January 2008

“Employee Engagement” is one of those ‘buzzwords’ that you hear thrown about quite a bit…but this is a buzzword that should be carefully thought about by every organization.

A recent survey, reported on by Management Issues, has some very interesting results pertaining to Employee Engagement. The article, titled “Getting to the Heart of the Disengagement Gap“, reports the following results:

A poll of 14,000 employees across 10 European countries by consultants Watson Wyatt has confirmed what a number of similar large-scale surveys have been suggesting over the past few years - namely that there is a vast reserve of untapped potential in the workplace in the form uncommitted or actively disgruntled staff.

It also revealed that more than four out of 10 are actively considering leaving their current employer.

But whereas a 2007 poll of almost 90,000 workers by workplace consultancy Towers Perrin found that just a fifth felt engaged with their work, Watson Wyatt found that only 13 per cent (fewer than one in seven) displayed both strong commitment as well as having a good understanding of the part they could play in making their organizations successful - an understanding Watson Wyatt term “line of sight”.

Only 13 percent of the workforce is fully engaged and trying to create value of organziations. What are the other 87% of the workforce up to? Are they lazy? Incompetent? I highly doubt it…its more likely that the organization has done a poor job of describing how each person’s contributions can affect the organization.

The lack of Employee engagement isn’t just the fault of an organization. There are people who are OK with doing ‘just enough’ to get by but an organization should do everything in its power to ensure that employees are happy and that they understand how valuable they are to the organization.

Whether you agree with the Towers Perrin study that found 20% engagement or Watson Wyatt’s 13% engagement, I think you’d have to agree that there is a problem. How many coworkers/employees do you know that are actively seeking employment elsewhere? How many are really doing the best job that they can do?

How can an organization engage employees? There’s no simple answer…it takes long-term effort by both the organization and the employee(s). I’m not an expert in this field (or any field!) but I will provide a few basic thoughts on how to get started engaging more employees.

• Hire right
• Don’t ask for (or expect) an employee to ‘live to work’ for you…respect their life outside of the office.
• Hold all employees accountable. If an employee notices that there are ’sacred cows’ that aren’t accountable for their actions, their level of effort and engagement will drop.
• Offer flexibility for work hours
• Offer job rotation opportunities - this would hold especially true to young/new employees….keep people interested and don’t let them get bored with their job.

Those are just a few thoughts…i’m sure there are many more. For a great follow-up article on the subject, read Wayne Turmel’s latest article titled “Employee Enagement has a ring to it” that discusses this topic…great article and worth reading.

[tags] Employee Engagement, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior [/tags]

I have an official offer to replace my Saturn Aura..

I can select from any GM product and have settled on a Saab 93.   We’ll see how the process goes- but so far it has been very easy.   It has looked like this:

1. Pick out car with same/close MSRP
2. Find dealership willing to get involved
3. Find exact car you want & get VIN
4. Provide GM with the VIN #
5. Paperwork is completed.
6. Surrender old car, sign for new car.

I’ve been working with Sewell Saab in Plano and have to say…absolutely first rate organization so far.  I think I may stick with the Sewell family for all my vehicle shopping in the future.

[tags] Customer Service, Saturn Aura Problem, Saturn of Plano, Sewell [/tags]

Well…it looks like Saturn might be doing the right thing now.

Just received a call from Saturn’s National Assistance Center and was told that they will replace my car and that the paperwork is getting prepared now.

I hope to have a reliable car soon!

Technorati Tags: Customer Service, Saturn Aura Problem, Saturn of Plano

90% of the work is completed in 10% of the time….the remaining 10% of the effort is completed in 90% of the scheduled time. I’ve heard of the 80/20 rule…but the 90/10 rule is a new one.

I had one of my clients explain how the 90/10 rule is killing his projects…and I started thinking about this and started noticing it in the project I’m working on too.

That last ‘little bit of stuff’ seems to take forever to get done…..or maybe I’m just not that good at managing projects
[tags] project management [/tags]

I found this book last weekend at the local Half-Price Books and thought I’d give it a read.

This well known book, and its author Nicholas Carr, has been at the center of a debate in the IT academic world for some time and I figure I should peruse it to see what the hubbub is all about.

Carr started a firestorm with his original 2003 article titled “IT Doesn’t Matter” in Harvard Business Review (see some rebuttal arguments here) and this book (written in 2004) takes the argument further by comparing IT to the railroad, telegraph and other technological innovations in years past.

Carr’s main argument seems to be that IT is a commodity…which I agree with somewhat. Services such as Email and Web hosting are exactly that…a commodity. The problem is that most organizations treat IT as a whole as a commodity instead of viewing it as a way to gain strategic advantage.

Once I finish the book, I’ll post my thoughts.

[tags] IT, Does IT Matter, IT Strategy [/tags]

For background, see here, here, here, here and here.

Car has been in the shop for a week now with no response from the dealership. Saturn National Assistance has called me twice and both times have said that they can’t get the dealer’s service department on the line.

My letter demanding Saturn fix this car within 30 days (as per the requirement of Texas Lemon Law) is being mailed today.

Technorati Tags: Customer Service, Saturn Aura Problem, Saturn of Plano