How to Bring Out the Best in Your People and Company

Connecting with others and belonging are basic human needs that are essential to being our best selves.

When we leave an experience where we presented our imperfect selves yet felt belonging, we feel energized and at our best. When we leave an experience where we presented our imperfect selves and were ignored or ridiculed, we feel deeply disconnected and disengaged.

This is as true at work as … [ Read more ]

Randall J. Beck, Jim Harter

Companies miss the mark on high managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions, which is an alarming problem for employee engagement and the development of high-performing cultures…

Conventional selection processes are a big contributor to inefficiency in management practices; they apply little science or research to find the right person for the managerial role. When Gallup asked U.S. managers why they believed they were hired … [ Read more ]

Well-Being Enhances Benefits of Employee Engagement

Two major factors influence employee performance, Gallup has found: engagement and well-being. Gallup measures engagement for employees through the Q12 survey, which consists of 12 actionable items with proven links to performance outcomes. And with Healthways, we measure well-being through five elements that are crucial to a life well-lived.

Now, many organizations measure and evaluate their employees’ engagement, while others focus on improving their workers’ well-being. … [ Read more ]

Strengths-Based Employee Development: The Business Results

Key findings from Gallup’s major study of companies that have implemented strengths-based management practices.

Why Great Managers Are So Rare

Companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time, Gallup finds.

What High-Quality Job Candidates Look for in a Company

Some characteristics and behaviors are common to top performers across many different roles. Here are four ways that high-quality candidates may respond differently than the rest to the right interview questions.

Kevin Campbell, Anson Vuong

The “talent shortage” is likely rooted in employers’ inability to find people with the experience managers want rather than a true shortage of talented recruits. Put another way, when hiring, employers are favoring experience over talent, therefore overlooking recruits who could excel in certain roles despite not having the preferred background for those jobs. […] Gallup defines talent as an individual’s naturally recurring patterns of … [ Read more ]

Jim Harter, Annamarie Mann

Many employees who are not engaged want a reason to be inspired. They are the “show me” group that needs an extra push to perform at their best. While positive feelings, such as happiness, are usually byproducts of engagement, they shouldn’t be confused with the primary outcomes. Rather, the primary emphasis should be on elements that engage workers and drive results, such as clarity of … [ Read more ]

Anson Vuong

The idea that a strong customer relationship equates to a growing customer relationship is simply not true. Don’t mistake loyalty for growth.

Anson Vuong

The right customer assessment not only reveals the strength of existing customer relationships, but also how primed they are for new business activity. This assessment should be standard practice for every M&A.

Jake Herway

Organizational culture is created through both institutional moments—the experiences that employees have with the corporation—and interpersonal moments—the everyday interactions employees have with each other.

Gallup

Identifying and measuring employee performance will become trickier as many jobs become less based on routines. The primary consideration in choosing the correct performance measures is that they need to reflect individual-level impact on achieving the organization’s goals – meaning they should meet two conditions:

  1. they must directly link to organizational success
  2. they must be in an employee’s sphere of control

Failing to meet these conditions can … [ Read more ]

Vipula Gandhi

In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink identifies three key motivations:

  • Autonomy
  • Mastery
  • Purpose

But these words rarely show up in job descriptions, recruitment material, performance reviews or annual meetings.

Vipula Gandhi

If we think of employees as consumers of the workplace, then many of the principles of customer experience apply:

  • How do employees find us?
  • Why do they choose us?
  • What do they feel when they are with us?
  • And are they likely to refer us when they leave?

[…]

Customer experience experts have known for years that customer experiences are deeply emotional. And yet many organizations still approach employees with cold … [ Read more ]

Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal

Identify who among your employee base are Rainmakers (people with sales talent and an ability to manage risks), Experts (innovators with a focus on product development), or Conductors (high management talent). Capitalize on their natural talents. Develop and position them in appropriate roles on teams. Strengths-based development of your builders and teams is key to increased entrepreneurial behaviors, which, in turn, lead to higher engagement, … [ Read more ]

Andrew Robertson, Ben Wigert

Employees must be continually “re-recruited” by their employer throughout their career. And when it’s time for an employee and employer to part ways, a great employee experience can last longer than the job. Employees should exit organizations feeling appreciated for their contributions and proud to be part of the alumni network. This can be a pivotal moment for an employment brand, because exiting employees can … [ Read more ]

Rujuta Gandhi

Satisfaction isn’t the same thing as engagement. Gallup research shows that satisfaction is an attitudinal outcome, like loyalty or pride, and doesn’t always relate to employee performance. Engagement is different, deeper and more emotional, and it predicts important business outcomes, like profitability and productivity. Job satisfaction beats misery or annoyance any day, but it’s not exactly something to strive for.

Dan Grafstein

Many diversity and inclusion (D&I) solutions keep companies on the defensive. That is, they primarily address concerns such as promoting compliance and diversity in race, age and ethnicity.

That’s not enough. Wide demographics alone won’t make a difference to an organization’s bottom line unless the people within those demographics feel authentically welcomed.

In other words, leaders need both a diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace culture to … [ Read more ]

B2B Organic Growth Remains Elusive

Companies need a plan for transforming their current operating model to a customer-centric one. Many moving parts make up customer centricity — from having a clear customer engagement strategy to talking with customers to creating a plan of action.

Developing this model comes down to four phases, which Gallup has categorized as discovery, diagnostic, analytic and sustainment. Within each of these phases, Gallup has also identified common tasks … [ Read more ]

The Manager’s Role in Employee Well-Being

Employee well-being and performance go hand in hand.

Gallup finds that workers who are thriving in all five elements of well-being (purpose, social, financial, community, physical) miss less work, have higher customer ratings, solve problems more readily and adapt to change more quickly than employees who are only thriving in one element. Employees with high well-being in all five elements also save their companies money in … [ Read more ]