Effective leadership and management unleashes ‘people potential’
When reviewing some major client projects, I had a light bulb moment. It struck me that, whenever I have the opportunity to involve clients’ leadership teams in training or development for their business, the return on investment (ROI) is invariably higher.
This is due to a few simple factors.
From the start, concepts covered are clearly aligned with strategy; managers are fully bought in; follow up and other interventions are enthusiastically and consistently implemented; and the learning is thoroughly embedded into processes and day to day activities.
This all contributes to a high level of sustained motivation and team building within these companies – and to higher performance, due to significantly enhanced employee engagement.
This led me to development of an intensive 4-day Engaging Leadership Programme, delivered in bite size days over several months, designed by myself, based on my experiences of working with leadership teams and my time as Co Chair of the Government Task Force Team who researched Employee Engagement in the UK.
This programme has proved to be so popular and successful, that in addition to running it for clients in-house, it will be available in open format and facilitated via our partners.
What is exciting to me is that there is a growing awareness about the importance of employee engagement across the UK. And there is even funding available to help some leaders and managers to achieve it!
The statistics
If you look at the statistics in the UK on Employee Engagement you’ll quickly understand the need for leadership training.
- Only 1 in 3 employees are engaged in their work, meaning two-thirds are disengaged.
- If we were all working to our full capacity we’d all be doing a four – day week – wouldn’t that be nice?
- We are ranked 14th behind some third world countries in Europe on our motivation levels
- Finally, the scary thought that employees don’t quit their jobs they quit their bosses.
None of this need be if we learn to give our leaders the skills sets needed.
With SME’s being so reliant on human capital and creative, entrepreneurial talent, leadership training could not be more appropriate for the SME market.
The MacLeod Review
In 2010 the UK Government commissioned The MacLeod Review and entitled ‘Engaging for Success enhancing performance through employee engagement’
The conclusion was that Engaged employees are 16 times more productive, leading to 12% more profitability.
However, they also did something really smart, they looked at companies that were harnessing the full potential and capabilities of their people to drive success and it boiled down to four key enablers that allowed this success
These four enablers are:
- Providing a strong strategic narrative
- Engagng managers who focus their people and give them scope
- Employee voice throughout the organisation
Organisational integrity
