Professor Susen Varghese from SIES College of Management Studies shares her views on leadership in today’s modern society and how to ensure leadership is effective.

Peter F Drucker once said “Leaders grow, they are not made”
Leadership today has become a very multi meaning term. Professionals from various disciplines have defined ‘Leadership’ in different ways. Paradigm shifts in the cultures of organisations and the consistent parallel and horizontal development of companies have raised the need to look at leadership in a new angle.

A strong company is the one that has leaders spread all across the company, not just at the top. The business world today needs both good leaders and good managers. However, because of the rapid change occurring in the industry today, a company needs far more leaders, not more managers.

Appointing the right Leader
Time after time again, businesses put the wrong person in charge. Unintentionally, they reward a "don't rock the boat" mentality. Conformity and status quo are the first steps leading down the staircase of a business disaster. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.

As correctly quoted by Ray Croc “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves”. Effective leadership arises out of groups, organisations and communities that have built trust, and learned to collaborate and make decisions and solve problems constructively.

Successful Leadership
True leadership is about taking people to a place they wouldn't go to by themselves. Good leaders don't merely supervise; they create a sense of purpose and direction for those they lead.

Organisations can only build great leaders in an environment that nurtures and supports that development. If they don’t have such an environment, they need to change their culture to create one. But organizations cannot change their culture without good leadership.

Leaders need to "be present" and being literally; physically present is the fundamental meaning of that term. We're always surprised at how many leaders we encounter who spend most their time in their offices or on "executive row."

They seldom show themselves to those they lead. It has been over twenty years that the groundbreaking book ‘In Search of Excellence’ pointed out the virtues of "Management by Walking Around." Mayor Giuliani certainly demonstrated the wisdom of that practice.

But being present means more than just physical presence, important as that is. It means being present in the moment - focused totally and completely on what is happening right here and right now. It means, when you're with people, giving them your full attention, so that they will feel recognized and motivated. When you're not present to the people you lead, it weakens their willingness to commit.

Being present also means being flexible, able to deal spontaneously with rapid change. Think of being present as a focused but flexible dance with the world in which the leader can instantly change step or tempo as the music changes.

Using effective leadership to avoid Employee burnout and high staff turnover
Good leadership is also instrumental in avoiding employee burnout and reducing staff turnover. James Bradley lately pointed out that “Burnout is no longer the acknowledged domain of the highly pressured lawyer or doctor, but a condition that can hit anyone at any time in their career if they are faced with high productivity expectations in a hostile and unsupportive environment”. The key then, is a business philosophy that values its people and invests to nourish and support development through professional training, coaching and mentoring. Problems only arise when this is not set in place as a positive encouraging mechanism, but instead is used as a whip by ill-equipped management. It needs to inspire people, raise morale and restore a sense of purpose and self-worth, naturally leading to best performance.

As Natalie Calvert, MD, Calcom Group points out “Positivity and optimism in the workplace encourage tolerance and balanced judgement, and inspirational leadership enables access to those positive qualities that build our self-respect and contentment - the ultimate preventative medicine for burnout”.

Tips to achieve effective leadership
Thus, the ‘leader today’ requires to stick to certain must do’s in order to be effective, successful and sustaining in this ever changing corporate governance. These essentials can be listed as:-

01. Being there.

02. Always remember, Communication is the key.

03. Instilling optimism while staying grounded to reality.

04. Tell the hard truths.

05. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

06. Master conflict. Deal with anger in small doses and engage dissidents.

07. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.

08. Reinforce the team message constantly.

09. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

10. Have the courage to take big risks, and more.

11. Foster a spirit of tenacious creativity. Never give up—there’s always another move.

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rogenSi have released their May survey results aiming to help organisations understand the impact of the financial crisis on the mindset of the global workforce.

Introduction
There can be no doubt that the financial crisis of the last 12 months has impacted on the mindset of the global workforce. This survey specifically focused on the mindset of exceptional performance. This is not to deny the critical importance of knowledge, skills and process, but it is ultimately the mindset of team members that drives their energy and resourcefulness.

A significant challenge leaders currently face is to deliver exceptional results in a very difficult climate, whilst simultaneously maintaining employee engagement and morale. Whether their focus and concerns are at the survival end or the accelerated growth end of the performance spectrum, these times provide needs and opportunities like few before.

The study revealed:
    • Employees believe in themselves, but not necessarily the leadership;
    • There are mixed levels of ‘change readiness’ across age groups; and,
    • Client facing sales teams have been the most impacted by the current challenges.

These findings are a clear ‘call-to-action’ for global leaders. Employees report high levels of self-belief, but are experiencing equally high levels of disengagement. Obviously, left unchecked this will progressively impact on business performance. Leaders need to creatively connect with and inspire their people at a deeper and more meaningful level.

Overview of the results
According to the authors, leaders must "harness" this positive employee self-belief - before it wanes - by "engaging their people more creatively and purposefully".

They must "connect with and inspire" workers at "a deeper and more meaningful level".

And "time is of the essence", they say. Leaders must "radically change the level and nature of their connection with their teams". "Incremental improvements in leadership connection and impact are unlikely to be sufficient to even maintain the motivational status quo."

Leaders, they say, must:

    * communicate the business plan to all employees, and keep talking to them to ensure they understand, accept and are committed to the strategy;
    * emphasise the process of how success will be achieved, and de-emphasise results. Results are a manifestation of many factors, including those that can't be controlled. "Put the focus on what we can control and commit to execution excellence";
    * measure the behavioural expectations of employees, and provide regular feedback on the achievement of these standards;
    * use the power of the team by looking for opportunities to involve employees in the planning, execution and celebration of goals;
    * link business-specific issues to general motivation and emotional wellbeing; and
    * provide employees with meaningful, rewarding and challenging work. "People want to know they are making a difference and feel recognised for their achievements."

In short, leaders must continue to apply the same strategies required in "good times" to drive "exceptional performance", but deliver "more" of them and "with a higher level of quality", the authors say.

To continue reading Global Mindset Survey Results May 2009

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HR Daily discusses the importance of forming successful employer/employee relationships.  

In an era of constant change, an employer's capacity to adapt, succeed or survive hinges on the quality of employer/employee relationships, or the "psychological contract", according to a corporate psychologist.

"The psychological contract defines the 'essence' of the employment relationship," says Colin Beames in his book, Transforming Organisational Human Capital.

"It serves to bind individuals and organisations together and regulate their behaviour, making possible the achievement of organisational goals."

And it's a "powerful determinant", he says, of the behaviour and attitudes of workers.

"The quality of these employer/employee relationships... significantly impacts on both performance and retention."

Employees, Beames says, are more willing to accept change - such as downsizing, restructuring or the implementation of new initiatives - if their relationships with their employers are "healthy".

How the psychological contract is formed
Every relationship has a psychological contract, Beames says.

In business, he says, it can be defined as the set of expectations - based on stated or implied promises and understandings - that operate between employers and their staff. It is neither a written nor legal document, but "nevertheless 'real'".

The contract is established from the moment the organisation "promotes itself" (in a job advertisement, for instance) and develops progressively through every phase of the employment relationship, Beames says.

It is formed through what is written (from job ads through to HR policies), said or unsaid (by managers and colleagues), implied and observed, and is influenced by:

• the salary package;
• other financial and non-financial benefits;
• job security and career development;
• recognition of ontribution;
• workplace safety;
• the resources and training provided;
• managerial support; and
• promotion opportunities.

The "health" of the psychological contract, Beames says, depends on the employee's perception of the "delivery of the deal".

If they feel that their expectations aren't being met, he says, they're likely to become disengaged.

The cost of getting it wrong
Beames notes that while employers can increase the job satisfaction and engagement of workers by making and keeping promises, they can't be expected to fulfil every expectation.

There must be a "trade-off", or balance, he says, between meeting employee expectations and achieving business goals.

It is essential, therefore, that the psychological contract, or workforce strategy, is consciously linked to the business strategy, he says. A failure to do so can lead to excessive turnover.

For example, if the psychological contract places too much emphasis on remuneration based on short-term performance in an industry that relies on the development of long-term client relationships, those relationships will suffer and output will be restricted.

If employee salaries are stymied as a result, Beames says, talented workers are likely to leave and pursue other opportunities.

But even if workers manage to achieve outstanding results in these circumstances there is still a big chance they'll flee, he notes.

When a psychological contract is built almost entirely on short-term economic factors, he says, attachment tends to be tenuous.

Recruitment phase critical
The responsibility for managing the psychological contract is spread between executives, HR personnel and line managers, Beames says.

How they engage with the recruitment process, he says, is particularly critical.

"It is important that candidates are moved... from one part of the recruitment and selection process to the next, without them uncoupling or disengaging," he says.

Managers, he says, must maintain intermittent contact with recruits and provide them with regular debriefs and updates.

"The goal is to unite parties into a longer term relationship," he says. "However, the relationship is fragile in these early stages, and simple violations of the script or conventions are sufficient to terminate it."

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by Don Holley, Managing Director

I attended a breakfast this week hosted by the CEO Institute and sponsored by Harmers Workplace Lawyers . Harmers Managing Partner, Joydeep Hor gave an excellent presentation about the ramifications of the move from Work Choices to the Fair Work Act which has been law for just over a week.

One of the panellists Schon Condon from Condon and Associates  made a very interesting comment – in his view “employing people was no longer a game for amateurs”. Well put I thought!

Under the new legislation there are key issues employers need to know and understand, and luckily we have been working with our clients on most of these already.  

Review your Industrial Risk profile. Whilst this only affects some of our clients, employers can no longer ignore unions. In some situations employers could simply by pass the union and negotiate with the workers directly. Fair Work Australia can enforce “Bargaining Orders” on the employer and even intervene and impose an agreement if the parties can’t reach agreement. This is no doubt a risk for some businesses and perhaps a change in approach is required.  

Small business is now smaller. Unfair dismissal parameters have moved from applying to businesses over 100 people to a revised term of small businesses – 15 people.  

There will also be more scrutiny and potential exposure on redundancies with the onus of proof on employers as to the validity. This really increases the importance of a good performance management process with good quality records kept.  For those of our clients who use our Performance Advantage software, you know how important that this is and the facility is there to keep performance records. I suggest that you reinforce this with your managers.

Also the base wage where the unfair dismissal legislation no longer applies is now above $108,300 per annum.

All clients are encouraged to have their employment agreements revised to make sure they comply with the new legislation before 1 Jan 2010 when the Employer Safety net elapses.  Let me or one of the consultants know if you need help with this.  We can arrange this for you.

In terms of recruitment practices, Mindset supports equal employment and anti-discrimination legislation and it is highly likely that companies will come under more the scrutiny.  It was almost impossible for a prospective employee to prove that they were discriminated against in the recruitment process, now an ombudsman appointed by the Fair Work commission can step in and decide on the matter. This reinforces the importance that appropriate training be given to line managers and that you use a reputable and professional recruitment agency to source your Talent.

It is therefore never been more important to understand the views and opinions of your people, and be on the front foot of potential issues down the track.  

In a recent example, a manufacturing organisation recently completed our FREE Leadership Survey  were able to pinpoint specific areas of risk which was negotiations with the Union.  Understand your risk before it becomes a problem is essential.   

An aggressive and defensive management style also increases the risk of legal issues as well as the cultural problems it causes. Perhaps it is a good time to identify these managers and help them to use alternative methods to manage their teams.  

Particularly where technical skill, industry knowledge is important to a managers role, assisting with the managers development with a structured program aims at improving self insight, communication skills and personal management will likely be more cost effective than dealing with staff turnover and  legal’s headaches.  

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Don Holley, Managing Director of  Mindset has written an article explaining the importance of succession planning.  

The idea of succession planning in the workplace has been around for hundreds of years. Think about Queen Elizabeth, for instance, who succeeded her father as the Commonwealth monarch after his death.

Like the royal succession that has happened for centuries, succession planning is all about being ready for the future; having a plan in place once the next step must be taken. As a society we have been conditioned to expect this to happen, for example when there is a government leadership reshuffle a new Prime Minister is named at the same time the outgoing Prime Minister stands down.

However unlike the monarchy, today’s succession planning not only focuses on replacing talent, but also on developing the talent who will fulfil the organisation’s long-term goals. This is relevant to all levels of the organisation, not just at the top. Succession plans should be put in place for team leader, management and executive roles.

The current economic crisis means some industries have staff freezes, so it’s important have a workplace strategy in place when the market picks up. Labour is currently more abundant, however the right talent might not be available as there is still a skills shortage in some sectors, such as engineering. This is where future planning is imperative to long-term success.

Good leadership is necessary to an organisation’s success and the current skills shortages mean companies are doing all they can to hold on to talented leaders when they find them. Companies are identifying critical jobs, pinpointing gaps in their talent pool and developing staff or recruiting to ensure the jobs are filled.

A good succession planning system will be proactive and have the employee firmly in the picture, by giving them the opportunity to assess their progress and outline opportunities needed to develop their talent further. Individual development plans are created for each ‘star’, matched to their interests and forecasted development within the company. Effective succession management is a strategic tool for attracting and retaining great staff.

Successful talent development includes mentoring, coaching, job rotation, special assignments that prepare employees for the role ahead, education (formal, in-house and web-based) and feedback opportunities. For example, computer giant Dell focuses much of its development activity on its top talent and holds business unit leaders accountable for their development.

Like in any successful operation, succession planning systems must be continually refined and adjusted for the greatest returns. Feedback from employees, technological and economic climate changes and what the competition is doing, should all be taken into account when tweaking the plan.

Tips on succession planning:
• Make the plan uncomplicated so it is consistent and objective throughout all departments and office locations;
• Balance the need to fill vacancies with opportunities for key talent to develop;
• Outline the skills, values, behaviour and attitudes required for each role;
• Have more than one person groomed for succession so there is at choice when the role needs to be filled.

While succession planning is a key component to an organisation’s continued success, there are also some points to be considered so the system runs smoothly and does not become political. When outlining talent gaps that need to be filled, be careful not to clone existing managers and don’t overlook quiet achievers in favour of employees who stand out.

It is also important to keep morale of other employees who are not on the ‘star’ list high, so they don’t become disillusioned and demotivated. New staff could be seen as a threat or an opportunity to existing employees, so it is up to the organisation’s leadership to create mechanisms for cooperation, effective team building and communication to ensure a continued culture of growth exists.

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Leon Gettler of Smart Company discusses the Perfect Performance Review.

Traditionally, performance appraisals have been regarded as critical for managing careers and keeping employees in line with business objectives. Now with the Government's unfair dismissal changes dismantling WorkChoices, the performance appraisal can also be a critical tool in protecting your business from unfair dismissal claims.

Under the new industrial relations laws, businesses with fewer than 15 employees can sack a worker within 12 months of hiring them without redress, as long as they follow a small business fair dismissal code. For businesses employing more than 15, it is six months.

Additionally, the legislation removes the previous exemption from unfair dismissal relating to "genuine operational reasons" and replaces it with a narrower and more prescriptive defence of "genuine redundancy".

The code will require an employer to provide one warning, either verbal or written. Employers will also have to provide an employee with a reasonable opportunity to respond and improve their behaviour or conduct prior to termination of employment.

Lawyers say that whether or not an employer gave a verbal warning to an employee is likely to be a contentious issue where they are trying to defend themselves by referring back to the code.

And that is where the performance appraisal can be important. While performance appraisals are not usually the time to give warnings, they could provide companies with the documentation that could prevent a big payout.

Matthew Robinson, a partner at FCB Workplace Lawyers, says performance appraisals will become critical for demonstrating poor performance and showing genuine redundancy. "It's going to be important for all businesses making redundancies to have performance appraisals to distinguish between employees,'' Robinson says.

"Giving frank and fearless feedback will be important for all businesses to avoid unfair dismissals."

Preparing for the review
The trouble is most organisations are bad at performance appraisals. According to an Australian Human Resources Institute survey of more than 1600 HR professionals last year, four out of five respondents said that performance management processes in their organisations were either ineffective or somewhat ineffective. Nearly four in five respondents rated the skill level of managers giving the appraisals as average or poor.

So what steps should companies take to make performance appraisals deliver results, both for the business and the employee?

What should a performance review cover?
The managing director of employee award programs specialists, Trésor, Karen Rowell, says performance appraisals need to link the employee's day to day performance with the organisation's wider goals. Ideally, they should highlight areas that need developing, recognise and reward them for their recent performance, address issues such as promotions, transfers and succession planning and identify problem areas that might need improving.

The performance appraisal, however, should not be used as a star chamber. "The performance management system should be used as a positive tool to assess performance at a set point in time, with the view to addressing any developmental needs such as growth opportunities or improvements that are needed in a non-threatening and collaborative manner," Rowell says. "It should not be used, or, rather misused, as an opportunity to intimidate."

"It's all about setting the right tone, ensuring that the system is used in a positive manner and not as a rap over the knuckles. Employees should not feel frightened or worried about their performance appraisal. They should see it as an opportunity to have an open, supportive and constructive discussion about their strengths and weaknesses, with the view to developing strategies for improvement and development.

"Also, make sure that employees can see the value in participating in performance appraisals by focussing on the positive outcomes. That is, opportunities for promotions or transfers, extra training and development opportunities, higher salary or benefits such as time off or flexible working arrangements"

The structure of a good review
To get the most out of a performance appraisal, companies need to structure it properly.
Work needs to be done before and after. In the period leading up to the interview, the parties have to agree on key performance indicators and how they are measured and relevant information from many sources needs to be collected.

During the review, key performance indicators need to be identified first, appropriate ways of measuring performance need to be established and relevant performance data needs to be collected.

After the appraisal, the company needs to follow through on what has been discussed. Whether the parties have agreed on further measures, such as training, a transfer or mentoring, the managers need to ensure it is implemented. They also need to keep collecting information on how things are tracking.

The aim is to prevent surprises.
"If managers are leaving that and expecting their employees to just get on with it, at the end of the 12 months, it's going to come at a shock and will be difficult to manage. The ideal situation a management team should get into is that at the 12 month review, it's just going over what they already know."

She says a lot of companies now save time by using online performance management systems that already have the KPIs and competencies in place. Using these systems, employers can put down their thoughts before the appraisal on how things are going. "You spend 10 or 15 minutes sitting in front of the computer and then an hour or half an hour with the employee developing a plan for the next 12 months,'' she says.

Read the full article.

Mindset can help your organisation with performance management. Accurate performance appraisal is easy and accurate using Mindset’s web-based (or server based) Performance Advantage. Performance Apprasial software solution. It forms the foundation for a complete Performance Management System, enabling managers to review performance and plan for future performance in one easy-to use application. For more information contact us.

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Lance Haun from Your HR Guy has written an article for people considering a career in HR. He says if you  Love Helping People? Don’t Go Into HR.

Let’s get something straight: you definitely have to have empathy for people in this position and enjoy the challenges of working with different people in difficult situations. When you are laying off people with families, bills and good company loyalty, I don’t think you can react any other way.

When you are helping a person figure out their payouts and beneficiaries for their life insurance because they have terminal cancer, you have to have the right personality and mindset going into the situation. When you are dealing with some of the more sensitive employee relations areas (discrimination, harassment, etc…), having the right approach can be the difference between success and failure.

I don’t know if “Fuzzy Wuzzy HR” (you know, all of the team building, cry on my shoulder, let’s hold hands and sing kum-ba-ya HR philosophies) was ever very successful but it certainly is going the way of the dinosaurs now. Businesses want savvy, business smart HR people that can also relate to the human side of our profession while still keeping the business solvent. It is a balancing act but businesses are demanding that more emphasis be placed on the business end of things.

The problem? People that love helping people (but are less skilled in other areas of HR) are being pushed out of the profession. What businesses are deciding is that you get a person who may be more skilled in HR but less skilled on the people side and perhaps you can prevent some of the instances where you actually need that super high emotional IQ person. If you can avoid layoffs due to better planning or you can offer better training to managers because you have higher skilled HR people, you can feel better about dropping the people person.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that having a high emotional IQ precludes you from having great HR analytic and leadership skills. In fact, the best HR people I know are strong in all of those areas. But I know that many of those people wouldn’t necessarily say their people skills are the biggest part as to why they are successful.

For people who are considering HR and love helping people, learn about HR and see if anything else intrigues you about the profession. If you are coming up short on that analysis, there are a lot of other ways you can help people in corporate America or elsewhere.

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HR Daily has published an article about how to emerge from the GFC as a leading employer and how important authenticity, integrity, transparency and substance is for your company. 

Executive bonuses will tumble and "people factors" come to the fore as leading employers emerge from the global financial crisis, according to a new book on organisational change.

"One of the impacts of the GFC has been the investor angst and community outrage concerning the payment of obscene bonuses to some executives," says corporate psychologist Colin Beames in Transforming Organisational Human Capital (ISBN 9780980644203).

"People are now no longer in the mood to tolerate hypocrisy, lack of transparency and actions that promote blatant self-interest.

"The pendulum is shifting back in favour of authenticity, integrity, transparency and 'substance' over 'spin'."

In a post-GFC world, Beames says, the shareholder will no longer be king.

Performance standards that push for risk-taking and expediency will be discouraged, he says, and the fixation on short-term profits will necessarily diminish as stakeholders are forced to adopt a more sustainable perspective.

"Investors will come to realise that it is the less tangible and constantly evolving people factors that are increasingly the drivers of value and the developers of competitive capacity."

People management, accordingly, will become a core operational process - as opposed to a support function - as talent emerges as the key corporate asset, Beames says.

Employers restructuring - or leaping into the fire

According to Beames, the current economic climate provides CEOs and executives with a perfect opportunity to restructure, outsource non-core activities and discard unsustainable business models or unprofitable products and services.

"It provides them with legitimacy for change and possibly the pursuit of new opportunities."

Some employers, however, have leapt from the frying pan into the fire, Beames says, with impulsive and uncoordinated responses to the downturn, including:

• the slash and burn approach to labour cost-cutting, in which employees in more critical, specialist or core roles are let go as the result of an arbitrary percentage decrease;
• indiscriminate outsourcing, resulting in the loss of relationship capital (between the company and its clients), critical skills, intellectual property and "coal face" control;
• ad hoc employee-benefit cuts, such as the axing of flexible work arrangements, which lead to disengagement;
  recruitment freezes, resulting in the neglect of critical roles or a drop in performance due to the redeployment of unsuitable people; and
• the "peanut butter" (or spread evenly) approach to salary cuts, encouraging high performers to seek employment elsewhere.

The crisis, Beames says, has left an "indelible footprint" on the corporate culture, and employers must play by a new set of rules.

He says the age of "short termism", or get-rich-quick schemes, is over, and that sustainability will hinge on assessing and mitigating risk and more stringent corporate governance.

The "cult" of the CEO - which Beames describes as "a simplistic and convenient perspective where the CEO's impact on an organisation's success is accorded more weight than it deserves" - will be replaced by a focus on the team, and compensation systems will be overhauled so that executive pay is aligned with sustainable profits.

The current debate over proposed legislation to limit extravagant remuneration practices (such as excessive executive termination payments, see related article) is "clear evidence of the winds of change", he says.

The future of management

The traditional work of management will be performed less by managers as employers transform post-crisis, Beames says.

"It will be pushed out more to the periphery and embedded in systems via technology," he says.

"Decision making will be more peer-based with power based on competence, and less on authority vested in organisational structures."

Managers will have to earn authority, he says.

HR managers and other leaders must employ a more collaborative, transparent, and respectful approach in order to motivate staff.

"The hope is that more enlightened approaches to managing people will be adopted," Beames says.

"Irrespective of their status, one universal should prevail - that of treating all employees with honesty and respect."

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Leonardo Di Vinci once said "the biggest deception a man can suffer is from his own opinion”. Your own Mindset as the leaders of your organisations during these challenging times its critical. What you do and say has the greatest impact on the psyche of your organisation.

Adapting to rapid change may not be easy for you and it certainly isn’t for the great majority of your staff. Any change management guru will tell you that a “burning platform” or a “sense of urgency” is often a prerequisite for any large scale change. Whilst I think with the GFC there can be no doubt that for some, things will never be the same, knee jerk reactions will come back to bite many people when things turn around. In an interview with the US Financial Times, Jack Welch stated, "On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy ... your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products."

Far too many of companies, with good people and good motives, obsess about  pleasing share-market and taking actions that may well reduce their stock's value two to three years out. This quarterly reporting obsession is having a detrimental effect on the long term planning and competency building that builds sustainable results into a business. They have slashed budgets on many longer-term strategies, such as research and development, talent retention and development, even preventive maintenance on their equipment.

All of it with the noble aim of improving margins and getting a short-term increase in share value. And then something like the GFC comes along and share prices have plummeted drastically leaving many to think, “ what on earth we were thinking”. Instead of spending so much time worrying about the analysts, why not spend that time talking to your other key stakeholders, your employees and customers.

You might just find out that your cost-cutting measures have led to employee disengagement and a loss in brand equity. This is the main reason behind offering our staff engagement survey for Free. It has never been so important that leaders really understand what is going on with the Mindset of their people.

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