Employee attitudes have a significant,
measurable impact on the bottom line and managers
play a primary role on whether that impact
is positive or negative.
These findings come out of research involving
5,500 people from 29 professional service firms
in 15 countries. |
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| The study,
conducted by David Maister, a former
professor at the Harvard Business School,
and author of Practice What You Preach:
What Managers Must Do to Create a High
Achievement Culture, showed that: |
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Creating a positive emotional
climate has a significant bottom line
impact. |
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Managers play the most important role
in making that happen. |
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| Other findings
from Maister’s research: |
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Employee attitudes actually
drive financial results, not the other
way around. |
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Fully 23 percent of all the variance
in financial performance can be explained
by the degree to which employees agree
with the statement, "We have an uncompromising
determination to achieve excellence in
all that we do." |
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| • |
More than 50 percent of all variance
in profit performance can be explained
by nine managerial and organizational qualities
or practices relating to management’s
interpersonal skills and the organization’s “attitudinal
climate.” |
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Maister notes
that his interviews with managers and employees
reveal that the keys to organizational
success were not the strategies or systems
of the firm, but rather the character and
skills possessed by managers – whether
they had integrity, “practiced what
they preached,” communicated effectively,
took their role as coach and mentor seriously,
etc.
This research further supports the landmark
research conducted by the Gallup Organization
involving over 2 million people which shows
that managers are the critical foundation
for organizational success.
Thus, once again we see that a company’s
success depends upon their management team’s
ability to create an environment where
employees want to do a great job and have
the support, guidance, and resources to
make that happen.
What Can You Do With This Information?
If you are the CEO or President: |
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1. |
Make sure all of your managers
read this article and understand that creating
an optimal emotional environment makes
a huge difference on the bottom line. |
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| 2. |
Make sure your managers understand the
central role they play in employee attitude
and performance – and therefore organizational
success. |
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| 3. |
Remember, you set the attitudinal tone
of your organization. Ask yourself: “Does
the way I treat people lead to a positive
attitude in our organization?” |
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| 4. |
Ask yourself: “Do I model, by the
way I treat my direct reports, the way
I want my managers to treat their direct
reports?” |
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| 5. |
Invest in your managers. Give them the
training and coaching they need to make
sure the impact they have on employee attitude
and performance – and your bottom
line - is a positive one. |
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| If you are
a manager at any level: |
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1. |
Recognize how much influence
you have on employee performance. It’s
often easy, especially if you’re
a front line supervisor, to see all the
organizational factors that you can’t
control, impacting on your job and your
supervisees’ morale. Remember that
this research, along with the Gallup research,
shows that you are the biggest factor influencing
how your supervisees perceive your organization
and how well they perform. |
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| 2. |
Remember, employees treat customers the
way they are treated. The degree to which
they demonstrate empathy, concern, and
an interest in providing great service
is directly impacted by what they see modeled
by you, and how you treat them. Ask yourself: “Do
I treat my direct reports the way I want
our people to treat our customers?” “Do
I show the kind of service attitude to
my direct reports that I want them to show
toward our customers?” |
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| 3. |
Think about how you would like to have
yourself as a manager. Ask yourself “Do
I treat my direct reports with the same
degree of respect and consideration with
which I want to be treated?” |
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| 4. |
Learn more about what Emotional Safety
means, why it plays such a huge role in
your success as a manager, and how to help
others feel more Emotionally Safe when
dealing with you. The more Emotionally
Safe you are for others, the more you can
unleash their desire, and even passion,
to do a great job. |
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| 5. |
Learn more about human nature, what motivates
and what de-motivates people. The more
you understand human nature, the more you
will be able to create an environment where
employees have a great attitude and a positive
impact on the bottom line. |
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