Employee Engagement–Measure it or Forget it!

Recently, a client HR Manager asked me about employee engagement. Specifically, she asked how to measure the IMPACT of said engagement.

Well, that perked my ears up. Too long, companies have been performing those absolutely worthless engagement surveys, solely measuring engagement, via survey results, like it somehow represents real productivity, satisfaction, or even… real employee engagement.

Anyway, I was interested. Yes, Virginia, there are ways to measure the impact of employee engagement. And it ain’t “annual engagement scores.” (more…)

Change Leadership, Rackspace, Automatic Crap

I’m always amazed at automation–it’s allowed us to come so far, to realize more efficiencies, effectiveness, and productivity from our obviously dull existences.

But you know what? Automation is not necessarily the right thing in all situations. Changing under the guise of automation sounds sexy, streamlined, and fast. It sounds right.

But what if it isn’t?

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“Across the Board” Just Doesn’t Cut It

So, with most payroll surveys showing 2.0-2.5% increases in salary budgets for 2012, life’s a breeze, right? Just add the percentages into the Excel formula, press “Enter,” and you’re done, right? 

Actually, wrong.

Enter “wage inflation.”

I’m going to avoid the ecomomist argument that higher wages do or do not cause inflation. That’s just not our relative concern here. What is clearly our concern is that stronger economic growth lowers general unemployment rate (even if slowly). This, theoretically, can cause us to “bid up” the price of labor and (hopefully) pass through those higher costs in the form of higher prices.

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It’s Called Leadership, Not Jerkship

You can be a leader, or you can be a jerk. You can’t be both, no matter what you think, and no matter how hard you try. (note: I didn’t say you couldn’t be a “manager.” A business card doth not a leader make…)

Leadership requires vision, and the wherewithal to execute to that vision, convincing and motivating those following to do “more” (called “discretionary effort”) in support and pursuit of that leader’s vision.

Being a jerk is in direct opposition to that effort.

So, what’s a leader to do, assuming s/he wants to avoid jerkdom? This ain’t exactly rocket surgery, but here are a few tips… (more…)

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