Wish You Were Here

I'm not a big fan of year end lists and I tend to be more Grinch than Santa Celebrator during the wonderful holiday season. That said, a question posed at a conclusion of a recent on-line chat got my wheels turning:

What Do You Wish For All Your Employees As We Approach The New Year?

A9 - Find Out Who You Want to Be & Let Us Help You Get There! Internally or Elsewhere. Silent Desperation is a Waste of Life! #NextChat #HR

— David Kovacovich (@DavidKovacovich) December 2, 2015

Those of us who have been swimming through the HR Blogosphere can tend to get pretty intricate regarding our thoughts on Employee Engagement and the like. The above is a simple mission statement that I feel cuts to the core of what really engages people.

When creating workforce strategy that scales the globe it is very difficult to take into account the goals of each and every employee. Sometimes practicality has to eclipse the crystal ball.

What if engaging your employees was as simple as asking them the question above.

• Performance Management is about Leadership Development not talent evaluation.
• Transparency & Trust are the most important characteristics of any leader.
• To manage one's career without understand their personal goals is a one way ticket to Resumeville.

What Do You Want? 
How often do we seek to understand our employees frame of mind before designing program initiatives.

~ Do you implement workforce incentives based on best practices?
~ How does that make your employee offering unique or intriguing?

Giving away cookie cutters makes you just another bakery.

The best performance management objectives I have seen lie within the metrics of the SCARF program. If you are not familiar with the technique, it allows employees to stack rank their personal objectives for organizational engagement.

Some people want a social life through work, others want to be left alone. Some people want to be promoted, others might want to work creative project team.

Knowing what people want (by their own direction) makes people much easier to manage.

Why Are Managers Afraid to Lead?
Leadership is an act of servitude. Some managers fail to recognize this. As a leader, one's obligation is to help people achieve their fullest potential.

People want to know on a daily basis the rung upon which they stand and how to ascend. Clarity breeds transparency which creates trust. With trust comes engagement!

People Don't Leave Companies, They Leave Managers!

Don't allow yourself to be an example of the "those you cannot do, teach" ethos.

Be Transparent, Build Trust & Help People Ascend!

Don't Forget to Remember,

Dave