In the past (and maybe still today) I interrupted people because an idea would pop into my head and I wanted to share it.  That was my ego wanting to be seen and prove how smart I was so  I could gain your recognition and approval.  Basically I wanted your love.

Yesterday I had the opportunity of having someone interrupt me from sharing a thought because they were concerned about what I was going to say.  It sounded like “this is not the appropriate time.”  How would they know if it was the appropriate time or not, unless they knew exactly what I was going to say?  We never know what someone is going to say, because we are not them and we can’t know their thoughts.  We need to be vulnerable in the face of our fear and have the courage and patience to listen.

Being told not to speak created an emotional reaction in me such that I no longer wanted to be part of the conversation or share my ideas.  On the way home I realized an Emotional Hot Button had been pushed.  My father would interrupt my mother on a regular basis and tell her that she didn’t know what she was talking about. I have emotional baggage around this.  It doesn’t feel safe to express myself.  Synchronistically,  I was working with a client yesterday who was holding old emotional energy in her mouth and throat.  She said “I feel like I want to scream.”  She felt like there were people both at home and at work who did’t want  to hear what she had to say.  Her ability to self-express had been shut down.

We can have a profound impact when our fears or ego shut down another person’s communication. We are telling them it is not OK to speak. Now I know why I’ve observed so many people sitting in class rooms or around the boardroom table who never wanted to speak.  They had been conditioned to believe it wasn’t safe, and no one wanted to hear them anyway.

Companies often default to spending money on financial incentives, partially because they believe money is what counts to employees. In the McKinsey Quarterly article “Motivating People, Getting Beyond Money”  (http://bit.ly/93Dj87) their survey indicates that companies should seriously consider non-financial incentives. The three keys areas the survey recommends to focus on are:

• praise and commendation from their manager
• attention from leaders, such as one-on-one coaching
• opportunities to lead projects or task forces

In the survey all three of these areas were considered to be more effective in motivating people than any of the financial compensation options.  Plus the non-financial options do not increase the long term cost of employee benefits allowing companies to remain more flexible should the economy sputter it’s way to a recovery.

What gets in the way of companies implementing the non-financial options to engage and inspire employees?  My observation is that there are three

reasons why companies don’t invest more heavily in the non-financial options:

• It is difficult to tangibly measure the immediate impact and long term value of having higher quality connections with employees.
• Management has so many other immediate short term tasks on their to do list that undertaking a longer term strategic program of increasing contact with their people gets pushed to the side.
• No one ever really taught us how to communicate and as managers we don’t know how or don’t feel comfortable giving recognition or having one-on-one conversations with our direct reports.

Impacts of Coaching

An earlier post (http://bit.ly/baLMhE ) indicated that  the average return on coaching is 6 times the investment.  This is usually a short term return and does not take into account the long term learning benefit that the person being coached gets to repeat year after year.  Nor does it take into account the long term learning benefits that a manager may generate with their direct reports.

I believe learning how to communicate and coaching the people that report to you will give your company the best return in the long run.  Unfortunately it  is not the easiest or fastest answer.  It requires a commitment on the part of management to learn a new skill, practice and take the time to connect with their people.

With an investment in non-financial initiatives now companies could exit the down turn stronger than they entered it.

Jacque

“Of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.” Fortune, 2/19/01,

– “Executive Coaching — With Returns a CFO Could Love”

In my own work I have also found this to be true.  Some companies that I have worked with have generated astronomical returns on investment of 2,500%.  I believe there are some key factors that determine if a company will be able to generate an ROI of at least 600%.

• The most senior person in the company or group has participated in coaching and is now a role model for others who take coaching.
• Several other people in management also participate in coaching.   The more people on the leadership team that have received coaching the more successful the program.
• Team development initiatives are taken to foster open communication and collaboration across the company or group.
• Managers adopt a coach approach and consistently meet with staff in both group meetings and one on one.
• Finally you need to stay the course and keep using and applying what you have learned.  As soon as you go back to your old ways, so will your results.

While doing the work with these companies, staff came to regard their organization as the best place that they ever worked.

Companies or groups within a company that have maintained these results for the longest period of time have consistently practiced doing all of the above.  It is a long term game.

Jacque

Demographics however, have not changed. A war for talent is predicted as more people retire than are entering the labour force. The mitigating factor is baby boomers being expected to work longer than any other preceding generation.

How will you assess your company’s readiness?  Here is a list to determine the resiliency of your company:

• Compensation – is it up to date and attractive to the people you want to hire and most importantly to the people you want to keep?

• Management – are you able to communicate with your people in a way that inspires them to be their best and to know what is most important to them? There is a whole new generation of people who have entered the workforce and a new style of management and communication is required to bring people together.

• Opportunities – Do you know where your people would like their career to go?  Are you able to offer them opportunities to develop to get there? Your ability to match what your people want with what your company has to offer will keep people longer.

A new labour market scenario is quickly approaching and a company’s ability to be creative and create a winning work environment will be a key success factor in the future.

Are you and your company up to the challenge?

Jacque