Loading ...Book Review: 12: The Elements of Great Managing
Prior to its publication, I had the opportunity to preview Rodd Wagner and James Hartner’s book 12: The Elements of Great Managing (Gallup Press, 2006). When I read the preview chapter, I didn’t appreciate the book as much as I did once I read the rest of the book. It helps to have context.
12 draws on the lessons learned by the Gallup organization through years of research and polling. Wagner and Harnter do a fantastic job of not only explaining the 12 Elements, but also of how they apply in the real world. Their antidotes are vivid and easily understood, which helps if you are not into sociology or statistics. Here are some of the highlights that describe each element.
Knowing What’s Expected
Groups that have high scores on this item are more productive, more profitable, even more creative. Substantial gains on this First Element alone correlates with productivity gains of five to ten percent, thousands more happy customers and 10 to 20 percent fewer on-the-job accidents.
Materials and Equipment
The most engaged employees say their manager made what turned out to be relatively minor accommodations, aggressively petitioned for more expensive tools when the business case was strong, and was generally vigilant in looking for new ways to make his team more effective, without the employees having to harp.
The Opportunity to Do What I Do Best
A recent study found organizations focused on maximizing the natural talents of their employees increased engagement levels by an average of 33 percent per year, equating to an average net gain of $5.4 million in productivity per organization over enterprises using more traditional methods.
Recognition and Praise
Positive words specifically have been found to activate regions of the brain related to reward. One employee interviewed by Gallup tried to put the effect into words: “For me, receiving praise and recognition kind of sets off a little explosion inside…”
In other words, “While blessedly few people have a cocaine addition, every normal employee has a dopamine habit. Managers shouldn’t want it any other way.”
Someone at Work Cares About Me as a Person
For those workers who “feel like I’m just a number” but who can’t imagine cheating, quitting their job provides an ethical alternative that is also expensive to the company. The correlation between not feeling cared about and resigning has been observed repeatedly in studies of individual companies in the Gallop database and in analyses where data from many organizations are combined.
Someone at Work Encourages My Development
The notion of a personal guide is an ancient idea that perpetually reemerges in forms such as the relationships between master craftsman and apprentice…There is something about working closely with someone who supervises the less experienced person’s progress that cannot be accomplished as well in another other way.
My Opinions Seem to Count
Incorporating employee ideas pays back twice. First, the idea itself often is a good one. Second and equally powerful, that the idea comes from the employees themselves makes it much more likely they will be committed to its execution.
A Connection With the Mission of the Company
If a job were just a job, it really wouldn’t matter where someone worked. A good paycheck, decent benefits, reasonable hours and comfortable working conditions would be enough…But a uniquely human twist occurs after the basic needs are fulfilled. The employee searches for meaning in her vocation. For reasons that transcend the physical needs fulfilled by earning a living, she looks for her contribution to a higher purpose.
Coworkers Committed to Doing Quality Work
Few factors are more corrosive to teamwork than the employee who skates through life taking advantage of the much harder work of others.
A Best Friend at Work
Gallup itself would have dropped the statement if not for one stubborn fact: it predicts performance. Something about a deep sense of affiliation with the people in an employee’s team drives him to do positive things for the business he otherwise would not do.
Talking About Progress
Four out of five employees whose companies have a formal review system feel it is fair. However, these perceptions are strongly affected by what happens between the appraisals. This proportion feeling the system is fair drops to two-thirds if they feel no one has talked to them about their progress. Conversely, if a manager can maintain a strong regular discussion of progress, nine in 10 workers will consider the review system fair.
Opportunities to Learn and Grow
Raised through a childhood in which each new year brought novel opportunities, playing at ever more difficult levels of sports, growing physically, educated in a system of cleanly delineated grades—freshman, sophomore, junior, senior—many employees find themselves several years into their career wondering what happened to the momentum they used to enjoy. Being conditioned and naturally wired to look forward to differences between seventh and eighth grade or high school and college, many workers are disappointed to discover there will be no dramatic difference between their experience as a 25-year-old employee and their experiences as a 26-year old employee.
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