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Have you seen the latest employee morale and commitment survey conducted by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork ? If not, you can view it at WorldatWork.

 

Here are some highlights, according to a Chief Learning Officer "Industry News" post this week:

 

An executive with WorldatWork was quoted as saying....."Taking a total rewards approach and looking at all of the ways companies can motivate and retain - including compensation, benefits, work-life initiatives and career development - is going to be essential."

 

I agree! In my September 9 blog post, I talked about the importance of managers taking accountability for employee retention. This is becoming more and more important as the economy shows some signs of recovery and as job opportunities begin to open up. I think what I said in that blog bears repeating:

 

Manager Accountability for Retention: Managers at all levels -- not just at the top -- need to be held accountable for keeping good people in the company. They need to be more involved than ever before. They need to step up their "management by walking around" activities. They need to bite the bullet and deal directly with employee emotions -- including fear and anger. They need to provide an open door for employees to walk through to talk about their issues and concerns. And, they need to develop employees in ways that make them want to stay.

 

Interestingly, we  have found that the use of Paradigm Learning's Mosaic: The Art of Talent Leadership -- a program for managers to help them understand their impact on retention and to build a plan to take action with their own employees -- has actually declined during this time of economic unrest.  We think it's possible that some of our clients who said things like "We can't afford to take time to deal with employee retention issues right now" might end up saying "We wish we had done something earlier!"

 

What do you think?

A colleague told me that she would send me something I needed for a time-sensitive project as soon as she got back to her office. I watched her take down a note and star* it several times.  Six weeks later I’m still waiting.

A 12^th grader contacted me via email for a history class project. She wanted some information about a fellow Vietnam vet and needed it right away. I spent several hours getting her what she had requested and asked for only one thing in return: a copy of her final report. That was a year ago and I’m still waiting.

A neighbor who I have seen repeatedly at parties over the past three years told me again last week -- for about the fifth time – that he would be calling me to get together for dinner.  I’m still waiting.

None of these stories have made a big difference in my life.  But they all demonstrate something that HAS made a big difference. It’s a principle that I learned from my US Navy CO, Master Chief Petty Officer Billy C. Owens, in 1968:

In the service, living up to that principle was about life or death.  My team knew it and lived it. We had to trust each other.

Although leaders in companies today don’t have the same life or death issues to deal with, they are in a position – day in and day out – to make decisions and take actions that significantly impact the company and other people in it. They have been “entrusted” with their position – and can either demonstrate trustworthiness or not.  It’s really pretty simple.

If you are a leader of people – no matter what your title or responsibility – you have to do one thing always:

And there are no excuses. If you make a commitment, you’ve made a commitment. Period.  Forget “the story, reason, who’s to blame and how you feel about it” excuses.  There are no excuses for not living up to your word.

In our leadership training program, Impact 5: The Business of Leadership Game®, we deal with the issue of accountability – including the accountability for developing your own personal effectiveness as a leader.

 Being effective in your job --- and also in your life … becomes a lot easier when your word becomes who you are, rather than a philosophy or something you just talk about.

 

The day before Halloween, we're going to have some fun at Paradigm Learning's offices in St. Petersburg, Fla. There will be a costume contest, prizes, Halloween games, a trivia contest, pumpkins and pizza. In short, we're going to play!

Why? Because it has been a tough year and everyone has worked hard. But, most important, because we believe that play should be part of work too.

 Daniel Pink, in his best-selling book, A Whole New Mind, refers to play as one of the six right-brain "aptitudes" needed in today's workplace. He sees these aptitudes as what it takes for individuals and organizations to excel in the new big-picture, holistic, artistic and creative world.

About play, he says:

 "Ample evidence points to the enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games and humor. There is a time to be serious, of course. But too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play."

 At Paradigm Learning, we have long recognized the value of fun, games and "play" in the design of our educational offerings for corporate clients, and we use a unique set of discovery learning tools and techniques to add to the excitement. For example, gaming techniques like chips, cards, game pieces, game boards, dice and times are integral to the business games and simulations we market to clients. We believe that there is nothing like a little laughter and competition to keep people focused on learning! And having a good time learning new things can translate to greater engagement and motivation on the job.

So, as a company that loves fun and games, we're going to have a Halloween party at the office. How about you?

p.s. Did you know that Halloween is the second most commercially successful holiday, after Christmas, and that Americans spend more than $2 BILLION annually on Halloween candy?

p.s.s. Look for details about an upcoming Paradigm Learning webinar with Daniel Pink on December 8, 2009, titled A Whole New Workforce: Educating and Engaging Employees in a Right-Brain World.

 

I was reminded the other day about how big a difference there can be between "teaching" and "facilitating".

A friend decided to go back to school after many years away from a university environment.  Just two weeks ago, she told me how eager she was to be getting a chance to learn something new. Today she called to let me know that she dropped her most anticipated class. Why? The teacher stood in front of the room READING FROM THE TEXTBOOK!

Unfortunately, the lecture model -- I talk and you listen -- is alive and well in some of our learning institutions. And, it still shows up in some of the employee training offerings of our corporate clients.

We have great consultants/trainers at Paradigm Learning (OK, I'm biased, but it's true). My friend's story made me think about what makes our consultants so good and what it takes to be a great teacher/trainer.  

Here are a few things that I think are especially important when working with adult learners: 

When we design our business games and simulations for corporate clients, we work hard to develop experiences that allow our consultants to be true facilitators.  We help them to be guides and cheerleaders. We help them pull together learning insights with their learners, not for them.

And, when our clients choose trainers in their own organizations to conduct sessions, we help them identify those who have both the ability and the desire to guide their learners through a discovery learning process.

Do you have other thoughts about what it takes to be a great teacher/trainer?