Solid business results that stand the test of time do so for one reason and one reason only: consistently excellent leadership. Products and services change with the demands of the market. Individual leaders come and go. The key is to create an organisational culture that ensures great leadership today and tomorrow.
We recommend that you institute proven across-the-board behaviours that don’t depend on particular individuals. These five leadership tactics will help you see significant changes by the end of 2010:
1. Move low performers. Despite the layoff ax so many companies have wielded during the past year, low performers still work inside many organisations and they are causing big problems. Turning a blind eye to these individuals in your organisation squelches profitability. Why? Because middle performers get pulled down to the low-performer level, while high performers either a) disengage or b) leave.
2. Accentuate the positive. The next time you’re having lunch in a restaurant, listen in on the conversations at nearby tables. Chances are, you’ll hear people griping about their workloads, difficult clients, annoying colleagues, or the ridiculousness of corporate policy. Everyone does it, but if they realised how harmful it is to their company, perhaps they’d think twice. The solution is to hone the fine art of managing up.
3. Make a real connection with employees. Think of a doctor making her daily rounds to check on patients. Well, 'rounding' helps you communicate openly with your employees, allowing you to regularly find out what is going well and what isn’t going well for them at the company. But remember it’s not just empty “face time”—it’s rounding for outcomes, which means the process has a serious purpose.
4. Say thanks. In fact, put it in writing. Send thank you notes to employees who do an excellent job. But that doesn’t mean just sending the occasional note when someone goes far above the call of duty. It means literally mandating a specific number of thank you notes for leaders to send to the people they supervise. People love receiving thank you notes. They cherish them.
5. Don’t just recruit great employees. Re-recruit them. If you plan to hire in 2010—and as the recovery (hopefully) picks up steam, many will—here’s a relatively easy step you can take that will pay off in a big way. We all know employee turnover is expensive. But did you know that more than 25% of employees who leave positions do so in the first 90 days of employment? To retain a new team member, the leader needs to build a relationship. Scheduling two one-on-one meetings, the first at 30 days and the second at 90 days, has an enormous impact on retention that directly turns into savings for your organisation.
Once you start implementing these tactics, results quickly follow. Your employees will see that you care about them, which boosts morale, improves performance, leads to happier customers and higher profits. Creating satisfied employees is of critical importance, especially right now.
