Five Star Blog

The recent economic climate has accentuated the need for finding and retaining top talent. Having a motivated workforce that is focused on executing your organization’s strategy is critical for achieving and sustaining a high-performance organization. Yet, recently we have been asked by numerous clients: “How can we keep employees motivated as our organization navigates through this turbulent economy?”

To answer this question, it is important to first point out that finding the right people is paramount to creating a motivated workforce. People who are doing work which aligns with their interests, desires, and skills provide the “fertile soil” in which strategy execution can thrive. But, what can be done to ensure that the right people are continuously motivated?

We offer four specific recommendations to organizations seeking to keep top talent motivated:

1. Get a pulse of your current organization.
   There has never been a better time to invest in resources that provide employees with the opportunity to share their perceptions of the current organizational pulse and enhancements that could be made to improve it. There are many instruments available in the marketplace; however, as you evaluate them, be sure to select an instrument that reports information in a clear and easily understood format so that immediate action can be determined. Additionally, it is critical to receive both quantitative (hard data) and qualitative (open comments) data. Oftentimes, it is the open comments area that provides the most valuable insight as to what employees would recommend to improve their organization and ultimately their level of motivation.
2. Objectively analyze the data.
   When you receive organizational data, it is important to analyze it objectively and without bias. Understand that when employees provide their input, they are anticipating direct action to be taken as a result of the time to share their feedback. Therefore, it is critical to commission a team of people to evaluate that information and seek additional clarifications as needed.
3. Take immediate action by confronting obstacles head-on.
   Once data has been analyzed, clear and measurable action plans must result. These action plans must define key responsibilities and milestones. More importantly, action plans must have executive sponsorship. Any meaningful change cannot be enacted without executive sponsorship and support. Every organization is different, and therefore, the actions which result will differ. Still, no matter what the plan is, it is important to deliver results quickly. To this end, as data is analyzed and plans are developed, it is important to tackle roadblocks that cause the greatest frustration, but it’s even more critical to determine solutions that be quickly implemented.
4. Reassess your organization frequently.
   The real value of any assessment process comes not from the initial assessment alone, but from frequent reassessments. By reassessing using the same criteria, an organization is able to monitor improvements made and identify any additional changes.

By implementing these recommendations, you will be able to get a firm understanding of employee motivation, and execute plans to remove roadblocks preventing high motivation.

Making a difference in your community is an important goal, one that provides opportunities to make special contributions to people who truly need help. Organizational leaders who offer and support volunteer opportunities for their workforces reap untold benefits.

• There is a direct impact on organizational pride. Team members coming together to accomplish a worthy goal creates a sense of organizational unity and accomplishment.
• Team members have the opportunity to interact cross-functionally with people outside of the traditional work environment to build stronger relationships.
• Volunteering positively impacts someone else’s life. This is the most valuable result of any volunteering effort.

Recently, team members from Five Star Cares, Five Star’s organizational volunteer effort, prepared a spaghetti dinner with all the fixings for our friends at the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, our adopted community organization for 2008-2009. Knives were chopping, brownies were flying, and music was playing, but still the best part of the night was the conversation that was had with the ladies at the shelter and their children. Doug DiFilippo, Five Star coordinator for the event, noted that his favorite moments of the evening came while talking with the ladies about the simplest things, “how we made the spaghetti sauce,” for example. He also recalled that the “amount of thank-yous and goodwill was eye-opening,” noting that every single effort, even small ones, have huge impacts.

To receive information on how to create a volunteer program in your organization, please visit these two sites:

• Umpqua Bank Outlines How to Create a Successful Volunteer Program
• United Way Volunteer Tools

As we move into 2009, the focus on organizational performance has never been higher. Consequently, the ramifications of low performance have never been greater. Organizations around the world are taking a closer look at performance in a large-scale effort to execute strategies that lead to high performance. Fittingly, President-elect Obama recently announced the creation of a Chief Performance Officer (CPO) position, and appointed Nancy Killefer to the role to oversee budget and spending reform in the U.S. government.

The starting point on the path to high performance varies for every organization, yet the journey to get there contains consistent components. In the case of the U.S. government, a multi-faceted strategy has been defined, but a key component is continuous process improvement. Charged with leading this reform, the CPO has been asked by President-elect Obama to “work with economic officials to increase efficiencies and eliminate waste in government spending.”

For many other organizations, the path to high performance might begin with focused and aligned leaders and/or the implementation of enabling technologies, but regardless of the starting point, the key to starting the journey towards high performance is the development of a roadmap. A roadmap defines where the organization is going and each step along the path staying the course towards high performance. It is used as an assessment tool to enable leaders within the organization to track progress and measure success.

A strong roadmap will objectively evaluate the current organization and focus on the critical initiatives needed to improve performance in each of the Five Key Drivers of High Performance™.

Realistic roadmap tips for high performance include:

• Optimize and integrate the Five Key Drivers of High-Performance Organizations across the entire organization.
• Pace implementation; not everything has to happen all at once.
• Plan incremental steps, and measure results along the way.

Has your organization defined a roadmap for high performance?

There is little argument about the irreplaceable value that people bring to an organization. Having the right people, in the right jobs that suit their knowledge and skills, is a critical piece in enabling an organization to tip the scales toward high performance. Yet why do most organizations struggle to find the talent needed to help their organization execute its strategy?

The saying, “You have not, because you ask not,” is very true with regard to finding the right top talent for your organization. In many organizations, existing employees are unaware of the types of people their organization is seeking. If provided with this information, most employees will quickly scan their list of friends and acquaintances in an effort to find possible matches, because ultimately, people want to work with people they like. If your organization is not communicating its current and future talent needs to existing employees, a great opportunity is being lost.

As we enter a new year of talent planning, consider the following:

• How effective is your organization in communicating its current and future talent needs to all employees?
  Always remember that in today’s “connected” world, information can be distributed across many channels in a very short period of time. For example, sites and resources like Linked In, Plaxo, Twitter, and Facebook enable people to share information to many of their closest friends and colleagues in seconds.
• Is there a clearly understood process established to enable current employees to act on their existing referrals?
  Be sure that your employees have the information they need to accurately communicate possible job postings. Portals and easily accessible online job boards enable people to quickly link to job postings. In addition, it is also important to consider how job referrals are funneled into the organization. If a process is not in place to channel referrals throughout a process, solid referrals can potentially die on the vine or get lost in someone’s inbox. Therefore, before implementing any referral program, define each step of the process and establish controls to ensure that they are consistently followed.
• Have metrics and measures been established to monitor and track the success of employee referrals?
  Establish goals for employee referral programs and targets for retention rates from referrals. These tools will help your organization track successes or failures in the process. Ultimately, an employee referral program must produce results. If after a reasonable amount of time, the program is not producing, quickly evaluate the process and take swift actions to improve it.