Principles and Practices of Management

How will you influence people to strive willingly for group objectives in your organization (target based industry)? Apply your interpersonal influence through communication process towards attaining your specialized goals?

Answer:

Influencing people in an organization is often about problem solving, working through perceived barriers to meet effective and sustainable outputs. Influencing people at workplace invariably involves managing change – changing perceptions, attitudes and in some cases work environments. Finally, influencing to achieve better employment outcomes from employees is about leadership and role modelling – demonstrating how to support people with inadequate knowledge of working culture towards attaining objectives thereby enabling themselves to leading their own organization. Once the people feel as one, they are more likely to work together for the common good of the company.

Key driver for achieving group objectives:

Effective implementation of strategy is a key driver for achieving group objectives. Organizations that fail to fully engage their workforce in the business strategy will fail to produce reliable, sustainable business results. The link between employee engagement factors and successful strategy execution is vital.

There are some fundamental relationships between organizational elements that work together to deliver a well-executed strategy through an engaged workforce, resulting in a great customer experience, high performance, and profitability:

• A “fit for purpose” structure where people understand expectations and accountabilities

• People systems and processes that drive the right behaviors

• Capable and credible leadership

• A positive work environment

There are a number of processes that need to be in place to ensure leaders are supported to take action and that the right changes occur and are embedded within the organization.

·         A communication process that reaches all key stakeholders and clearly covers the why, what, when, and how.

·         A process for communicating the findings quickly and transparently.

·         A developmental process to ensure leaders have the knowledge and skills to take action.

·         A process for effectively cascading engagement initiatives throughout the entire workforce.

·         Leadership support that ensures resources and energy are aligned with the strategy.

·         A process for business leaders to report progress and draw ideas and support from their leaders and peers.

·         A process for measuring success and return on investment. Identify success measures.

Delivering Workforce Excellence:

The key elements for achieving group goals as illustrated in the figure below, are needed to drive employee engagement in an organization. Engagement influences the customers ‘experience and, ultimately, the overall performance of an organization in terms of productivity and profitability.

Leaders’ role:

Fewer than half of all employees work in an organization that is perceived as having capable leaders and people systems that drive the right behaviors. Leaders play a key role in creating a culture of engagement by directly or indirectly impacting all factors of engagement. They can directly influence engagement by valuing employees and providing career developing opportunities. Leaders also indirectly impact engagement by ensuring employees have the resources needed to be successful in their roles.

Interpersonal communication:

Interpersonal communication is also largely relational.

                            “WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE”

We would probably all agree that effective communication is essential to workplace effectiveness.  And yet, we probably don’t spend much time thinking about how we communicate, and how we might improve our communication skills.  The purpose of building communication skills is to achieve greater understanding and meaning between people and to build a climate of trust, openness, and support.

To a large degree, getting our work done involves working with other people.  And a big part of working well with other people is communicating effectively.  Sometimes we just don’t realize how critical effective communication is to getting the job done.  

Real communication or understanding happens only when the receiver’s impression matches what the sender intended through his or her expression.

Ø  Strive to maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of others when interacting with them

Ø  Knowing the purpose and stating it.

Ø  Organizing one’s thoughts for easy understanding and impact.

Ø  Adapting communication—both words and “nonverbal”—to the needs of your audience

Ø  Using appropriate language

Ø  Using precise language

Ø  Working from what is familiar to what is unfamiliar when communicating with   other

Ø  Focusing messages on the situation, topic, issue, or behavior, rather than on the person

Ø  Ensuring “nonverbal” and “verbal” communications match

Ø  Asking for feedback

Traits of leadership:

      Innovative Approach to Leadership:

The new, unique and different way to see, understand and handle.

      Leadership for Innovation:

Leaders must be capable to promote and cultivate the innovative culture within an organization, by motivating other to bring new ideas and provide a proper infrastructure to convert them into reality

There are some attributes that is to be possessed by a leader to make successful in any situation. The traits included the following:

v  Physical vitality and stamina

v  Intelligence and action-oriented judgment

v  Eagerness to accept responsibility

v  Task competence

v  Understanding of followers and their needs

v  Skill in dealing with people

v  Need for achievement

v  Capacity to motivate people

v  Courage and resolution

v  Trustworthiness

v  Decisiveness

v  Self-confidence

v  Assertiveness

v  Adaptability/flexibility

Designing Process to Support Action:

There are a number of processes that need to be in place to ensure leaders are supported to take action and that the right changes occur and are embedded within the organization.

These include:

v  A communication process that reaches all key stakeholders and clearly covers the why, what, when, and how.

v  A process for communicating the findings quickly and transparently.

v  A developmental process to ensure leaders have the knowledge and skills to take action.

v  A process for effectively cascading engagement initiatives throughout the entire workforce.

v  Leadership support that ensures resources and energy are aligned with the strategy.

v  A process for business leaders to report progress and draw ideas and support from their leaders and peers.

v  A process for measuring success and return on investment.

Identifying Success Measures:

Business leaders across the organization often do not have alignment with goals and expectations. Time is well spent developing consensus on what success looks like and how you know you’ve achieved it.

Success measures should be short-term, medium-term and long-term.

For example, short term success looks like a well-planned, well-executed discovery and action planning process. Measure to ensure implementation is rolled out on time and within budget. Articulate clear and actionable findings.

Medium-term success is achieved when leaders’ behaviors and decisions are aligned to the strategy and positively impact key engagement drivers. Measure with tracking surveys, observation, and focus groups.

Long-term success is realized with increased employee engagement improved key business metrics, such as retention, absenteeism, productivity, customer loyalty, and profitability. Measure with tracking surveys and existing business metrics.

Creating “fit for purpose”:

Only marginally higher numbers of employees reported they worked in organizations that promote a positive culture, with capable people performing the right work with clearly defined role accountabilities and relationships through a “fit for purpose” structure. Individual and team assessments can help a company assess high-performing talent, and identify needed competencies and skills gaps, allowing the organization to develop the right talent and the right skills needed to meet business objective.