Build and Maintain Best in Class Teams

One of the most observant statements ever said about companies:

“Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next morning.” - Narayana Murthy, IT Industrialist.

The above is a succinct statement of the conundrum of managing people effectively. Not surprisingly, it is a much-studied issue with the goal of bridging the gap between managers and the people they manage. Almost universally, effective management is a matter of balancing the needs of the organization against the needs of the individuals. It’s no accident that companies that provide the better work environments are more profitable.

The most common “wants” of employees and managers alike, are that they want to clearly know the goals of the companies they work for and want to understand, beyond the job description, their opportunity to contribute to those goals. They want to have opportunities to grow within the organization, and they want transparency and honesty in communication. To the degree that these things are present, it directly impacts the working experience, effectiveness and efficiency. Numerous studies indicate that around 50% of employees that change jobs do so because of issues associated with their direct manager.

Each time a job turns over, not only has the available skill set been diminished while a replacement is found, but the hiring-training cycle ties up resources while the new hire develops enough expertise to become cost-effective. Sadly it is often chalked up as a hiring issue when, in reality, at least half the cases are brought about due to poor training of the manager rather than the worker.

A couple of resources are available that you can use to see if your organization might benefit from some manager training. A typical Internet search for “What is the industry average turnover” is a good place to start. You can find breakdowns by industry with a couple of quick searches. This will at least give you an idea of what is “normal”. Just remember that you want your company to be better than “normal”.

Another resource is company review web sites like Glassdoor.com where employees can anonymously submit critiques of the companies that they work for. This is where you can get some more qualitative answers as to whether or not employees are happy at their position and why. You will want to look for companies that have a similar customer base to your own.

In your research, look for companies that are below average and ones that are well above the norm. If possible you want to meet up or interview two or three of the companies which have the lower turnover rates. You may just pick up some pointers that will give you some insight into tuning up managerial skills and improving internal employee relations.

Time invested in improving employee/manager satisfaction is often underestimated. Getting it right not only saves the time and effort as detailed earlier, but the intangibles like a reputation for being a great place to work, ability to making better hiring decisions and developing and retaining institutional knowledge, all make your company more robust. A commitment to best in class teams, means that the job of managing relationships is a continuous process. You must actively be looking for improvement opportunities to the point that it becomes a natural part of your work activities. Achieve that level of commitment and you’ll never look back.