Your Employment Viability

In today's economy if you work for a company of any size the word layoff gets your attention.  In fact I recently read an article that losing one's job especially right now is one of the top issues that keeps Americans up at night.

I am often asked how one can increase their viability to a company that may be considering layoffs.  It's a great question and one that each of us should take seriously.

In my opinion it's about your own personal brand.  How have you positioned yourself to be known within your organization.  For example?

Do you show up on time or better yet, early?

Are you the one that volunteers for new projects?

Do you show enthusiasm for the work that you are assigned?

Do you continually display a positive and supportive attitude?

Do you ask your boss regularly for feedback - asking for areas he or she would like to see you improve on?

Do people at all levels consider you a resource?

Regardless of what position you hold do you function and perform each day as a leader?

Do you deliver projects on time and even ahead of schedule?

Will you go the extra mile for a co-worker when you see them struggling?

Are you doing anything outside of work to build your experience and knowledge for your work?

Do you avoid the company gossip and back-biting that often permeates many company cultures?

Are you well liked as an individual?

Do you go out of your way to build connections throughout the company?

I could ask you literally dozens of questions that would get you thinking about how you perform as an individual for your company, these are just to get you started.  You see building one's brand in the eyes of their superiors, co-workers and customers is an essential element to insuring that you are a key player for your company moving forward.

It seems obvious but clearly for so many it is not. I see so many people failing to evaluate their own contribution to the companies they work for.  Instead they complain about having to work more hours, deal with more responsibility or spend their time bitching about everything under the sun.  They call in when they don't have to, they do less than stellar work unless the boss is watching and studies have shown spend more time Facebooking and Twittering than actually working.  And in spite of all that, they wonder why their name tends to creep to the top of the list when layoffs are considered.

I know this seems easier said than done.  Some of you might even say its too late to try and change how people within your company perceive you.  To which I would say absolutely not!  Here's the thing, even if you have been less than a stellar employee, you can decide right here and right now to change that.  Keep in mind someone in your company saw something that told them they needed you way back when otherwise you wouldn't have the job you have right now.  You can still prove them right ya know...show them they made the right choice when they hired you over that other guy.

There is no time like the present to either build or enhance your personal brand.  The quicker you start to answer some of the questions I've asked above and start contributing like the super star your company needs the more likely the layoff bug won't ever hit you because you'll be inoculated from it.

Think about it.  Better yet....do something about it.

Ripple On!!!

Team Connectiveness - Part Four

The CEO on the other end of the line was frustrated. He had communication problems amongst his leadership team and those problems were now starting to trickle down to their direct reports. Moral was at an all time low. Business was churning but customer complaints on quality and timeliness were beginning to increase. People had lost respect for one another and now openly aired their grievances regardless of who might be watching or listening.

Months earlier I had been hired to come in and do an afternoon presentation on my book The Ripple Effect for his executive team retreat. During my session I had sensed there was some uneasiness when I touched on the Ripple Effect of communication and its impact on the internal and external customer. I explained that the lack of open and honest communication often proves to be the Achilles heal of most corporations (regardless of size) and that building a ripple-centric strategy often requires that his area of the business be closely examined.

They weren't ready to talk about those difficult issues then, but now months later, the CEO was being forced to admit that they were in trouble.

The issues they were facing were not unique or different than those your team may be facing right now. I know for myself when I led a team of sales, service and administrative personnel, they were certainly not far removed from what this poor guy was seeing, feeling and stressing over. And of course based on that experience and the many companies I have since worked with since, I had some advice for him.

Now I don't mean to over-simplify what I do or perhaps give you some idea that what I offer is that magic bullet that will make you the next Microsoft overnight. I am good but not even I will drink that Kool-Aid!

As I explained in part two, I asked him what he saw, heard and felt when he was in the trenches. Like me (in my 'early years'), he had mistakenly gone about growing his company and more directly, his people, by being as disconnected as they were. Although the majority of his employees had worked together for several years he didn't really think anyone knew each other, much less cared about one another. They had seen a huge increase in turnover over the past several years despite having almost none the first few years in business.

My advice was to throw down the gauntlet and address the pink elephant in the room. I asked him to ask the question "We don't like one another? What can we do to fix it?" He needed to get the dialogue going or else.

So for the next few weeks he spent time talking to every one of his employees. I explained it would not be easy and people would most assuredly not trust him at first but no matter what he needed to keep talking. He needed to be willing to encourage and really listen to what was being said AND what wasn't being said.

It took time. It took a fair amount of coaching and mentoring by me to keep his spirits up. It took a tremendous amount of effort. And it took him checking his ego at the door and an open-hearted message from him to ask his team to do the same. But as it did with me and countless other clients that I have worked with since, it began to work. It certainly wasn't easy but it the huge wheels of change began to move.

After several weeks I came in to lead their first companywide 8 Minute Ripple. I first explained the power of the Ripple and how and why it affected individually. I then expanded upon the positive momentum changes that everyone had been seeing and gave a little insight as to what the boss had been up to. He was surveying the land, cultivating the space and now we were about to lay the foundation. We would be learning together what it meant to engage, connect and finally get to know one another and we would be doing in such a way that it would be fun, rewarding and not nearly as difficult as they might expect.

Team connectiveness is, in my opinion, the single biggest factor as to whether a company will succeed or fail. People are the single biggest asset a company has. Forget product and services and realize that unless you can run your company all by yourself (God help you) then your team is the biggest part of this equation.

If your team isn't connecting, if they aren't engaging and openly communicating then something needs to be done. Lead by example. Reach out and connect yourself. Start showing an interest in your teammates in something other than work. Encourage people to get to know one another. Be a bridge builder. Make time in the day for people to commiserate whether over a hosted lunch, coffee chat or over beers at the local pub after work. Don't play games. Be honest. Tell them that no matter what, their interaction and respect for one another is paramount to the company's future abundance and success.

Bottom line, just do something! Make sure your teams are connected!

And if you are still struggling, still unsure how to make it happen then call or email me. Perhaps your team is need of a Ripple-cism!

Ripple On My Friends!

Steve Harper
steve@ripplecentral.com
512-577-3700


P.S. Have you seen our new Ripple TV? Check it out by Clicking Here!!!

Team Connectiveness - Part Three

So if you are the business leader.....

You pay 100% of an employee's salary.

You may only be getting 37% of their effort.

According to a study conducted by the Gallup Organization, corporations that do nothing to help employees connect with one another at work have employees that are 63% less likely to be engaged on the job. That means employees are actively disengaged in their job function, undedicated and actually damaging a company’s productivity.

The lack of connection felt by a company’s employees actually increases the risks and costs associated with the following:

· Employee turnover
· Absenteeism
· Healthcare
· Productivity
· Communication
· Loyalty
· Innovation

Team connectiveness as you can see from a business leader's perspective is extremely important and has a positive or negative Ripple effect that can extend well beyond the company's bottom line.

So why do so many organizations continue to ignore it?

Because to fix it might appear to be more costly than it truly is.

As I mentioned in part one of this series, team building activities just aren't cutting it. Organizations that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in helping their team be better teammates often grow frustrated when the residual affects of a ropes course or Kum Ba Ya hugs are long since over and everyone has to return to the office trenches on Monday morning.

So it is easy to see why companies simply fail to try. It is easy to understand why they simply let their teams "be" even if those teams happen to "be" dysfunctional.

It doesn't have to be that way. Why would anyone in their right mind want to actively or passively promote a work environment that doesn't help everyone perform at their highest level. It just doesn't make sense.

If you are paying 100% of an employee's salary you should expect a respectable return for that investment. But it requires you actively work to insure that everyone within the company is connecting and working together.

And if you are the employee receiving 100% of your salary but giving back less than 100% effort because of the environment you work in, it becomes your responsibility to challenge the status quo. It requires you take an active role in breaking the negative cycle of disconnectiveness.

In my next POST and the final one of this series, we will look at how something as simple as the Ripple can bring about real changes in your team environment.

Until next time.....

Ripple On!

Steve Harper

Team Connectiveness - Part Two

Tuesday's BLOG prompted some interesting emails and phone calls. I always appreciate hearing from my readers and having an opportunity to exchange ideas and strategies. So please keep 'em coming!

One of the interesting questions came from Chris a CEO of a mid-sized software company in California. Chris asked the question "So how do you know when your team isn't connected?"

Chris you must have been reading my mind as that was exactly what I was going to discuss in part two of this series.

How do you know if your team is connected or not?

I would suggest you look, listen and feel.

Look at...

How your people interact with one another.

• Do they show respect to one another especially when things are emotionally charged?
• Do you see people actively present and engaged with one another?
  
• Do you see people spending time with each other outside of work; going out to lunch, grabbing coffee, making plans to see each other for the big game?

Listen to....

How your team talks to one another.

• Do they communicate openly without sarcasm or judgment?
• Do they ask with genuine interest about each other's weekends, kids, outside work activities?
• Do they avoid talking about the tough topics when they come up?

Feel....

The kind of energy that resonates around the office.

• Are people genuinely warm/cold close/distant to one another?
• Does the energy rise or fall when certain team members enter or leave a work area?
• Do you feel tension during staff meetings or anytime various departments or teams have to interact?

Obviously there are literally hundreds of questions I could ask you here that could better qualify or disqualify whether team connectiveness might be a problem for your company. The bottom line is whether you are a business leader or simply an employee, you know from your own personal experience if any of these statements resonate. You probably also know that when any of these questions are answered with a less than positive response that may be a sign there is trouble in paradise.

In my next post we will talk about the revealing impact the lack of team connectiveness can have on a company. In the mean time, I want to hear from you. I want to hear if any of the above questions resonate with you and your team and just how it is affecting you and ultimately your company. Please email me at steve@ripplecentral.com or give me a call 512-577-3700.

Until next time....

Ripple On!

Steve

P.S. Our next 8 Minute Ripple is only days away. If you are in Austin and you want to experience the true power of connection, please consider joining us! You will be glad you did! Email me for more information.

Team Connectiveness - Part One

How connected is your team?

No, I mean seriously.

Do you know how engaged your folks are at work?

If you are the business owner, executive or team lead, you might be saying to yourself, "why do I care if my people are engaged or like one another?"

To which I would politely respond "you better care of else!"

A company who does nothing to actively encourage or assist employee engagement may really be missing the boat. They may be losing untold dollars from the company's coffers as well as encouraging core talent to defect.

The Gallup Poll recently reported in their semi-annual Employee Engagement Index that a mere 29% of employees are actively engaged on the job. A big indicator of how engaged an employee is on the job comes from how connected they feel with the people they work with and for. No connectiveness often means less effort and productivity and as you can imagine the negative Ripples extend from there.

It has been reported that employees that are disengaged are costing the U.S. economy nearly $300 Billion a year. Yes...a Billion! If you are in a leadership or ownership capacity for your company, what percentage of that enormous number is your organization responsible for?

This has become a very important focus as of late for my Ripple work because I believe connectiveness, especially in a team environment, requires a Ripple-centric approach to all aspects of team interaction; especially when it comes to individual and team connectiveness.

When I talk to companies of all sizes it has become increasingly obvious that they are finding that "team building" and rah rah sessions are short on substance, high on cost and lack sustainable results. So what is a company to do if traditional team building, which is so obviously needed, isn't delivering what is needed to help company employees cooperate, communicate and interact?

Well it may be time to learn to Ripple.

Stay tuned for Team Connectiveness - Part Two.


Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

P.S. Can't wait for part two? Give me a shout at 512-577-3700 and let's talk about your company and team connectiveness.

P.S.S. Come experience connectiveness at our next 8 Minute Ripple happening on January 31, 2007 - email me for more information at steve@ripplecentral.com