As we read in Buckingham, M. & Coffman, C. 2016. First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, there is a strong link between employee productivity, business profitability, and employee satisfaction. To review this further, this week I looked at the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2020 to see what their employees were saying. When selecting my companies I tried to find something from various sectors: REI (retail), Box, Inc (technology), and The Cheesecake Factory (restaurant industry). Below are each company’s word cluster diagrams highlighting what employees think makes their workplace great. Between the three some common words included people, team, community/family, support, care, inclusivity, and culture.
Each of these three companies has at least 90% of staff agree with the following statement, “When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome.” Evidence-based management techniques used by Google and many other organizations, use employee-driven feedback to help guide leadership styles. These word cluster diagrams are very telling of what employees perceive as important for their workplace. Workplace culture has become a very important part of business and has a strong impact on employee retention, productivity, and growth. Breitfelder, M. D., & Dowling, D. W. (2008). Why Did We Ever Go Into HR?, highlights two Harvard MBA graduates and their perception as to what HR is and how it brings value to an organization. HR’s role in a business starts in the hiring process and follows all the way through the end of their time with the company. Like with our current business school studies, HR helps to bridge gaps between management and employees to help build a supportive and enriching workplace environment. Lastly, as highlighted in the Buckingham & Coffman article, manager’s have the most direct impact on employees. HR helps to choose who they hire as managers, what types of training they receive, and also who goes into their teams by using evidence-based information. All of this helps contribute to a productive, profitable, and sustainable workplace.
Currently, I strive to be a manager who is willing to jump in and help at any point. I feel very strongly that I should never ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. Following some of the guidance mentioned in just this first week’s materials, using open-communication and feedback like Google, finding things to celebrate and make people feel unique, important, and useful like Lankford-Sysco, and build a culture that is supportive for employee growth. These are some of the tools I strive to use in being a manager.
