People Hardly Invested....

Did you know your employees have great ideas that could be saving your company thousands and thousands of dollars, but may not come forward out of fear or lack of trust? In order to achieve sustained competitive advantage, you employees must be engaged and invested in company outcomes.  For employees to be engaged and invested, there must be bi-directional trust between management and employees at all levels of your company.

For example, management introduces a new process and Jack knows a better, more efficient way.  Jack is not about to open his mouth and rock the boat out of fear of retribution.  Or worse yet, what if he looks foolish in front of his peers?  It is safer to stay quiet so he does.  The cost to your organization may be a brilliant idea that saves time and money, streamlines efficiencies or that improves customer service – which is lost forever in that moment.

An employee idea management system can help to bring transparency to people and systems problems.  People do not operate in a vacuum, and should be involved in the planning stages from the outset to prevent confusion and rework.  As in the example with Jack above – Jack could clearly see from the very start, that the new process would not work as he is the one performing the work and actively engaged with customers, suppliers, systems and processes on a daily basis.  If management had brought Jack into the goal setting and planning process – problematic issues would be identified up front and alternate solutions found – ones that Jack and his colleagues would buy into as well.

Idea Share Tip of the Month!

Your employees see 80 percent of all improvements that management can’t see.  However, most companies neglect the vast potential in the untapped ideas of their employees who know their job best. 

Sign up for the Idea Share Tip of the Week! at Frame of Mind Consulting

Frame of Mind Consulting understands the unique DNA of your organization, which is necessary to turn any organization into one capable of leveraging the full idea potential of its employees. Would you like to drive connectivity and ownership throughout your company?  Contact Page at (860) 559-7942 to set up your complimentary consultation during which you will receive some invaluable tips that you can apply to your business right away.

Are you Contributing to the Pipe Dream?

In a perfect world, your employees would align themselves with strategic targets and not focus on their own agenda.  But we are not living in a pipe dream – we operate in reality.  Often, we fall short of getting our employees truly invested in their jobs.  We hear employees say such things as “I am just here to collect a paycheck – I don’t have to think about solutions” or your employees sit on the sidelines with a 'wait and see' attitude.  Sound familiar?

Today, I am going to touch upon how you, as a decision maker, can release control and build trust with your employees so they make better decisions and produce better results. 

1.  Provide a clear definition of success that makes conclusions clear.  Vague objectives result in a vague focus.  Keep communication simple so employees can repeat it to others.  Take time to align around what you should communicate and not just what – but WHEN to communicate it.

2.  It is crucial that you talk with and not at your employees by communicating in terms of what matters most to them. How your employees work on a daily basis is an important consideration in your communications.  What do they actually need to know to achieve the strategic goals of the company?  

3.  Whether you seek it or not – your employees’ perspective is their reality and pretending it doesn't exist – doesn't mean it doesn't.  Solicit their feedback and more important act on that feedback!  Allow your employees to grow your business!

4.  Paint a clear picture of the case of change through stories.  What will be the impact of the change and how does that affect their jobs?  Link where you are and where you are going with what you have done and what you are going to do.  Build enough momentum going forward to convince those who are sitting on the sidelines with a ‘wait and see’ attitude.

5.  Give up some measure of control by trusting your employees and allow them enough room to find their own way from point A to point B. Provide them with a loose road map and let them navigate it. When you tell your employees what to do you are taking accountability away from them.  Furthermore, if you tell them what to do and you turn out to be wrong – you have lost credibility with your employee base and it is twice as hard to win that trust back.  Be a guide and a mentor, as well as a leader!

Idea Share Tip of the Month!

Create buy-in with your employees by demonstrating and showcasing the impact of implemented ideas and how employee actions make a difference in outcomes. Create a living timeline of ideas implemented.

Sign up for the Idea Share Tip of the Week! at Frame of Mind Consulting

Frame of Mind Consulting understands the unique DNA of your organization, which is necessary to turn any organization into one capable of leveraging the full idea potential of its employees.  Would you like to drive connectivity and ownership throughout your company?  Contact me at (860) 559-7942 to set up your complimentary consultation during which you will receive some invaluable tips that you can apply to your business right away.

Employee Ideas…Creativity…Innovation…Growth!

“Making your company a great place to work by teaching your employees to leverage their great ideas and to execute them well!”

Page A. Thibault, MBA

The question begs – Why don’t people just do what brings about results?  After all, they understand the importance of being effective. Your company may suffer from low morale and disengagement and your employees may shrink from high visibility roles for fear of reprimand.   In addition, your employees may be cynical and not take risks to bring forth their knowledge and valuable ideas.  In future blogs, you will discover how to best create an environment that is conducive to driving creativity, knowledge sharing and innovation through your company’s best asset – its employees!

I customize employee idea systems that are unique to the DNA of your organization.  This simple, yet powerful process captures your employees’ most beneficial ideas, while dramatically reducing the number of ideas in the management pipeline – making employee idea generation a manageable process.

Employee Idea Management System - a simple, powerful system that allows the free flow and exchange of ideas throughout your company; customized to your unique culture and how your employees work on a day to day basis.

A ‘personal touch’ is essential to building trust between all layers of your organization from management to the front-lines. My conversational and hands on approach focuses all employees on the right results and allows employees to practice new techniques in a safe and non-judgmental environment to maximize learning.  I teach managers and employees how to work together to achieve results with mutually beneficial input and clear expectations of the idea management process, complete with a feedback loop that results in maximum buy-in from your employees.

Idea Share of the Month!

An idea system should integrate into the fabric of how your employees already work.  If the system is too complex for your employees to understand or too time-consuming – they won’t use it.  When an employee idea system integrates into how your employees already work, they are more likely to buy into and accept the change.  

To sign up for Page’s Idea Share Tip of the Week! Please visit Frame of Mind Consulting.