Acreaty

Sunday 11 October 2015

How important is Employee Engagement


People are the basic foundation of any business. A business plan and model can only be a success when executed in a proper manner and for any plan to be executed successfully the manpower of the company has to be intact. Manpower if used only as a resource will not add much value in its contribution to the organization’s goal. People of the company and their goals have to be aligned to the mission and vision of the company. It is very easy to bind the employees in set targets and get the work out of them but such a scenario would last for a short span of time only. If people don’t feel valued in the organization and their efforts and achievements are not being recognized and rewarded they gradually get disconnected and leave.
In the current scenario the major problem being faced by the companies is high attrition rate. Offering good packages or free meals is not the only solution to this problem.The people need to feel the trust, have their specified personal space to perform to the best of their capabilities and the freedom to express their ideas and thoughts. The organizational leaders can never attain the business objectives that are critical to improving organizational performance if people are not engaged. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. He/She feels connected to the organizations values, beliefs and goals. Their managers and supervisors don’t need to keep a check on their work and remind them about their productivity levels as such employees are high on their integrity level. They would give their best even when not being observed.
Employee engagement has become an important aspect of corporate culture as it also affects the mindset of people. Engaged employees believe and have faith that they can make a difference in the organizations they work for. Their confidence on the knowledge they possess, skills, and abilities of both themselves and others is a powerful predictor of behavior and subsequent performance. The companies need to have good leaders who can not only guide but also engage employees to give their best and feel connected to the organizations goal. There are ten C’s of employee engagement that needs to be considered and followed by organizations to engage their employees and keep them motivated.
1.    Connect: The employees are and should be considered the most valued asset of any organization. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with their seniors and management. There has to be a personal connect between the management and the employees where either of them could easily communicate and voice their opinion and concern. When employees feel connected they perform well as they have the assurance of being heard when required.

2.     Career:  Assigning the work and expecting results does not end the responsibility of the managers and management. In order to be focused on their goals as well as give perfect results first and foremost the employees should be given proper resources and guidance. Individual roles should challenging and meaningful to work on. These roles also need to be aligned with their career path Employees now a days are well aware of their market value and look for opportunities that would drive their career to new heights or add value to their knowledge base. Employees avoid mundane jobs and want to do new things in their job. So the tasks need to be designed in a manner to keep them engaged and give their best.

3.     Clarity: The employees should have clarity of the organizational goals and vision in order to align their efforts with the same. A mere assignment with some targets might not interest them for a long time. Only when they feel being a part of something big and valuable would they put an extra effort to it. When the employees have clarity of the impact and contribution of their efforts would they feel connected and engaged.

4.    Convey: It is necessary that the leaders/managers should clarify and communicate their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. For effective employee engagement such processes and procedures need to be established that help people master important tasks and facilitate goal achievement.

5.    Congratulate: It is a very common scenario in the corporate culture that there is a quick feedback system for poor performances or below the level performances and at times the employees are humiliated in front of the whole group for non performance or poor performance. On the contrary the achievements and accomplishments take time to get recognized and rewarded as rewarding candidates involve certain procedures.

6.    Contribute: Self satisfaction is an important aspect of any work. There is no doubt about it that an employee has a financial aspect attached to his job but apart from that the thing that keeps him connected to the organization is the feeling of being valued and important in terms of contribution. Here it becomes the prime responsibility of the leaders and managers to guide and motivate the employees and keep them engaged.

7.    Control: The employees now opt for such jobs where they are not treated as puppets doing what is being told without using their own brains. For employee engagement and motivation it is very important that individual roles are designed in such a manner where analytical aspect and decision making at various levels has been inculcated. The concept of being given opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions.

8.    Collaborate: It has been witnessed since ages that when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships. Ten constructive minds and dedicated hands working for a common goal not only excel in their work but also match the perfection level. For such accomplishments the leaders and managers need to be focused on their training agenda and modules emphasizing on team work and collaboration.

9.    Credibility: People don’t do jobs for the heck of it. People want to be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their organization. It is very important for organizations to have a strong goodwill value and the leaders and managers should strive hard and try their level best to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards.When an employee feels, adapted, accepted and secured in an organization, he automatically gets engaged.

10.  Confidence: The most vital aspect of employee engagement is to buildup confidence in the employees about the company and its culture by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. It is very important for employees to feel assured of their career and financial growth being associated with the company. It is also very important for them to feel the pride and respect of being associated with the brand. This in turn boosts up their confidence level and keeps engaged.




Thursday 8 October 2015

Advantages of Cross Functional Roles in Organizations

In this highly competitive market when individuals want to surpass one another in all aspects to stand out of the crowd, being a jack of all trades is an added advantage. Companies now days look out for cost effective options. They are always on the lookout for multitasking people who can add value to different verticals and have a clear vision in aligning their efforts.
When an employee performs cross-functional roles within a department, it leads to a lot of advantages like giving greater flexibility for scheduling and the assignment of duties. In industries that engage in production or manufacturing environment, a cross-trained workforce leads to increased productivity by allowing the company to place workers in positions to meet diversified customer requirements. Organizations form teams to complete special projects that require multidimensional expertise. The team develops and implements a customized process to accomplish the company's goals. Cross-functional role is an amalgamation of responsibilities pertaining to diversified skill sets to perform either one specific task or a series of tasks related to a particular project.
Talking about the advantages of a cross functional role.
Saves Time: When a person is hired for a cross functional role he has a clear understanding on how his various tasks are interrelated and have to be completed within the stipulated time. Loss of time is very minimal in this case as he is free to delegate his time based on the priority of different tasks involved. He is free to manage both his time and tasks involved to obtain the best results. The task itself becomes free from the burden of compiling, comprehending and coordinating the efforts of different people involved. In this case it becomes a one man show who would be fully accountable for its success or failure.
Perfection: When talking about a cross functional role it is very clear that the individual assigned would be involved independently at all levels in performing the task. When only one person is involved he knows his perfection level and is also aware of the impact of imperfection of one part of his role on to the other. So, by default he gives his best and his involvement towards perfection.
Saves Cost to Company: When a company hires a multitasking person for a cross functional role it saves the cost of hiring different individuals to perform the different tasks involved. Paying one person a little higher is a smart decision rather than hiring different people and managing their salaries for that portion of work.
Aligned Efforts: When a single person is performing multi faceted task he knows how all the different portions of the project are interrelated and manages it accordingly to reach the perfection level. There is no room for confusion and he knows and manages his tasks accordingly. He is clear in his goals and his efforts are aligned towards perfection and are in complete sync with the organizations goal.

Easy review and feedback on the projects: Reviewing ten different people with different roles for one particular project is a hectic task as they might not share the same intellect level to understand the importance of their roles and align their efforts accordingly. When there is one individual performing cross functional roles for a particular project he is very clear in his ideologies of prioritizing his efforts that are involved and reviewing him becomes easy.