The Institute for Corporate Productivity article “Productivity Is a Higher Priority, but Which Initiatives Really Work?” discussing a the May 2008 survey, of 305 respondents, asking questions about 16 factors that have the potential to raise productivity. Of the16 factors, the following five factors, corporate culture, leadership, compensation and benefit programs, training and development, and performance management. Of the five factors, the most productive organizations furthest outstripped the average ones in the following four areas:
- The culture of the organization: “Seventy-nine percent of the most productive organizations say that, to a high or very high degree, the cultures of their organizations help raise employee productivity.”
- Leadership: “Seventy-six percent of highly productive companies said that, to a high or very high extent, leadership in their companies raises productivity (compared with 48% of all respondents).”
- Employee engagement practices: “Whereas just 31% of average respondents said their organizations use engagement practices to a high or very high extent to boost productivity, 59% of highly productive organizations said they do. Engagement means that workers are mentally and emotionally invested in their work and in contributing to their employer’s success.”
- Employee health/wellness programs: “People like to work for organizations that send strong signals that they care for their employees. These particular programs may be sending those signals more than most other types of initiatives do… It’s also possible that such programs actually boost the physical and mental well-being of workers, leading to higher rates of work productivity.”
The research highlights the importance of effective leadership for company success. Organisational and indeed personal success rises and falls on the effective practice of leadership. What are you doing to develop your leadership ability? What are you doing to develop the leadership ability of others? This may be the most important task of any organisation.
Technorati Tags: Leadership, Management, Business, Research, Employee Engagement, Culture
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Thanks for the i4cp mention! And good article in general.
Hi there,
Many thanks for this, it was a great piece and really helped me writing a follow up.
http://www.fourgroups.com/blog/archives/04/the-war-for-talent-is-over-and-weve-won/
I tried to do a pingback but wasn’t sure it worked, so I thought I’d say hello the old fashioned way!
I spent 26 years working for a company that, in the early stages of my career, had a very clearly defined set of core values—ownership truly cared about its employees, who knew providing great customer service was the key to long term career advancement, so they kept working on improving their job skills, and everyone seemed to support their fellow employees. We loved working there.
In the end, the company had evolved into a huge corporation, the original founding father who embodied everything good about the company, stepped aside due to his advancing age, and his son took over.
Today, the company is an inefficient corporate hierarchy, micro-management reigns supreme, employee turnover is horrible, as is the overall morale, especially among its front-line employees. They had simply forgotten their core values, and thought that they were invincible in its business strategy, as they kept growing, primarily throught ill-advised acquisitions. Confusion reigns supreme, they’re not making much money, and they seem to have no real grasp of what it takes to get back on track and keep its employees motivated and productive.
Unfortunately, this is an all too common state of affairs in the current mess called corporate America. It’s no wonder the economy is in such trauma, and bailouts and Stimulis Packages have replaced common sense, with management understanding what really motivates employees.
Natually, I wrote a book on my experiences with corporate America, beginnig my career when corporate America wasn’t a part of this company’s vocabulary. Unfortunately, they simply grew too big for its own good, and I’m glad I’m out. The book: “Life Under the Corporate Microscope”