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Hi!
Here's the February 2011 issue of Psyche-Selling TM
eNewsletter, and it's the month of Chinese New Year,
Valentine's Day and the season to change their employers for
some people.
As the saying goes, take good care of your employees, and
your employees will take good care of your customers.
Conversely, if your employees or not well-taken care of,
they are likely to be less engaged, not just with your
customer, but also with you as an employer. A talent
that is not engaged with you, will be a talent for your
competition soon.
The definition of "taking care of employees" here does
not mean that one should provide all creature comfort
along with a big fat pay package. Based on actual
survey results, employees, especially younger employees,
would prefer to be challenged so that they can achieve
better personal growth and career development.
Hence, this
month's topics:
-
Achieving Exceptional Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and Talent
Retention by Boosting Your Employee Engagement; and
-
Pixar’s Secret for Delivering Tough Feedback
This issue's main article is on "Achieving Exceptional Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and Talent Retention by Boosting Your Employee Engagement",
and we will be using data and leadership insights from
BlessingWhite's
Employee Engagement Report 2011, with special emphasis
on China.
In brief::
-
While most people
know that engaged employees take pride in
their company, believe they have a promising future
at their company, and go “above and beyond” their
normal job duties to help their company succeed,
there are
companies seem to do everything possible to
disengage their employees;
-
Only 17% of employees in China are engaged,
and as high as 29% are disengaged, making China
having the least number of engaged employees and the
most number of disengaged ones in the world;
-
Despite the rising salaries and costs of hiring,
Chinese employees are quite satisfied with their pay
packages right now. Rather, they need
something else from their employers to rekindle
their passion and commitment to their work. Read on... ...
To read the rest of this newsletter, pls.
click here (http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html.
In the meantime,
please feel free to check out the
BlessingWhite
Employee Engagement Report China Highlights
Achieving Exceptional Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and Talent Retention by Boosting Your Employee Engagement
by c.j. Ng
Business Development
Associate, BlessingWhite Asia Pacific
It is now 3 months into Mandy's new job as a senior
manager. Mandy now reports directly to her
General Manager, and is responsible to achieve very
ambitious business and production targets. The
company has got
strong financial backing and governmental
connections. On top of that, Mandy gets a
fantastic pay package that is the envy of her peers.
In the initial 3 months, Mandy went into her job
with tremendous drive and enthusiasm, making as much
effort as possible to learn the business and
devising plans on how those ambitious targets can be
achieved. She went down to the
frontlines to be with her team to work on weekends
and after office hours during the peak season.
She took the initiative to bounce her ideas with her
General Manager to get feedback and suggestions on
how best to implement her plans to achieve those
targets. In short, Mandy was enthused
and energised to contribute as much as she possibly
could to her company. After all, Mandy
is hired based on her track record to deliver
results, especially results that are very
challenging to achieve.
At the end of the 3 months, Mandy decides it's time
to put her plans into action. She assembled
her team and gave them an outline of what to expect
in the forthcoming months, and how those ambitious
targets can be achieved, although it will require a
lot of hardwork and commitment from her team.
Surprisingly, she found the newer members of her
team more receptive to her ideas than the more
experienced ones.
Mandy's next step is to
organise some training for her staff so as to equip
them with the skills to improve their performance.
Mandy has mentioned the training plans and budget to
her General Manager not too long ago, and her
General Manager had verbally agreed and supported
her plan.
However, when Mandy went about doing the
paperwork to get her training approved, she was
met with some unpleasant surprises:
-
The company policy states that if
employees were to attend training programmes paid by
the company, the employees would be contractually
bound by the company. If the employee leaves
before the time is up, he will have to pay the full
costs of the training;
-
Due to the above clause, the more
experienced employees in Mandy's team refused to
signed the agreement and opted out of the training,
without which they will not have the skills to reach
their targets;
-
In addition, Mandy got a last
minute call from her Finance department
stating that the budget has been "put on hold" as
there wasn't 2 other quotations from "approved"
vendors. The fee quoted was also markedly
higher than previous vendors engaged who were
professors from reputable universities.
As
Mandy had spent a lot of
time and effort selecting
and
evaluating suitable
programmes, she
felt that the programme she
selected fits the needs of
her team most, and although
the costs are higher, it can
be repaid if the business
and production targets are
achieved. Conversely,
Mandy is convinced that if
she engaged the "cheaper"
professor, the training
contents will be too
academic and will not help
her team in achieving their
goals.
On a broader scale, Mandy is feeling rather
disengaged at the moment. She feels that her
authority has been undermined by her company, and
more importantly, she has been denied the
opportunity to utilise her talents. She now
understands why the experienced employees in her
team are disengaged and resisting her plans because they know from
experience that her plans are likely to be
interfered and even shot down by management.
Mandy suspects that if her training plan could be
interfered in such a manner, so could be her other
action plans to achieve targets. She might be
held responsible for not achieving the targets
despite being denied her action plans to achieve
targets. Her new employees are demoralised
too, as they found the training that will help them
being "put on hold" indefinitely. Most of all,
Mandy is frustrated by the inability of her General
Manager to support and defend her.
In the meantime, Mandy's employer is very concerned
about motivating their employees and retaining good
talent. The company is now working out plans
to convert a portion of their staff's salaries and
bonuses as stock options, so that they will get more
when the stock prices increase. Somehow, Mandy
isn't very excited or enthused by this. In
fact, Mandy would like to opt out of this stock
option plan, but fears that peer pressure within the
organisation will make it difficult to do so.
Hence, Mandy is now looking for other career
options, just 3 months into her new job.
Just How Engaged
are Your Employees?
Taking China's data from
BlessingWhite's
Employee Engagement Survey in 2011, it is found
that:
-
China has got the world's lowest percentage of
engaged employees as only 17% of employees surveyed
are engaged. The good news, though is this is
an improvement over 2008, where engaged employees
make up only 10% of those surveyed.
-
Even worse, China also has the world's highest
proportion of disengaged employees at 29%, or almost
one in three employees disengaged. By
disengaged employees, these are people who are
contributing the least to their organisantional'
goals and results, AND are very dissatisfied with
their jobs too!
-
16% of Chinese employees will leave their employers
in the next 12 months. More importantly
though, of those that will stay, the engaged
employees will stay for what they can contribute to
their organisations, while the disengaged ones will
stay because of what they get (such as pay
increases, stock options, fancy job titles etc.)
The disengaged are not necessarily productive when
they stay.
So why all this fuss about making
employees engaged? Even some of the most engaged employees
will leave their employers eventually. Hence, unless there
are other benefits that will deliver business results, the whole
idea of Employee Engagement might be overly emphasised.
As it is, there are indeed a lot of research that
demonstrates that improvements in Employee Engagement
will improve business results, such as the following:
-
Highly engaged employees are
78% more productive
(according to
Hewitt) than disengaged ones. They are also
7 times
less likely to have a lost-time safety incident;
-
Since employees are the ones who serve customers, highly
engaged employees are most likely to ensure greater
customer satisfaction. Some are even willing to go “above and beyond” their normal job duties
to make sure their customers are happy.
Research from
Manpower shows that
1% increase in employee satisfaction results in
2% increase in customer satisfaction;
-
According to Gallup, engaged organizations have 3.9
times the earnings per share (EPS) growth as
compared non-engaged ones;
-
In world-class organizations,
the ratio of engaged to
actively disengaged employees is 9.57:1,
whereas in average organizations, the ratio of
engaged to actively disengaged employees is 1.83:1
-
In the age of the knowledge worker, the
War for Talent is
raging harder than ever before. Disengaged
talents could mean your talents working for your
competition.
If the above is still not
convincing enough why Employee Engagement is good for
business, here's a reason why disengaged employees are
bad for business. Actively disengaged employees
erode an organization's bottom line while breaking the
spirits of colleagues in the process. Within the U.S.
workforce, Gallup estimates this cost to be more than
$300 billion in lost
How do We Engage Our
Employees?
Some companies
perceive Employee Engagement to be "getting employees to
work harder without increasing their pay" (See
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-11-25/ for
details). While money may not be the primary factor in
improving engagement, employees will definitely be
disengaged if they feel manipulated. According to the
BlessingWhite Employee Engagement survey, the Top 3 drivers
of Employee Satisfaction are:
-
Career development opportunities and training
-
More opportunities to do what I do best
-
More challenging work
At the same time, the Top 3 drivers to make
employees contribute more towards organisational goals
are:
-
Regular, specific feedback about how I'm doing
-
Development opportunities and training
-
Greater clarity about what the organization needs me
to do - and why.
In addition, the top 2 reasons why
employees will stay on in the next 12 despite the
presence of other opportunities elsewhere are:
-
My work. I like the work that I do (30%)
-
My career. I have significant development or
advancement opportunities here (24%)
Come to think of it, if we spend most of our waking
hours at work, we would logically want it to be a place
where we are happy, and where we can achieve personal
and career growth. Conversely, few people would
want to stay long in a job where the pay is great, but
the job sucks and there's no future.
The top 5 reasons why employees intend to leave their
companies in the next 12 months are:
-
My career. I don't have opportunities to grow or
advance here (28%)
-
My work. I don't like what I do or it doesn't make
the most of my talents (16%)
-
My finances. I want to earn more money (14%)
-
My desire for change. I want to try something new
(12%)
-
My manager. I don't like working for him or her
(10%)
While the money factor ranks high at No. 3, employees
still consider the lack of career advancement and
the inability to make use of one's talent
(英雄无用武之地)as bigger reasons why they are leaving.
In fact, some employees may feel that the reason
that they are not making enough money now is because
their boss does not give them the opportunity to do
what they are good at, and advance their careers!
The Challenge for
Executives, Managers and the Individual
If you are a manager
or executive hiring younger employees, there are several things
in the new hiree's mind which may come as a shock to those
used to managing older employees. Younger employees
will like to find out:
-
When can I replace you in your position?
(我什么时候能将你取而代之?);
-
How can my talents be utilised fully, and what
level of autonomy can I get?; or
-
If I can come up with better ways to get the job done, I
expect you to listen to me.
To most managers, younger Gen Y employees seem to be
just impossible to manage. And that's true.
Gen Y employees CANNOT be managed. They must be
inspired and excited instead. They need leaders who can
develop their talents and make them grow, and only then
will they be enthused and "in gear" with you. And only
when they can take over your current position, can you
then move to greater heights.
Having said that though, Employee Engagement is a 2-way
street, and individuals will have to bear part of the
responsibility too. Many a time, an individual is
being enticed by big pay packages to join a company,
only to find that it's NOT the job they like, career
development is limited, and they could not get along
with their boss and colleagues. Individuals will
need to think what they would like to do in 3-5 years'
time, and then work backwards to determine what they
need to do now, so as to realise their career
development plans in the future. They will also
need to do more research on prospective employers to
make sure there's a good fit between what the employer
wants, and what could make them happy.
Need help in improving engagement levels of your
employees (and yourself)? Simply e-mail
cjn@blessingwhiteap.com or call +86-136 7190 2505
or Skype:
cydj001
and arrange to buy me a mocha. All information
shall be kept in confidence.
Power Breakfast Hour: 16 March 2011
Achieving Exceptional Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and Talent
Retention by Boosting Your Employee Engagement
Join International leadership, innovation and
sales force effectiveness consultant c.j. Ng in this Power
Breakfast Hour in Shanghai where you will find out:
-
Why engaged employees
will deliver exceptional
customer satisfaction,
productivity and talent
retention, and why
disengaged ones will
erode profits and
demoralise others;
-
What are the factors that affect Employee Engagement,
and what you can do to improve it even when you don't
pay the highest salary in your industry;
-
The challenges that face individuals, managers and
executives, and how Employee Engagement is the
responsibility of everyone involved.
VENUE: Crowne Plaza Shanghai • 400 Panyu Road
(near Fahuazhen Road) • 上海银星皇冠酒店 • 番禺路 400 号
(靠法华镇路)
DATE: Wednesday, 16 March 2011
TIME: 08:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
PRICE: RMB 200 ONLY!
To make this a more conducive
discussion, we are expecting a small group of about 15
people only. The room can only take in 18, so please
register early to avoid disappointments. Please e-mail
your registrations to sales@directions-consulting.com
You can also download our Power Breakfast Hour video on
Using the Six Thinking Hats®
to Win More Sales and Get More Customers Part 3.
Pls. check out our web sites
www.directions-consulting.com and
www.psycheselling.com/page4.html for more inspiration.
Need a Keynote Speaker for your Annual Conference?
Whether you are holding a
conference for your regional staff, resellers or even
customers, we have the right speaker who can help you
deliver the spirit of your conference, and effect positive
changes to meet your goals.r goals.r goals.r goals.r goals.r goals.
The topics our
speakers can speak on include:
-
Achieving
Exceptional Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and
Talent
Retention by Boosting Your Employee Engagement
-
Using the Six Thinking Hats® to Win More
Sales and Get More Customers
-
Why Some Sales People Succeed While Others Fail?;
-
How to Lure Away Your Competitors' Key Accounts, and
Make Them Buy from You Instead?;
-
Improving Sales Productivity by Motivating the Sales
Force;
-
Sun Tzu and the Art of Strategic Decision Making;
-
The End of Guanxi as We Know It!; and many more!
Simply e-mail your requests to
info@directions-consulting.com or call +86-21-6219 0021
for enquiries. Sample video and audio recordings
available upon requests.
Practical Tips for Managers:
Pixar’s Secret for Delivering Tough Feedback
By Mark Murphy, CEO of
Leadership IQ
If you have kids, you know Pixar (the animation studio
that made Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars, A Bug’s Life,
and more). By any measure, they’re amazingly successful;
kids love their movies, their films have grossed more
than $6 billion, and they’ve won 24 Academy Awards.
But that’s not what makes Pixar extraordinary. Here’s
what does: Their movies never flop. Most
filmmakers — even hugely successful ones — have a dud
here and there. Not Pixar. And we’ve identified
one of their keys to success that can be applied to your
organization: Learn how to give brutally honest
feedback.
At Pixar, when a director hits a snag on a film, they
immediately call in the “brain trust.” This is a
group of brilliant senior filmmakers who come in, look
at the film in progress and give brutally honest
feedback for about two hours. As President Ed
Catmull says, “it’s far better to learn about problems
when there’s still time to fix them than from the
audience after it’s too late.”
Now, don’t think the brain trust is the “secret”
mentioned in the title of this article; it’s not.
There’s another critical piece. Because if having
a ‘brain trust’ rip apart your ideas sounds painful,
surprisingly, it isn’t at Pixar. At most companies
it would be gut-wrenching, but Pixar discovered an
incredible technique that makes the process both
productive and painless.
At first, they didn’t understand their own secret.
The brain trust was working great, but when they tried
to export the concept to areas beyond directors and
producers (like technical areas), it flopped.
Instead of breakthrough innovation, they got bruised
egos, defensiveness, even anger.
Why didn’t the brain trust work in other areas?
What was the “secret” that allowed directors to receive
brutally honest feedback without feeling angry or
defensive? Simple: The brain trust has no
authority. There are no mandatory notes, and the
brain trust has no authority over the person to whom
they’re giving feedback. The people receiving
feedback are the only ones responsible for making a
great movie, so they’re under no obligation to take the
feedback. And here’s the crazy psychological
twist: Because they’re under no obligation to take the
feedback, of course, they take a lot of it.
Removing formal authority, losing the hierarchical
relationships, liberates both the giver and receiver of
feedback. No matter how tough the feedback is, if
you remove the power dynamics, the typical problems with
defensiveness, anger, etc., immediately dissipate.
If I tell my kids to eat their green beans, they’ll
fight me every step of the way. But if I shut up
and just leave them alone, they’ll eat them all.
They love green beans. But if I make it a power
struggle, they’ll stop eating them just to exert
control. The exact same thing happens in
professional situations. Make it a power struggle,
and people will ignore your feedback. But remove
the forced obligation, and they’ll be thrilled to take
your ideas.
The Entrepreneurs Organization and the Young Presidents
Organization have made the same discovery. These
are two of the most elite networks for business owners
and CEOs, with thousands of members around the globe.
At the heart of both groups is a monthly meeting with
about 10 members called “forum.” (In any city,
there could be dozens of forums meeting each month).
During forum, the members present challenges they’re
facing, and their peers offer their thoughts.
But here’s the trick: They don’t offer advice; they
offer experience. When a CEO is presenting a
problem, the other CEOs’ natural inclination is to tell
them what to do (that’s a common personality trait for
executives). If you hear a friend tell you about a
problem, it’s human nature to respond with “what you
should do is…”
However, there’s a problem with telling CEOs — or anyone
for that matter — what to do: They get defensive.
If you say “what you should do is…” they’re likely to
reply “but that won’t work because…” And that’s a
giant red flag of defensiveness (which ultimately leads
to anger and damaged relationships — not solutions).
So instead, these CEOs discovered that when they don’t
say “you should do…” and instead say “what I did was…”
the power dynamic is removed and the walls of
defensiveness crumble.
By sharing only their own experiences — good, bad or
mixed — and not their advice, they remove any obligation
on the recipient’s part to do anything with the
feedback. Just like at Pixar, it removes the power
dynamic. The recipients are not under attack,
they’re not being disparaged, and they’re not having
their arms twisted. And because they’re free from
obligation, their minds are open to hearing their peers’
new and wonderful ideas.
When you get really smart people sharing their best
ideas, and you get everyone else listening to those
ideas, you will have an amazingly innovative culture.
Like Pixar, you’ll fix problems long before they lead to
a flop.
Leadership IQ has an upcoming webinar called
5 Secrets of Truly Innovative
Cultures. In it, I’ll be sharing
innovation best practices from Pixar, Google, Apple,
Kaiser Permanente, the Cleveland Clinic, and others.
If you want your employees to give you brilliant ideas
and solve your toughest problems, you need to attend
this webinar.
If you would like to get more and better ideas how to
give feedback such that the recipient is receptive to
your ideas, you can e-mail
info@directions-consulting.comm or call +86-136 7190
2505 or Skype:
cydj001
About PsycheSelling.com
Sales... ....the
lifeblood of a company, a matter of "life and
death", survival or extinction. Indeed,
something that needs to be studied, applied and
re-modified consistently.
Yet today,
-
many companies still don't have a coherent approach
as to how they can generate more sales and
achieve better margins;
-
many sales people are still lying to their
customers so that they can meet their targets at
the end of the month;
-
many customers are still waiting ethical and
professional sales people to help them find out
their real needs, and provide solutions that
work
Psyche-Selling TM
is set up so that companies and sales people can
make healthy profits and STILL provide genuine
solutions to customers.
Psyche-Selling TM
would like to create an environment where customers
can trust sales people to give them what they
want, and NOT be pushed with all kinds of
products and services. In return,
customers will become loyal fans of these
ethical and professional sales people, and repay
them many fold for the long-term.
Psyche-Selling TM
will not rest, until the above is achieved.
Not just in China. Not just in Asia. But
everywhere where buying and selling takes place.
Psyche-Selling TM
is a wholly-owned brand of
Directions Management Consulting Pte Ltd
that specialises in the field of improving sales
performance by enhancing the performance of the
entire sales team. Apart from the regular
"selling skills training",
Psyche-Selling TM
conducts pre- and post-training analysis,
interviews, monitoring and reviews, working
closely with managers and even senior
management, to deliver real improvements in
sales leadership and performance.
Hence,
Psyche-Selling TM
would like to be known as the preferred choice of
outstanding and remarkable clients, and pride
ourselves as such. We will also be
continuing to assist our clients achieve greater
heights in 2009 and beyond.
Enquiries and suggestions,
pls. e-mail
info@psycheselling.com or visit
www.psycheselling.com
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