Are You Waiting For The Cow To Bolt?

Keep an eye on the right indicators to understand workforce challenges

If you are seeking to improve performance and revenue for your organization, no doubt you know that given the mindset and motivations of today’s employees, managers have to manage (and not just manage – lead) in a way that elicits strong performance.  This is easier said than done. Our last blog, Managers, Do You Know How Important the Quality of Your Leadership Is? provides you with evidence that if you want to improve performance, you’ll get the best bang for your buck by providing better support for your managers. 

In an eye-opening blog, Take Two Aspirin and Complete this Engagement Survey, Mark Hirschfeld has raised some important points about using employee engagement surveys to get a pulse on your workforce. He also discusses the use of metrics like turnover and profits and the challenge that using such metrics presents since organizations often don’t realize there is a problem until it is too late. He makes an excellent health analogy that relates closely to business health. How would we as individuals know that we are in good health? We feel alright, sleep OK and seem to have enough energy to get through the day but when we look a little closer we see that our blood pressure is high, cholesterol levels are climbing and our BMI (body mass index) is far above desired standards for a healthy lifestyle. Would you want to wait until your doctor gives you a warning to know if you are at high risk for a major health problem such as a heart attack or cancer? The first step is getting your blood pressure and weight checked along with cholesterol levels. Then, if you know there could be a concern down the road, what would you do about it? You could start an exercise program, or commit to eating healthier…

Similarly, would you not want to know well ahead of a crisis if your business and workforce is at risk of a major challenge in the marketplace that would bring reduced profits…. To know now that potential issues are looming on the horizon and take proactive action could be the only thing that keeps your company from a major setback that could be crippling. Sadly, too many executives and managers rely on lagging indicators, and based on these indicators may be deluding themselves that “We are doing OK.” This is a bit like driving the car while looking in the rear-view mirror. 

What indicators would you look for that would act as a check up on your workplace and workforce?  If your organization conducts employee surveys, that’s a beginning but only a beginning.  In addition to surveys, there are several more indicators that can help:
 

If you use these indicators to do an informal check-up on your organization, how would your organization fare?

Want to take these ideas a step further?  Here is an idea.  Share this article with some co-workers and ask them to do their own check up of your organization.  Then compare results.  You could have a very useful conversation that might lead to beneficial action!  (That would also advance the needle when it comes to collaboration and some other indicators!)

Whatever indicators or combination of indicators your organization uses, what is most important is that these indicators enable you to listen and take action on what you hear proactively rather than after the fact when it may be too late.  Listening and collecting data frequently can give an ongoing indication of workplace challenges and the health of your workforce and help prevent problems such as:

If you could minimize or prevent these or related issues, do you know how much money you could save?  How much more competitive could your organization become?

In closing, we invite you to consider another indicator (if you have this one on your dashboard, good for you!): the effectiveness of your managers.  

Are your managers able to get the superior performance your organization needs to succeed in today’s demanding environment?  This is a crucial indicator and because it’s critical to your success, our next blog is devoted to it.  So check back soon.    
Are you keeping an eye on the right indicators to understand the challenges your workforce is facing and taking action on these issues, before the “cow is out of the barn?” If you need a workforce health check up to make sure your company is not headed for rough waters let us know.