Unlocking !

Going beyond "employee engagement"

I have researched a construct called Discretionary effort. Its like this. If you were to go in a classroom full of students and ask a question, "how many of you came here and how many of you were sent here?", you would almost always hear a giggle pass through the room. 

That's exactly the situation at the workplace. If you have employees coming into work because they have to, vs., they want to, there is a big difference. Similarly, when they want to do even more willingly for the company, you have achieved nirvana.

That's the simple concept. How do I help employees want to do more, willingly. 

In my career, I have helped companies unlock discretionary effort and align employees to achieve unbelievable outcomes for companies. More on that, when we chat up in person :)

The performance puzzle

Companies are built to deliver something (product, service, experience). Employees produce that outcome. So, performance is basically desirable behaviour. For behaviour to be spontaneous and in the right direction, there needs to be clarity and intent. I call it intent instead of motivation since intent is a pre-delivery stage instead of a deeper unseen element.

In most jobs, the person doing the job knows more about the present reality of the job. Their sentiment (mental state) needs to be positive. This needs to be the final deliverable of performance management.

I call this the place where the rubber hits the road. In a good aircraft landing, its always a three point landing. Rear landing gear - left, right and then nose gear. Similarly, the system needs to be designed to ensure a beautifully effective performance management at the workplace.

No level of using tools and processes will unlock the performance puzzle. The unlock lies in the deep capability of performance coaching. I have used performance coaching and trained a few hundred managers in the art and science. I have a well mastered module that can convert any manager in a good performance coach over the period of 8-12 hours. More on that once we (yeah, you got it), chat up in person :)

Startups lose out on Human Capital expertise

Not all startups have Human Capital right up there in their P0 priority list. Because, its a survival issue. However, the same thing comes back to bite them soon enough. Hence, I have put together a list of productised services that Startup founders value. Any CHRO who is able to deliver these components on a productised service basis would be able to help founders have lesser chaos at a later stage. Great CHROs cost a lot of money - not something a startup can afford. This approach would help founders get the critical pieces in a plug and play format.

1. Budgeting and workforce management

2. New joiner success programs

3. Senior leader acculturation (every senior leader who fails is a deep hit)

4. Employee Sentiment alignment (goes beyond party games, engagement and other things that don't have a large impact)

5. Managers as performance coaches

6. OKRs - alignment to action

7. Sales productivity and incentive design

8. Stocks - design and deployment (ESOPs/RSUs/SARs)

Diamond line - nothing else matters

Agree that is a bit of a clickbait. It's like this. Every business has a core element that is at the core of that business. 

Cost, on time performance, fuel hedging, aircraft lease-back, employee alignment and IT systems : are those elements for a low cost airline to succeed. The Diamond line however, is minimum time that the aircraft spends on the ground. The more it is in the air, the more the company makes money.

Understanding the diamond line of a business is critical to designing the organization to succeed. Take food retail for instance. The levers might be buying, merchandising, planogramming, customer walk through paths, etc. The crux in an Indian context is the face-ups, stock refills and the employee on the ground who is nudging the customer to buy a little more. How do we get that employee to do that better? If that happens, everything else is worthwhile. If that doesn't happen, nothing else matters (well, everything else will be less impactful, and face much higher head winds to get results).

An astute Human Capital expert needs to appreciate this. Identify the diamond line. As long as that exists, the mine, the machinery and the entire ecosystem makes sense. If that line doesn't exist, nothing else really matters.

Do Whatsapp me or call me at +919980080095. Drop a mail at naga.siddharth@gmail.com

My books

If you have a moment, you could choose to visit my work with Dr. Goldsmith on impactful HR and Talent toolkits here

Its called SiGo. Siddharth & Goldsmith. 

It's his magnanimity that he asked me to put my name first :) :)

If you would like to know more about what I do and my latest posts, please visit my LinkedIn profile here