What would be the impact on your organization if the majority of your employees became actively and fully engaged in your business?
The Gallup organization recently released a research report that was carried on US national news networks. Why did this Gallup report make the news? The central point to their research report is that 70% of the US work force is either not engaged or actively disengaged from their work. What does this cost US businesses? Gallup estimates that just the 20% of employees who are actively disengaged cost US businesses between $450B and $550B per year. The cost of the remaining 50% of employees who are not engaged in their jobs adds even more to this figure. We know the US is not unique in this issue, so imagine what this is costing businesses around the world.
Why are these employees not engaged or actively disengaged in their jobs?
At OND, we know exactly why! Our experience of working with many companies and their employees, we are confident the reason these employees are not engaged in their jobs is simply because their companies are not using their natural strengths and talent. By aligning an employee’s natural strengths and talents with their role in an organization, an employee will become engaged in their job and the overall business of the company.
Why are engaged employees important for a business?
Gallup’s research shows businesses that rank in the top 25% for having “Engaged” employees in their business are able to achieve much higher levels of success. On average, they achieve:
• 25% greater profitability
• 21% higher productivity
• 48% fewer accidents
• 25% lower health care costs
• 41% fewer quality defects
• 10% higher customer satisfaction
The Gallup report also shows that, on average, only 30% of employees are “Engaged” in their jobs. Consider the impact on your business if the other 70% of your employees were actively engaged. Employee engagement is strongly connected to business outcomes. Is there benefit in finding a process to get your employees more actively engaged in your business? Gallup reports that for companies with high employee engagement levels (e.g., 9.3 engaged employees for every disengaged employee) achieve 147% higher Earnings per Share versus their competitors. Further, Gallup reports that Engaged employees achieve higher levels of output across their entire business. Engaged employees are more likely to:
• Drive more revenue growth than other employees
• Invent new products and services at a higher rate than their peers
• Come up with the most innovative ideas
• Create more “new logo” customers
• Have the highest levels of entrepreneurial energy
People have the potential to be a company’s most valuable asset
It has been said repeatedly that an organization’s greatest asset is its people. They only become a great asset to the business if they are actively engaged in their work. The fact that 70% of employees are not actively engaged in their jobs means there is a massive opportunity for business performance improvement on the people dimension.
For most companies, the people dimension continues to receive little investment to identify the natural strengths and talents of their employees and then place them into roles where they can use their natural strengths and talents for the business. Yes, investments in training employees in skill development have been made over the years. However, developing an employee’s skill is not a replacement for discovering what they are naturally good at doing, and then structuring your business to leverage their natural strengths and talents. Our research tells us that employees are twice as productive when they are doing talent-aligned work versus. talent-opposed work.
People are the most expensive component of any business and the fastest growing cost (e.g., payroll costs, increased pension funds, healthcare costs). Yet, people operate at only a fraction of their true potential if, according to Gallup’s research, only 30% of the employees are engaged in their jobs. This problem needs to be understood before a solution can be formulated. At OND, we have learned that companies are struggling to maximize the use of their people in their business. Why is this? It is because companies:
• Do not know the precise talent of their people
• Do not know how to deploy the talent of their people
• Do not know how to create effective teams by combining these talents for a specific mission or task
• Do not know how to develop their employee’s natural strengths and talents
• Do not know how to retain their people by best applying their talent
• Try to make people into something that they are not
• Try to put people into the wrong role for their talent
Unlocking the People Dimension of your business
At OND, we continually encounter companies that badly misunderstand the people dimension of their business. OND has created a science and a methodology to identify the natural strengths and talents of the people in an organization; it is called Method Teaming. The knowledge of a person’s Intellect (their natural strengths and talents) is coupled with OND’s methodology to more effectively leverage the employee’s Intellect so as to build and operate more powerful, mission-perfect teams across the business. Method Teaming was not developed in a lab or academic environment. It was developed in a business world for the business world; companies that are betting their future on the quality and productivity of their team’s performance. With Method Teaming, we teach businesses how to structure their teams to allow more productive talent-aligned work and less unproductive talent-opposed work.
Method Teaming provides a methodology that enables a business leader to align an employee’s natural strengths and talents with the work they are assigned in the organization. When this happens, the employee becomes fully engaged in their work because they like what they are doing, simply because they get to use their natural talents. The Gallup study confirms that managers who focus on their employees’ strengths not only improve their productivity and effectiveness but also are able to double the number of engaged employees from an average of 30% to 60%, and, at the same time, reduce the number of actively disengaged employees from 20% to 0%. All workers require an understanding of their unique natural strengths and talents. The challenge is for business leaders to utilize a process to understand their employee’s natural strengths and talents, and then use a methodology and a consistent language across their company to ensure the employee’s strengths are being used correctly to maximize business outcomes.
This is not a one-time event for a business leader or manager. As Gallup reports in their research, increasing employee engagement should be based on correctly aligning their natural strengths and talents to the work you are asking them to do. This process must be utilized and kept alive each week, each month, and each year, both informally and formally. It must be woven into the business processes on the people dimension of the business. Gallup’s research shows that employees that use their strengths everyday are 6 times more likely to be engaged in the business. Developing an employee’s natural strengths and talents is far more effective to increasing business outcomes than trying to improve areas of an employee’s perceived weakness.
There is very little in business that is more beautiful than a person who is motivated by being given work that aligns with their natural talent; work they accomplish with passion and productivity.
Method Teaming has been designed to address this critical need. Method Teaming is a science, a methodology, and an intuitive language for creating purpose-built, mission-perfect teams in your business. It is predicated on knowing and committing to use the natural strengths and talents of each person in your organization. Method Teaming has the depth and flexibility to be applied in many business processes and can enable the business to achieve significant gains. OND knows how to make your business dramatically grow and operate much more efficiently. Method Teaming enables you to apply the natural strengths and talents of you people, so allowing them to become fully engaged.
