Guidelines for Improved Employee Effectiveness
Author: Eric Thompson
Eric Thompson suggests six guidelines for improved employee effectiveness in the workplace.
Improved employee effectiveness is sensible target for any organisation. Studies have shown a clear link between the effective employee and the successful organisation. Investing in making employees more effective has much the same beneficial return as an investment in equipment or facilities. The problem is that employee effectiveness is a complex issue. There are many factors involved. They interact with one another, and a genuine attempt to improve one factor may backfire with a negative effect on other factors.
In this article we look briefly at the factors involved and suggest a simple set of guidelines that any organisation can use that avoid the negative reactions.
A Model for Improved Employee Effectiveness
To help our understanding we have proposed a model for improved employee effectiveness. If you would like to know more about the derivation of this model please read our article “Understanding Employee Effectiveness”.
The individual brings capability and a conditional commitment to the party. The organisation provides leadership, a set of values, a sense of direction and processes and systems that enable the work to be achieved. It takes both parties to complete this moral contract, and as with any contract if either side breaks it, its value is lost. Effectiveness is, for example, just as likely to be lost through the organisation trying to change direction, as from the employee becoming de-motivated.
It is also clear from the model that neither party own all of the moral ground. The individual’s commitment is given in return for what the individual sees as an attractive set of leadership, values and direction from the organisation. Similarly, to be fully effective, the individuals’ capability has to be matched by the organisation’s tools, systems and processes.
Guidelines for Improved Employee Effectiveness
The model shows that employee effectiveness only improves if all of the individual factors improve as well. The factors interact so actions taken in an attempt to improve one factor could have a detrimental effect elsewhere. As an example, actions taken by leaders to change the direction of the organisation may mean that some of the systems and processes are no longer appropriate and may, temporarily at least, affect the commitment of some employees who find themselves having to deliver a new product with systems that were not designed with that in mind.
A strategy for creating improved employee effectiveness needs to take these interactions into account. I have evolved a set of guidelines for improved employee effectiveness that try to positive interactions between the factors and will hopefully set you on the right road.
Employee Capability
“Appoint suitably qualified individuals into the role, and encourage continuous development of each employee’s capability whilst they are in the role.”
Dealing with capability is a two part process. The first comes through making sure that the basic requirements are in place from the start. Ensure that the recruit has the necessary minimum set of behaviours, competencies, skills and knowledge to carry out the job. The key to that lies in the interview process .
The second part is achieved by ensuring that the appointed individual can develop in the role. The appropriate systems and processes must be in place for that to happen. To ensure the employee's commitment, development of the capability should continue for as long as the employee is in the role.
Organisational Systems
“Seek the employees help with improvement of the organisation's the tools, systems and processes to allow each individual to be effective and efficient when compared with the competition.”
The familiar proverb has it that “a poor workman blames his tools”. However, a good workman, or in our case an engaged workman, will be limited in effectiveness by having to use inferior tools and poor systems of work.
“Employee commitment is enhanced… by being involved...”
The minimum criterion to aspire to is that the tools, systems and processes are fit for purpose. However, it could be argued that “fit for purpose” and “fully effective” are not the same thing. Hand sewing, for example, would produce garments that are fit for the purpose of wearing, but would be unable to compete commercially with garments that are produced by machine. The organisation has therefore to develop the tools, systems and processes. The target is to allow the individual to be effective and efficient when compared with other organisations that may do similar things.
Engaging employees in the task of systems improvement has a knock on effect on the other factors. Employee commitment is enhanced, for example, by being involved in that process and being able to influence how the organisation works.
Leadership
“Leaders set the vision, define objectives, champion the need for improvement and are the most visible demonstration of whether the organisation behaves as it says it will.”
There are three main requirements of leaders in the context of employee effectiveness.
Firstly, leaders must create the vision that defines the values and the culture and keep that up to date as the organisation delivers, remembering that employees have to buy into them to remain engaged and effective.
Secondly, the leaders need to communicate to their employees both what the organisation is about and how it will achieve what it intends. That communication comes as much from the way that they behave as from what they say.
Thirdly, leaders have to champion the need for improvement.
Leadership in an organisation comes from many levels. Messages often need to be reinterpreted to make them useable elsewhere in the pyramid. Workgroups need to see behaviours displayed that are relevant to them. It is that collective exercise of leadership that matters here.
Organisation Values and Culture
“The values of the organisation need to be defined in an accessible way. The way in which the organisation goes about its business needs to demonstrate those values and make it attractive for people who hold similar values to join.”
Employees are all the time looking for evidence that the organisation behaves in the way that it has committed to. Gaps between the reality and that commitment will be taken as evidence that the organisation is not to be trusted.
Leaders need to make sure that the values are well thought out in relation to the mission, and that the employees understand what is expected. Where there is a deliberate attempt to change the values and culture that can only succeed if employees believe that the changes will be beneficial. A change that has employee involvement is more likely to retain employee commitment to the organisation than one which does not.
Organisation Identity and Direction
“Ensure that the organisation's systems and process support what the organisation is trying to achieve.”
Employees need to know what the organisation is trying to achieve and their own part in that. As events unfold, communication is essential to keep the goals in sight, to understand any changes that may be required and to convey progress.
For the employees to remain effective in the face of such change, then there needs to balancing changes to the organisational systems, values and culture to align them with the new direction.
Employee Commitment
“Monitor the commitment of each employee as a basis for trying to understand and develop it.”
The commitment comes from the employee in response to the “moral” package that they perceive that the organisation is offering. Where leadership has produced values and direction that align with those of the employee, such that trust develops, so will the commitment. The employee becomes motivated to do their best for the employer. The commitment is of course conditional and can ebb and flow as fortunes change. Any number of things may happen on both sides which will reduce or destroy that commitment altogether.
Employee motivation is a complex issue and one that needs a lot of attention. There is no simple solution. The moral contract between each employee and the organisation is unique to that individual and needs to be nurtured on that basis.
“The moral contract between each employee and the organisation is unique...”
Surveys of employee engagement can provide information about the overall climate that the organisation has set. Trends can be spotted and acted upon. If, however, we want to develop the commitment of a specific employee we need information on an individual basis.
The starting point is to assess how committed the individual is and to monitor that on a regular basis. You can explore our thoughts on measuring commitment further in my article "Increased Employee Productivity – The Contribution of Employee Effectiveness". Once it is being monitored, the organisation can then begin to try to develop that commitment.
Getting it Together
Our guidelines for improved employee effectiveness take into account the impact that a change in one factor will have on all the other factors. Improved effectiveness requires that the actions taken to improve any one factor have a positive impact on the others.