Organizational Excellence - So You Want to Live to 100? - News: JFD Performance Solutions

Related to my recent blogs and newsletter articles regarding employee engagement and the changing demographic of the American workforce, there was an interesting study published this past October in the medical journal The Lancet. The study, entitled "Ageing Populations: The Challenges Ahead" contends that if the pace of increase in life expectancy in developed countries over the past two centuries continues through the 21st century, most babies born since 2000 in countries like the U.S. will celebrate their 100th birthdays.

After more than a few folks recommended this book to me, I placed my Amazon order. In this book, Wiskup defines the "It" factor as "the remarkable ability to instantly create honest and powerful connections, in every meeting and every social interaction, every day." Quite a lofty goal! Not simply charm or the ability to say the right thing, having the "it" factor is about building connections, and it will pay dividends for you at work and at home.

I apologize. You've seen the reports and read the headlines. You may even be experiencing it first-hand. Some optimism has begun to creep into our collective conversation about the economy. Signs related to orders and production rates, the stock market at a 14-month high, unemployment potentially leveling off, and a modest rise in consumer spending are contributing to our cautious optimism. Yet, I apologize, because I am going to toss a bit of a wet rag over the simmering glow of these positive signs and, instead, write about a continuing crisis: the decreasing levels of employee engagement in the U.S.

In "How to Become CEO. The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization," author Jeffrey J. Fox expands on 75 factors to help a person become the head honcho, the top banana, the big cheese, the boss. I've selected 21 from Fox's list to highlight (with a combination of Fox's writings and my own comments):

1.  Don't Expect the Personnel Department to Plan Your Career - Human Resource departments do not have a grand plan for you. Your career growth is your responsibility, and no one else's.

2.  Get and Keep Customers - Why do so few people really work to get and keep customers? Because dealing with customers is tough. But to know your customers is to know your competition, and often your company's future.   

3.  Keep Physically Fit - Ninety percent of all people climbing the corporate ladder are out of shape. Being fit will give you the energy and motivation to succeed.

4.  Do Something Hard and Lonely - Do something that you know very few other people are willing to do. All great and successful athletes remember the endless hours of seemingly unrewarded toil. So do CEOs.

Zapp! is not a recent book. In fact, it was written 21 years ago. But its concepts about employee empowerment hold up very well in today's challenging work environment.

Employee motivation is often a difficult idea to truly grasp, yet alone to influence and leverage. Yet, if companies are to continuously improve, as is necessary for survival and success, everyone in the organization needs to be engaged. Byham writes that people with this engagement (those who are "zapped") have "responsibility, a sense of ownership, satisfaction in accomplishments, power over what and how things are done, recognition for their ideas, and the knowledge that they're important to the organization." It is important to understand that this engagement in constant improvement can not be imposed or forced on employees (termed being "sapped"); it is only fully achieved by empowering them.