Filed under: Employee Engagement, Employee Involvement, Executive Leadership, Input from Employees, Unionization
Nurses in Duluth, Minnesota, may be striking soon. Earlier this week they voted by a nearly 9 to 1 margin to reject their new labor contract. Like so many others in this “do more with less” economy, tight staffing levels have taken a toll, and the Minnesota Nurses Association cites “patient safety” as the primary concern prompting the strike.
Employees decide to strike for many reasons. But at the end of the day, most just want to be heard. In that regard, they’re not alone. At Questar we track tens of thousands of employees’ opinions about their workplace. This research shows that many employees believe no one is listening.
- Only about half (54%) of all employees indicate that their company’s senior management values employees’ ideas and opinions.
- Those on the front lines are least likely to feel heard: While 77% of (more…)
A colleague forwarded an interesting post to me yesterday titled “The Trojan Horse of Employee Engagement.” The title instantly piqued my interest – maybe it was the image of 30 I/O Psychologists stashed away in a giant wooden horse. The author, David S. Cohen, Ed.D., raised some very interesting questions throughout the article and laid out 7 specific ones.
This “geek” is glad you asked. These types of questions come up all the time – and they are good ones. At Questar, we are always up for a game of devil’s advocate, so here is my reaction to your 7 questions. First a bit about engagement. Sure, productivity is becoming increasingly important. But it’s not just about getting employees to work harder. It’s about retaining the best talent, aligning behind values, and helping employees grow with changing needs of the company. All things I/O Psychologists strive to help organizations do better. It’s about the antecedents, the experience, and the outcomes. I think that is why it has had such great success in practice. People get it – even if it’s not a neat and tidy construct.
1. If you are not engaged, i.e. not excited about the work you do, can engagement training get you more involved? Conversely, if you are excited about your work, is engagement training a waste of time? (more…)
Filed under: Customer Experience, Employee Communication, Employee Engagement
One of the things we do well is help our clients engage employees and customers and create brand loyalty. We do this in several ways—mainly by harnessing the power of employee, customer and stakeholder feedback to improve company performance.
Our friends at Bolster (www.bolstercreative.com) are also in the business of driving brand loyalty. They use authentic storytelling, and engaging and sustainable communications tools to strengthen the reputation of a brand.We thought they had some good ideas and that you might find them interesting as well. Let us know what you think.
Once Upon A Time-Driving Brand Engagement Through the Power of Story
Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact. — Robert McKee, Screenwriter
“Tell me a story.”
“What’s your story?”
“That reminds me of a great story!”
The overwhelming familiarity of these phrases reminds us that we are all truly hardwired for stories. They are how we learn about our world as small children and how we come to define our social and cultural values as we grow older. Listening to others’ stories is how we decide whom to invite into our social circles. If the story someone tells us contains values that align with ours, a connection is made. And perhaps best of all, stories are universal. There have been societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories – true story. (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized
Yesterday Questar announced the capability for our current and future clients to seamlessly integrate sentiment and text analytics into their customer experience measurement programs. And we couldn’t be more thrilled, to tell the truth, because this is no small announcement. Why, you ask?
Well, let me tell you a little more about Questar’s new friend, Clarabridge.
Where to start…how about here: Clarabridge is the leading provider of text analytics solutions to track and improve the customer experience. Period. They provide Global 1000 companies with the ability to automatically collect, classify and apply sentiment analysis on text-based verbatims found in voice of the customer feedback channels. (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized
Questar has joined Twitter! We plan to use the account as a source for industry news and a format to connect with customers and prospects on the topics of customer experience management, employee engagement, and leadership.
Feel free to follow us: http://twitter.com/QuestarResearch
Filed under: Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Work Life Balance
Today Anna Erickson’s article “Are Employers Facing a Deficit of Trust?” was featured in the Good Company Blog. If you have a few minutes you should check it out http://www.phwa.org/resources/goodcompany/blog/2010/06/are-employers-facing-a-deficit.php
While waiting in the airport recently, I noticed that the guy sitting next to me had taped paper over the webcam at the top of his laptop. I chuckled to myself at first at his apparent paranoia. Then I thought about that kid in Philadelphia who sued his school for taking photos of him on his laptop without his knowledge. So who could blame this young professional at the airport for being cautious? It is more than a little creepy thinking that your boss might be watching you in your hotel room on a business trip. Which got me thinking about trust.
Trust is lacking in many workplaces today. Employers don’t trust employees. Employees don’t trust employers. We see it in the survey business all the time. Clients hire my firm to conduct their employee surveys in part to ensure anonymity of respondents and confidentiality of results. And yet no matter how it’s communicated some employees will never believe their survey responses are anonymous. And so, with the fear of big brother looking over their shoulders, many employees miss the opportunity to provide honest feedback that might improve their workplace….(more)
Filed under: Customer Experience, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction Issues, Employee Development
Here I am, Tuesday night at a major retailer. I’ll be in and out in a jiffy, I tell myself—just need one thing, that’s all.
“Can I help you find anything, sir?” a young employee asks me as I enter the store.
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks.”
“Can I help you find anything?” another employee asks me twenty seconds later.
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks.”
“Can I help you find anything?” Another employee.
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks.”
It was at that moment—thirty seconds before another “Can I help you find anything?”— that I asked myself “can there really be too much of a good thing when it comes to customer service?” I think, the managers at this retailer and this particular location must take a lot of pride in servicing customers well. They definitely understand the importance of the customer experience and employee accessibility and attentiveness. They’ve trained the staff well…and the staff is following through. I should be proud. This validates the work we do every day at Questar.
And yet my answer to that question “can there really be too much of a good thing when it comes to customer service?” A resounding yes!
Filed under: Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Recognition, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership, Uncategorized
New jobs require new skills. And it’s through new challenges that we build those skills. So it should come as no surprise that the way most leaders learn to lead is by jumping in the deep end.
One of my stories related to this is from a client I worked with years ago. The main character in this story is an up and coming young executive – we’ll call her Sarah (not her real name). Sarah was a go getter, recognized by corporate leadership for her achievements, her performance and her potential. She was just 33 years old when she got her first chance to truly lead. She was named president of a small division within the large global corporation for which she worked. And boy was she ready – this was her chance to really prove herself.
This part of the business was new to her. But Sarah was a quick study and knew just what to do. She wasted no time evaluating the competitive landscape and identified some “quick hits” to gain market share. She worked hard developing plans, securing resources, contacting clients, and informing key stakeholders. She found places to cut costs, introduced efficiencies, and pushed ahead with some innovative product development. (more…)
The year was 1935. Two brothers – aged 10 and 8 – walked along the road to town. It was the height of the depression, so these kids didn’t have any money to spend once they got to town. But they picked up bottles in the ditch and by the time they got there they had enough to buy a couple of small packaged pies at the local café.
In 1935 packaged foods did not print the “sell by” date that we’re so accustomed to seeing today. It wasn’t until he bit into his pie that Kenneth, the younger of the two brothers, noticed that his pie was moldy. The kids tried to return it, but the café refused. “All sales are final” – the kids were out of luck. (more…)
