What
makes a great workplace? Is it pay, benefits? Is it too complex to understand?
Traditional beliefs held that we should manage the workplace from the standpoint
that people will always dislike work, and when they are at work, they will
always want to be somewhere else. For
years, organizations have attempted to measure and understand employee opinions
in an attempt to understand great workplaces. Much of the outcome has been
discovering what a great workplace is NOT, versus what it IS.
Companies have emerged from one consulting project after another with all
the "don't do's" and "quick fixes" and have still struggled
to observe much sustainable change.
A
few years ago, The Gallup Organization decided to initiate a multi-year
research project to try and define a great workplace. The first task was to
define what "great" was. They decided that while a great workplace
should be one where employees are satisfied with their jobs, it could not be
considered "great" if it was not producing positive business outcomes.
So they studied workplaces with an eye on four key outcome variables: employee
retention, customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability. Based on this research, they have made a
number of key discoveries.
Discovery #1: There are no
great companies. There are only great workgroups.
Discovery # 2: There
appear to be 12 dimensions that consistently describe great workgroups.
There appear to be 12 key
dimensions of great workplaces. While the 12 dimensions certainly do not
explain everything, they consistently correlate with those workgroups that have
higher employee retention, higher customer satisfaction, higher productivity,
and higher profits. The dimensions do not include pay and benefits. That does
not mean that pay and benefits are not important. But it does mean that they do
not differentiate great workgroups from the rest.
Item 1: "I know what is expected of me
at work."
Expectations are the milestones against
which we test our progress. Within the workplace, knowing what is expected can
be viewed as the pathway that guides us toward achievement. If expectations are
not clear, we are hesitant, indecisive, and unsure of ourselves. The importance of properly setting
expectations for employees is one of the 12 key discoveries from a multiyear
research effort by The Gallup Organization. The objective of the research was
to identify the consistent dimensions of quality workplaces (those in
which four critical outcomes-employee retention, customer satisfaction,
productivity, and profitability-are all at high levels). The research
identified 12 dimensions that consistently correlate with these 4
outcomes-dimensions
Setting
clear expectations is not a new concept for managers. In our attempts to set
and define clear expectations, however, we often over-operationalize jobs. We
put all of the focus on describing the steps to follow, and in doing so create
an environment that communicates, "Check your mind at the door, follow
these steps, and you will meet expectations." This roboticizing of humans
builds little self-worth and self-confidence, and dramatically impairs quality
output. When defining steps becomes the focus, setting expectations then
becomes a question of how to control employees, rather than of how to guide
very different people with very different styles toward productive outcomes.
So,
how does a manager, who is held accountable for a team's performance, set
expectations? The best managers tell us they define the right outcomes first,
and then let each person find his or her own route toward those outcomes. This
approach resolves the manager's dilemma. It allows for growth of the individual
to occur via the individual's discovery of his or her own "path of least
resistance." It appreciates and
values differences between employee styles and flow, and allows individuals to
use their strengths to their fullest potential.
This approach also encourages employees
to take responsibility. Great managers want each employee to feel a certain
amount of tension to achieve. Defining
the right outcomes creates that tension and the thrill and pressure of being
out there by oneself, having a very definite target. It is recognized and understoond that every
job has a certain number of steps associated with it. Some jobs have more of
them than others do. The question is, do
the steps support a clear perspective on the particular outcomes that are
desired? Many times, the steps actually
obscure the outcome, and the result is mere activity that has no broader
purpose.
Item 2: "I have the materials and
equipment I need to do my work right."
We have all been in the
position of having an expectation put on us and not having had the tools
necessary to achieve it. This is a very
frustrating position to be in. The
importance of employees feeling that they have the materials and equipment they
need to do their jobs right is one of the 12 key discoveries from the multiyear
research effort.
The challenge we face in providing the
necessary tools in the workplace is how to appropriately match individuals with
a wide range of skills and knowledge with the right tools to maximize their
potential. If this matching is not
thoroughly examined, there can be great cost for the individual, the
organization, or both. Many
organizations, for example, have come into the computer era boldly and
rapidly. Salespeople have been supplied
with laptop computers with the idea that computers will help them better manage
time, keep accounts organized, communicate with the home office, and so
on. But many salespeople don't use them. Companies tend to view this lack of usage as
a training issue. So they send the salespeople off to computer school to build
a comfort level with computers, and their salespeople end up using them to play
solitaire. In other words, sometimes
we give people materials and equipment they actually don't need to do their job
right.
There is also another
issue measured by this item. In today's nonhierarchical, flat organization,
employees are looking around for clues that define where they stand in the
social order of things. Materials and "stuff"
have become those clues. So, a manager
may receive an employee request to put a conference table in the employee's
office, only to discover that the main reason given is "because Julie
has a conference table in her office, and I am as important as she is." here is, therefore, a relational component
to this item as well.
The best managers shift the decision to
the employee. They provide criteria for
employees to use in making decisions such as, how is this new tool or piece of
equipment going to help:
·
you as an employee
·
our company
·
our customers
This broadens the
perspective of the employee, expands clarification on desired outcomes, and
builds better communication between individuals and managers. It also takes the manager out of the
traditional "parent" role and allows for true ownership and
accountability.
Item 3: "At work, I have the
opportunity to do what I do best every day."
Full human potential is realized only
when people are in a position to use their talents and strengths. Great performance is found when an
individual's natural talents fit his or her role. Matching the right person
with the right job is probably the most significant challenge organizations and
managers face today.
Putting people in the roles that best
fit who they are is one of the 12 key discoveries. The research found that the
best measure of the degree to which employees feel that their talents are being
used in their jobs is their level of agreement with the Item 3 statement above.
Having an opportunity to "do what I do best every day" is tied to the
integration of a person's talents (recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors), skills (what he or she knows how to do), and knowledge (what he
or she knows). Talents are those
patterns that one cannot turn on and off at will. Great managers realize that, while talents
are the differentiating factor in excellent performance, they are also neither
created nor altered. In contrast, one's
skill sets and knowledge can be impacted and altered.
The best managers see the specific
talents needed for every role. Conventional wisdom dictates that some roles are
so easy, they don't require talent. Great managers rebuff this belief. The best
front desk clerks in a hotel, for example, have a talent for "winning others
over." They establish a trust relationship with people within the first 7
seconds of an interaction. Great telephone service and sales personnel are
talented in having a "third ear" or the ability to connect visually
and emotionally with people they talk to on the phone. Outstanding accountants see patterns in
numbers and "hear" a message or story.
Excellence should be
revered in every role. Often, we manage
from the perspective that because we would not want a particular job or have
the talent to perform it well, we must manage it as a job no one would want to
do, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This is, however, a false perspective. T he task of the best managers is
to clearly define the talents needed for each role, and then choose the right person
for that role. A manager's job is not to
make people grow talents they do not have, but to identify and utilize existing
talents to their fullest potential.
Item 4: "In the last 7 days, I have
received recognition or praise for doing good work."
Praise and recognition are essential
building blocks of a great workplace. We all possess the need to be recognized
as individuals and to feel a sense of accomplishment. There is nothing
complicated about recognition, but it is one of the items that consistently
receives the lowest ratings from employees.
Taking the time to recognize and praise
good performance is one of the 12 key discoveries.
Historically, praise and recognition in
the workplace has been handled from the perspective
of "If you don't hear anything,
assume you're doing a good job." In
contrast to this "old industrial workplace" mindset, the new
knowledge-based worker relies and depends upon praise and recognition as the
means of defining what is valued by the organization. Today, praise and recognition are
communication vehicles for what is deemed as important.
Obviously, recognition can be either
positive or negative. Gallup has found,
however, that positive and negative recognition are not opposites. Instead, the
opposite of any kind of recognition is being ignored. The worst possible thing we can do to someone
at work today is to ignore him or her!
Workplaces that continue to abide by the old culture ("If you don't
hear anything, . . . ") will destroy the very human spirit that makes the
true difference in quality output and service delivery.
Although recognition can be either
positive or negative, effective recognition has the following characteristics:
it is positive in nature, immediate and real-time to performance, specific
about what is being praised, and close to the action. Many organizations have formal recognition
programs that seem to have limited effectiveness. This is probably because these programs do
not always give employees a clear idea of what, exactly, is being recognized,
i.e., profit, growth, and so on. There
can also be times when credit is given where credit is not due, such as
rewarding the weatherman for a bright and sunny day.
Positive recognition is often thought
of as coming strictly from supervisors or managers, but Gallup has found that
employees cherish praise and recognition from peers. Coworkers know intimately the particulars of
a job and when they notice excellence, it is a special event. So, praise and recognition do not just come
"from the top down" anymore!
Item 5: "My supervisor, or someone at
work, seems to care about me as a person."
Gallup's research
indicates that employees don't leave companies, they leave managers and
supervisors. The impact that a
supervisor has in today's workplace can be either very valuable or very costly
to the organization and the people who work there.
All
of us as employees have had the unpleasant experience of having a bad
supervisor or manager. Many of us have
also experienced the results and benefits of a good one. When Gallup evaluates the difference
between bad and good supervisors, it is amazing to see how clear the difference
is in the minds of employees. Yet,
when we ask employees, "Do you want to be managed?" everyone says
"No." Why is this? Because we
automatically think of our bad experiences.
What if someone who is similar to the best supervisor one has had could
manage the employee? Would he or she
want to be managed in that case? Yes. So, the issue is really this: What makes
a great manager?
Gallup finds that great
managers and supervisors possess identifiable talents or recurring patterns of
thought, feelings and behaviors. The
talents of great managers include:
·
getting a true sense of satisfaction out of seeing their
employees grow and succeed, even if the employee's success surpasses that of
the manager
·
intrinsically knowing how to match the right person with
the right roles to produce the best possible results
·
setting expectations by defining the desired outcome
·
not dissecting every role down to the exact steps needed
to accomplish it
·
they help people grow within a role instead of grow out
of it
·
they always try to bring out what God left in versus
trying to put in what God left out.
Great supervisors
genuinely care about the people they work with, and thus treat people according
to their individuality rather than treating everyone the same. Supervisors are the filters from which
broader organizational changes and initiatives make sense to individual
employees and thus gain true acceptance and understanding.
One could speculate that
people are not resistant to change; they just don't have the relationships to
translate how such modifications will impact them and their jobs.
For years, Gallup has learned from
surveys that the credibility of senior management is critical to employee
perceptions of the organization. This
led them to consult with CEOs and leaders to encourage them to have greater
visibility and clearer communications.
Then, three years ago, they made a discovery: Employee perceptions of
senior management credibility are largely driven by the quality of
relationships employees have with their supervisors. Thus, rather than feeling the need for a
town-hall meeting, the CEO should feel compelled to ensure that all employees
have a caring relationship with their managers or designates.
Item 6: "There is someone at work who
encourages my development."
The innate yearning to learn and grow
is natural to human beings. Our jobs allow us to encounter new situations and find
new ways to overcome challenges every day.
Why, then, do we have a tendency to stall or stagnate?
Every employee should be consciously
aware of how he or she is learning and growing.
Conventional management theory has
always highlighted the need for employee development. The traditional
approach largely involved helping employees to identify their weaknesses, and
then creating a plan to correct them.
By focusing on their weaknesses, so the reasoning went, employees would
become stronger and more productive.
While this approach seems to make sense, it has had a significant,
unintended consequence: It has emphasized who the employee is not, rather than
who the employee is. As a result, the
common theme in the management-employee relationship has been a constant
determination to change something.
Change can be good and an effective
means to improvement, of course, when it encompasses something such as learning
a new skill; in the conventional approach, however, management has often
tried to change dispositional factors that are part of an employee's wiring or
talent. An example of this would be an effort to help employees better
manage their time. While there are many
tools to aid in this effort, the way one manages his or her time is a recurring
pattern of thought, feeling, and behavior-in other words, part of an employee's
wiring-not something every employee can be "trained" to do
better. Great managers make a clear,
definite distinction between what can be trained in and what is already hard
wired.
For the past 40 years, development has
also meant "getting promoted."
Today, it embodies the degree to which employees are growing within
their current roles. Most employees want
to be promoted, but not if it means doing a job that does not match their
individual talents and skills. We have
all witnessed the Peter Principle in action: when an employee who is
accomplished at a particular job is promoted to supervisor. While this may work, the new position often
requires a distinctly different set of talents-talents the promoted employee
may not possess. So, in the end, the
promotion significantly impacts the quality of life for both the individuals
promoted and the people they supervise.
In
today's workplace, the concept of "lifetime employment" is passé; the
new emphasis is on "lifetime employability." Managers who want to encourage the lifetime
employability of their direct reports help them equip themselves with
self-understanding and a clear perspective on what roles they will excel
in. To accomplish this goal, such
managers pursue straightforward discussions with employees. In these discussions, they seek to understand
employees' strengths,
talents,
and skills, why they accepted a position with their employer in the first
place, what keeps them there, what kind of relationships they need to be most
productive, desired mode of recognition, and the yearnings and directions the
employees wish to follow.
The best managers feel there is nothing
very complicated about development.
Development involves holding up a mirror to employees and encouraging
them to know themselves. As employees
come to understand who they are, these managers strive to provide
responsibilities that will be a good "fit" for employees'
talents. Then, as employees move forward
in their self-knowledge, great managers persist in looking for opportunities to
make the best use of employees' talents.
Item 7: "At work, my opinions seem to
count."
All
employees want to feel that they are making significant contributions in their
workplaces. The ways organizations hear
and process employees' ideas will shape, to a large degree, whether or not they
feel valued for their contributions.
The
need for employees to feel valued--to know that they really make a difference
in their companies and organizations is critical. This is often referred to as employees'
"internal stock price." It
measures the sense of value that employees feel in their work and toward their
organization. The degree to which a
company's employees feel their opinions count is readily apparent to its
customers. We have all encountered
an employee who felt detached or insignificant, and we know the impact that
employee's attitude had on us as customers.
If the ideas, instincts and
intelligence of a company's employees are its sustained competitive advantage,
then employees' responses to Item 7 are of great importance. Nothing is more demoralizing to employees
than being excluded from significant decisions--decisions that affect their
jobs. Great managers consult with
employees regularly to make sure those close to the action have input into
critical decisions. This does not mean
that employees have the final say on decisions that affect their jobs. It does mean that when employee’s desires and
managers' decisions differ, the best managers explain the rationale behind
their decisions. These managers use the decision-making process to help
employees both to see the full scope of a decision, and to understand why the
decision was made the way it was. A
straightforward explanation can be a real credibility and communications
builder.
Great managers never ask
employees for their opinions, and then decide to do the opposite, without
clearly explaining why. Great ideas are
the building blocks for increased efficiency and new product development. Great places to work, in which employees'
opinions count, encourage ideas to flow, and to be heard, processed, and
refined. Not all ideas will be
successfully implemented, but the process of refining ideas is still wonderfully
productive: It builds employees' confidence in the company and reinforces to
employees that their efforts can make the company better.
Item 8: "The mission/purpose of my
company makes me feel my job is important."
Excellence happens only when people
have a deeply felt sense of purpose in their lives. Human beings want to belong
to something that has significance and meaning.
They want to know they are making a difference, and are contributing to
an important endeavor. The best
workplaces give their employees a sense of purpose, help them feel they belong,
and enable them to make a difference.
Having a clear understanding of how an
employee's particular role or job contributes to the company's "reason for
being" can be an incredible form of emotional compensation. Employees at every level or function like to
feel that they belong. Individual
achievement is important, of course, but when employees of an organization feel
they are an integral part of a larger whole, they are more likely to stay
committed to that organization. All of
us like to feel as though our companies stand for us, represent us, share our
values, and have the same kinds of goals. It is more exciting to "share a
mission" than simply to "complete a task."
Every
individual has a different and unique sense of purpose, and individuals find
different meanings in similar situations.
Thus, designing the proverbial "mission statement" is not
necessarily the solution to helping employees find a sense of purpose in their
work. There is nothing wrong with
mission statements, but they are often too vague and too broad to allow each
employee to connect with them. Think
about it. All employees, either consciously or unconsciously, ask themselves,
"What is this company's purpose? Does this company look at the world in
the same way I do?" Employees all want to know whether their purpose
meshes with the company's, and since each one of them looks at the world in a
slightly different way, each comes up with a different answer.
Great managers continually strive to
help employees understand how the company's purpose/ mission relates directly
to the work that employees do. This, in
turn, enables employees to find a connection between the company's values and
their own. Every employee has different
values. Some value competition, others
value service, others value technical competence. Great managers translate the
company's purpose into language that each employee can understand.
Outstanding workplaces
never confuse "strategy" with "purpose." Purpose is constant. It is the heartbeat of
the company, and provides the company with power and guidance. It never
changes. Strategy provides the
answers to the question, "How will we get to where we are going?" Strategies do change. In fact, companies
devise new strategies all the time as they try to find the most efficient path
toward their business goals. If your
company changes strategies regularly, this does not necessarily mean that it
lacks a clear purpose. Great
organizations emphasize how new strategies support the broader organizational
purpose. Great managers always help to keep the distinction clear in each
employee's mind.
Item 9: "My associates (fellow
employees) are committed to doing quality work."
Highly productive employees tell us
there is a vast difference between being named to a team and actually
identifying with that team. We have all
experienced being assigned to a team or a workgroup--our manager assigns us,
and our name is added to the team roster.
Just because our names are added, however, doesn't mean that we
psychologically join the team, especially if we are afraid the other team
members don't share our commitment to producing quality work. Helping all members identify the team
characteristics that will result in a quality product can lead to insights into
greater efficiency and increased productivity.
Trusting that one's coworkers share a commitment to quality is a key to
great team performance.
When
employees are asked, "Are you committed to quality?" they all answer
in the affirmative. This reflects
employees' natural, human tendency to think highly of the work they
produce. Since they all give the same
answer to this question, however, the question does not differentiate the most
productive workgroups from those that are less productive. Instead, employees' answers to the question,
"My associates are committed to doing quality work," are much more
revealing. Employees want their
coworkers to share their commitment to quality, and want to be part of an organization
that challenges and enables them to excel.
Often, the definition of quality sets
the tone of a workplace culture. If
quality is defined as the absence of defects or mistakes, we send a strong
message to employees that encourages them to cover up mistakes or problems
quickly, with little attention or exposure.
In the best workplaces, managers realize that human beings will make
mistakes, and can learn from correcting them.
In these workplaces, quality is defined as the process employees use to recognize
a problem and work toward its solution.
In healthy workplaces, employees understand that a customer's loyalty
can actually increase if the employees take a positive approach toward solving
a quality problem. The best managers and
workgroups do not scapegoat; rather, they see quality issues as a challenge to
improve their product or service and, thus, to increase customer loyalty.
A problem can also bring out a greater
sense of teamwork in a workplace.
Employees who are committed to doing quality work look at a problem as a
challenge to improve their team cohesiveness.
They use the power of the team not only to overcome the crisis, but to
correct the process to avoid future problems, and move on to greater
productivity and quality. Interestingly,
some of the most productive teamwork is observed during these times of crisis.
The excellence and the spirit of teamwork that emerge from dealing effectively
with problem situations are the stuff of great workplaces.
Human beings are social animals, and
work is a social institution. Often, it
is a place where long-term relationships are formed, from networking
relationships, to friendships, to marriages. In fact, if you did not meet your spouse in college, chances are you met
him or her at work. The evolution of
quality relationships between people is a very normal process, and is an
important part of a healthy workplace. In the best workplaces, employers recognize that employees want to forge
quality relationships with their coworkers, and that company loyalty can be
built from such relationships.
This item -- "I have a best friend
at work" -- is clearly one of the most controversial of the 12 traits of
highly productive work groups. In
answering this item, many employees do not stumble over the word
"friend" since they have many friends at work. Instead, they may get stuck on the word
"best" because they feel the term implies exclusivity, and they have
trouble identifying one "best friend" among their friendships with
their coworkers.
Gallup discovered the power of this
item in identifying talented work groups -- that the strongest agreement with
this item occurred in the most productive work groups. Because some employees had difficulty with
the item, Gallup went back to those groups and softened the word
"best" to "close" or "good," or excluded the word
"best" entirely. When this was done, however, the item lost its power
to differentiate highly productive work groups from mediocre work groups. This suggested that the item's use of the
word "best" actually pinpoints a dynamic of great work groups.
Gallup has also observed that employees
who report having a best friend at work were:
·
43% more likely to report having received praise or
recognition for their work in the last seven days
·
37% more likely to report that someone at work
encourages their development
·
35% more likely to report coworker commitment to quality
·
28% more likely to report that, in the last six months,
someone at work has talked to them about their progress
·
27% more likely to report that the mission of their
company makes them feel their job is important
·
27% more likely to report that their opinions seem to
count at work
·
21% more likely to report they have the opportunity to
do what they do best every day
While companies often pay significant
attention to the loyalty employees feel toward the organization, the best
employers recognize that loyalty also exists among employees toward one
another. All employees have
"leaving moments" when they examine whether to leave or stay at an
organization. The best managers in the
world observe that the quality and depth of the relationships that employees
have with others on the job will be a critical component that affects their
decision to stay or to leave.
This item also cuts to the issue of
trust between coworkers. When strong
loyalty is felt in an employee work group, employees believe that their
coworkers will help them during times of stress and challenge. In this day of rapid-fire change,
reorganization, mergers and acquisitions, having best friends at work may be
the true key to effective change integration and adaptation. While employees who have best friends at work
do not report lower levels of stress on the job compared to those who do not
have best friends, they do identify significantly higher levels of healthy
stress management.
Item
11: "In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my
progress."
We have all had the infamous annual or
semi-annual job performance review with our manager. The first two minutes of
the review are usually focused on what the manager likes about us and our work,
and the remaining 58 minutes are spent on our "areas of opportunity"
(the things we are weak at and should improve upon). We usually walk out of this meeting feeling deflated
and, while we have a clearer understanding of what we don't do well, we have
little understanding of what we do well.
The best managers recognize that this
time to discuss the progress and growth of employees is an opportunity to help
them understand themselves better and to give them a clear perspective on how
their contributions are really making a difference to the organization. This is why the value of quality,
individualized feedback is one of the 12 key discoveries.
One of the paradoxes of hiring and
retaining talented employees is that they tend to lack an intuitive
understanding of how their talents manifest themselves in specific
behaviors. They need objective feedback
as to how they can focus these talents to become more productive -- feedback
managers can provide. Such managers
understand that, because talents are innate and natural, it is impossible to
not use one's talents. So, instead of
trying to change individual employees through centering on their weaknesses,
great managers feel compelled to help them gain self-understanding and
knowledge about the talents they possess and how they are applied every day at
work.
Talent never becomes
"talented" until an employee has a role that uses that talent. Great managers are always holding up a mirror
to employees and encouraging them to "look in the mirror"-- to know
themselves well and to know the roles in which they will most likely
succeed. The world's greatest managers
can answer some basic questions about every one of their employees. Some of
these are:
·
what do employees enjoy the most about their current and
previous work experiences
·
what attracted them to come to work for the organization
·
what keeps them there
·
what are employees' strengths, talents, skills and
knowledge
·
what are their goals for their current roles
·
how often would they like to meet to discuss their
progress
·
are they the kind of people who will tell me how they're
feeling or will I have to ask
·
what are their personal goals or commitments
·
what is the best praise and recognition they have ever
received
·
what have been the most productive relationships they
have had with a mentor or manager and what made them so special
Talent only responds in
relationship to another human being.
Thus, feedback must be specific to the individual, and must be given in
the context of a positive employee-manager relationship. The last words of Item #11 -- "my
progress" -- are a significant part of this Item. Employees must walk
away from any discussion of their growth with a clearer understanding of who
they are, instead of who they are not.
Item 12: "This last year, I have had
opportunities at work to learn and grow."
The need to learn and grow is a very
natural instinct for human beings. Finding more efficient ways to do our jobs
is one way we learn and grow. Where
there is learning, there is innovation and a breeding ground for a more
positive and refreshing perspective toward our perceptions of self and others.
In today's work environment,
productivity does not come from working harder; it comes from working
"smarter." This is why work
environments that reinforce and promote learning are attractive to employees.
We have all worked with people who have
stopped learning and growing. They
suddenly have all the answers, and become unable or unwilling to see
alternative solutions. Their attitude
infects both the workplace culture as a whole and their coworkers,
individually. It limits the very growth
and innovation that creates competitive advantages for today's companies. Why do people become unwilling to learn and
grow? Because learning and growing involve risk--the risk of challenging the
status quo. Change brings about
unfamiliarity, and with unfamiliarity comes insecurity.
Great managers recognize that they face a
challenge every day: How do you create a culture that is open to new ideas and
allows employees the opportunity to explore possible implications of those
ideas without fear of rejection or retribution?
Great managers know that, initially, good ideas are not always perfectly
thought-out, executable strategies. Good
ideas are often abstract, and need discussion so they can be defined and
sculpted toward the best possible outcomes.
This process takes time and energy; time and energy are limited
resources. Nevertheless, the investment
of time and energy is imperative to making good ideas useful. For employees, the creation of a culture
receptive to new ideas also involves significant belief and trust in their
managers and teams.
A company's future is dependent upon
the learning and growth of its individual employees who are close to the
action. Great managers, employees and
teams are never quite satisfied with current ways of doing things. They always feel a slight tension about
finding better, more efficient ways to work.