Results That Last

Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top

Quint Studer

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780471757290, 9780471757290
• eBook ISBN: 9781118040690
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Praise for Results That Last"Quint Studer is a superb communicator with a deep belief in the power of relationships. His informal tone, sense of humor, and real-world stories bring his business principles to life. Results That Last has a vital, optimistic quality that will keep readers re-reading long after other leadership books have been relegated to a dark corner of the shelf."--Nido Qubein, author of How to Get Anything You Want; President, High Point University; Chairman, Great Harvest Bread Company; and founder, National Speakers Association Foundation"Results That Last is long overdue and fills a big gap in effective business management. There are legions of books that show us the way to achieve successful results in business, but very few that teach us how to institutionalize success. In reality, achieving success is the easy part. The real challenge is to achieve results that last. Quint Studer not only proves it is possible to hardwire a culture for lasting results, but lays out a simple, logical, and effective way to do so. Anyone who wants to make success a habit needs to read this book."--Bob MacDonald, former CEO, Allianz Life of North America and author of Beat the System: 11 Secrets to Building an Entrepreneurial Culture in a Bureaucratic World"I have always been fascinated by how the various parts of an organization work together to achieve strategic objectives. In Results That Last, Quint Studer explores the complex subject of performance improvement in a fresh, readable, and easy-to-grasp way. By standardizing certain business practices and leader behaviors, any company in any field can create an environment that allows it to achieve and sustain long-term results."--David F. Giannetto, coauthor of The Performance Power Grid: The Proven Method to Create and Sustain Superior Organizational Performance

EMPLOYEE TACTICS

CHAPTER 9

SATISFIED EMPLOYEES MEAN A HEALTHY BOTTOM LINE

Why This Chapter Is Important

EMPLOYEES WANT TO BELIEVE THEIR COMPANY HAS A MEANINGFUL purpose. They want to know that their own job is worthwhile. They want to make a difference. If all three of these conditions are accomplished, bottom line results will follow.

This chapter shows the correlation between satisfied employees and a healthy bottom line. Other chapters provide more details—you’ve likely already read some of them—but this one will show why we keep pounding the “employee satisfaction” drum. Keeping them happy is more than a nice thing to do. It’s money in the bank.

Do you remember the story of George Bailey in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life? At the beginning of the movie he is ready to end his life by jumping off a bridge as he faces the shame of “insufficient funds” with the police hot on his trail. He believes his whole life has been a waste. He has always wanted to get out of Bedford Falls, but events just kept conspiring to keep him there. He got stuck working at a Building and Loan that he didn’t like. He got stuck in a house he wasn’t happy with. And at the moment, he isn’t too thrilled with his wife, Mary, and the decidedly large and noisy assortment of kids they have. George is discouraged.

Figure 9.1 Evidence-Based Leadership

Just as he’s preparing to take the plunge, he’s forced to change gears and fish his guardian angel, Clarence, out of the icy waters. It turns out that Clarence—who has been sent to earth to earn his wings—shows George what Bedford Falls would have been like without his life of service. It’s a dreary picture, indeed. George is overwhelmed at the vision of what might not have been—and the important ways he touched so many in the town.

Near the end of the movie, when his life magically returns to normal, George runs through town, yelling, “I love you, Bedford Falls!” When he goes home he sees his wife and kids—and even the falling-apart staircase—in a joyous new light. And as Potter the miserly banker is preparing to have George arrested, the whole town shows up to bail him out of his financial crisis. His brother Harry, having just returned from the war and flown through a snowstorm, offers the following heartfelt speech: “I want to toast my brother George—the richest man in the world!” And of course, as the tinkling bell indicates, Clarence gets his wings.

What changed in those two hours? Had the town changed? Had the Building and Loan changed? Had Mary changed? Did the house change? Did the kids change? Did Potter change? No. What changed was George.

Somebody showed him that his life did have purpose, that his work was worthwhile, and that he made a difference in the lives of others.

THE POWER OF SATISFIED EMPLOYEES

At Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago, I learned that we could incite these same feelings in employees by showing a clip from that classic American film and then asking every department manager to answer the question, “If Your Department Didn’t Exist, What Would Happen to Our Organization?” We wanted everyone in that hospital to know that they had purpose, did worthwhile work, and were making a difference.

Why? Because we knew that if these three factors were in place, our employees would feel satisfied in their jobs and that their satisfaction in turn would affect how they treated our patients. The same is true of employees at any organization.

Let’s think about our own customer experiences. We know when we interact with satisfied employees. They’re the helpful, cheerful, conscientious men and women who make us glad we stopped in at that particular store, or dined at that restaurant, or even chose that accounting firm to handle our taxes.

A workplace comprised of satisfied employees just feels different, and better. It feels better to employees and it feels better to customers. That’s one big reason leaders should care about employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees tend to go the extra mile to please customers. Happy customers not only keep coming back, they refer friends, family, and business associates—and your company prospers.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

How do we get the chain reaction started? How do we ensure that our employees are fulfilled and motivated? Let’s take a look at the three things that comprise the core of employee satisfaction:

1. Employees want to believe the organization has the right purpose. That’s why the manager who makes himself look good at the expense of the senior leadership does a disservice to all the other employees. Senior leaders represent “purpose” to the employees. And if employees don’t feel good about these men and women, then they don’t feel good about the organization. Employees want to commit to a company they can trust and count on.

2. Employees want to know that their job is worthwhile. Every employee wants to know what she does is important to the company. Help her live up to this expectation and she’ll want to do even more to serve customers and fellow employees. While it may seem evident, taking the time to explain to an employee the importance of what she does is time well spent.

3. Employees want to make a difference. The results of what they do fuel their passion. Success breeds more success. So getting results motivates people to persevere and constantly try to create better results.

Of course, knowing what employees want is one thing—you could have guessed that these elements were involved in employee satisfaction. But creating an environment where employees feel these results—a sense of purpose, worthwhile work, and making a difference—is another battle entirely. (If it were easy, every company would have mastered it by now.)

The good news is that while creating employee satisfaction may feel like a tall task, it gets much easier over time. When leaders get practiced at implementing the strategies and tools to make it happen, it becomes second nature.

Results-oriented leaders know that employees are the heart and soul of everything. They pay close attention to their wants and needs and take meaningful steps to address them. These leaders can transform an entire organization. When employees are happy, customers are happy—and many good results naturally fall into place.

Figure 9.2 Customer and Employee Correlations

© 2006 Press Ganey Associates, Inc.

Studies show, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a strong correlation between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. In other words, the happier employees in a particular organization are, the more satisfied the customers are with the service they receive. (See Figure 9.2.)

NINE WAYS TO GET STARTED

Like everything else involved in culture change, achieving employee satisfaction is an inexact science. People are complex. We can’t follow a mathematical formula or implement a set of one-size-fits-all strategies. There are certain steps leaders can take that, overall, make most employees happy to be working for us most of the time. We can set goals and jump-start workplace habits that show our employees we care and want to help them to do a great job. Here are some of the ideas that have worked well for my clients:

1. “Round” relentlessly. As you’ve already read, rounding for outcomes is a critical leader behavior for achieving results that last. That’s because it is a great tool that helps us communicate openly with our employees, allowing us to regularly find out what is going well and what isn’t going well for them at the company. The process is similar to the one doctors use to check on their patients. In the business world, a CEO, VP, or department manager makes the rounds daily to check on the status of his or her employees. Basically, we take an hour a day to touch base with employees, make a personal connection, recognize success, find out what’s going well, and determine what improvements can be made. The key, of course, is fixing the problems that come up. Rounding is the heart and soul of building an emotional bank account with our employees, because it shows employees day in and day out that we care.

2. Build an emotional bank account. Do your employees say communication could be better? Would they like more input into corporate decisions? Do they wish their contributions were more appreciated? Most leaders can probably safely assume that the answer is yes. If you’re one of them, that means you must focus more of your attention on building an emotional bank account with your employees. Not only is it the right thing to do, it’s good insurance for the future. Eventually, employees will feel let down—so leaders must ensure there’s enough emotional capital in the account for that metaphorical rainy day.

Basically, building an emotional bank account means doing what we can to make our employees happy most of the time, in anticipation of those future times when they’re sure to be unhappy. Yes, I know: As a leader you truly want to do the right thing all the time. You want positive, productive, trust-based relationships with your people. But let’s face it: Perfection doesn’t exist in leaders or in companies. We put in enough “deposits” so that when the inevitable “withdrawals” are made—let’s say we forget to say thank you or we have to institute pay cuts—there’s enough goodwill in the account to salvage those relationships.

3. Diagnose employee satisfaction—and act on the results. Use a proven, respected assessment tool to figure out where your problems lie. Then commit to solving them. One of the biggest issues we see in our work with clients is that people say, “Well, they measured our satisfaction but nobody responded to what we said.” We advise organizations to be open about the results and have everyone vote on the top three issues. Eventually, all issues need to be addressed, but start with the top three.

When used correctly, an employee satisfaction survey can be a valuable tool. The key to these surveys is not in the data itself. It’s in how well the data is shared with the staff and how action is communicated based on their feedback. Let me explain how we help our clients handle employee satisfaction surveys:

Once the survey is complete and data has been collected, we train managers how to explain the results of the employee satisfaction survey. While survey vendors are excellent at helping an organization to interpret the data, it’s also important to set leaders up for success as they communicate challenges and opportunities to employees. Our coaches recommend that the entire leadership team go off-site for a half day, roll out the survey results, and teach leaders how to develop key words and actions for the survey rollout meeting they will have with staff.

Step-by-Step Guide to the Employee Survey Rollout

Step 1. Survey is completed and data is collected.
Step 2. Leaders are trained on how to explain the results.
Step 3. CEO communicates the rollout.
Step 4. Leaders roll out results to the staff.
Step 5. Action plan is developed with staff involvement.
Step 6. Employees evaluate the rollout meeting.
Step 7. Ninety-day action plans are put into place.
Step 8. CEO communicates accomplishments back to the
staff.

For example, if a manager got bad results, we’d urge her to share these results with staff by saying something like:

“The employee satisfaction results are back. Thank you for completing the survey. I want to tell you I’m disappointed. Obviously I’m not the leader that I want to be. But I want you to know that I’m committed to being a good leader. In fact, I’m going to get additional training in t...

Table of contents

• Praise
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• KEY TACTICS
• THE CORE
• EMPLOYEE TACTICS
• CUSTOMER TACTICS
• ABOUT STUDER GROUP
• OTHER LEADERSHIP BOOKS BY QUINT STUDER AND STUDER GROUP
• INDEX