A Conversation with Leadership

"Praise in Public, Punish in Private."

Public recognition is a huge motivating force for employees.  It has the desired effect of reinforcing positive behavior.  Employees will feel more connected to, and valued by, the organization.  It will result in measurable elevation of the employee's motivation to achieve more in the future.  It will create a culture of feedback.

How we communicate, as well as what we communicate, when reprimanding an employee is critical.  Receiving criticism is difficult and oftentimes the receiver is put on the defensive.  When an employee is reprimanded in public, it is damaging and embarrassing for everyone involved.  At the very least, the manager is exhibiting bullying behavior by publicly shaming the employee.  The goal of constructive criticism is to help the employee understand how to become a more effective employee and to motivate the employee to self-correct the behavior deficiency.   Nothing can damage trust and morale quicker than a manager criticizing an employee in a public forum.

Feedback is a powerful way to interact with employees.  Set the tone from the top.

Tips:  

Avoid over-use of positive feedback to cushion the blow before delivering criticism. It degrades the value of the praise.

In private, clearly communicate what is being done wrong and be prepared to provide ideas on how to fix it.

An Engaged Culture and Your Bottom Line

A great culture gives you a competitive edge.  From individual contributors to the top executive, employees are a companies greatest resource and the reason for its success or failure.  Engagement is all about accentuating the positive and sometimes we have to take the necessary steps to ensure we are creating a culture of engagement. 

Where engaged cultures exist: 

• Highly engaged business units achieve 59% less turnover (Gallup's State of the American Workplace report).
• 55% of businesses say that stronger engagement would improve their ability to either retain, recruit or carry out succession planning (CBI's 2018 survey).  

A 2015 poll by Gallup showed that disengaged employees outnumbered engaged employees two to one.   The net negative impact of disengaged employees result in poor morale and productivity.  Some sobering statistics to consider:

• 60 to 70% of all employee turnover is voluntary (ADP Research Institute's Revelations form Workforce Turnover report).
• Top reasons for leaving a job include the following:  insufficient pay (44%), limited career paths (43%), lack of challenging work (30%), work-life balance (28%), and lack of recognition (27%).  (Randstad's Employer Brand Research report).  

The following components are critical to creating a culture of engagement:

• Leadership with a clear vision of the mission.
• Clear communication of the mission.
• Buy-in by the employees. 
• Support of company goals with the confidence that the organization cares.
• Transparency.