Fewer employees seem to feel called to go above and beyond in their roles. How are you adjusting your management style AND organizational design to accommodate this? Is it worthwhile to try and inspire employees to do more, or should we re-think how we define “rockstar employees”? How do you handle career planning for employees who fully meet but do not exceed expectations?
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VP of Supply Chain10 months ago
Every employee needs and has a development plan, because every employee deserves one. These plans may look different from one employee to the next. In terms of management style and organizational philosophy, this has helped to reenergize the employee population to go above and beyond in their roles. Managers are evaluated on their adherence to and commitment to every employee's development. Setting up this structure hits at every level in the organization, becoming a motivator for people to bring their whole self to the job. Commitment is largely tied to opportunities that employees see and the organization’s commitment to their career development. Development is about more than promotions but expanding skills and competency. We need to invest in all employee development, not just concentrate our focus on the highest potential individuals.VP of Supply Chain10 months ago
How should we redefine Rockstar employees? Honestly, if you have somebody willing and capable, they’re a rockstar employee. If someone is willing to invest in the company's mission and invest in themselves, they’re a rockstar employee.
In terms of people who don't fully meet or exceed expectations, sometimes you have to assess whether that's an issue of fit, whether something is going on with them in their personal lives that you can help support them with—understanding the problem and addressing the root cause to get them back on track.
Sustainable Supply Chain Adviser in Healthcare and Biotech10 months ago
Thank you John, can only agree with your points here!
Sustainable Supply Chain Adviser in Healthcare and Biotech10 months ago
Everyone has to have a development plan and they deserve fair feedback and fair support from their leadership to give a stellar performance.I'd turn the question around: are we really observing leadership going above and beyond their roles that we expect every employee to do so?
Is that really true?
I'm going to be really frank here: I wish I saw all leaders going above and beyond their job description on paper, but that's not true. There are many, who could not be a worse role model in many organisations.
So why do we expect every employee to be rock stars every day and are these explicitly communicated to the employees?
I can confirm what I see as a leader working for me:
Be a rock star every day yourself and lead by example. Then employees will follow.
Even in my last 2 interim roles, I took over teams where people were mentally or officially resigned, burnt out (smaller teams, full SC coverage, between 5-15 people).
What helped is that they saw my enthusiasm and motivation every day, they saw that I was eager to solve the issues we faced.
Within 2-3 months, they regained their motivation and their performance improved a lot.
The permanent successors who stepped into the roles do the same and the teams are now working really well, beyond the expectations on paper.
I don't claim that this works every time as you can have employees, who are beyond mental departure. You need to let them go and support them to find something meaningful for themselves.
If the employee is not a good fit for the role, then again the leader has the responsibility to either find another role in the organisation or outside.
On another note: many companies try to give "goodies" to employees (fruit basket, whatever else), but they don't provide career progression & real knowledge development or authority and real responsibilities in many roles.
If a company is not willing to invest in their employees beyond their pay package, why is the expectation to go above and beyond the job that's agreed on paper?
An employment contract is a two-way street. It is time, employers start realising that.