The Benefits of Active Listening for Employee Relations

It is difficult for manages to understand their workplace and how to improve performance if they are not actively listening to their employees. This means listening to their conversations, paying attention when employees are talking, and trying to find improvements in the workplace that creates congruence between employee desires and firm performance. Managers that listen are better able to coach and counsel their employees to higher levels of functioning.

Listening is a skill that takes considerable time to develop but can be learned with practice. Active listening is in presence form where the manager listens without interrupting the employee. They may ask probing questions but ultimately want the employee to express themselves fully because this adds to the managers knowledge of both the employee and the organization.

Those managers who fail to actively listen often find that employees no longer bring their issues to them nor are they enthusiastic about speaking up about operational problems increasing the chances of large problems down the road. If employees are prompted negatively to their managers they will not be open to issues, problems, ideas, or improvements; the organization ultimately loses.

Consider organizational cultures where there is a huge divide between managers and employees. These cultures develop due to the inherent separation that occurs between employee and manager communication. Using active listening and paying attention to employee needs can lessen this divide and help in developing an inclusive culture.

Once a poor culture begins to develop an in and out-group among managers and employees it is very difficult to counter that new development. Managers will need to engage workers, change their course of action, and open up communication lines. Organizations that foster a manager-employee divide or power-distance relationships will eventually find themselves falling behind their competitors.

 Open communication is also very egalitarian. Open communication helps to ensure that company employees, whether they be managers or not, are considered important to the entire organization. Companies that foster egalitarian environments may also find that employee loyalty rises as employees feel valued and respected.

Managers have a responsibility to coach and counsel to improve the overall performance of their employees. Without actively listening it will be difficult for managers to effectively coach and counsel their employees. They will not be able to understand the employees needs or make important contributions to their understanding.

Active listening isn't particularly hard but does require a level of engagement with employees. Paying attention to the employee, thinking about what they are saying, and asking questions about any areas the manager doesn't understand helps in fully understanding the situation. Once the employee's actual position is known the manager is then able to give appropriate direction and advice to employees.

Developing appropriate relationships with subordinates helps in the creation of an organization constantly changing through information sharing. Active listening is about encouraging a more inclusive and innovative environment so that ideas move between the functional layers of a company and to the right people. It also reduces employee issues as employees and company begin to similarities of perspective. The information gained by active listening will not only build stronger workplace relationships but also improve upon operational functioning. 

Breaking Strategy Into Measurable Employee Actions

All organizations have strategies that help them define their approach to competing on the market. In the corporate world the development of strategy is one important aspect of executive management while successful implementation of that strategy is a second. Solid strategies, that can compete on the market, should be implemented throughout the organization creating deep alignment and competitive advantages. Breaking strategies into executive, managerial, and employee functions helps in finding an improvement blueprint.

The far majority of strategies don't fail at actual design but fail during the implementation process. As strategies are implemented throughout the organization they do not move deep enough to ensure that actions are integrated with operations. Understanding the activities needed at each level of the organization has its benefits for implementation and management.

The process of breaking down strategy into definable actions helps companies convert employee action into measurable outcomes. It provides a larger framework for understanding how each employee either contributes to or detracts from the organization. Likewise, it also offers a better understanding how departmental actions contribute to financial success.

Executive Level

High level corporate strategies are developed to define the needs of the organization and what major functions fulfill those needs. These corporate strategies help in directing departments on their major functions and goals.

Example: The fastest seating and service within the local dining market.

Managerial Level

Each department will have their own goals and functions. Managers break these goals into daily activities and actions. Managers oversea these processes to ensure that everyone is working according to the definitions of the department and the strategies that guide the department. 

Example: Employees should seat and provide drinks for customers within ten minutes of entry.

Employee Level

Employees are trained on very specific functions that might include taking customers orders, refilling machines, or greeting customers. The definition of these functions is finite and offers the ability of the employee to understand their position. 

Example: Greet the customer within two minutes by saying "hello", "welcome", or "good day".

Each level (executive, managerial, and employee) have functions that correspond to their designed spheres of influence. Each of these functions are under the control of the appropriate position. Executives offer higher level strategies, managers provide daily actionable direction to employees, and employees complete specific functions. The level of flexibility is dependent on the actual position itself.

Having a working definition of the functions and objectives of each department and position helps in managing the entire process. It becomes much easier to see how an adjustment in one area can impact the entire chain. For example, adjusting from the fastest service to the friendliest service in the local market will create corresponding adjustments at the departmental and employee levels.

Part of the strategic planning should be to understand how each individual piece fits within the large pie. It is possible to review the market and find where competitive advantages are likely to be found and then break them down throughout the organization until you get to individual actions. Such analysis and planning affords an opportunity to better align actions to strategies that produce higher results.

The Importance of Hiring Managers with Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking allows managers to find new solutions to existing organizational problems. Those that can see a problem from multiple perspectives are more likely to come to comprehensive solutions with greater impact. Tunnel Vision among managers leads to lower results and less innovative problem solving. Companies that do not consider adding divergent thinking skills to their intellectual and labor capital may find themselves with sluggish future performance. 

Divergent thinking is a process of developing multiple vantage points and ways of seeing a problem. Those with higher cognitive abilities often use multiple and simultaneous pathways to understand, analyse, solve, and implement solutions from different vantage points. Switching perspectives is important for well-rounded solutions that meet multiple stakeholder solutions. 

Divergent thinking is associated with genius and artistic ability. Neuroscientific studies have found that divergent thinking uses both hemispheres and causes higher levels of neural activation (Yoruk & Runco, 2014). Divergent thinking activates the central, temporal, and parietal regions of the brain to develop semantic processing. Semantic processing is a deeper processing than most people are capable and allows for the encoding of meaning. 

A high percentage of managers have tunnel vision and know all the answers without exploring any of the premises. Their level of mental processing is low and relies on snap judgments, hueristics and bias. This tunnel vision becomes obvious when a person cannot find multiple explanations of a problem or accept the possibilities of other alternative solutions. It is often manifested in “know it all”, close-minded, and rigid explanations. 

Most of us have probably met at one time a manager who knew all the answers, used their power to force their opinion, and ultimately was gravely mistaken in their conclusions. When executives are stuck in tunnel vision they can cost companies a lot of money as their erroneous assumptions make their way throughout their department. Strong executives explore all the possibilities to find that which is most likely to work. 

Tunnel vision is dangerous for organizations because managers who cannot see alternative possibilities run the same poor processes until they collapse. They are also likely to use the same mental tool to solve every problem. Each major problem needs its own tool from the tool shed. Tunnel vision won't even allow them to see where the tool shed is let alone what other tools it contains.

Based upon an in-depth study of 221 managers within the workplace it was found that  divergent thinking and openness come together (Scratchley & Hakstian, 2001). Managers who are open to new experiences and abilities are better at finding new ways of thinking about things. Hence, narrow minded individuals who are convinced of their “rightness” should be avoided at all costs. 

A few tips for improving divergent thinking in your company may be beneficial.

Switch Up the Executive Team: If your organization is suffering from stuffy thoughts and rehashed ideas then consider switching up your executive team. Hire some new talent, throw out a few of the old talent, and get a different way of evaluating problems. 

Rearrange Team Membership: In some organizations the same people are asked to join problem solving teams. Ensuring you are using different types of people with various backgrounds and collaborative departments will help create new ways of thinking about issues. 

Hire Creative and Open Minded People: Without having people with the cognitive ability to solve problems and create organizational innovation, the company will eventually move into the decline stage. Develop stronger selection tools that look for creativeness and open mindedness. 

Adjust Performance Metrics: What and how we reward people impacts what type of behavior they are going to exhibit. If you want them to be creative and solve problems then ensure it is reflective as a performance evaluation.

Develop an Inclusive Culture: Creative people don't come forward with ideas in hostile environments. To propose solutions requires a level of risk and a receptive environment that doesn't chastise new ideas.

Train Managers to be Critical Thinkers: Even though much is determined by personality it is still possible to train managers on to use critical thinking and make decisions is beneficial; whether or not they use them is another story.

Scratchley, L. & Hakstiane, R. (2001). The measurement and prediction of managerial creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 13 (3/4). 

 Yoruk, S. & Runco, M. (2014). The neuroscience of divergent thinking. Actitas Nervosa Superior, 56 (1/2).

Researching Operational Problems for Efficiency Improvement

Organizational growth comes through the efforts of individuals who understand, explore and propose new ways of improving business. Those who improve upon processes, no matter how slight, must be able to recognize those problems and then find ways of improving operations to reduce their impact. Organizations that encourage operational research often find themselves developing at higher rates when compared to many of their competitors. The process of investigating problems, finding solutions, and implementing those solutions must continue if a firm will survive new market threats.

New firms are often more in alignment with market needs.  These hot firms grow quickly and become market leaders themselves knocking the previous generation of firms from the top spots.  The destructive development of new products requires finding new ways of meeting goals. Existing firms must continually reinvest in their operations by conducting research and implement their findings.

Operational improvements can happen anywhere and regularly lead to improvements in firm profitability. For example, audit based research into policy deployment, standardized work, housekeeping, changeovers, maintenance, cultural awareness, and materials at a lean manufacturing company led to significant improvements in firm performance (Taggart & Kienhofer, 2013).  The process of measuring and improving operational performance was beneficial for the organization beyond the research investment costs.

The key point is that it isn't just the core functions that have room for improvement as the entire organization is also open to innovative development. Core operations may have some of the highest ROI results but still develop with the help of many support functions. We can see this connection when improvements in the speed of inventory storage and recall leads to more responsive manufacturing lines. 

To find a solution requires digging into problems with sufficient depth in order to understand what factors are impacting operational output. There will be opinions upon opinions but most of these are useless unless they are supported by some type of evidence. It is important to understand these opinions are still a starting place for exploratory research and problem formation because collectively they can offer important insights into the internal mechanics of an organization.

Operational research follows many of the same rules as scientific research. Even though there is not the same level of rigorous scrutiny a poor research methodology still leads to a poor result. When making suggestions that can impact millions of dollars it is important to ensure that investigations and findings are relevant, reliable, and valid.

A simple model of how to conduct investigative research:

Formulate the Problem: Understand what you are trying to research and formulate a simple statement of the problem. For example, you may develop a statement such as "Reduce waste costs by 25%".

Research the Problem: Researching a problem requires talking to people close to the source, finding places to test, and running statistical analysis.

Construct a Model: Use the data and information you have collected to develop a model determining the cause and effect of problems.

Propose a Solution: Propose a solution based upon the model. A proper and concise definition of the solution is an absolute necessity.

Implement the Solution: Implement the solution. Sometimes it is necessary to implement change in stages checking to make sure each step can be reversed.

Create Feedback Loop: The only real way to know if implementation has been successful is to remeasure to ensure improvement is sustained.

Taggart, P. & Kienhofer, F. (2013). The effectiveness of lean manufacturing audits in measuring operational performance improvements. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering, 24 (2).

 

Use Positive Optimism to Expand Your Career Opportunities

Optimism attracts people and those who can gather together the greatest amount of people enhance their social influence. Those who are in business can enhance their social networks and attract more people to their cause simply through being more positive about life. Positive contacts not only help build your social networks but also enhance future career opportunities.

Positive impressions helps others to feel good about themselves and their prospects. If people are willing to spend millions on cosmetic products, tickets for sports games, branded clothing, and the other luxuries of life to feel good they will also be attracted to a positive person who helps them feel this way. For the low price a few moments of time they can walk away with positive impressions for a while without experiencing buyers remorse.

It is important to be a rational optimist to ensure you maintain your credibility. Optimism should be based on understanding challenges as they actually are but focusing on those solutions which are most likely to produce a positive outcome. People will follow an optimistic person that can see the challenges people face but enlightens them to stronger paths.

Optimism helps people feel as though they can master challenges in work, family, or daily living. People love to feel as though they are strong enough to master their environment. When someone is optimistic they are able to attract others to them precisely because people want to feel more confident about their prospects. Positive feelings encourages people to come back again and again for many years.

People who are positive are also more approachable than those with negative dispositions. You may remember a time when you were attracted to a person who had a positive disposition. When someone is smiling and jolly others feel it is easy to approach that person. Their body language tells others "come talk to me I am a friendly and open person".  It doesn't take long before someone takes notice and make steps to meet you.

The impression a person leaves after leaving someone is just as important for attraction them as the initial contact. Positive and optimistic people leave a positive impression on people that influences how they remember the experience. Happy memories lead to word-of-mouth introductions through character references and future opportunities to connect to their social networks.

Birds of a feather flock together. Both optimism and pessimism are contagious. If people are negative about their lives and others around them it becomes likely that negativity will begin to influence their way of thinking. Surrounding yourself with positive people will attract additional positive people and protect you from negative thinking.

Optimism is a way of looking at the world and it has a euphoric effect on the people you meet. They are naturally attracted to people who help them feel good and enjoy the positive side of life. Creating positive impressions among people also helps you develop your personal and career networks in a way that leads to additional opportunities in the future. Use the power of positive optimism to expand your career influence and raise the quality of your life through the power of your mind is a skill learned over time.

You may be interested in a CNN article on how Optimism improves your cardiovascular health.

Symbolism and Sales that Create Repeat Customers

Businesses create impressions through their servicescape, image, products, and music. An environment can be appealing because it creates an impression that taps into something within our culture and backgrounds that helps customers have positive experiences and feelings. Businesses will often use cultural context to create backgrounds and icons that make them stand out from their competitors.

Near Balboa Park in San Diego is a little gem of a business called Cafe Bassam that carries the charm of old England and colonial India. Antique hardwood, polished silver vases, seasoned bottles of wine and likely the largest selection of tea around. Tables are small and the atmosphere is hurried in an effort to create an authentic experience. Raw tea is out in the open to create the decor that this is a traditional tea shop.

Upon entering you will notice its popularity with trendy people of every background enjoying the experience. A few may be clicking on their laptops, another ruffling the New York Times with disdain, young lovers chatting over their upgrade from lattes to their new found interest in tea. Each has their own background but all are attracted to a place that has a similar cultural strain that appeals to all of their repeat customers.

Cafe Bassam covers a particular timepiece in history and carries with it an interesting piece of history. When businesses create atmospheres that have universal appeal within a dominant culture it will have appeal among a wider section of society. It is like a strain of cultural similarity that touches the customers impressions and images  that leads to a higher possibility of a positive impression.

Consider the very essence of culture as being a stream of conscious whereby each culture being unique by the way in which groups of people define their existence. These definitions come with natural images, symbols and artifacts that come to represent the culture but also how to interpret that culture. Businesses that use those artifacts that tap our collective understandings win big through customer loyalty.

Not all people will experience that cultural understanding the same way but will nevertheless feel an attachment to the display of cultural symbols in a cohesive environment. Associations with past memories, popular media, historical understandings and impressions will mix with their current experience to create the total satisfaction. In other words, the positive nature of an environment must match the positive experience in that environment to create successful customer experiences that influence future buying behavior.

There may still be some skeptics out there about symbolism and sales. Look at the picture above and notice the sailboat and the solid wood card index. The boat represents travel, sophistication, money, and education without our culture. The card index is of a romantic era connected with prosperity. Together one might generate an image of sophistication, wealth, opportunity, and expansion that was associated with the East India Company.

Perhaps you need a more concise example. You may have noticed that during the holidays malls spend a lot of money on Christmas displays and traditional bright colors. Holiday music plays in the background, a Santa is taking children's Christmas wishes, and the smell of cinnamon is everywhere. All of these artifacts and symbols create positive feels based upon years of previous positive experiences. This is one reason why we love the holidays.

Creating an environment that helps tap previously developed positive cultural experiences can help in generate stronger business. It is more likely that a business will create positive impressions if they are building off of previously symbols associated with positive feelings. The way in which the environment can bring together these difference symbols with the actual products and services the business offers will make a large difference in creating repeat customers. As you know repeat customers will not only come back more often but also buy more on each visit raising the per purchase value.

Why Must Managers Be Strong at Understanding People?

People are the most complex and confusing things in our known world. They are full of different shades of every type of personality and belief system that makes each person unique. Despite these differences, humans are also very basic and need certain things from the workplace and each other. Managers that understand the basics of human behavior and personality are also able to manage those personalities at work.

A strong manager has two important essential skills that include the ability to manage people and the industry knowledge to understand the processes they are overseeing. The later being gained through experience working in their respective fields with the former gained through education and reflection. Managers that can both manage people and understand their processes can find congruence between the two.

Industry knowledge helps the manager fulfill the function of his or her job. It is a result of taking practical experience and using it to ensure you are meeting company objectives. Employees often need to be coached and counseled on how to build the products and services the company sells. Managers will likewise need to convert organizational objectives into actionable steps employees can follow.

Managements job cannot be complete without getting people to actually do the work that achieves those objectives. This means that managers have to understand their employees and what inspires them to greater performance. They will need to understand employees motivations, needs, and hurdles within the workplace. They must be able to formulate a concrete explanation of these needs and find a constructive outlet for action.

A core element of the managers job is to find ways for people to achieve their needs through appropriate pathways. It is difficult to do this unless you have a basic understanding of people. Understanding employees requires listening to them, understanding how they use language, and what their goals and desires are. Strong managers can then channel these efforts into some useful activity.

To do this well means they have to maintain the ability to keep their eyes on the larger objective while being able to manage daily employee issues. Employees argue, miss work, need to be trained, and have issues that should be addressed in order to keep everyone moving in the right direction. The manager understands what is important among these issues and what isn't.

Knowing and understanding people is half of management's job. Without this knowledge the overall success of the organization is likely to limited. Managers should be hired based upon their ability to manage other people and encourage them down certain paths. The greater the ability to manage large groups of people by developing mechanisms that serve the needs of people, the higher the skill of the manager and greater their utility.