I’m so grateful he was my first boss – it gave
me a strong role model to compare the ones that would later
wear that mantle in my working life. I
have been in the workforce since I was 16 which gives me roughly 37 years of
experience in a wide range of industries from retail,
marketing, food service, non-profits, the arts, healthcare, education, child welfare, faith-based
organizations and large corporations. In
that time, I've been in both senior management and a regular employee. I've worked for some outstanding bosses and
some real tools. Unfortunately, the tools far outnumber the ones who literally had their shit together.
Poorly run organizations have become a
national epidemic. Bad management and
disengaged employees are wreaking havoc on our economy and these numbers bear
it out:
•
The percentage of U.S. workers considered engaged in their
jobs averaged 32%. The majority (50.8%) of employees were "not
engaged," while another 17.2% were "actively disengaged." (Gallup)
· Actively disengaged employees cost the US $450
billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year and undermine the success
of their co-workers. (Gallup)
•
At the end of 2015, the number of employees who voluntarily quit
surpassed the number fired or discharged at 3.1 million. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
•
Between 2009 and 2014, the S&P 500 earned a return of 121
percent. By contrast, a ratings-weighted portfolio of low-rated employee
satisfaction companies earned just 91.5 percent, under-performing the S&P
500 by 29.5 percent. (Glassdoor Research)
· 1 in 5 workers intend to jump ship within a year. (Forbes Magazine)
· 1 in 5 workers intend to jump ship within a year. (Forbes Magazine)
Now if
you are an employee, you're probably going - "Yeah, I know that's
right." If you are a boss or an HR
director, you might want to stick your head in the commode and flush several
times to end it all. Keep in mind that
unless your boss is the owner of the business, he/she is someone's employee and
these stats are probably something they are struggling with too. That's why I’ve
created the The
Cheek Principle: How to Keep Your
Organization From Being Half-Assed. I want organizations
whether they are regular businesses, non-
profits or organizations like churches
or PTA's to run better and to also have a sense of humor about how to get it
done. This is not a blog for just
management or staff - it's for both because both sides need to understand each
other in order to work well together. The good news is that companies that have a
strong sense of the importance of a happy workplace get some solid dividends:
•
Stocks of S&P 500 public companies which were bought
between 2009 and 2014 showed that the portfolios of companies with high
employee satisfaction returned 243.3 percent versus the S&P 500
Index return of
121 percent during the same period. (Glassdoor Research)
•
Employees who are happy at work take 10 times fewer sick days
than unhappy employees. (Wall Street Journal)
•
36% of employees would give up $5,000 a year in salary to be
happier at work. (Randstad
2015 study)
• Happy salespeople
produce 37% greater sales.
(Growth Engineering UK 2014)
•
82% of polled employees are more satisfied with
their jobs when they receive recognition. (Globoforce)
The reality is that the best companies work
to retain their talented people
because the staff members genuinely love
working there and giving them incentives to do a good job is not that expensive. The bad companies that
are teetering on the edge lose their high performers to the good companies that
know how to engage their staff with solid management. Even some "Good to Great" companies have gone from
"Great to Oblivion" when they forgot how to treat their employees,
their customers and lost sight of their mission. Let's face it - your employees are your
customers. If they are unhappy and won't use or recommend your products or services -- no
one else will.
So why do so many organizations put up with
crap-tastic management? Why can’t they
see when someone clearly is not managing their employees well and undermining
their high performers? Why do they
double down on bad decisions rather than realizing their error and going back
to the drawing board? Why does the bible
warn that “pride goes before
destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall?” (there’s actually a lot of good
business advice in the Bible) Sadly it’s because the founders or senior
executives were either never really trained on how to manage
people or the company
has a kill or be killed mentality or the bottom line is the only thing that
matters. If a bad manager is bringing in good numbers – then it’s okay look the
other way. That mentality might work in the short term but it’s just plain not
sustainable in the long-run.
I'll be blogging about some common issues in
every organization because human nature is human nature and you flat out can't
escape it no matter where you work (in other words, you will run into assholes - it's an occupational hazard of life). I'd
love to hear your stories and ideas - especially if you had a boss that
inspired you like Mr. Butler inspired me. If you have a negative story to share
– I’d love to hear that too.
Thanks and here's to helping your
organization become better with both cheeks intact - tattoos are optional.
