Invisible Employees See the Need to Leave
By Hermann Novak

The recent recovery of the economy and the job market presents you, the managers and leaders of industry, with the serious dilemma of employee retention. It is estimated that up to 41% of your workforce (Gantz-Wiley, Worktrends 2004) are already looking to take their experience, and more importantly for you, a piece of your company culture to another company or worse...to your competition! Can you afford to take the blame for losing your top talent?

Although money is often attributed to these defections, years of corporate research and thousands of interviews have yielded one simple truth...employees want to be visible to their managers. The question is then, how do I make my employees more visible (recognized), more responsible and more productive?

The fact is today's leaders have tighter budgets with increased pressure to perform. This dynamic often causes the communication divide between managers and employees to widen even more. Perhaps more than any point in history, corporate coaching is a necessity for owners and managers to clearly understand their employees' perspective, their company goals, and then implement a plan of action. Lay the foundation now!

Thinking "out of the box" is not a marketing nicety, it is a necessity for corporate survival and growth. Below is an example: The founder of a home product sales company, who was continually unable to break her sales figures. Upon discovering through an inter-office 'rumor' that one of her two key managers was considering leaving the company, she immediately sought the advice of her corporate council. He agreed that the economic and inter-cultural ramifications were potentially devastating. His suggestions... bring in a corporate coaching group to evaluate the company, consult with her on the conclusions and co-create a plan of action.

A preliminary assessment of the company structure and staff behavior revealed a reasonable attitude and atmosphere. Personal interviews with employees revealed consistent feelings of "nobody is listening to me" and "my suggestions are ignored." Despite this invisibility, many positive feelings were discovered including, "I like the people I work with" and "I don't want to leave, so I just do what I'm told." This included the disgruntled top manager, who was simply frustrated with the disconnected company direction.

As is often the case with a traditional hierarchy, the owner was not aware of any of these complaints. Her view was "my employees have turned against me," and "I think they are resentful of my success." Her ineffective solutions included driving a less expensive car, and the need to be "more demanding." She was assured that those solutions would only bring her a lower self-esteem, more employee defections, and decreased profits overall.

Necessity breeds change, and we are discovering the need for many traditional management methods to be reformatted into more effective 21st Century techniques. One example of this can be seen in the company-wide memos she would distribute bi-weekly. These memos never produced the enthusiastic feedback she was hoping to inspire; they were simply ignored by everyone.

They began by looking at her memos from the previous four months and discovered a consistent 'teacher to subordinate' tone. One employee eloquently summed up the feeling with the comment "she poured gasoline on a pilot light." Speaking down to her employees had brought down moral and interest in the company goals.

This was a case of a good staff un-synchronized with the emotions and directives of the owner, and a good owner with the wrong perspective. Further more, the owner had identified only about 20% of her fiscal goals.

The first step was implementing a "new corporate plan." She was coached through creating a plan where she clearly identified their short and long-term fiscal goals. After this was completed she "repackage" the memos, a good tool that ultimately provided the key that turned the engine.

She created a memo with a new tone that expressed..."I reached out for assistance, and discovered new methods. Here is the first draft of the new vision. May I ask you for help in making it OUR vision?" In an attempt to make her employees more visible, the bottom of each memo included generous space for employees to share their ideas. To prove this was not an empty gesture, she added she would choose up to three of best new ideas and discuss them in the new weekly company meeting and once a month award a significant cash reward for the best suggestion. The "best" was choosen by ALL employees. Although very few employees attended the first meeting, the second meeting included one third of the employees in attendance. Spurred on by this new "inclusive" company direction, the third meeting included nearly all of the employees and was held in the warehouse!

The fiscal results were impressive, as well. In the fourth month, the company met their new sales goals and in one year, their sales quin-tripled! The owner, who previously worked an average of 60 hours weeks, now works a more reasonable workweek and recently enjoyed her first vacation in many years! Her key manager has contributed more than half of the changes and has no intention to leave any time soon. By reaching out for help from outside experts, she was truly an 'Agent of Change.'

These results are not unusual. Coaching and mentoring techniques are paramount for leaders with a sincere desire to learn and communicate this new information to their employees. Prevent your top performers from leaving your company by creating a world-class corporate culture NOW. In today's business world, the patriarchal leadership of the past is dying out. Experience cultural and fiscal success into the future by coaching your company's life's blood...your employees!

Reprinted from  Bay Ridge Group

Hermann Novak is  founder and chief executive of The Bayridge Group Inc., As chief coach of the Bayridge Group, Novak heads the client engagement, supervises Bayridge advisors and training teams, and is the direct contact for senior client executives.