ONYX GLOBAL HR

So… my esteem colleagues across California, make that the world! What exactly should we do about this measure and how does it really affect the citizens of California. Well let’s talk about it in terms of employment and the human resources department issues it raises, the impact it will have on the hiring practices of companies across the state, and the miss-guided direction it will send our younger and most naive applicants in.

First let’s recap Prop 19, as it is described in the Official California Sample Ballot and Voter instruction manual. It states the following:

Prop 19. Legalizes Marijuana under California but not federal law. Permits local Governments to Regulate and Tax Commercial production, distribution, and sale of Marijuana, Initiative Statute. Allows people 21 years old or older to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for personal use. Fiscal impact: Depending on federal, state, and local government actions, potential increase tax and fee revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually and potential correctional savings of several tens of millions of dollars annually.

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! No kidding!

California has one of the highest if not the highest unemployment ratios in the nation, 12.6%, 2.5 million people out of work in the State, and we are asking our citizen’s if it’s Ok to smoke marijuana, break federal law and fail every employer’s drug test known to man.

I am not suggesting that there is a wrong or right stance on this issue, only to say that as we propose these ballots for the voters to consider; are we as professionals, parents, dads, moms; and others looking at the “big picture”?

Well folks, when I started this blog we were several days before the vote, but busy is busy and I didn’t get a chance to finish it or those thought provoking discussions I had hoped to generate.

Two weeks past the vote, and Californian’s overwhelming voted the proposition down and it’s no longer an issue, or is it?

Keep in mind there are Human resources departments all over country who continue to require pre-employment drug testing and are eliminating possible candidates for ‘dirty’ drug test. The mind set of HR executives have not and will not change on this point.

No potential employer wants to hire someone off the street who is a user of any banded substance; especially those deemed by the court system (Federal, State and Local) to be punishable by law! So what is the point?

If these kinds of initiatives are allowed to pass because we are “short sited” and or naïve to the challenges of the real hiring criteria; then we will doom another generation of young potential hire’s. They will find most opportunities if not all open positions unavailable, and the doors that lead to them… slammed in their faces!

My friends’ society has to make several systemic changes in how we think about marijuana, its place in our everyday activities, and its place in the work place to pass with a vote of yes these types of propositions.

In states that have elected to approve a marijuana initiative, the question is… have they incorporated business leaders, community leaders, social leaders, and educational institutions and had an open dialog about how this all fits in to the real world?

Arizona wake up and smell the coffee. You may be looking at a significant increase in your already high and unmanageable unemployment numbers…

Make sense?

Team Onyx
Mark W. Wilcher
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.

Part V

Referent Power

This is the fifth and last of our topic series on Power.

Imagine the most charismatic individual you have ever known. What were the traits and behaviors you most admired, and why did you feel that way about them? Well, that’s the basis for Referent Power.

In the work place, the supervisor that is the most charming, and shows the highest level of influences over his / her work team; and continually produces the maximum results, is often extremely charismatic. Their behaviorial style is something that is appreciated and admired, even sought after by other managers and employees.  We use the term Charisma to identify actors (Betty White, Tom Cruise, and Denzel Washington), lawyers (Johnny Cochern), politicians (Ronald Regan, John Kennedy), ministers, the clergy, and sports figures… past and present as charismatic. The CEO of GE, Southwest Airline, Colon Powell and others have that distinction.

As employees and subordinates we find ourselves doing tasks and other functions within the scope of work simply because “that” charming leader asked us to; that my friend’s is Referent Power.

As a note, the five powers can be easily divided into two major categories, organizational power and personal power.

Organizational: Dictated by the organization, the position, or interaction patterns

Legitimate Power, Reward, and Coercive

Personal Power:

Expert, Referent powers are grounded in the person, not the organization.

The five powers we have discussed are also not independent of one another and can be used in a series of combinations or just one at a time to achieve the needed results and outcomes. As one is used to attain the results one seeks and the perceptions of those receiving them change, researchers see a drop in the other powers i.e. as coercive power increase; and we may see a significant drop in reward, referent and possibly legitimate power.

In closing, we should always as managers, supervisors and “C” level executives be forever vigilant to what types of power is being welded in our organizations. This exercise must happen to reduce abuse at the lowest levels (employee’s mistreatment, disruption in the work place, dissention, workers strikes, attrition, turnover, and lack of productivity, etc., and at the highest levels…fraud, embellishment, lack of moral conviction to the “Mission Statements” of the organization.

It is worth noting that there are three equally important types of power not mentioned in this piece. They are Structural Power, Decision Making Power and Informational Power, which lead to a discussion of such interesting topics as Empowerment, Interdepartmental Power and the Illusions of Power.

I would like to acknowledge the work of several professors, teachers and authors whose intellectual brilliance has directly contributed to this blog topic, they are: Professor Ivancevich & Professor Matteson, M. Kramer Roderick, Margaret A. Neale, R. Kanter, T. Duffy, R. Dahl, B. Ragins and John R. P. French, and B. Raven.

Their insights into how power is used will help you become a better supervisor, business owner and stewards of your employees.

Team Onyx
Mark Wilcher
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.

Coercive Power

It is the opposite of reward power because coercive power is the ultimate power to “Punish”, and followers, employees, subordinates will comply out of sheer fear.

There are all kinds of  real world situations that managers and supervisors employ; blocking that much deserved promotion you have been waiting on all year, or openly criticize a subordinate on his/her performance to his boss, being assigned fewer hours or your schedule is moved repeatedly etc. These tactics and behaviors are at the essence of coercive power. “I have the power to change your life if I so choose.”

Well guess what friends; you don’t necessarily have to be a manager, supervisor, director or anyone in management to possess coercive power.

Have you ever found yourself at a job and just wanted to be liked and accepted by your co-workers? It’s called the “fear of rejection”. What about a work slowdown and your co-workers as a whole support the activity, are you willing to stand alone and “buck” the whole? If the answer is yes then that’s coercive power being wielded by the group. Yet, they have no formal power over you.

Out of all of the power bases, this in my opinion can be the most destructive to an organization. As managers we must see it when it happens and put policies and procedures in place to prevent it from impacting. Abuse is waiting just around the corner.

Part IV

Expert Power

It’s special; it’s something that is highly valued and the person that possesses it is highly sought after. A person that is not high on the management totem pole can be a highly sought after expert in the organization. That employee may have a technical skill no one else in the company has, longevity in the company and may be the only person able to perform certain tasks, the administrative assistant that essentially runs the office or the that “super salesman” who has a close rate greater than any other person on staff.  How about the programmer who can figure out any problem faster and more efficiently than the owner of the firm?  Please don’t forget that very articulate teacher who raises more dollars for the school than any other teacher and all of the parents simply love.

The more difficult and uncomfortable it is to replace a person like that in your organization, the more expert power they possess; but expert power can be overestimated by the individuals ha hold it. There are numerous examples of when expert power has been misjudged in history. Napoléon, Douglas MacArthur, the air traffic controllers in the 1980’s and most recently, the general dismissed by President Obama in Afghanistan.  Organized labor is notorious for over estimating its influence and power over and employer.

Expert power is really a personal type of power and our first three types of power are rooted in an organization and its culture.

Next week we will discuss the impact of when power is miscalculated and how the people not involved perceive the outcomes.

Team Onyx
Mark Wilcher
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@ OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution. Get a FREE copy of our book “The ABCs of Leadership: The Simple Elegance of Getting to the Top… and What It Takes to Stay There.” Sign up here: http://www.OnyxGlobalHR.com/contactus.php.

Empowerment is not a zero sum game where management or employees, win or lose.  When implemented correctly employee empowerment is a collaboration, where both parties benefit.

This is something the most efficient and effective organizations understand.  This is something perennially rated ‘best companies’ understand.

Enlightened companies are not threatened by empowered employees; instead, they nurture and embrace employee empowerment.

Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO and oft referred to as the greatest CEO in American history understood the potential of employee empowerment as demonstrated in a memo to his shareholders within which he wrote:

“If you want to get the benefit of everything employees have, you’ve got to free them — make everybody a participant. Everybody has to know everything, so they can make the right decisions by themselves.”

The most effective employee empowerment practices focus on both the organization and the individual.  Using the 3D Employee Empowerment ModelTM employers are able to accelerate and more broadly institutionalize the behaviors necessary to sustain culture change.

Why is it important to make the effort to empower your workforce?  It is important because every level of your organization benefits.

1.    The organization will operate at its most efficient and effective because your workforce will operate with the mentality of an owner, reducing cycle times and costs and, improving quality and production.

2.    The department/team will operate with a renewed and common purpose, fueled by a team leader that is forward-thinking, able to delegate more, spend less time managing and spend more time leading team members.

3.    Employees will voluntarily contribute more to the organization through greater effort and creativity because they understand their mission, their importance to the success of the enterprise and are enabled to do what it takes to get the job done.  They are entrusted with greater responsibilities which result in higher job satisfaction, performance and personal development.

Some Managers May be Threatened

Autocratic managers that need to be in total control and dictate the day-to-day activities of their team will be threatened by an empowered workforce.  They will be uncomfortable with the loss of power and control over their minion.

Often they will feel their authority has been undermined and the ‘inmates are running the asylum’.  Within your organization, there are probably a limited number of autocratic managers and those can be addressed through training and development, or removing them from their supervisory role.

Most managers are not autocratic and will not be threatened by empowered employees.  It may take them a while to understand and embrace how an empowered team changes their role from managers to leaders, but once they assume those new responsibilities, managers will began to see how much easier and productive it makes their jobs!

Sustained Competitive Advantage

The most powerful advantage of employee empowerment is that it creates a sustainable competitive advantage.

Over the years, organization’s use of the assembly line, technology, access to capital, patents or information created a competitive advantage.  However, history has taught us that it is very difficult to sustain that advantage over time.

Competitors adapt because traditional competitive advantages can be documented and duplicated.

Developing a workforce with an ‘owner’s mentality’ that works every day in the best interest of the organization is much harder to duplicate; consequently, once achieved, an empowered workforce creates a competitive advantage that is enduring and enhanced over time.

So employee empowerment is not a zero sum game.  It truly is a collaboration that benefits the organization and its employees.

Team Onyx
Pierre A. Towns
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@ OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution. Get a FREE copy of our book “The ABCs of Leadership: The Simple Elegance of Getting to the Top… and What It Takes to Stay There.” Sign up here: http://www.OnyxGlobalHR.com/contactus.php.

Part II

Well my friends we began this discussion on just how really powerful a supervisor’s position is. The example we used was a supervisor asking a subordinate to put just a few extra hours on a time card to claim a little extra crash on his bi-monthly pay check… to be split later at Joe’s Bar and Grill.   The subordinate is faced with a choice, and an age old dilemma. Seek help from the supervisor’s supervisor, remain silent and comply with the request, or locate their “zone of indifference”.  If the employee thinks the company can afford a few extra dollars… then no big deal, and it fits into their “zone of indifference”.

But, the supervisor’s power over that employee is obvious.

So let’s talk about an even more realistic situation that recently happened in one of our nations’ mysteriously operated coal mines in the Mountains of Appalachia.  Seven men perished in a deadly mine blast. The cause was determined to be Methane gas. For centuries the coal mining industry has known that Methane gas possess the most serious threat to mine workers than in any other threat. Yet, men and women are still dying in our coal mines when humans are left to decide profit over safety; production over loss of life.

In this recent example a safety devise located in the mine, that detects the levels of methane gas was inoperable… broken and not working. The safety supervisor in the mine was aware of the malfunctioning monitoring device, but ordered a subordinate low level maintenance worker to leave the device in place and not replace it with one that worked. This of course would slow production, closing the mine until replaced. The supervisor was under the gun and had recently been called on the carpet for his production numbers.

The subordinate complied, even though he was placing his co-workers in deadly harm’s way. This workers ‘zone of indifference” assisted in the deaths of his co-workers and caused a supervisor to over exercise his real Power.
This worker’s “zone of indifference” should have been more narrow and discerning. The supervisor’s request was clearly wrong, but his power to request it was apparent. People died!

So let’s talk about the next phase of a supervisor’s power. Reward Power

This type of power is based on a person’s ability to reward a follower for compliance. It happens when a supervisor has / possesses a resource that another person wants and is more than willing to exchange that resource in return for a certain behavior. If the followers value the rewards or potential rewards the supervisor can provide (recognition, a better job assignment, a significant pay increase, perks, notoriety, etc.), they are more willing to broaden their “zone of indifference”. However, if the rewards are not seen as being less valuable, then the real power of a supervisor is diminished.

Coercive Power Next week.

Team Onyx
Mark Wilcher
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.

Folks, it’s our contention that the front line supervisor holds all, if not the most critical power in a company. The supervisor dictates activities in large or small, new or old, entrepreneurial or corporate life; and they wield this power at the highest levels of influence.

The supervisor has the first touch. They manage the first touch of new employees that have been invited to join your team of “experts”, and to begin the molding process in your business. The front line supervisor is expected to measure competency, performance, attitude and potential.

They see more of the people responsible for getting it done everyday than any manager, director, vice president, and certainly any CEO, COO. So what makes this role in a company so very critical?

Onyx Global HR will explore the concept behind supervisory “power”. We know that power is obtained through a variety of ways in an organization. All organizations adapt to their particular situation and to the environment that it creates or to the situations that are created for it, i.e., instant growth, downsizing, and economic recessions. Since power facilities that adaptation, the people and sub-groups within those organizations will be the holders of the real power.

Bertram Raven and Mr. John French suggest that there are five interpersonal sources of power:

•    Legitimate
•    Reward
•    Coercive
•    Expert
•    Referent

These five sources are not readily available to all levels of management, nor are they sought by all levels of management.

We will explore how the front line supervisor can if he/she so wishes, possess all of the five in the dispatch of their daily responsibilities.

So let us begin with the first, as the weeks go by we will look at all five.

LEGITIMATE POWER

Legitimate power refers to a person’s ability to influence other because of the position within organization they hold. It is also known as position power, because of the position itself. The position allows an individual who holds that position to influence –command—other individuals.

This formal power is what we call authority. The manager in power has the legitimate right to command others, or those in a lower position. Not following those orders can lead that employee to disciplinary actions, just as not following the order of society can lead to arrest and conviction.

1.    Legitimate power is invested in a person’s position
2.    It is accepted by subordinates as the supervisor’s “legitimate right”
3.    And that supervisors authority is used vertically. Flowing from top down.

Please remember that the all supervisor’s orders will be followed by subordinates, for a subordinate to follow that authority, the orders must fall within the subordinates zone of indifference…we will deep dive into the “zone just a bit.

A supervisors zone of influence is directly related to an employees’s “zone of indifference”.

For example, a supervisor asks that his subordinate fill out a time card for hours worked…no problem right; but what if the supervisor asked the same subordinate to add twenty hours of overtime for pay period onto that time card?

Our second example, is clearly out of the “zone of indifference”. The subordinate now cares about the supervisor’s position of power and his/her directive. Next week, a supervisors power when it comes to “rewards power”.

Team Onyx
Mark Wilcher
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.

I decided to write this article because I’m sick and tired of always pursuing the elusive ‘American Dream’ only to find an empty feeling of achievement at the end of the chase. Many of us spend the vast majority of our time seeking material riches and, as such, make many mistakes along life’s journey. Even though we all agree we can’t take it with us we keep killing ourselves trying to get it (no pun intended).

I have spent much of my career as a Human Resources executive coaching and counseling others on the best course to take to maximize their careers or their performance in a particular job. I rarely failed to feel after most of those sessions as if had only shared half of the story. Sure, I was pretty good at what I did ‘technically speaking’. Most of the time I gave really good advice and I even shared the latest process or tool or technique to maximize results! (At least I thought I did.) I received a lot of recognition over the years for being a wise counselor. But…I didn’t give them “…the rest of the story…” as Paul Harvey used to say.

We spent most of our time talking about a person’s dreams for success in career and material terms when, in fact, we should have been exploring what it takes to be significant. Tom Brokaw the great television news icon once said, “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” I couldn’t agree more. I’ve learned my lessons over the years and I can tell you that if I had to do it all again I would have the courage to leave the comfort of the herd in terms of sticking to the same old safe advice and give my clients the best guidance.

There are two enduring principles in life to remember…especially when thinking about success. First, you have the right to choose your path to success, whatever it is. Secondly, you change your life when you change your mind. So then, all real success starts with choosing where you want to go in life (or even if you want to) and its all about your mindset. Some people say it’s your attitude that makes all the difference. The Bible states it even more clearly; “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”

The real path to success in this life is to become ‘significant’. What is ‘significance’? How is it different from ‘success’? How do significant people behave anyway? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Significance defined is…the quality of having meaning. The quality of being important, being relevant or ‘special’. Being significant means living your life in such a way as to really make an enduring impact on people, places, or things. It means that the world is a much better place because you were here. Notice I didn’t say that the world is a better place because you made a lot of money, drove the finest cars, lived in the best neighborhoods, wore the best clothes, or had the nicest watch! You might meet a lot of folks’ definition of success but there is a big something that’s missing. That said you can’t be significant unless certain things happen.

First things first…we can’t allow ourselves to be imprisoned by our unforgiveness. In my personal and professional lives I have seen people live out entire careers and go to their graves mean, bitter, nasty, and unfulfilled because they chose to withhold their forgiveness.

The fact is that we’re destroying our own destiny for greatness because we choose to be stuck in unforgiveness. One of my favorite writers (and speakers) Jim Stovall was quoted to say, “We are not punished for our unforgiveness…we are punished by it.” We punish ourselves instead of the other person when we don’t forgive and in the process never reach our personal pinnacle of achievement.

We all know someone who is a real SOB who seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to accumulating material things. We tend to scratch our head and wonder if someone has God held hostage (after all, this is the ONLY plausible explanation for the bastard being as successful as he is.) However, my guarantee is that this person isn’t even close to being complete or fulfilled in his life. These are some of the most miserable folks on the planet! This isn’t how ‘significant’ people behave and these aren’t the results of a significant life.

How do significant people behave? They show Unconditional Love regardless of the situation or venue. This Unconditional Love is modeled whether at home, church, work, or the gym. They know the difference between ability, motivation, and attitude. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” (Raymond Chandler) A story I heard recently illustrates the point quite well.

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80′s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. A nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. She saw him looking at his watch and decided, since she was not busy with another patient, she would evaluate his wound. On examination, it was well healed, so she talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told her no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. She inquired as to his wife’s health. He told her that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s. As they talked, the nurse asked if the wife would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was and that she had not recognized him in five years now. Surprised, the nurse asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled as he patted her hand and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”

That is the kind of impact we all want in our lives. True love is about being significant and is neither physical, nor romantic. Being significant is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. The happiest people…significant people…don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

I want to leave you with a great poem about making the best of everything we have. That’s when we find true success. That’s when we become significant.

Be The Best of Whatever You Are

“If you can’t be a tree at the top of the hill be shrub in the valley but be,

The best little tree on the side of the hill, be a bush if you can’t be a tree!

We can’t all be captains some have to be crew, there is plenty of work for us here.

There is big work to do and lesser work to do, and the work for US to do is near.

If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail, if you can’t be the sun be a star.

It isn’t by size that you win or you fail, be the best of whatever you are!”

Author Unknown

Here’s to YOUR success…oops, I mean your ‘significance’ journey. There are others who are waiting on you to impact their lives and your destiny.
Team Onyx
Doug Bender Sr.
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.

Let me ask you a question.  What would your leaders say about the state of affairs in your workplace?  Do employees believe in your organization that recognition is important?  If recognition is important, how do you retain your talent using recognition as a key strategy?  Finally, what does recognition look like in your organization?

Let’s take a look at a few facts.  Only 4% of 90,000 applicants annually at Southwest Airlines are actually hired.  That’s only 3600 lucky people!  What makes Southwest Airlines so popular that 90,000 people would compete for 3600 jobs?  I contend that Southwest Airlines is a great place to work and that people are recognized for their contribution that they made to the organization.

A New York Times study revealed that 25% of employees reported being driven to tears in the workplace.  50% of those individuals call their place of work a place of verbal abuse and yelling.  30% say that they are regularly given unrealistic deadlines and 50% indicate that they have to work 12 hour days just to get all the work done.  What is happening in the American workplace today that leads employees to such poor opinions about their workplace?

There’s more!  The Harvard business review estimates that ‘presenteeism’ (that is lost productivity that occurs when employees come to work but perform below par due to any kind of illness, low morale, or poor work attitude) costs the United States $150 billion annually. These folks are “present, but not fully accounted for…” In a 1999 study sponsored by the Employers Health Coalition, researchers calculated that the costs of lost productivity are 7.5 times greater than costs due to absenteeism.

The Gallup organization has conducted studies that say, as much as 30% of the average workforce is actively disengaged.  That means these employees are not working to fulfill the organizations agenda, but rather their own.

This article explores the critical role that employee recognition plays in organizations today.  In addition, I hope to provide readers with some clues on how to increase your organizational effectiveness and to make the business case for increasing the strategic significance of recognition in your organizations today.

We have all seen many talent management models from great leadership thinkers in recent decades.  They all champion some form of organizational design that supports vision, planning and forecasting, succession planning, recruiting and staffing, and so on.

I have included a step in a model that I use that suggests that recognition is a key element of effective talent management for organizations.  Recognition can be a strategic force, a superior communications methodology, and emotional bond between management and workers, a commitment builder, and an impact on your bottom line.

However, organizations must embrace the fact that recognition is critical to their success. It must be accepted as an organizational value. Interestingly, creating and implementing a recognition strategy in your organization doesn’t have to cost much, but can yield huge dividends.  The fact is, without proactively doing something about the absence of a clear recognition strategy in your organization, the negative effect in your business can be significant.

Those individuals in the organization that feel that they are not recognized are essentially hidden employees doing just enough to get by.  Many of them grumbling and complaining, and they pass their behavior along to new employees insuring a continuous negative impact on the organization’s bottom line.

Here are more facts to consider.  A Lynn Learning Labs 1998 survey indicate 88% of employees of feel that there is not enough acknowledgment of their work.  Further, a Hewitt Associates, global study estimates that 54% of the workforce in low performing companies is disengaged.

A Conference Board’s 2005 study indicate that two out of three workers are not motivated to drive the Company’s business goals.  Guess what?  If employees are not motivated to drive your organization’s business goals, whose goals are they promoting?

Interestingly, management doesn’t have a clue as to the impact of poor recognition practices in the workplace.  The same Conference Board study indicated that 65% of US workers reported receiving no recognition for good work performed (2003).

What’s surprising is that over 50% of managers agree that they do not recognize employee performance!  Even worse, nearly 75% of managers do not see a need for a companywide approach to managing employee performance.  No wonder we’re having such massive turnover in organizations.

It’s not all driven by layoffs and reorganizations or mergers and acquisitions. Even in a recessionary environment like that of 2009 there were still employees (albeit not as many as in prior years) who decided to jump ship because they weren’t being valued.

A Gallup Organization study on recognition concluded that a properly designed and implemented recognition strategy can 1) increase individual productivity, 2) increase employee engagement, 3) result in higher retention rates, 4) result in higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers and, 5) yield better safety records in fewer accidents than those experienced by organizations without recognition initiatives.

So how do you know when you’ve succeeded at implementing relevant recognition initiatives in your workplace?  There are some tried-and-true indicators.  Employee turnover should be lower and employee feedback scores in organizational surveys should be higher.  Safety issues and claims should decrease while increase in quality scores in feedback should result.
As your recognition initiatives become implemented you should see an increase in satisfactory customer service and a corresponding increase in productivity as well.  The definition of success can and does vary from organization to organization.  You need to determine what the right success measures are for your work environment.

A final thought.  Newscientist.com news magazine stated that working for a boss an employee dislikes increase the chances of heart disease by 16% and the risk of stroke by 33% (2003)!  Implementing full recognition initiatives in the workplace may not improve your employees’ medical condition, but it will create less stress and strife in the work environment.

I encourage you to learn as much as you can about the power of recognition and how you can use it as an inexpensive strategic opportunity for your business.  Books like ‘The 24 Carrot Manager’ and ‘Managing with Carrots’ are excellent in helping you understand what it takes to quickly engage your employees and keep them that way.  The Jackson Organization has written a white paper on recognition that contains great insights into the impact of recognition aligned with the organization’s bottom line. (Just ‘Google’ them.)

Starts helping your organization today by identifying what you believe are the first three steps in the process of developing and implementing strategic recognition initiatives in your work environment.  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Poll other organizations out there similar to yours who are willing to share their practices with you.  Your employees will thank you for it through greater productivity results and higher retention.

Good luck!

Team Onyx
Doug Bender Sr.
Onyx Global HR
www.OnyxGlobalHR.com
(866)715-4806
info@OnyxGlobalHR.com

We provide Custom HR Solutions For CEO’s and Senior HR Executives. Onyx Global HR is one of the foremost respected Human Resources Consulting Firms providing fast and reliable high-level HR expertise and thought leadership to our clients with a focus on reliable and effective execution.