About Goalgetter's Best Leader To Work For
1. Background
Welcome to this unique leadership development tool.
With emphasis on Corporate Governance today, many companies are now looking to
obtain good ratings in their own climate surveys and also in ‘external’
surveys/initiatives, such as:
· the prestigious “Best Company To Work For”
· “Great Place to Work” and
· “Investors in People”
Experience and research has shown that, in order to score highly in these
surveys, the drive has to come from the top – in other words, LEADERSHIP.
Too often companies try to window-dress problems and challenges by giving annual
staff parties or inviting celebrities to talk or pop stars to sing [all at a
MACRO level] but sadly miss the MICRO detail of day-to-day life at the work
floor. This is where leaders have a profound effect on employee perceptions,
morale, engagement and productivity. Research has shown that, generally, leaders
do not see themselves in a good light, as they are continually faced with the
juggling act of pleasing those ‘above’ and ‘below’ them and this negative
perception of themselves [added to a feeling of hopelessness] culminates in
leadership behavior that is not what it could be. This dynamic Leadership
Self-Development tool and process can help to change all that!
2. The solution – Goalgetter’s ‘The Best Leader to Work For’ process
If Leadership has a profound effect on the levels of ‘Employee Engagement’ and
whether a company scores highly in a typical TBCTWF survey [and on morale and
productivity], then it makes sense to introduce an evaluation system that
measures [and rewards] leadership within an organization. It makes even more
sense to base the leadership measurables around those that the company is being
measured on (depending upon which survey the company has entered into) and on
measurables that will help the company to achieve its strategic goal.
3. Which leaders get measured?
Depending on the size and structure of the company, different leadership
categories can be decided upon ie: supervisory, middle management, senior
management etc.
4. What gets measured?
Unlike the usual leader evaluations (that only pay attention to bottom-line,
budgets, variances etc), the leaders in the Goalgetter’s TBLTWF process will be
measured on attitude and
behaviour , as well as the normal
operational aspects. Their evaluations will be placed in categories based on
surveys such as ‘The Best Company to Work For’, ‘Great Place To Work’ and
‘Investors In People’. The 4 most common ‘leadership’ categories that have
appeared in all the surveys are:
a) Interpersonal
· Approachability
· Ability to motivate
· Availability
· Consistency
· Openness
b) Respect and Trust
· Ability to help the team enjoy their work
· Ability to earn respect
· Knowledge of the team member
· Trusting the team to get a job done
· Empathy/Understanding of frustrations
c) People Development
· Coaching and Mentoring
· Celebrating Success
d) Operational Leadership
· Policies and procedures
· Ability to make decisions
· Ability to communicate information
5. How does it get measured?
Goalgetters has designed specific Leadership Evaluation questionnaires, based on
research (and feedback) carried out with thousands of employees in many
different sectors of the economy. The evaluations are easy to fill out and take
very little time. Employees, anonymously, will be invited to punch in their
questionnaire answers on a computer [the time intervals between each evaluation
will be up to the individual companies concerned]. From this information,
leaders will be given ratings and from these ratings, the leaders will be able
to see just how they are perceived by their subordinates.
6. Leader Self-development
The real bonus of the process is that leaders are able to use the feedback as
part of their leadership development and are able to ‘self study’ themselves
through the areas that need remediation. Together with their teams, they take
total accountability for their leadership growth. With the use of the unique
Goalgetters “Leadership 27” programme, leaders are able to tackle ‘areas of
weakness’ that have been highlighted in their evaluations and systematically
work through each one, at their own pace, whilst at the workplace. The programme
offers leaders single-page self-help sheets on a variety of leadership topics,
filled with relevant, practical and easy-to-implement tips.
7. Goalgetter’s ‘Leadership 27’ Leader Self-Help Sheets
The self-help sheets include, at least, the following (and can be expanded to
suit the specific needs of the client):
· Which leadership style is best?
· The difference between leading and managing
· Gratitude
· Greetings
· Focus on the moment
· Why jobs don’t get done
· Knowing how your team rates you (credibility 2)
· Barriers to your leadership growth · Owning your space · Being
composed (building credibility 3)
· Inter-personal · Problem Solving
· Listening
· Handling criticism when IT IS your fault
· Handling criticism when IT IS NOT your fault
· Dealing with challenges
· Fun
· Case Study – Two thirds of SA employees are unhappy
· Letting your guard down (building credibility 4)
· Keeping promises (building credibility 5)
· Avoiding destructive comments (building credibility 8)
· Showing that you care (building credibility 9)
· Learning about your team (diversity)
· Delegating
· Empowering
· Making learning easy for your team
· The qualities of a coach
· Handling mistakes positively (building credibility 6)
· Evaluating your team · Catch people doing things right
· Reinforcing positive behaviour · Honest (building credibility 1)
· Assertiveness
· Delivering bad news well (building credibility 7)
With the use of these self-help sheets, leaders are easily able to apply the
learning tips back to the workplace and are also able to track their own
‘leadership progress’ over time.
8. Who correlates the information?
The information is correlated on ‘The Best Leader to Work For’ website. This
information is only made available to agreed-upon recipients (specific leaders
etc).
9 Recognition for the Winners
Winners can be announced at the end of every month, with ‘The Best Leader to
Work For’ Award being announced at the end of the year.
10. The pay-off?
Once leaders have teams under them who believe they are ‘The Best Leaders to
Work For’, then the bigger picture [TBCTWF] starts to take care of itself.
• Leaders are seen to be working towards a common ‘Leadership Goal’ and
not in isolation.
• The required leadership behaviour becomes a norm throughout all
departments and the company.
• The process can be used to transform and energise organizational
culture
• Increased morale, empowerment, accountability, decision-making,
innovation…
• Lower level of turnover
• A leader’s deficiencies can be quickly determined and a developmental
process put into action.
• Retention of good leaders within the organization
• More qualified job applications
• Higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Can be used in conjunction with (and to add value to) organizational
climate surveys
• Higher productivity and profitability!
• Better communication within work teams
11. Where do I start?
Start by contacting Goalgetters on 011 465 7828 or e-mailing on
goalget@iafrica.com to confirm the process you want to follow and costs.