Tag Archives: workplace

Do Your Employees Feel Invisible?

by on March 27, 2008 in Work

A little while back at the Employee Engagement Network, David Zinger posed a question to the group about important engagement statistics. He writes:

In an interview about the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 for the Gallup Management Journal, Tom Rath discussed the strong link between a leader’s focus and employee engagement. Here were the 3 powerful conclusions from Gallup’s research on conversation, engagement, and strengths:

If your manager primarily ignores you your chances of being actively disengaged are 40%
If your manager focuses on your weaknesses your chances of being actively disengaged are 22%
If you manager focuses on your strengths your chances of being actively disengaged are only 1%

The point of the statistics is to show the importance of management focus on employees’s strengths rather than their weaknesses. Makes sense. But, I guess the surprise for me is that (only?) 40% are disengaged if their manager ignores them. There’s probably some nuances behind this stat, but it does make you wonder who that other 60% is doesn’t it?

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Who Are These Shiny Happy People On Your Website?

by on February 19, 2008 in Business

I’m casting out a challenge to organizations who use stock footage of employees on their websites, in their PowerPoint presentations, and in their marketing brochures. Here’s the challenge: STOP IT! Do you honestly think you’re fooling anyone by using these glossy, made-up people who are pretending to give a shit about what your business does? It’s phony and incredibly inauthentic and it’s not working.

Please, take each and every one of these pictures and burn them (both literally or figuratively if they infest your corporate server). Go and take a good look at the folks who actually do work for you, who do actually give a shit about your business every day. Put them front and center on your website, in your presentation templates, and in your marketing collateral.

If you want to put a human face on your organization, start with the human faces that actually power your organization.

Pamela Slim’s Open Letters

by on January 8, 2008 in Career

Pamela Slim is my new superheroine…and I can’t believe it took me this long to find her. For proof, check out these fantastic posts from 2006. First, an open letter to the C-level folks. Then, an open letter to employees. For anyone who is feeling low about their corporate existence, these two manifestos offer sage advice with just the right amount of kick-in-the-pants.