the younger consulting generation, the barriers to hi-tech assistence might be much lower. Maybe it's the burden of learning new technology skills and then trying to figure out how to integrate knowledge? Is it that consultants/coaches feel threatened that their own lack of personal skills may cause the failure to grasp the technology? Are business opportunities being trumped by technology tools? Are they fearful of the loss of the cherished daily rate?


Maybe I'm wrong altogether and there really are no barriers of technology useage by the consultant/coach considering technology is the wave of the future for the successful consultants.
 
I would like to hear your thoughts.

Consulting Without a Survey Is Like Brain Surgery Without a CAT Scan

I have joined an Employee Engagement forum in which seemingly successful consultants blog about the importance of motivating employees so they, as a unit, will perform their duties in a way that delights their customer and results in greater profitability. The responses I have read cause me to fall off my chair! The only analogy I can draw is like brain surgeons doing brain incision work without a cat scan. It is like surgery by "touch and feel".


Now consider a surgeon prepared with preemptive analysis. I am sure you would feel more comfortable as a patient if your surgeon knew EXACTLY what he was doing. Using survey data gives you a picture of the entire engagement climate and culture, all at one time, so that consultants will know what surgery to perform, where to do it and how to do it effectively and efficiently. As a for instance, in a worldwide company of 2000 employee and 200 managers and 30 VP, where do you begin?

With organizational survey data results, you instantly find the critical places to focus, where to prioritize, who to coach, who to have engaged conversations with, even gain insights to know if the issues are top-down and if the solutions are bottom-up. By asking Organizational Excellence questions you can also assess processes, culture, customer focus issues, and other concerns degrading efficiencies and requiring instant response. For a client benefit, as well as evidencing impact of poor engagement, starting your consulting efforts with a survey will give you a pretty good visual and baseline measurement system for the plans ahead.

When the baseline is established, you can then plan individual coaching sessions with managers, who we feel are principally responsible for their departmental culture, with leaders and workers. Added survey technology as the frontend piece then creates the x-ray for you to more effectively take the critical action steps. As a consultant, I try to be like the TV show, House, by first assessing the symptoms and always using explicit evidence to recommend a cure for the toughest organizational diseases.

Try starting out with a good survey next time- you might like it and it might even make your job easier!

Why Should YOU Care About Employee Engagement?

ANSWER: It’s good for business!! It directly impacts shareholder return, financial improvement and competitive advantage. You must read 1. Before you read 2.
1. Making the Business Case for an Employee Engaged Culture:

Hewitt research found a 63% differential in total shareholder return for companies with high employee engagement vs. those with low engagement:
“Organizations with high levels of engagement (where 65 percent or more of employees are engaged) outperformed the total stock market index even in volatile economic conditions. During 2009, total shareholder return for these companies was 19 percent higher than the average total shareholder return. Conversely, companies with low engagement (where less than 40 percent of employees are engaged) had a total shareholder return that was 44 percent lower than the average.”


Gallup research found companies in the top 25% for employee engagement have (as compared to bottom 25%):

• 37% less absenteeism
• 25% less employee turnover in high-turnover organizations (such as retail)
• 49% less turnover in low-turnover organizations
• 27% less shrinkage
• 49% fewer safety incidents
• 60% fewer product defects
• 12% higher customer metrics
• 18% higher productivity
• 16% higher profitability
And that’s just the start. Gallup also found:

• EPS exceeds competition by 28% (top 25% for employee engagement)
• EPS exceeds competition by 72% (top 10%)
• Growth trajectory (for financial improvement): 2.5 times the competition (top 25%)
• Growth trajectory: 3.9 times the competition (top 10%)

What did the level of employee engagement mean to companies during the recession?

• Those in the top 25% that were trailing competition before the recession surpassed the competition in 2008.
• Those in the top 10% were already ahead of their competition in 2007, but widened the gap further in 2008.
• Those in the bottom 25% for engagement in 2007, however, followed the same downward trend as their competition during the recession.

Still think employee engagement doesn’t matter?



2. How The Hell Do You Engage Your Workforce?

This is where the “rubber meets the road”. I receive the Google alerts for Employment Engagement and I’m flabbergasted that I have counted over 50 ways, so far, that authors have suggested as to “How to Engage Your Employees”. If you had 50 employees I guess you try each way on each employee and see what works. This is of course ridiculous.

The fact is that people are different from each other in so many ways, such as upbringing, backgrounds, ingrained conditioning responses, mother and father complexes, basketball players vs. computer geeks, males vs. females, tall vs. short, bulky, physically attractive and those not, maybe a million more influences. That to lump all workers into a stereo type by authoring a lackluster suggestion is senseless, ineffective and maybe having an unintended negative result.

Employee engagement is a personal, hidden behavioral quality that is so internalized that many times even the “employee” doesn’t know why they are motivated. This becomes a good starting point for us to examine how to really measure engagement for the benefit of the employer.

We all know the first lesson is to take the time to measure the current level of engagement of your workforce but with a complete demographic slicing capability. Especially so, you MUST understand the behaviors and impact that CEO’s have on Senior Manager and then on Managers and then on the workforce. This is known as “Vertical Alignment”, The Power of Alignment, Dr. George Labovitz.

How do you fix stuff if you don’t know who or what to fix! I submit this complicated task cannot be, as suggested by some, to simply take the pulse of the people by asking if “They have a best friend at work”, or “talk nicely to your workers”, without a clearly defined way to isolate responses by each demographic in the company. If you have a staff of 1000 people, what CEO in their sane mind would spend the time to ask each of the workers feel they are not “talk nicely to your workers”-get real!

A client VP, who became a friend, was recently laid off from his senior level position because of his conflict in dealing with a new VP that the new CEO brought into the company. This example is important because it underscores the need for every organization to take a baseline pulse of their work force. This VP friend, lets call him “Greg” was the most dedicated, engaged, committed, tireless worker that his ex company ever had working for it. His dedication to drive his ex organization to greater profitability was unmatched by even his ex and current CEO. Had the new CEO been aware of Greg’s level of “engagement”, results may well have been different-for both.

Based on what we now know, what’s the very first step to convert your culture of getting people engaged or committed? The Canadian Conference Board Research identified 28 emotional and rational key drivers of people; each contributed to people giving that extra bit of effort to their work and their leadership that keep them striving to contribute to the company goals. There could be 60 or 100 other emotional or rational drivers, but the fact is that you need to take a shot gun approach in learning key success drivers of each of your workforce demographics.

The second step is the Engagement Survey. Make sure it’s online, use an experienced survey consultant vendor that provides a way for you to x-ray the organizational skeleton, with an analysis means to dissect each of the measures by each work group area. Lastly, the data analysis must allow you to cross tab or use correlations to really see which parts of your workgroup are with you or “agan you”.

Now comes the hard part! Let’s ask, “who cares if my people are happy and committed” if they aren’t engaged in your business. Workers can be very happy doing nothing! So, happy workers who don’t know how to deliver the best to build great customer service, are as useful as bumps on a log. So, you, as the “boss” need to understand what your workers need from you to make their job more effective and efficient in generating profitability. This is the true essence of engagement! It’s a reciprocal relationship: bosses give what people need and people give what bosses need. So take measures based on needs of both!

Let’s summarize: good survey content to measure those important drivers of your workforce for them to work more effectively, great analysis capability of your survey tools to really understand the data so to know what to fix and who to fix, and a clear understanding of what it takes YOUR business to meet YOUR customer needs. Now engagement will be the key to drive your profitability.

Don’t Count Your Fortunes Yet, if You’re Drinking the Kool Aid that Employee Engagement is the Path to Fortunes!

Employee Engagement is the new buzz by the water coolers outside the HR director’s office. The statistics and research blogs are coming in fast and furious from Google that organizations that seemingly have a high, measured, level of employee engagement are vastly outperforming those organizations not engaged. Hogwash!!! Stop drinking the kool aid!!! That’s only 1/2 of the story.

Let’s start at the beginning. How important is it to have an engaged workforce? Very, is my answer, but let’s talk about the “how” to get there and what you need to do to really make it meaningful.

First, the definition of engagement has been all over the place. How and why there are so many different measures of engagement is beyond me. One company has 12 measures, another 28, another 15 and each are different. Everyone is measuring different elements, so who knows what are the right ones? Does it really make a difference? Maybe not. Just having high survey scores signifying happy people might well be enough to make them pliable for a change process.

It’s intuitive that happy workers are more apt to be committed to the company and their boss. That in and of itself will create a foundation for the “high performing” culture you’re seeking. It’s also the precursor for the real next step: aligning your business to your customer. This is where you can “show me the money.”

Every Engagement survey must have at least 50% of the questions focused on organizational issues. Happy workers that are so disconnected to the business will not make you more money. It these issues that really matter: How about the manager to worker relationships? do the processes really meet customer needs? Are the worker connected to the real business strategy and do they know how they contribute? How about the ongoing training, communication, culture and so much more that align to happy customers?

If you really want to convert straw to gold, the buzz about EE is only 50% correct. The second 50% is to link the “happy people” to the business issues. This is the hard work; How to mentor and supporting the managers to sustain the “happy people” attitudes, while improving their efficiency and effectiveness. Take this to the bank--happy people first, organization rehab second; then start counting your pennies.

Stanley Labovitz, CEO