Rick Ross: The Relentless Quest for Better

How to Ensure that Your Employees Feel Valued

In his recent HBR post, How Are You Feeling?, author Tony Schwartz writes:

"The more we feel devalued — and we all do at various times, to varying degrees — the more energy we spend defending and restoring our value, and the less energy we have available to create value."

He continues:

"Unfortunately, this issue rarely gets addressed in the workplace."

When employees feel undervalued, not only do they underperform, they're also more likely to leave. The problem's prevalence and substantial cost (usually grossly underestimated) make it an issue that's well worth addressing.

 

A Table Has Four Legs ...

  and so does an organization:

• Employees
• Customers
• Vendors
• Owners or Shareholders

Each group is part of a system. The obvious common denominator:

People

And people have an unexpressed but chronically underserved need:

To be valued

Balance is achieved when each group values the other groups to which they do not belong. Lack of balance among their interests leads to instability and dysfunction.

While Tony Shieh of Zappos is known for providing legendary customer service and an exceptional work environment, it's clear that he gives just as much thought to Zappos' relationships with its vendors. The annual "Vendor Appreciation Party" attended by over 1,000 vendors and twice as many employees is one example of his attempt to bullhorn, "we value our relationship with you and you're important to our success".

Thinking Too Much Business Game Changers #5

 

Need to solve a problem? Business education, whether it's through formal channels, books or consultants, has a strong bias. Thinking - careful consideration and analysis - is touted as the best tool for the job. If a mistake is made, it must be that the thought process was insufficient.

Is Your Success Preventing Greater Success? Business Game Changers #4

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” – Winston Churchill 

If you're not moving forward, you're moving backward.

Two Definitions of Success

Companies have an unspoken definition of success that leans toward one of two non-exclusive paradigms.

Relative - Are we doing better than last month or compared to the same period last year?

Optimizing - What can we do better? Are we delivering the best possible results?

Considering only behavior (focus on the content of discussions), which model best characterizes the definition of success in your organization? Are meetings dominated by comparisons to the past or contemplations of ways to improve? 

A Key Competitive Advantage - Business Game Changers #3

Technology provides opportunities to deliver dramatically better business results and competitive advantage. The question for leaders: What's required for IT to consistently deliver extraordinary results? The answer is simple, although not necessarily obvious. 

To understand it, consider other professions. Can you imagine your CPA saying that she knows how to fill out tax forms and produce financial statements, but doesn't know anything about business? Preposterous? Is it any more so than a CEO saying, "IT - I leave that to the techies!"?

Whether it's under-prioritizing IT, making poor choices based on lack of understanding or downplaying the importance of social media, leaders who aren't tech savvy generate a predictable wake - under-performance.

The unfortunate consequences slip by unnoticed as they manifest themselves slowly. While more IT aware organizations move ahead, those whose leaders are behind the curve experience a slow erosion of customer satisfaction, employee morale and investor confidence. 

So what precisely is required for IT to consistently deliver significant business results? An organization that, top to bottom, values IT smarts. Leaders in particular have to face reality and educate themselves accordingly. IT people take note; you need to have an equal interest in business education.

Occasionally, someone will object: "But I'm not really into computers". Neither am I! What's attractive about technology has nothing to do with an interest in technical minutiae, but rather in improved business results. Technology is a means to any number of business ends: better and more personalized customer service, increased operational efficiency, a reduction in tedious, boring work ... the list is endless. 

So how much of an effect can increasing your organization's IT competency have? In an informative Harvard Business Review blog post, Smarten Up, and Feel the IT Love , Susan Cramm, President of Valuedance presents the results of a survey she recently conducted.