How Far We’ve Come and How Much Further We Can Go!

Back when I first entered the job market, management style was very different from how it is today.

In those days, management taught us to do our jobs a certain way, and we did it that way. After all, we weren’t as experienced as management in process analytics and process improvement. Management had conducted a lot of tests on the best way to achieve results, so it only made sense to follow the proven path rather than make the same mistakes that they had already learned from.

Of course, business was different then. American commerce was mostly manufacturing defined products and then marketing those products. In my short lifespan, our economy has transitioned from a manufacturing base to one that is more heavily dependent on services. Providing services by its nature, rather than defined products, requires us to be more adaptable.

At the same time, people like W. Edwards Deming taught us a better way. He and others introduced us to Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM taught us that we achieve a higher level of client satisfaction when we involve not only management, but employees, suppliers and even customers in meeting and hopefully exceeding customer expectations. This is one of the concepts that Incept alludes to when we use our phrase: “leading though listening.” It would be interesting to hear any specific examples of leading though listening that people see here at Incept. Share those insights with me, would you please?

All of us as today’s employees, make a significant impact on management style as well. We now have a workforce that wants to do a lot more than just punch a time clock, put in their hours, take their paycheck and go home. We have people who want to be a part of something bigger, who want to really contribute ideas for delivering service faster, better and at a lower cost. Most of you appear to want to be truly engaged with the goals of the organization.

It brings me a lot of pride to be connected with a company like Incept that listens to those needs and gives all employees that opportunity to help us reach a state of continuous improvement. When the Live The Brand Steering Committee first embarked on making Incept a world-class place to work, one of the primary steps was to ask employees about the kinds of things that stood in the way of enhancing relationships and producing meaningful results. We spent literally hours and hours reading and re-reading comments from focus groups, suggestions from the suggestion box and recommendations that came through the management channels.

Later this month, I’ll write a little about our interpretations of what we heard and how we responded. But for now, I’d like to hear how this engagement made you feel.

Do you think asking employees how to improve culture is a good way to go about creating a world-class culture?

Would you rather simply be asked to identify likely barriers to meaningful conversations or is it important for management to also ask employees to help come put with potential solutions?

What other methods could we use to gather team member feedback? I’m truly eager to hear your ideas!

I’m all ears!

[Picture Credit: mobisinc.com]