Posts Tagged ‘Communication’
Engagement Process: Communicate the Improvements
December 19, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Continuning with the exploration of the Engagement Process, now let’s talk about more communication:
5. Communicate the Improvements that Will Be Implemented
You have heard me say several times, you cannot over communicate. With all the information overload in our lives, it takes a lot of communication for us to break through to our employees. Have you heard the communication adage: “Tell them, tell them what you told them, then tell them again?”
Remember, you cannot over communicate. Communication needs to be consistently implemented.
When it comes to communicating during any kind of change, those words ring true even more so. Keep a consistent flow of communication, and people feel they are “in the know.” I have seen many times that the ongoing evidence of their company’s commitment to their satisfaction, career growth and personal development energizes employees.
It is critical to understand that communication is not something you complete by checking it off the list.
I’ve seen companies implement monthly and quarterly communication meetings that become boring and non informative over time. You need to foster continuous new evaluation and feedback with positive new approaches. Incorporate skits, involve employees in the presentation, etc.
Speaking of involving employees, ask them what they want to hear, what’s important to them and structure the discussion to meet their needs. Answer the question, “What’s in it for my employees and why is this important to them?”
The final installment of the Engagement Process is next, covering Step 6: Implement the Improvements, and Step 7: Measure Results.
Posted in Employee Loyalty, Employee Retention, Engagement | 
Tags: Communication, invovlement | 
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Engagement Process: Communicate the Plan
November 21, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Step 3 in our Engagement Process Series is all about Communication, Communication, Communication!
3. Communicate the Plan to Address the Identified Major Business Improvements
Many organizations spend a lot of time creating complex communication strategies. Instead of going down that path, think of ways to paint the full picture for your employees.
Communication only works when your managers and employees are communicating with each other. Communicating is a two way street. Let us look at some communication techniques that will have communication operating at a higher level in your organization.
Communicate in context
When you communicate to your employees, make sure you are looking at the communication from their perspective. Be sure to answer the subliminal question in employees’ minds, “What is in it for me?” For example, if I am a line worker at a manufacturing facility, I want to know how change impacts me. How many more people are we adding? Will I have to work more overtime? Do I need additional training?
Forums of understanding
Make sure people receive communication in the way you intend it to be. Remember, it is not enough to push the message out – people need to understand it. For example, if people are feeling uneasy about change, there needs to be a forum or a conduit for them to express their concerns and then a time and place to address those concerns. Real connection comes from both expression and actions that say loudly: “They heard me!”
Sustaining communication
How do you know when your communication plan takes flight? It is when people begin trading stories and ideas. That is when you know they are “internalizing the message.”
This can happen in focus groups, work teams or individual conversations. When the communication grows organically, it becomes a participative plan that is sustainable in your organization.
When developing your communication,
follow the Native American adage and
“Walk a mile in their moccasins.”
Up next in the Engagement Process: Build Team Infrastructure to Develop Business Solutions.
Posted in Employee Loyalty, Employee Retention, Engagement | Tags: Communication, Strategy | Comments Closed
Engage, Empower and Enrich Employees for Increased Earnings
October 3, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
With these types of results talked about in our last entry, with regards to the huge costs of a disengaged workforce, The importance of engagement cannot be understated.
How can you engage your people?
1. Ask & Listen.
Avoid the dynamic of sending down a solution from up high. When you ask and listen, you understand the current status of the situation, and you can engage employees in a process for improvement.
2. Develop the Focus and Strategy for Improvement
If you try to do everything, nothing will get done properly. It is all about laser focusing on key areas for improvement and developing a strategy to address them. The message is very clear: Clearly articulate your vision and strategy, and help individuals understand how their work contributes to achieve it.
Simplicity for understanding is key.
3. Communicate the Plan to Address the Identified Major Business Improvements
In communicating to employees, make sure you are looking at the communication from their perspective. It is not enough to put the message out. People need to understand it.
4. Build a Team Infrastructure to Develop Business Solutions
Setting up cross functional teams of 6-8 individuals to solve a major business issue brings different skills to the table. The result? You have a better chance of addressing the issues more successfully.
5. Communicate the Improvements that Will be Implemented
You cannot over communicate. With all the information overload in our lives, it takes a lot of communication for us to breakthrough to our employees. Tell them, tell them what you told them, and tell that to them again.
6. Implement for Improvements
To announce plans and follow it with no action is a clear message that nothing is happening. It is one of those things that makes employees cynical because it happens so often.
7. Measure Results
What gets measured, gets done. Measurement is commitment to look at what is working and what is not, and puts an organization on the track of continuous improvement.
Engaged and empowered employees are more productive and efficient in their efforts and provide innovative ideas to solve major business issues.
Contact the Loyalty Factor Team today to learn about how you can benefit from our Strategic Assessment and Alignment process! We look forward to hearing from you.
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Employee Loyalty, Employee Retention, Engagement, Leadership Development | Tags: Communication, Purpose, Teamwork, Values, Video | Comments Closed
Recruiting and Retaining the Right People!
August 22, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
As I travel the world and speak with leaders, organizations continually struggle to ensure they have the right talent addressing the business issues at hand. It is all about recruiting the right people in the right place at the right time.
When I ask leaders what makes someone successful in their organizations, I regularly hear the following characteristics:
Notice there is very little mention of particular skills. It is more about the attitude and personal attributes of the candidates. So the big question is – how do you hire for these characteristics?
Without the right tools and techniques, we so often default to common recruiting errors. We have all done it. Any of these sound familiar?
- Talking too much about the organization.
- Not listening to the applicant because we’re thinking of the next question to ask.
- Hiring someone who is just like you.
- Hiring the person because we have to fill the position now.
- Recruiting only for the position and not for the values that fit in the culture.
Think about your current hiring practices and recruiting techniques, and we’ll talk more about how to do this in our next blog entry.
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Employee Loyalty, Employee Retention, Engagement | Tags: Communication, Culutre, Listening | Comments Closed
Info Exchange – Creating Sustainable Performance
April 11, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Welcome to the Loyalty Factor Information Exchange, a bi-weekly service providing summaries of major publications and books on various management and customer relationship topics.
Loyalty Factor has been instrumental in helping companies:
- Increase Customer Satisfaction by 20 – 33%
- Increase Revenues by 50% in 18 months
- Increase Manufacturing Production by 200% in 18 months
- Simplifying mergers and acquisitions
Our information exchange this week highlights the Harvard Business Review article, “Creating Sustainable Performance“ by Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath.
Creating Sustainable Performance
According to the Harvard Business Review article, creating sustainable organization performance is the result of thriving employees. These employees are not just satisfied and employed, they are engaged in creating the future.
The authors found that people who fit this description demonstrated 16% better overall performance, 125% less burnout, 32% more commitment to the organization and 46% more job satisfaction than their peers.
Thriving employees have two components: Vitality, or the sense of being alive, excited, and learning; and Growth that comes from gaining knowledge and skills. Some people naturally build vitality and learning into their jobs, but most employees are influenced by their environment.
According to the authors, four mechanisms create the conditions for thriving:
- Having decision-making discretion
- Sharing information about the organization and its strategy
- Minimizing impoliteness
- Offering clear, concise, and consistent performance feedback
To learn how you can develop an environment that engages your employees in creating the future contact Loyalty Factor at 603-334-3401, or read Dianne Durkin’s new book, “The Power of Magnetic Leadership: It’s Time to Get R.E.A.L.” where the E stands for Engaging, Empowering, and Enriching Employees for Increased Earnings.
Posted in Employee Retention, Engagement, ~ Loyalty Factor Information Exchange ~ | Tags: Communication, Efficiency, Engagement | Comments Closed
Authentic Leadership: Knowing Your Authentic Self
April 4, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Continuing with our topic from our last blog about authentic leadership, we will explore more about the center item on the True North compass, how to know your Authentic Self.
The journey to Authentic Leadership consists of Self Awareness, Values and Principles, Motivation, Integrated Life – and now, knowing your Authentic Self.
Authentic Leadership is:
- Being aligned with who you are (being the real you)
- Finding coherence between your life story and your leadership
- Bringing people together around a shared purpose
- Empowering people to step up and create value
Knowing Yourself:
- Finds passion that motivates you
- Finds the purpose of your leadership
- Feel comfortable in your own skin
- Know your strengths and weaknesses and fill the skill gaps with colleagues that complement you
- See yourself as others see you
Protecting & Practicing Your Values & Principles:
- Understand the values and principles that guide your leadership
- Decide what is most important to your life
- Set clear limits as to what you will do under pressure
In summary, Authentic Leaders are grounded in who they are and what they stand for, and operate with honest, integrity and congruency.
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Leadership Management, Magnetic Leadership | Tags: Communication, Engagement, Integrity, Values | Comments Closed
Traits of Outstanding Leaders
March 7, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Great Leaders Move People: Powerfully, Passionately, and Purposefully.
According to a global study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, only 15% of companies in North America andAsiabelieve they have enough qualified successors for key positions. The picture is slightly better inEurope, but even so, fewer than 30% of European companies felt confident about the quality and amount of talent in their pipelines.
In regions where companies are focused on growth strategies or emerging markets, they found the supply of experience managers is even more limited. This shortage is expected to continue for another two years. It is therefore critical for companies to develop their future leaders. Developing leadership skills will make the difference in creating very successful and very profitable companies.
There are a number of traits of outstanding leaders and it would be difficult to highlight all of them. I categorize them in five primary areas:
Sets the Challenge
• Creates and communicates a vision or goal that compels others
Engages People in the Possibilities
• Speaks to the possibilities in a clear and concise fashion
Creates Trust
• Encourages others to take risks through honesty, integrity, openness and reliability
Distributes Power
• Values innovation
Celebrates Successes
• Recognizes performance, rewards results
Ideally, through these behaviors a leader helps others be the best they can be.
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Leadership Development, Leadership Management, Leadership Secret Weapons | Tags: Communication, Engagement, leadership | Comments Closed
Leadership Secret Weapon Series: Reframing Techniques
January 11, 2012 | Author dmdurkin
Have you ever had a situation where you have had to change another person’s perception? For example you had to give them bad news, or you had to handle an objection, or make a difficult decision. We have all been in these situations where we may have to give bad news.
Reframing is a critical skill that provides a flexible approach to changing perceptions with a particular problem or situation. It’s giving the situation a different meaning which leads to a different behavioral response.
There are four primary reframing techniques:
1) Redefining: Expanding or narrowing the topic.
2) Metaphor: Describing the topic’s likeness to something else that is familiar to create a better understanding of the current situation.
3) Story: Using an example such as a story of a similar situation where the new approach had been tried.
4) Spin: Creating positive and/or negative interpretation of the issue.
The following story is an example of reframing (Steven Covey).
Story: You are on the subway with 3 obnoxious kids who are running all over the place and making lots of noise. You see that they are with their father and wait for him to do something to stop them. When he doesn’t after several minutes you finally speak up and tell him that you find his children incredibly annoying and obnoxious. He responds “Yes, they’ve been that way since their mother died last week. I don’t know what to do.”
Critical Point: The fact that the kids are annoying and obnoxious doesn’t change, but your perception of them does based on this new information.
Utilizing reframing strategies will help resolve conflict and difficult situations, in order to change perceptions and move forward smoothly.
Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds.
- Norman Vincent Peale
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Loyalty, Employee Loyalty, Leadership Development, Leadership Management, Leadership Secret Weapons | Tags: Communication, Efficiency, Engagement | Comments Closed
Leadership Secret Weapon Series: Questioning Strategies
December 14, 2011 | Author dmdurkin
An effective questioning strategy is a powerful way to learn about the other person’s needs while building rapport.
A framework to consider as you create your own questioning strategy is the Inverted Pyramid approach.
This strategy will lead you and the person to a definition of the problem.
- Background Questions – encourage people to describe the current situation and give you a clearer picture of their problem or their business.
- Process Questions – create a common understanding of what the person has done to resolve the problem and how the problem impacts the business.
- Detail Questions – gather more specific information on the background and/or process question.
- Action Questions - identify, assign and gain agreement on the next step in solving a problem.
All of these types of questions enable the service provider to try to determine the particular needs of the customer. Using a combination of questions manages the conversation.
By asking the following background question, it is amazing the information you will receive: “Can you tell me a little bit about what is happening within your organization?”
Once the person has responded, then you can zero in with a process type of question: “How long has this been going on?” or perhaps another process question, “What has been done to rectify the situation?”
Once you understand clearly what the problem is and what has been done to date, then you can go into details and ask specific questions like, “Have you tried the following?” or “Has anyone tried the following approach?”
This moves right into an action question. “I think X might work within this organization,” or “What do you think might work in this organization?”
Using a questioning strategy of this nature creates a conversation, versus an interrogation. People love to talk! When you ask opened ended questions, you will be amazed at the information they will share with you. Questions are your “secret weapon,” and a questioning strategy will be the key to your success.
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Customer Loyalty, Customer Retention, Engagement, Leadership Development, Leadership Management, Leadership Secret Weapons, Magnetic Leadership | Tags: Communication, Engagement, Questioning Strategies, Trust | Comments Closed
Leadership Secret Weapon Series: Questions are Your Secret Weapon
November 30, 2011 | Author dmdurkin
In sales, consulting, and management, questions are without question, your secret weapon. Sometimes people say they ask a lot of questions. At the same time, when I ask them, “Do you have a questioning strategy?” they look at me very strangely. A questioning strategy is the key to establishing rapport, and identifies the other person’s particular values, beliefs and professional needs.
The nature of most service businesses is to identify and solve a customer’s problem. This is where a questioning strategy truly comes into play. Many individuals tend to ask close ended questions with ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or a short answer.
None of us are smart enough to ask all of the close ended questions we need in order to have a full picture of a situation or a particular customer’s needs.
I therefore encourage individuals to use primarily open ended questions and high impact questions, versus closed ended questions.
Open ended questions are used to gather information. They usually start with “what,” “how,” or “tell me about.” For example, “What happened?” or “How are things going for you?”
High impact questions on the other hand are getting the customer’s commitment. They usually start with “What affect does this have on your business,” “How does that cause your organization to react to customer needs?” or “What does that result in for you in revenues, return to the bottom line, customer satisfaction, etc?”
The key to high impact questions is what is the impact they have on the operation, and the business?
You can use the following 3 Step Process for developing High Impact questions:
1) Identify the problem
2) Identify the business implications of the problem
3) Turn each implication into an implication question
By getting people committed with high impact questions, they will take action!
Dianne Durkin is president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a specialized consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations and many smaller businesses. Dianne’s proven expertise lies in helping companies quickly get to the core issues and outlining their impact on the organization’s profits, productivity and people. www.loyaltyfactor.com
Posted in Customer Loyalty, Customer Retention, Engagement, Leadership Development, Leadership Management, Leadership Secret Weapons, Magnetic Leadership | Tags: Communication, Engagement, Questioning Strategies, Trust | Comments Closed