Emenex Weekly News

Each week we bring you news, opinions and research on Employee Engagement, Leadership and Motivation, along with some thoughts on practical workplace applications.

Google’s Four Rules of Recruitment

You may have read about Google’s Project Oxygen and its 8 rules (behaviours) for effective managers.  If not, Forbes has created a succinct infographic  that summarises them.  This week we get an insider’s perspective in what Google’s rules for recruitment are.  You can read more about them here, but in essence they are:

  1. General cognitive ability
  2. Role-relevant knowledge
  3. Leadership
  4. ‘Googleyness’

Rule #3 and #4 are interesting. Regardless of role or seniority, Google look for leadership potential.  Even before day 1 they are looking at long term career progression and retention.  Google are also looking for the X (or is that G) factor: people who can work in an ambiguous environment in a disruptive industry.  Essentially people who are good at change, are quick to adapt and are able not just to join the dots, but see new dots to connect.

Change as a core competency. Isn’t that something that every organisation should aspire to?

It’s time to move beyond engagement.  Empower and align employees with organisational priorities to build a culture of high performance, well being and career satisfaction.  To learn more, call 03450 523 593

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Blog: Leadership Behaviour – What Matters

There must be a possibility – I don’t know the present odds – that Donald Trump could achieve his goal to become president of the United States of America.  That’s a democratically elected leader serving some 320 million citizens, many of whom, as is the way in democracies, will feel instantly disenfranchised.Trump

But unlike the vast majority of politicians at this level Donald Trump can draw substantially from his leadership abilities as the head of large enterprise. Would this career experience give him an advantage in turning things around: attracting Democrats, shall we say, to become more engaged with his vision, values and policies?

As McKinsey has shown recently with Decoding Leadership: What really matters, an unresolved question for any business, at least, is what kind of leadership behaviour should organisations encourage?  Read more.

Take Charge of your career, team or organisation by aligning individual goals with organisational priorities. To learn more, call 03450 523 593

3 Reasons Why “Employee Engagement” Isn’t Enough

One reason so many companies fail to ‘solve’ employee engagement, says Barry S. Saltzman, is that the bar is set too low. “Your employees shouldn’t just be content or ‘engaged’ he says; in order to really succeed as a company, they need to be passionate.”

He proposes three reasons why it matters:

If your company doesn’t have the right sort of culture, says Saltzman, your employees will find somewhere else that appeals better to their passions and beliefs.  Employees need a  sound reason to stay on board.

Nothing means more to a potential buyer, suggests Saltzman, than an employee who genuinely believes in what they do. The credibility that accompanies an employee’s recommendation comes free, and it all starts with making your employees love their jobs.

Finding the right employees is tricky, but if you can build a culture that attracts job seekers who already love your company, and then sustains and deepens their passion once they’re on board, they’ll bring in more people just like them. That’s why a powerful work culture is such an important long-term investment.

Saltzman concludes: “When you can build and sustain a positive culture that’s based around deeply committed team members, potential customers begin to take note. And the virtuous circle keeps turning.”

Is Leaderless Management a Fad or The Future of Business?

Toppling The Hierarchy

In this article for forbes,  Drew Hansen takes a thorough look to see if the hierarchy has reached maturity and may now be heading towards gradual decline, or whether alternative models could work or are just fads. What is clear, he claims, is that there are many people all over the world agitating for the benefits of democracy to overtake the workplace.

Some would welcome such change as a revolution – one that would unlock far more creativity and innovation than the world has ever seen. Why? Because they believe humans love to work when they get to do something meaningful and that businesses exist to create something valuable for the world.

To Stay Relevant, Your Company and Employees Must Keep Learning

The only way for organizations to ensure their workforces are fully productive and able to achieve business goals is to make sure employees are continuously learning, so that they are driving the business forward. Writing for Harvard Business Review, Pat Wadors reckons the question we should be asking is, how do we not only embrace this need for learning but provide venues for our employees to take advantage of learning opportunities?

For organizations to win in the market, they must help their employees stay relevant in their skills. They also need to prepare the workforce to be agile and to adapt quickly to changes.

Here’s his advice:

1. When hiring, look for lifelong learners.
2. Provide access to relevant, up-to-date learning for your employees.
3. Don’t worry about what your employees are learning and if it directly relates to their work.
4. Take an active role in partnering with your employees to figure out the skills they need to develop based on business goals.
5. Encourage and reward those who demonstrate quick adaptive learning cycles.

Preparing people for change isn’t only the job of universities. Leaders in today’s organizations now have to figure out the best ways to identify, reward, and motivate top agile talent while supporting the constant need to learn. To atrophy is to lose in the market. As professionals, we also play a role in ensuring we can ride the digital wave while helping our companies succeed.

Neither the company nor the employee can stand still. We must both evolve to stay competitive and fulfil our dreams.

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