Welch once famously said, "If any company wants to gain a competitive advantage ... it must keep every employee focused." He went on to explain in an article: "Any company, big or small, can't gain a long-term competitive advantage if its employees are skeptical about its mission and don't know how to achieve its goals."

Many people agree with Welch. Outstanding global business leaders, including Bill? Gates, Steve? Jobs Warren. Buffett and Richard? Names such as Branson are usually closely associated with the word wealth and are supporters of employee engagement. If employee engagement is important for large companies, it is even more important for small and medium-sized enterprises. Small enterprises have limited human resources, and usually "poach" excellent employees from other organizations to fill the vacancies of their star employees after leaving their jobs. Whether the newly recruited excellent employees can continue their excellent performance is still unknown.

Therefore, employee participation is very important. But the problem is that according to a global survey by Tower Perrin, only 1 of every seven employees in the world is dedicated, that is, only 14%.

What are the enterprises in China? Compared with the global average, employee participation is low. According to the survey, only 8% of enterprises in China, that is, less than 12 employees are dedicated.

The result is that the lack of dedicated employees leads to the inefficiency of Chinese enterprises and the loss of huge profits. Through the comparative study of income, Heyi Group found that the working efficiency of an organization composed of dedicated employees is 43% higher.

The solution is to make employees more dedicated, thus improving work efficiency, bringing more profits to the company and retaining more loyal customers. "Employee engagement" means that employees can work, firmly believe in the values pursued by the company, are proud of serving the company, and are willing to make more efforts for the success of the company.

The research of Watson Wyatt Consulting Company shows that the performance of enterprises with high engagement is 47% higher than that of enterprises with low engagement. Another consulting firm ISR's global employee engagement survey shows that the profit level of enterprises with high employee engagement is significantly higher than that of enterprises with low employee engagement. The most powerful proof is that the difference between the annual growth rate of operating income of these two types of enterprises exceeds 50%!

Success leads to failure.

So, whose fault is it that employees are not dedicated enough?

Of course, it is easy for you to put the blame on the enterprise itself. Many enterprises can't effectively retain employees, can't let employees play their biggest role, and have no corporate culture to cultivate and motivate employees.

However, putting all the responsibility on the enterprise has spared the real culprit-leadership. Gallup Consulting made the word "employee engagement" widely known in its world-renowned survey. Its research found that the most dedicated organizations and some of the least dedicated organizations … actually come from the same company!

This proves that as an individual leader, it has a greater impact on engagement than as a whole enterprise.

Marcus, a consultant of Gallup Consulting and one of the authors of the best-selling book "First of all, break all the rules"? Marcus Buckingham pointed out that the relationship between an employee and his immediate superior determines how long he will stay in the company and how efficient he is during his work in the company. "Working for a very good boss in a less fashionable company is better than working for a bad boss in an enlightened, employee-centered company."

This also means that leaders who can improve their subordinates' engagement should be praised. How did they do it? There are many ways to improve employee engagement, and here we list some effective methods that have been verified by leading global enterprises.

lead by example

When it comes to professionalism, leaders must set an example. If even leaders can't lead by example, how can they expect their subordinates to be dedicated? Hajdrik &; Struggles) shows that this is the crux of China enterprises: 7% of the enterprises surveyed said that they lost 15% ~ 20% of their senior managers in the past year. Only two years ago, only 2% of enterprises had such a high turnover rate of senior managers.

A leading global industrial and commercial enterprise and research institute released a more surprising statistic: 20% of human resource managers in China enterprises skipped this slot. This ironic phenomenon makes it difficult for many enterprises to recruit and retain employees. Who wants to get on a cruise ship that even the captain wants to abandon the ship?

Top managers' job-hopping may be good for their career, but it is bad for their leadership, because continuous leadership is priceless. Just ask those who put the bill? Respondents who were selected by Gates as the most revered leader in their minds will know.

"Bill? Gates was elected as the most respected leader in the world in 2005 because everyone realized his sustainable management ability in the company he founded. " The planner of this survey, Boya Public Relations Company? Leslie Gaines-Ross commented.

The most respected CEOs in the world are "their own", that is, these CEOs have worked for the company for at least 3 years. They were elected according to their long-term performance in the company.

The enlightenment to the top managers in China is that if they want to win for a long time, they should strive to be "one of their own".

Let employees and brands connect with each other

According to a recent survey of British employees, Richard? Branson was chosen as the boss who wanted to work for him the most. Virgin's boss is the first choice for British employees, and 44% of employees want him to be their own leader.

Mackley McClymont, the head of the survey, pointed out: "There is no doubt that a strong leader has contributed to improving employee engagement. Branson's unique personal charm is the perfect embodiment of this, which is why he is so popular all over the world. However, the survey also pointed out that many employees want to work under bosses with similar habits. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges faced by managers is how to respond to the different needs of diversified subordinates by adopting flexible and eclectic management methods. "

Branson is not surprised by his popularity among employees, because he always puts employees at the center of the business model. In an interview, he said that his company was able to enter many fields, including music, aviation, carbonated drinks, mobile phones and so on, because its brand promise and brand tenet can combine these industries. So, what can keep brand promise alive? The answer is enterprise employees.

"Employees must feel that they are part of the brand and part of the company's mission." Branson said. With the continuous development of enterprises, it is easy for employees to forget the mission of the company. What human resources experts often say is that enterprise leaders must ensure that every employee puts "the focus of attention on customers". This means that no matter what the employee's job is, he must always know clearly how his behavior will affect his customers.

Have you established such a channel between your employees and customers?

One more question: Can you be sure that the relationship between service and profit is clear?

This is the so-called "service profit chain" In fact, as early as james heskett of Harvard Business School and others published "Making the Service-Profit Chain Work", the topic of employee engagement has aroused widespread concern.

The concept of service profit chain is simple: employees can only stay in the company if they are satisfied with their jobs, improve their work efficiency only if they are retained, improve their service value only if they improve their work efficiency, improve their customer satisfaction only if they improve their service value, be loyal only if they are satisfied with their customers, and improve their profit level and growth rate.

In short: dedicated employees can bring loyal customers and create greater profits for the company.

The service profit chain is also one of the elements of Branson's leadership philosophy and the cornerstone of his establishment of the Virgin Empire.

As Branson himself said: "From the beginning, we tried to build Virgin into a brand that represents quality, value, fun and challenges. In the process of determining the brand connotation, we always think that the most important thing for a company is employees, followed by customers and shareholders. Because if employees make a commitment, customers will be satisfied and shareholders will benefit from the success of the company. "

Spend more time with employees.

One of the most important questions that any leader needs to answer is: What do you do most of the time?

If employee engagement is the most critical success factor of an enterprise, then leaders should pay more time and energy for it. The most successful business leaders, such as Jack? Welch and Bill? Gates usually spends 30%~50% of his time on talent discovery, listening, training, evaluation, development, recognition, reward, encouragement and thinking.

Inc.com columnist Allen Schweier pointed out that in today's knowledge economy era, the pros and cons of a professional manager lie in whether he can put in time and energy to make use of talents. A manager with 10 subordinates works about 550 hours a week on average in his jurisdiction. Ordinary managers usually only spend five to six hours managing their subordinates. "This level of investment is simply impossible to make effective use of 500 working hours of all its subordinates."

70%~80% of the value of knowledge-based enterprises comes from the intangible assets of enterprises, including brands, innovations, concepts and ideas, in other words, talents. The first task of managers is to let the talents of enterprises do their best, so that enterprises can gain competitive advantage. At present, the most important tool of talent management is to make employees (especially excellent employees) feel that the company values their value and give them appropriate rewards. Time and again, employee surveys have revealed the truth that recognizing and rewarding employees, even if it is only a heartfelt thanks from a respected manager, is also the most effective means to motivate employees and a way to improve their professionalism.

Look at your priorities this year. Are you going to spend 80% of your working time on improving shareholder returns, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction? This kind of plan is common because most managers will continue to pay attention to profit performance. You must realize that this ignores people's leadership, because you only spend 20% of your time dealing with these things.

Sharon Jordan-Evans and Beverly Kaye, the authors of Love them or Lose them: Let Excellent People Stay, point out that, in contrast, enterprises with leading performance will require managers to spend 80% of their working time managing and cultivating their direct subordinates, as well as motivating and retaining enterprise talents.

"Senior managers must set an example and advocate professionalism and behavior, such as discussing their career development plans with employees, respecting others without losing their dignity, and rewarding employees' work performance in various ways. At the same time, managers at all levels must be responsible for the lack of dedication of employees. This means rewarding managers who successfully motivate and retain talents and setting them as role models for learning. " Jordan Evans and Kay pointed out.

Put front-line employees at the center of talent strategy

Buckingham said that effective leaders should "favor one over the other". In his book "First of all, break all the rules", he wrote that managers usually waste too much time on the least efficient employees and only spend the least time on the most efficient employees. In his view, a good manager should spend more time on the best employees, because this is the fairest, the best way for a leader to grasp the truth and the only way to concentrate on achieving Excellence.

Some leaders are even more meticulous, focusing their time and energy on the best front-line employees who directly face customers.

When GTE Company (now owned by Verizon) made its first step towards the goal of being a world-class telecom service provider, the company changed its corporate culture and encouraged leaders to pay more attention to front-line employees.

The first question they face is: "How can all the 64,000 employees of the enterprise take a positive attitude towards the change of the enterprise?" The answer to this question makes them focus on how to make front-line employees provide services to customers more enthusiastically and effectively.

Best Buy, an electrical retail chain giant, also holds the same view. If the enterprise strategy is to put customers at the center of all business, then the enterprise must put the needs of employees at the center of the enterprise, especially those employees who directly face customers.

Brad anderson, CEO of Best Buy, said, "I really care about employee engagement at Best Buy. If I can only choose one indicator, then this is my choice: how dedicated are my employees? If they are really dedicated, then other indicators need not be worried. Employee engagement is the core part. "

Let's look at the story of how a manager named Gonzalez brought the troubled Best Buy chain back to life. He renamed the store "Innovation" and specially praised every small achievement made by the employees. He will whistle to every employee and tell them to whistle loudly to any employee as long as they see that their practices are innovative. In terms of sales growth, profit growth, customer satisfaction and employee loyalty, this store is the best chain store in Best Buy. "

What Gonzalez does is actually simple: recognize the efforts of employees. Schwier pointed out in his column that the most important factor to improve employees' engagement is nothing more than recognition and appreciation.

Improve flexible leadership

One last suggestion: In order to succeed in the increasingly bad business environment, leaders must work hard on "flexibility". ..

Does this sound counterintuitive? Managers who think that "flexible" skills (people-related skills) are more important than "rigid" skills (business-related skills) will not think so.

In fact, some experts suggest that enterprises should choose emotional rather than rational managers. This runs counter to the traditional recruitment concept. David Maister, the author of "Match Words with Actions", explained: "The biggest problem in improving the management level of employees is that in many companies, the criterion for selecting managers is not whether they have the quality to be managers, but more whether they have superb technical ability, business ability or the ability to bring profits to the company."

So what qualities should enterprises pay attention to when looking for efficient managers? Meister pointed out that since the manager's duty is to complete the task in the process of managing others, then a manager must have the ability to create energy, passion and enthusiasm. "Essentially, it is the ability to manage other people's emotions. Management ability is not a logical, rational or intellectual ability, but more a social, interpersonal and emotional ability. "

It seems that no department is more like a "rigid" business department than finance, and no department is more like a "flexible" business department than human resources. However, TV Mohandas Pai, the chief financial officer of Infosys, an international IT company headquartered in India, suddenly became the human resources director of the company. This shows that under the leadership of N.R. Narayana Murthy, one of the founders and chairman of the company, the company attaches great importance to talents.

Mercy and his six friends started Infosys from scratch at 198 1 for $250, and it has become a legend with a market value of $20 billion. However, he always believed that the key to Infosys' success was his concern for talents. He made three promises to Infosys employees: competitive salary, high-quality working environment and modern technology. At that time, hundreds of employees had become millionaires.

Flexible skills are also crucial for top managers in China. According to the survey of Heidegger International Consulting Company, although 40% of the respondents believe that understanding the external market environment and customer orientation is the most important management ability, it is closely followed by leadership and decision-making ability (37%) and communication and interpersonal skills (35%).

Many managers expressed support for this result. Rudi von Meister, manager of Fiat's joint-venture truck manufacturing base in China, said, "You must have excellent communication skills, listening skills, leadership skills, and be willing to show humility, especially in an environment that you are proud of."

ICI Paints, one of the largest paint suppliers in the world, also attaches great importance to these skills, and 40% of the management performance appraisal of its business department managers in China comes from their performance in recruiting, cultivating and retaining employees.

The conclusion drawn from all this evidence is self-evident. Now there is only one question left: Are you ready to be a "flexible" leader? Your employees are waiting for you. Recommend "flying geese mode" and "building sunshine mentality". You can add my email address to qwwang@mmi.com.sg, and I can send some to you!