GL MONTHLY e-NEWSLETTER - September 2004

Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM  

As a leader, your job ultimately boils down to influencing people and, in some sense, serving them.  At growing companies, problems arise when a heavy work-load prevents leaders from spending time with the very people who look to them for inspiration, direction, mentorship, and reward.  This often leads to "seagull management" - you know, when a time crazed manager flies in, dumps a whole bunch of information or criticism on his staff, then swoops back to the task at hand.  Often the "dump" is no more than an e-mail, making matters worse.

Edward Lawler, a distinguished professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, defines a "virtuous-spiral organization" as one where both individuals and the organizations that they're a part of achieve more and more of their goals.  Virtuous-spiral relationships come about when an organization values and rewards it's people, and as a result, they are committed to performing well.

Here’s this month’s feature …

Leading a Virtuous-Spiral Organization - by Edward Lawler

From Leader to Leader - Spring 2004

Highlights from the article:

Here are Lawler's "Seven Principles for Treating People Right and Creating a Virtuous Spiral."

1. Attraction and Retention.  Organizations must create a value proposition that defines the type of workplace they want to be so they can attract and retain the right people.
     

2. Hiring Practices.  Organizations must hire people who fit with their values, core competencies, and strategic goals.
     

3. Training and Development.  Organizations must continuously train employees to do their jobs and offer them opportunities to grow and develop.
     

4. Work Design.  Organizations must design work so that it is meaningful for people and provides them with feedback, responsibility, and autonomy.
     

5. Mission , Strategies, and Goals.  Organizations must develop and adhere to a specific organizational mission, with strategies, goals, and values that employees can understand, support, and believe in.
       

6. Reward Systems.  Organizations must devise and implement reward systems that reinforce their design, core values, and strategy.
     

7. Leadership.  Organizations must hire and develop leaders who can create commitment, trust, success, and a motivating work environment.  Effective leadership is simultaneously the most complex principle to put into place and the one that holds the others together.

Other key points:

• To say that effective leadership is critical to having a virtuous spiral is an understatement.  The leadership of people at all levels in an organization has an impact on both individual and organizational effectiveness.  It determines the type of relationships that people develop with organizations, how motivated they are, how long they stay, and how they treat customers and other employees.
    

• A clearly identified leadership style can be a powerful factor in attracting, retaining, and motivating the right employees.  Every organization needs its own leadership brand.
    

• Given the role it plays in determining success, leadership capability is something organizations need to build on an ongoing basis.  A shared leadership approach encourages people throughout the organization to develop leadership skills and to take on leadership roles and responsibilities.
    

• Organizations need to manage their supply of leadership talent.  The place to start is with the hiring process.  Amen!  Preach it, brother Ed!

For the full text article, go to . . .
http://www.leadertoleader.org/knowledgecenter/L2L/spring2004/lawler.html

Bosses Who Care

From the Gallup Management Journal - September 9, 2004

Employees perform better for bosses who care about them.  The problem is, most organizations don't focus on measuring "intangibles" such as nurturing relationships between managers and employees.  Companies use elaborate methods to track inventory, products, and sales.  Most keep records of employee attendance, earnings per employee, and net profit.

But few organizations measure something as "soft" as caring - yet Gallup research reveals that caring relationships between managers and employees directly affect an organization's employee retention, productivity, profitability, safety, and customer service metrics.

Simply put, the best organizations build caring work environments.  They do this by encouraging managers to develop strong, nurturing relationships with their employees.  In fact, Gallup 's research reveals that many of the most successful managers boast of being "very close to their employees."  When managers care about employees, businesses get results.  Employees stay longer, work harder, and develop stronger bonds with customers.

To subscribe: send an e-mail to jeff@giftedleaders.com with the word, SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.  Please feel free to pass this e-newsletter along to your friends and family.