February 23
Why is Goodwill of Employees Important?
I am talking about the so called “soft people skills.” The McKinsey 7S Framework is a handy management tool and the soft skills mentioned in this model are style, skills, shared values and staff. Here is an example
Is your organisation helping or hindering the process of alignment to shared values specifically? Let’s look at the value of goodwill…
Definition of goodwill according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary
“1 a : a kindly feeling of approval and support : benevolent interest or concern
b (1) : the favor or advantage that a business has acquired especially through its brands and its good reputation 2 a : cheerful consent b : willing effort. Synonyms amity, benevolence, brotherhood, charity, cordiality, cordialness, fellowship, friendliness, friendship, gemütlichkeit, good-fellowship, kindliness, neighborliness.”
Why managers are not getting the best from team members or from certain teams?
There are a number of models to explain the differences between people on how they perceive the world and how they make decisions. Two of these models are:
- TheMyers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), identifies 16 different personality types.
- Disc personally testing is doing a free guess (estimate) on their website of your style but you can pay for an online analysis.
The Tracom Group have some interesting information on their website and the Wikipedia article on this topic lists a number of other personality evaluations.
If it was that simple to categorise employees to get the best possible performance and rapport, why are there still so many problems in the workplace?
Why don’t companies just get these evaluations done and group employees in such a way that there are no personality clashes or other problems? There are many pros and cons to using these tests
How can one sort cut the process and get more goodwill out of your employees?
The answer lies in the company’s culture
Senior management used to book into expensive accommodation and work on the vision, mission and other statements which then collectively were suppose to set the company culture. We all know that this approach failed spectacularly since the employees were not involved and did not buy into it. Still in many organisations today there is a total disconnect between the officially declared culture and what is experienced by the employees on a daily basis.
Why is company culture so important?
“Stephen Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks said in a recent New York Times interview, “Culture drives innovation and whatever else you are trying to accomplish within a company — innovation, execution, whatever it’s going to be. And that then drives results.”
In my opinion if the culture on paper or your intranet is not, then it is not being upheld by employees. The rules should be reworked and grow as technology and the workplace change. Your business could have more critical factors to rethink and update as part of maintaining the office culture.
Managers are falling short in creating a place of work where employees can blossom
It is interesting to note that the human body cannot distinguish between social pain and physical pain. For the brain there is no difference at all. Through their actions managers can inflict harm on an employee. Some managers will not celebrate the success or even give credit to employees who are in sync with the company culture. In some office cultures employees are expected to act as if they are family, but a difference of opinion will be noted in a performance appraisal as a negative. How could employees care and act as family when they don’t know each other, seldom having coffee or lunch breaks long enough to establish any kind of rapport with another employee?
Who is really to blame when an employee is acting according to the stated values of the company but the manager is ignorant of the values laid down in different policy documents? I don’t think any employee is going to work with the sole purpose of making the life of others unbearable, but once co-workers have “sanction” of the ignorant manager, they act as the children in “Lord of the Flies”.
Great results with minimum rules
I find it fascinating that Coach John R Wooden achieved winning results in 10 NCAA basketball championships over a 12-year period with these simple rules:
- Never be late, be on time.
- Be neat and clean and no profanities allowed.
- Never criticize a team mate.”
Today I dare you to look at your company culture. Ask the difficult questions. If need be, draft a new policy on company culture with the input from your employees. Then align all your and your employees’ actions and omissions, all documents, procedures, codes, guidelines to that culture. It will benefit your bottom line as Stephen Sadove said above. I dare you… find your incredible… start with your culture and then you never have to worry about the goodwill of your employees.