Frontline Leadership TRENDS

What every group leader needs to know about engaging employees--involving people with their hearts and minds

The following points are a result of five years of research to understand the actions which any group leader (or line manager) can take to help people (members, beneficiaries, and stakeholders) become self-motivated, passionate, enthusiastic, and expert in the groups efforts and objectives.  In an enterprise this may be called employee engagement, and the beneficiaries are customers, but these points also apply to leading groups in education, civic, government, religious, and family.

*  Every person arrives and contributes to your group (and all groups) at their own current level of engagement.  Each person's own level of engagement, is influenced by their past and present group experiences.  You can easily assess (without measurements) this engagement on a continuum from 'fully engaged' to 'actively disengaged'.  Everyone (employees, customers, and stakeholders) can and will move on this continuum, no one is static.  As a group leader you can help each person move towards 'full engagement'.  Even those that arrive fully engaged are most likely unaware as it is not taught in any curriculum.

*  No one can motivate/engage another person!  One can only help another learn by experience the fulfillment of self-motivation/engagement (involvement with heart and mind).  You cannot feel 'personally' responsible to motivate/engage another person as this only creates frustration and helplessness.  Rather, create the environment to help others engage themselves.  Also your enthusiasm, self-motivation, and passion serve as an example and inspiration to others.

*  To sustain motivation/engagement the activity itself must provide feedback!  Engaged persons are re-engaged by the activity and people in it, more so than by colleagues and supervisors. You must focus on the activity first or you will lose sight of your purpose as activities are aligned with the group's purpose. 

This may seem counter intuitive as group members learn as early as the school system to receive feedback on their actions from colleagues and supervisors through systems to 'manage' the groups efforts.  For the 'leadership' of soft skills such as enthusiasm and reflection one must also provide feedback from the activity itself.  This will make your tasks simpler, enjoyable, and more successful.

*  Any group leader can provide people feedback from the activity itself by helping them ask (mostly non-verbally) the critical questions for "How are we doing?" - both individually and collectively.  Focus on the activity first and the people within the activity secondly to allow everyone to participate in the groups learning experiences and understanding.  The activity focus reduces the personalities and builds a sense of purpose.  Most communications and learning is non-verbal or "informal".

Our research determined five actions a group leader can do with (not to) their group members to initiate this process for self-motivation/engagement.  Note that a process is merely a set of steps (or I like to think of it as a recipe) for creating something and, unlike a program or system, does not need to come from the top but can be inserted anywhere within an organization--even in a single group as a trial.

1. Begin and end with "Thanking" everyone.  This provides recognition and appreciation through daily operations. 
2. Next invite participation to demonstrate everyone's intentions
3. Then ask, almost always non-verbally, "How are we doing?" to learn the 'critical' daily operations which determine success.
4. Distribute the feedback with everyone through daily activities.  Let them 'naturally' become involved and challenged.
5. Continue to bulletin or share workplace experiences and relationships.  Make assessments (share opinions) by fostering a continuous dialogue.

• Repeat the cycle

Begin the practice of frontline leadership with "Products/Services" first

As the "Guide" or frontline manager/leader initiates the practice ideally with the support of their supervisor or "Coordinator", the key is to think "product/service first." Frequently out of habits created by programs we tend to think "markets first." Certainly markets are important but they are ultimately the purview of senior management. The practice is about actions and we must begin with those "critical activities to remain viable" which we need to keep all associates focused, learning, and committed on a daily basis.
http://thankingcustomers.com/practice.html

One caveat to the "products/services first" rule of thumb is that Management or a Supervisor may initially choose to use the practice of frontline leadership to build a particular market segment of the enterprise.  For example, an hotel manager may choose to use frontline leadership to grow their Conference/Banquet market.  But the practice would be developed around the products/services delivered to those customers.  This might include special events, banquet setup and serving, maintenance, bellmen, as well as food and beverage.  These group leaders would learn the process (set of actions) to fully engage their associates through a coordinating Supervisor.

As we continue the practice and repeat the cycle we will align over a period of time (or cycles) the questions being asked as to "How are we doing?" with the feedback and who our customers are. This will happen with the support through relationship building of partners such as supervisors and Marketing. This helps keep efforts simpler by distinguishing the "what" needs to be done from the "how" to get it done.

The "what" as far as systems/programs for the markets to serve and products/services to deliver should belong to senior management. The "how" to execute those programs/systems through daily operations should belong to frontline management. Support is provided through middle management to create learning experiences for frontline managers to understand "what" needs to be done as they support learning experiences in daily operations for "how" to get it done. This comparison is more than semantics. When empowerment became the theme of the quality revolution of the 80's, one of the errors made by public and private enterprises alike was to empower frontline management with the "what" needed to be done. This, for the most part, created confustion and inconsistency for all parties including customers.

Another important distinction which focusing on "product/service first" when using the practice creates is that of separating "ends" and "means." Actions get results on the frontlines of daily operations. For team leaders to maintain results their "means" are most often senior management's "ends." The key here is the continuation of results for the long-term through daily operations. Team leaders must share the "ends" or goals and objectives of senior management but, at the same time, turn then into actions--or their "means."

For example, virtually every enterprise h as a "Customer Service" program in which they will have an objective or "end" being a certain level of service. Our practice helps a frontline manager/leader continuously execute this level of service by making this "end" their "means" on a daily basis. In other words, "Customer Service" becomes "Service Customers" where daily actions focus on delivering service and then directing the service towards customers.

http://thankingcustomers.com/practicecycle.htm
http://thankingcustomers.com/epiphany.html#ends
http://thankingcustomers.com/cycle_what_how.htm

Customers - Not Managers - Key to Motivation

Training Zone Magazine explored a study into sources of employee energy which shows that customers not managers are workers main motivators.

The Impact of Customer Energy at Work, conducted by MBA students at the London Business School, suggests that interaction with a customer, whether external or internal, is the primary generator of an individual’s energy at work.

Leadership teams, on the other hand, have a minimal influence on an individual’s energy, compared with customers and colleagues. Only 16% of the 276 respondents chose their immediate line manager as having the most positive impact on their energy.

Paul Dale Harris of "Organisational Energy" specialist Attiva, who commissioned the study, said that this apparent lack of management impact on motivation levels was a "significant statistic".

He said: “Companies are spending vast sums of money on motivational programmes and leadership training, but the most important source of energy at work remains largely untapped. Businesses should be concentrating their ‘re-energising’ initiatives on helping their staff to improve their customer connection.”

The research found that the more time individuals spend with customers, the more energy they have at work. However, 1 in 3 respondents said that they don’t spend enough time with their customers.

Attiva states this is not simply about contact with customers – it’s about individuals seeing the impact of their work and the customer’s acknowledgment of the individual’s contribution. “If you know you are adding value, you feel valued yourself - that is a key source of energy for most people,” said Dale-Harris.

Although most respondents believed that they knew what their customers wanted from them (97%) and knew their customers’ priorities (95%), only 1 in 3 said they asked their customers for regular feedback. And while 85% of respondents had enough authority to serve customers as they saw fit, only 27% are actually appraised on customer satisfaction.

Key findings:
* 41% of employees say that customers have the greatest impact on their energy at work
* Only 9% are energised by the leadership team or CEO
* Only 16% of people are energised by managers
* Only 1 in 3 appraisals include customer satisfaction
* Only 1 in 3 regularly ask customers for feedback

What does "Engagement" look like?

Three primary behaviors:
1. People demonstrate their intentions. They commit themselves.
2. People are reflective. They continuously learn.
3. People pay attention. They are focused.

Leads to these behaviors:
• People enjoy what they are doing. They are happy. Smiles are apparent.
• Associates are self-confident as they receive energy back from customers. A relationship much like a performer has with the audience.
• Customers or beneficiaries respond in kind and are enthusiastic.
• Assessments (opinions) are shared and there is a customer-focused dialogue evident in all daily activities.

A number of studies indicate that one third of associates are presently "engaged" in daily operations. This is crucial for all group leaders because only engaged associates are high performers and will engage customers--critical for loyalty. But how do group leaders engage those not presently engaged?

Learn more by clicking on these links
Cycle of Engagement Manifesto  -  http://thankingcustomers.com/Manifesto.pdf
What is engagement?  -  http://thankingcustomers.com/engagement.htm

"RE-ASK"

But, you say, we already thank our customers and ask them "How are we doing?"

Solution Details

"We already say 'Thank You' and ask our customers 'How did we do?' in daily operations" At ThankingCustomers.com we understand and appreciate that most every enterprise can say this and really mean it. Our practice takes up where the verbal appreciation and recognition leave off on the frontlines. The first rule is not to change a single thing you are doing now. While asking verbally is beneficial, we do not feel it is, by itself, adequate to keep associates involved, learning, and committed towards customers on a daily basis. And especially as many associates providing products and services do not have direct customer contact. What makes our practice different? "Propel Frontline Leaders" is not another program. Instead it is simply a process, or set of actions, which can be initiated by team leaders themselves. Needing only the support of their supervisor to maintain a user-centered practice for long-term customer focus, learning, and commitment from associates. A continuous cycle of non-verbal actions (usually in writing) to thank, invite, ask, share, and assess for everyone the most critical elements needed for success. Verbal thanking and asking is often initiated by training and customer service programs and becomes procedural. Over time it often becomes routine and falls short of demonstrating intentions, self-motivation, involvement, accountability, cooperation, and sometimes even attention to customers. Even falling shorter in demonstrating these human interactions to fellow associates and enterprise partners both internal and external. Yet it is these interactions between associates and partners that support and continue long-term the interactions with customers. They also provide, in addition to feedback from colleagues and supervisors, a critical and most often missing feedback --that from the work or daily activities themselves Our Conclusion? An enterprise cannot achieve long-term customer focus, learning, and commitments without maintaining human interactions such as those above simultaneously with 1) customers, 2) between associates, and with 3) partners. This cannot happen through managing operational programs alone. These human interactions must also be lead and not only from senior managers but also a user-centered approach from frontline leaders. This would include frontline managers, team leaders, and their supervisors. This is why we say workplace relationships must be lead as well as managed. Leading actions are key, just as with managing, to get results. This is the reason team leaders need processes which are simply sets of actions which they can initiate themselves to compliment and continue their existing operational programs and systems.

Frontline Leadership: A Cycle of Engagement Manifesto

The contact point between your customers and your company is at the front door, at the front counter, on the frontline. And most of your frontline associates are very competent people who can do the work, but George Reavis warns that most companies fail to make the distinction between perfunctory performance and enthusiastic engagement. Here he offers tools for providing the right kind of motivating feedback to jumpstart a cycle of engagement between management, frontline employees and customers.

View this ChangeThis.com Manifesto at http://www.changethis.com/32.05.FrontlineLeadership

Traditional customer feedback practices
are wrapped in programs and delivered
hierarchically from the top down.
They provide feedback from colleagues
and supervisors to support structure
and discipline with an objective of associate
involvement. But today’s competitive
group environments require more than
passive involvement. It requires active
engagement. Where engagement is defined
as ‘involvement with hearts and minds.’

"The most magical moment for any group occurs
when the customer becomes engaged because
not only has a loyalty been established for the
customer but also the re-engaged associates
experience satisfaction and enthusiasm."

Visit Our 2 Free Webinars Daily to Experience 'Live' Engagement or Archived Presentations 24/7

Announcing two free daily webinars to learn more about the "Cycle of Engagement" and yes team leaders/managers can involve everyone with heart and mind! Watch and listen online with speakers (VOIP) or dial in to our phone number in New York City.

To access our 'Live Classroom click here or visit our free Class Schedule and click on the time you are interested in for log-in details.


A number of studies indicate that one third of associates are "engaged" in daily operations. This is crucial for all group leaders because only engaged associates are high performers and will engage customers--critical for loyalty. But how do group leaders know at any point in time where their associates are on the engagement continuum? Even more important, how can group leaders keep them moving on the continuum toward full engagement?

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We would love to have you at a live "Live Classroom" to answer and explain any questions, but if you cannot make one we do have an archive you may visit anytime. To attend an archived (taped) Introduction click here.

You may also use visit our website and click on this box at the top --

What frontline leaders need to know

Manage and lead simultaneously

Actions get results

One third of group members, including the leaders, are self-motivated and engaged (involved with heat and mind).  Half of your members do their job but do not challenge themselves.  The remaining 20 percent, for whatever reason, are not focused, learning, or committed.

http://thankingcustomers.com

The Missing Link in Daily Operations?

There is a missing link in frontline daily activities for initiating and continuing learning.  Critical for maintaining creativity as well as engagement for any group with common goals or objectives.

Also critical in frontline daily operations for most every enterprise, especially in the services sectors of most every industry.  What's missing for the past half century?  As simple as leading activities for re-asking the critical questions as to "How are we doing?" with associates, customers, and even partners (internal and external).

This missing link is simply "Re-Asking" or, more formally, a secondary group asking process for daily operations.  A frontline process, set of actions, for "leading asking" which includes activities for the all-important non-verbal aspects of learning, communication, thought, and emotion.  This asking maintains a customer focus and dialogue not only with customers but also fellow team members and collaborating teams (both internal and external) as well.  It answers for everyone and involves them in the number one question they need and want to know--"How are we doing?"  An integral part of of the missing link is a critical and often missing feedback for associates--that from their own daily activities.  Associates receive feedback from their colleagues and supervisors but peak performers must also learn to get feedback from their own personal and group daily activities. 

An integral part of the entrepreneurial ethic in the early 1900's and was used to maintain a customer dialogue in enterprises large and small.  Many organizations whose founders had great business models and operational execution also used this link to become world-renowned as "people" companies and were able to maintain a high degree of customer focus over extended periods of time and growth.  Some of these founders, all from different industries, were Walt Disney (Entertainment), Sam Walton (Retail), Ray Kroc (Hospitality), and Thomas J. Watson (Technology). 

This feedback from their own daily activities is a learned skill and necessary for peak performance or for an associate to be "engaged".  The Gallup Organization found in research on employee engagement that less than one third of employees are currently engaged.  So the potential for improvement is enormous not to mention the retention of those employees currently engaged.  The secondary group asking process addresses six principles we believe are necessary to win and maintain the hearts and minds of associates as well as customers and partners.

The Inverse Power of Praise

Insights from this New York Magazine article, authored by Po Bronson, point to the neuroscience behind how praise works on the brain.  Although the article "How Not to Talk to Your Kids" focuses on children, it certainly has significant implications for work groups and teams.  The lesson is not to give general praise (such as for intelligence), but rather, to praise specific performance.

For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.

When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.