Leveraging Leadership R&D

Leveraging Leadership R&D

by | Jun 14, 2019

With increasing demands in our time, one of the challenges that leaders continually face is that of productivity. How do we get more done with less? Clearly, one solution is to have highly engaged team members that are aligned and pulling together behind the same shared vision.

However, with only 13% of the global workforce highly engaged at work (Gallup 2016), we are obviously not doing a great job at this. Combine this with the fact that Deloitte 2019 Human Capital Survey cites that 80% of companies don’t think they have the right leadership capability in place to address this, then we obviously have a leadership crisis on our hands.

Nothing frustrates me more than the amount of time, energy, and resources that we waste on a daily basis simply because we are not effective and productive and don’t have efficient, aligned business practices in place.

This week it has seemed like I have not been in control of my schedule. I fell victim to reacting to everyone else’s agenda rather than pro-actively leading my business, and the result is that I’ve been left feeling frustrated that I have not achieved all the things that I wanted to do. My productivity index has plummeted as I have navigated the uncertainty of all the events conspiring around me.

Being a proactive leader of your business and grabbing the reins is so important to ensure success. When you feel in control of your day, and it shapes out as you planned, the health benefits are significant as you feel less stressed. Yet there are times when life seems to take over and you feel tossed into the roller-coaster of life.

That’s what happened this week when my hosting company took down my website for nearly 30 hours, just when I was in the middle of a launch!!! Exasperated does not begin to describe how I felt. Now they acted in good faith because my site was being hacked by bots that were impacting the performance of other website on the server, but still, that didn’t help me.

Remember R&D

So, faced with having wasted loads of time sorting out this issue, I found myself up against a few tight deadlines to get work completed. It was then that I remembered that old trick that really successful and productive people engage in daily. They practice R&D!  No, not Research and Development, but rather Replicate and Duplicate.

When you replicate and duplicate, you become super productive as you leverage all the work that you have done before.

By simply repurposing old content, you can instantly create new products and services.

For example:

  • If you have a talk you deliver frequently, turn it into a book.
  • Convert a book into a workshop.
  • Take a workshop and develop a coaching programme around it.

In this way, one piece of effort leads to at least three new offerings.

And of course, you can take content from two or three sources and combine them to create something brand new. That’s what I’ve done this week to enable me to create an article for a magazine by their deadline. I’ve re-purposed and re-packaged some of my earlier work. And I have to say the end result is pretty remarkable.

How can you maximize your efforts by building new products and services based on what you are already doing?

As a leader, how can you leverage your resources to deliver more with less? What systems and processes can you put in place that, once designed, can be duplicated and used time and time again?

In my own business, I have processes for everything from client proposals to onboarding, creating engaging social media content, and designing workshops. As a business that typically designs customised solutions for my clients, having a set bank of content that I use and then being able to tailor this for each client means that I am continuously replicating and duplicating material. This makes customising programmes very simple, as all the key components are already available, so I can quickly turn round work and leverage my valuable time in the process.

How will you use R&D to leverage your time, money, and energy today?

Different Thinking. Different Leadership.

Different Thinking. Different Leadership.

by | May 9, 2019

“Our current model of success is not designed to make us happy, to give us fulfillment, to give us meaning. It’s designed to accumulate. And it’s a model that is not sustainable anymore. We need a new way of doing business. But it is not something we just can do differently. It requires a different thinking. It requires a different consciousness.“
Peter Matthies, Founder, Conscious Business Institute

No one doubts that we are faced with increasing complexity and challenges coming at us globally, impacting us professionally, and touching us personally. Examples include climate change, income inequality, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, stress and anxiety. and lack of purpose and meaning.

The current challenge for leaders is how do they navigate this new landscape they find themselves in it. Whilst many leaders recognise that the current ways of leading business are not sustainable as it focuses on profit and margin rather than the planet and people when under stress they revert to their “normal” behaviour. After all, that was the focus of the business which many of today’s leaders were brought up in.

The problem is that as employees observe how the leadership team acts in these critical situations, they withdraw trust. Relationships break down and accountability, ownership, personal leadership, proactive behavior, and contribution all suffer – while politics, slow decision making, and self-preservation rise. This does not create an engaged workforce and is one of the reasons why globally employee engagement is at just 13%, according to Gallup.

If organizations want to thrive and create healthy and vibrant business cultures with high levels of engagement, then business leaders need to think differently. They need to start focusing on their people and their drivers of success which ultimately come in the first instance from people’s basic human needs being met. In Peak, author Chip Conley distills Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs into three essential levels: survive, succeed, transform. For employees, he suggests that at survival level they need money to ensure their base needs are met. At the succeed level, they want recognition and to feel valued; whilst at the transform level, employees want to feel inspired, a sense of contribution to the business, and a sense of contribution to society through the business.

Thinking differently about what drives our employees is critical as research shows that behavioral changes are not effective if they aren’t aligned with an individual’s mindset and consciousness. In other words, if we focus on what the individual does (their habits, behaviours, and actions) and expect to get the results we desire then that change is likely to be unstainable as the employee is not aligned with why the change needs to occur.

This is why I am a passionate advocate of the new leadership framework proposed by the Conscious Business Institute, which has identified five identities that must be aligned to create a successful organization. These are:

Self-Leadership

INDIVIDUALS can be fully themselves and contribute their authentic power. Fulfills the human need for self-expression.

Team-Leadership

TEAMS collaborate & communicate well and cultivate diversity & inclusion. Fulfills the human need for connection.

Organisational Leadership

ORGANISATION is values based & purpose-driven with a bold vision. Fulfills the human need for contribution.

Business Leadership

BUSINESS is socially responsible and measures its success holistically Fulfills the human need for security & growth.

Conscious Leadership

LEADERSHIP that’s inspiring, accountable, courageous, & empowering. Fulfills the human need for appreciation & care.

Each area speaks to a specific human need. By focusing on the mindset and consciousness of the employee sustainable behavioural change occurs as everything starts with who we are being, before looking at what we are doing and then having as a result. In other words, this structure helps to access the level of consciousness before providing concrete tools to apply day-to-day.


How Physical Environment Improves Morale

How Physical Environment Improves Morale

by | Apr 21, 2019

We’ve all been there: you walk into a room, and the atmosphere bristles with something unpleasant. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but there’s a tension in the air and the people working don’t seem happy. 

Of course, the problem might be in your head. More likely, you are seeing employee disengagement and low spirits playing out across the office space. 

Today, we’re investigating how much the physical office space affects employees’ wellbeing and morale and considering ways to improve it. 

Different types of wellbeing 

There are different types of wellbeing, and understanding each one is pivotal to creating a safe and productive workplace for your employees. The three types are:

  • Physical wellbeing, which relates to how employees move through the space and stay energised. It also speaks to their physical posture when sitting or standing at their desk
  • Cognitive wellbeing, which is about your staff recharging their energy, or finding physical space where they can concentrate deeply and come up with new ideas, and
  • Emotional wellbeing, which is all about creating connections between employees and your company, so your staff feel happy coming to work. 

Your workplace can be redesigned to suit all three of these areas, and address these different facets of your employees’ lives. Let’s breakdown the categories a little further, and explore how they relate to wellbeing, satisfaction and engagement. 

1. Physical 

Moving around throughout the day can shake off feelings of lethargy. Likewise, moving around promotes positive endorphins and boosts concentration. 

Create a series of spaces around your workplace that employees can shift to throughout the day. While they should have their own desk somewhere in the office, they should also have the option of moving to common areas, couches and standing workspaces as they wish. 

2. Cognitive

Modern work dictates that we should be always on, which means our brains are always seeking notification and reinforcement. Designate some ‘quiet zones’ in your office where people can retreat to if they want to recharge or deeply concentrate. These areas should be distraction free, to allow your staff to focus if they need. 

3. Emotional

The emotional metric relates to our need for privacy, when we want it. Ensure your employees have somewhere they feel themselves; and once again, somewhere they feel like they won’t be distracted. 

Also take into account that sometimes your staff will want to be social, and give them communal spaces to do this. 

What does this mean?

On the surface, these metrics don’t directly relate to the physical landscape of your office – but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see that the way you lay out the space your employees work in can directly affect the way they perform. Put someone in a space that doesn’t match their personality, work style or preferences and they’ll become unproductive. Allow them the freedom to choose their own work environment – or shift between multiple environments throughout the day – and you’ll have a stronger, more engaged workforce.

6 Habits of High-Performance Leaders

6 Habits of High-Performance Leaders

by | Apr 5, 2019

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going”.
Jim Rohn

For many years, I have been a big advocate of focusing on your strengths as, when leaders excel at what they love, they get into a state called flow. When this happens, it often feels like time flies by and we get extraordinary amounts of work complete. Typically, we feel energised and alive because we are doing what we love. However, I have recently changed my thoughts on this.

Yes, focusing on your strengths is important and can help you attain high performance, but only when it is combined with healthy habits. We live in a VUCA where everything is moving at a rapid pace. Life and business are more complex than ever. Achieving success is not natural anymore. It is a complex process that can easily get derailed. This is why leaders need to develop great habits to keep them on track.

In his book High Performance Habits, author Brendon Burchard identifies six habits that, when applied consistently, lead to high performance. This data comes from research conducted with over 30,000 people from 195 countries and has been quantitatively proved to be valid and reliable.

The six habits fall into two categories – three personal habits and three social habits.

  1. Seek Clarity – Having clarity is vital if you want to achieve high performance. Clarity helps give you direction on where you are going and the steps required to achieve it. However, high performance leaders don’t just have clarity on what they are doing, they also have clarity on who they want to be and how they want to show up in relationships. They bring intentionality to everything they do and, in doing so, stop being reactive to the circumstances around them. Furthermore, you don’t just get clarity once. High-performance leaders continually check back in and make sure they have clarity every time they take on new projects or enter new social situations.
  2. Generate Energy – High-performance leaders recognise their role is to energise others, and they can only do this if they have high personal energy levels. For leaders to stay on their “A game,” they need to be energied physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
  3. Raise The Necessity – Exceptional leaders know why they are doing what they are doing. They understand the consequences of not achieving their goals and the ripple impact effect this will have on others.
  4. Increase Productivity – High-performance leaders are experts in one specific area. They produce quality content on this subject matter and position themselves as the go-to person on that topic. This means that they have to develop a habit of saying no to opportunities that are not aligned with their area of expertise. Minimising distractions is a great way to maintain this focus and productivity.
  5. Develop Influence – To be successful, we all need a team of supporters around us. High-performance leaders invest in developing relationships with people who can support their efforts and help galvanise them towards their dreams.
  6. Demonstrate Courage – High-performance leaders look fear in the face and take courageous action day in, day out. This means they take bold action and step out of their comfort zone even in the face of uncertainty, threat, or ridicule.

The interesting fact is that, when you apply just one of habits listed above, you experience an increase in performance across all areas, so just imagine the compound effect that occurs when you consistently apply all the habits. This is the formula for 10x performance. So, what habits are you starting to apply today?

Remember, you need to be consistent, so I would recommend working on one habit at a time. Incorporate this new habit onto the back of something you already do in order to give yourself the best chance of success. Diarise it to ensure it gets done, or better still, incorporate it as part of your morning success routine.

Designing Workspaces For Different Personalities

Designing Workspaces For Different Personalities

by | Apr 5, 2019

Modern offices are set up to suit one way of working: to satisfy people who thrive with a surplus of sensory stimulation. 

However, while the spaces have evolved to embrace noise and volume, we’ve left behind the quieter people who prefer to work alone and who need silence to enter the realm of deep concentration. 

Instead of providing a one-size approach to the office space, remember that different people work in different ways. Create break-out areas where people can complete their work silently and without distraction, or encourage employees to take phone calls outside.

Keep providing for the extroverts in the room and give them a space to collaborate effectively. Whether they’re introverted or extroverted, everyone has the tools they need to be creative, dedicated employees – and their work will improve as a result. 

Allow for flexibility 

Some employers assume that they need to tightly regulate working hours and locations in order to control the work output. While this might be true in some ways, it fails to account for differences in work styles, and prevents your employees from adapting to what suits them. 

Instead, understand that your employees need flexible working arrangements. A lot of people work better from home so provide an option for your staff to pick up remote work a few times a week. Some thrive when they work at night – so let staff choose their own hours if that works for your company. 

Reducing noise 

One of the biggest distractions, especially in a modern, open-plan office, is noise. Whether that’s from co-workers typing at their keyboards, conducting loud phone calls or having meetings at their desks, it’s a barrier to the concentration that can stop most people getting any work done. 

Because open-plan layouts are the most common culprit for this cacophony, it can be difficult to fix the problem. After all, we can’t go rearranging the whole floorplan – can we?

Instead of calling in a renovator to divvy the office up into bite-sized sections, consider: 

  • Setting aside meeting rooms for people to take phone calls in
  • Making more rooms available for spontaneous meetings
  • Creating a ‘quiet area’ where people can complete their work without distraction
  • Investing in noise-cancelling headphones for your employees or allowing them to listen to music 
  • Permit a range of work styles, such as face-to-face meetings and digital communication 

These are just some ways you can reduce noise and distraction in the office but there is more you can do to allow your staff to enter a deep space of concentration and focus on their work. 

Putting this into practice 

We can help you assess your physical environment and work on tweaks to help your employees grow. Whether you’re looking for some small-scale edits you can do to boost morale, or you want to train your employees in collaboration, we’re here for you. Speak to us to find out what we can do for you.


How To Leverage The 7 Universal Laws

How To Leverage The 7 Universal Laws

by | Jan 31, 2019

Did you know there are seven universal laws that influence everything we do? Great leaders do, and they also understand how to leverage these laws to create maximum impact. Since everything in the world is interconnected, whatever you do has an impact on someone else. It’s merely a question of whether you are impacting others positively or negatively.

The seven universal laws show us how energy operates on a daily basis in our lives.

  • The Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy
    Everything is energy and constantly changing

Energy is constantly changing form from one state to another, which means that nothing is as it seems. The human body renews its entire skin every 2-3 weeks, so whilst it appears the same, it is actually made up of entirely new cells. This means, as leaders, we are constantly dealing with change; and it is not something to be feared but rather something to embrace.

  • The Law of Vibration and Attraction
    Everything in our universe continually vibrates and moves.

Vibrations of the same frequency resonate with each other, so like attracts like energy. Everything is energy, including your thoughts. Consistently focusing on a particular thought or idea attracts its vibrational match. Great leaders leverage this law by focusing on what they want instead of what they don’t want.

  • The Law of Polarity
    Everything in the universe has an equal and exact opposite.

In Eastern philosophy, this law is referred to as the yin and yang, and it alludes to the fact that a polar opposite exists for every situation. This is reassuring for leaders when there are challenging times, because it means that things can only get better in due course.

  • The Law of Rhythm
    Everything is moving in perfect rhythm and at perfect speed

When we look at the natural world, everything has a rhythm to it. There is a rhythm to the seasons; they always come and go in the same order. There is a rhythm to the rising and the setting of the sun, and the ocean has its own ebb and flow. Even our heartbeat has a natural rhythm to it; and yet all too often, business leaders try to defy this law. They put their foot to the pedal, working day in and day out, increasing stress levels and never resting and recuperating. In the worst cases, this can result in a heart attack as their heartbeat flat lines. Devoid of a rhythm, the body can no longer sustain life.

  • The Law of Relativity
    Everything is relative

We have become masters at comparing ourselves to others. In business, we compare our financial performance against the prior year, and we often benchmark our performance against our peer group. Team members compare their performance with that of their colleagues, and their personal success with that of their friends. The irony is that this direct comparison is often flawed, because everything is relative based on our own past experiences, personal values, and experiences. There is no such thing as wrong or right, it just is.

  • The Law of Cause and Effect
    For every cause there is an effect and for every effect there is a cause

According to physics, there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action. Therefore, nothing happens by chance and anything you “cause” is the “effect” of something that came before. Good leaders appreciate that what they sow, they reap, so they say good things to everyone and treat others with respect so it will come back to them.

  • The Law of Gestation
    Everything takes time to manifest

Nothing is ever created or destroyed; rather, all new things are a result of something that already exists. There is a gestation period to the creation of everything, and therefore a correct time and place for everything to happen. Many business owners give up too early, before the gestation period has had time to elapse, which is just like digging up bulbs before the plants have had the opportunity to flower

Remember: the universal laws are operating all the time, so ensure you leverage them – because if you don’t, they will operate against you.


Thriving Organisations Have a Heart And Brain

Thriving Organisations Have a Heart And Brain

by | Jan 24, 2019

There are two fundamental requirements that every business owner must consider when building a thriving organisation:

  1. Quality systems, processes and game plans, which I call ‘the brain’ of the organisation.
  2. Quality leadership, engagement and culture, which I call ‘the heart’ of the organisation.

In humans the two most important organs of the body are the brain and the heart, and we cannot survive without them both functioning. Whilst they will work with only a small portion of blood flow, they will be working harder than they should be, and it’s not sustainable long term. I liken this analogy to the way that most organisations are just surviving. They have just enough energy to sustain “life” but no capacity to grow and expand,

Contrast this to what happens when you have an unlimited amount of blood flow, full of fresh oxygen. The brain and heart work in unison at full capacity, and as a result are  better equipped if there are problems. This creates a thriving body (or organisation) which translates into happy team members who deliver greater productivity and profitability, thus enabling the growth of the business.

Dynamic Flow

So how do we improve the blood flow in the organisation?. Good communication is the bloodline of any successful business, and if communication is slow, then the organisation cannot flow. In larger businesses, departments often struggle to cross-pollinate relationships because individuals don’t know who their colleagues are, only what they do. In the worst cases team members actually sabotage the growth of the business by with holding essential information from colleagues and competing for resources.  These problems are mitigated when team members appreciate and understand their colleagues on a more personal level, and so can empathise with what is happening to them. When this occurs the team members become more highly engaged because as in the words of Theodore Roosevelt: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

‘Group Activation Systems’

For a long time it was believed that just the business owner was solely responsible for creating team engagement, however we now appreciate that everyone in the business is responsible for creating team engagement. Without actively engaged team members, the leadership message becomes heavily diluted, and motivation will quickly fades. The heart of every organisation is its people and their contribution so we need to turn our attention to our team members and how to get them engaged through the application of new, innovative and inclusive methods. Company training is the least desirable way for team members to learn. Instead we need an all-inclusive Group Activation System that is neurologically designed and proven to reactivate team members.

Research has shown that 90% of  today’s business leaders think an engagement strategy has a positive effect on business success, yet only 25% of them have a game plan to execute this!. In today’s competitive world, your people are your competitive edge. Old school business strategies and ‘knowledge dumping’ training programs are no longer sufficient when it comes to employee activation. The game has changed. Have you changed your game to keep up?

As a valued client  I am delighted to offer you complimentary access to a brand new online video book (worth $97) that contains exclusive content from four leading engagement specialists. Each chapter focuses on a key element of employee disengagement: helping you to understand what it is, and giving you the tools and tips you need to combat this phenomenon head on. The result? You’ll be ready to re-motivate, re-inspire and re-engage your team as we head into 2019 and beyond.

To access this resource simply go to https://www.engageandgrow.com.au/video-course/ and use the code JF2 to get complimentary access.

Your team – and your business – will thank you for it.

Are You Playing Whac-A-Mole in Your Business?

Are You Playing Whac-A-Mole in Your Business?

by | Jan 17, 2019

During the Christmas vacation the moles have come to live in my horses’s field.  Every day I go up there and more mole hills have appeared.  At times it seems like they are invading the field!

And their presence has reminded me of a game I used to play when I was growing up called Whac-a-Mole.  The aim of the game was it hit the lights on the board every time they lit up and each time you did this successfully you scored points.  And whilst this was great fun it never really solved the under-lying problem as the moles were still there in the background.

And this got me thinking about business.  How often are you playing Whac-A-Mole in your business? Dealing with all the incidents that rear their ugly head and are front and foremost in your mind, rather than looking at the under-lying problem that is causing this.

After all the mole hills are a result of a mole infestation.  Just whacking the mole hills has not addressed the problem of the moles living under the field in the first place. How often in business do we just focus on treating the symptom (in this case the mole hills) rather than the symptom (the real reason the moles have come to live in the field).

When I look at my business and that of my clients I often see this.  The business issues that take all our time and attention are the ones that are front of mind and all too often we invest valuable resources attempting to solve them, rather than looking at what caused the issue in the first place.

Often when I speak with business leaders they bemoan the fact that their team members are not pulling their weight and are not operating productively.  They try to solve this problem through team building events when actually the underpinning problem is that the team members are not engaged and the business culture is not supporting the team members to grow and contribute.

So what business issues are you playing whac-a-mole with?  What can you do to really understand what the underlying cause of the problem is and then go about “treating” this rather than the symptom.

And if employee engagement is the real challenge in your business right now, why not grab yourself free access to this newly released video book, which contains ten lessons on how to improve employee engagement.  You can get yourself a copy by signing up at https://www.engageandgrow.com.au/video-course/.  If you use the code JF2 to access this Videobook course for FREE! (for a limited time).

3 Misconceptions about employee engagement

3 Misconceptions about employee engagement

by | Jan 12, 2019

As a manager, you naturally want to do the right thing by your employees. But what if your well-intentioned efforts to promote engagement had the opposite effect? Sometimes, we think we’re making things better, when in reality we’re sowing the seeds for further disengagement, simply by not listening to the needs of our employees. 

Here are three common ways employers incorrectly try to tackle disengagement – and three ways to rectify them. 

1. Ticking boxes

One common mistake employers make is doing something just to tick the ‘training’ box on their end-of-year reports. They know they have to offer training of some kind, so they conduct a random session that might have no relevance to workers’ day-to-day jobs at all. 

What you should do instead is train them in something that will benefit them professionally, and interest them personally. Dr Britt Andreatta states that training programs should arise from a partnership between employees and managers; you need to speak with them to work out what they need, and what they see in their future career path. 

2. One-size-fits-all

One step better than ticking boxes – but by no means, a great model of employee engagement – is the one-size-fits-all approach. Here, an employer knows what the workplace issue is – maybe it’s that employees are having trouble communicating, managing complex projects, or understanding a thematic area of their work. So they organise training that broadly touches on this topic. 

The problem here is that the broad training program does nothing to get into the specifics of the problem that the person, department or company is facing. The manager assumed that training employees in project management skills was enough to solve the problems, without realising:

  • How much initial knowledge or experience employees have
  • What goals the company wants to address
  • How this will benefit everyone in the future

By considering a few critical questions before training, the employer can ensure what their staff learn will be relevant and useful – and ultimately, keep people engaged at work. 

3. Using the wrong incentives

Companies often use salary increases to try to motivate their employees. They think that surely with an increase in take-home pay, their workers will be more engaged in their jobs, produce better outcomes and stick around for a longer time. 

Salary is only part of the picture when it comes to employee engagement, according to a recent report from Aon Hewitt, 2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement. While a competitive pay packet is important, employees respond more to intrinsic things than how much they earn. Respect, opportunity to learn and being included in decision-making process are much better ways of connecting employees to their jobs.

As an Engage & Grow Coach I’m committed to helping you engage your employees to create productive workforces and happy and satisfied workers. Please get in touch if you’d like some help engaging your team.

Six Ways To Create An Engaged People Centric Business Culture

Six Ways To Create An Engaged People Centric Business Culture

by | Dec 6, 2018

Yet again the most recent Gallup statistics paint a very dire picture of how low employee engagement levels are across the world. In the UK only 10% of employees are highly engaged which is marginally worse than the global average which is 15%.

Imagine what would happen if as business leaders we were able to double or even triple this. The impact on productivity, profitability and general levels of employee happiness would be demonstrable, and I bet a ripple effect would result in a better planet for all of us. You don’t get to be in the 100 Best Companies to Work For, for 19 years in a row, just by luck.

But how do we learn how to improve employee engagement and put people at the forefront of the business.  A great solution is to learn from companies who have consistently been voted in the top 100 places to work.  JM Family Enterprises is one of the largest, most innovative and diversified companies in the automotive industry. Based in Florida, its principal businesses focus on vehicle distribution and processing, finance and insurance, retail vehicle sales, and dealer technology services.

Stephanie Slate, Director of Talent Acquisition at JM Family Enterprises, shares one of the ways they create great levels of employee engagement is by referring to their people as Associates and not employees. This makes people feel that they work with the company and not for them. It instils a culture of inclusion and participation.  (Personally, I hate the word employee as the word derives from the word employ, which means to use and to my mind this infers that we use our people, which simply is not right).

Secondly, she attributes the high associate engagement score to the fact that the company put People First. Everything the company does supports this culture including the recruitment process, where only people are hired who fit into the culture. Even if someone has amazing technical skills they will not be hired if they are a cultural misfit.  This is a philosophy that both Zappos and Google also follow. In fact, they even encourage people to leave after 30 days by offering them a paycheck for doing so. This quickly weeds out anyone who has slipped through the recruitment process and does not align with the company culture.

Companies like JM family Enterprises, Zappos and Google take cultural fit so seriously that they will train Associates in the relevant skills needed for the job, as long as they have the right attitude and are a great cultural fit. After all the skills needed for different roles are changing at a rapid pace – think Facebook and Instagram didn’t even exist 15 years ago – yet the company culture is like its DNA and lives on long after different technological fads have been and gone.

Here are the six ways that you can create an engaged people-centric culture.

  1. Show Respect – make associates feel both valued and respected. Encourage the new associates to ask questions, to be curious, and they listen to them. With every new change that comes along, ensure that one of the first questions asked by senior management is “how will this impact our associates?’
  2. Demonstrate Caring – When a company cares about its associates it can show that by offering an excellent benefits package, but the caring can extend well beyond that. It could involve having medical staff and daycare services on-site; or providing support that helps associates in times of hardship. Some companies event have LifeCare Programmes, which is like an Associate concierge service that helps with non-work related issues.
  3. Communication and Connection – Communication is key to ensuring that your associates feel like they work with you and not for you. During the onboarding process, ensure all new Associates get to meet with a Vice President for a day, as well as meet and ask questions with the CEO. This not only helps the communication flow but also helps to make good connections between the new Associates and the Executive Management team.
  4. Encourage Empowerment – Encourage associates to ask questions and to challenge things, although this has to be done constructively and in ways that will benefit the company. Encourage associates to try new things and to learn from their mistakes, rather than to punish or criticize them for it. This helps to create an empowered workforce that is proactive when they see opportunities to benefit the company.
  5. Create Opportunities – One of the key reasons people cite for leaving their employers is a lack of career development and opportunities. When a company takes an approach where they hire for cultural fit and willing to train for a position, and they have five different divisions, there will always be opportunities to either advance or to try something different.
  6. Show Appreciation – Appreciation is one of our most basic human needs, after food, shelter, and safety, and JM Family do a great job at showing their Associates that they are appreciated. They have regular appreciation dinners and awards, and they also have a peer to peer appreciation program which allows people to recognize their colleagues for great work that they have done. Sometimes great work goes unseen by management, but programs like this allow for people to be recognized by their peers and for their efforts to be brought to the attention of the management.

Now for those of you thinking that creating an engaged workforce is a nice-to-do activity, think again. The results are compelling

  • JM Family’s staff turnover rate is 7.1 per cent, which is well below their competitors, which helps to reduce cost, which increases profit.
  • Their staff stays with the company 10.1 years on average, which compares very favourably with the national average of 4.2,
  • Staff are happy to recommend the company, and the majority of new hires come from referrals which help to keep down recruitment costs and ensures that any open positions are filled quickly.
  • The company has achieved record revenues in each of the last five years, with an average revenue growth of around 12 per cent per year since 2011.

So the result is when you put your people first you create an engaged, excited and empowered workforce, which helps to keep costs down and revenues growing, and who wouldn’t want that.

If you want to get more engagement in your team why not grab a copy of our new online training course. For a limited time, you can get free access using the COUPON CODE JF2 at check out. Simply register at https://www.engageandgrow.com.au/video-course

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