Now is the Time to Raise the Bar for ALL Employees

The old 80-20 Rule is alive and well in the way that most managers manage their employees. Many think that only 20% of their direct reports are of “go-to” caliber.

Even with the current economic downturn, a model popularized by Jack Welsh many years ago at GE (that 20% of the employees are in the top performance category, 70% are in the middle range, and 10% are at the bottom) is still a management philosophy that is widely accepted and implemented today.

This approach is holding organizations back from leveraging the full potential of their workforce. Times have changed and it only makes good business sense to change your view about talent development. There are things you can do to change with the times and develop your workforce effectively in today’s business climate. What better time than right NOW to rasie the bar?

• Increase performance levels and raise the expectation level of everyone who works for you.

• Make assignments strategically, providing people with opportunities and the managerial support they need to accomplish them.

• Coach all of your employees more frequently.

• Encourage some risk taking.

• Reward those who demonstrate the success, skills and strategies you are looking for.

• Broaden the talent of everyone. Now is the time to invest in your people (and invest in their development).

• Connect development (training) directly to achievement.

When you help employees connect the dots from performance standards to increased expectations, from training to accomplishment, you are making a case that your organization’s leadership understands – ROI.

Admittedly, I’m a little biased. But not investing in training and development simply doesn't make sense.

Boot Camp II Graduation Day

The last session of the 6 session Supervisory Boot Camp was today. The participants really did great work. So many learned:

- the value of planning and thinking about what motivates their employees
- delegation and really “managing those monkeys
- effective communication, never stop communicating
- asking questions first, learn about how they see things, what they want, what they expect
- focusing on the goals and objectives of the organization
- not focusing on the little interpersonal dramas that distract people from what need to be going
- to stay Adult and expect others to be Adult

A few found that they have a lot more to learn. Some discovered that they are not as good at managing other as they though. Several have really terrible and unprofessional bosses – I heard some really bad stories.

It is heartening to hear that they tried to do things differently back on the job between sessions and many experienced successful results. And were too surprised. Why would I suggest that they try things that wouldn’t work??!! And they were surprised that they had fun during the sessions!

I hope it sticks. Not all of it will. The real world crashes in and other things become more important; no one checks to see if they are still using the things they learned.

But if a few things do, they will be more effective, mores empowered and more successful. That would be so great.