The Business Book

86

L E A D E R S A L L O W

G R E A T P E O P L E T O

D O T H E W O R K T H E Y

W E R E B O R N T O D O

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TALENT

S

taff in many organizations

reports feeling undervalued,

overstretched, and forced to

work in areas beyond its competence.

Because of this they feel ineffective

—they want to work better, but feel

that the organization is constraining

them. The best companies allow

staff to build careers around what

they excel at—in leadership expert

Warren Bennis’s words “to do the

work they were born to do.”

Contemporary organizations,

faced with dynamic, fast-moving

markets, favor employees who are

flexible and multiskilled. Yet in a

2012 Global Work force Study only

35 percent of employees reported

engagement with their jobs,

revealing a disconnect with what

employers want and what employees

are willing to give. Studies have

found engaged employees—those

devoted to their jobs and committed

to the company’s values—are

significantly more productive,

provide better customer service,

and outperform those who are less

engaged. But many companies treat

staff as little more than pieces on

an organizational chessboard that

can be moved around at will.

Effective people create effective organizations.

Great leaders allow great people

to excel at what they do well.

They value the factory floor as much as the shareholders.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Work-force effectiveness

KEY DATES

1959 US psychologist

Frederick Herzberg defines

factors in job satisfaction in his

study The Motivation to Work.

1960 In his book The Human

Side of Enterprise, US

academic Douglas McGregor

proposes Theory Y, urging

companies to adopt a

participatory management

style that motivates workers to

strive to achieve their potential.

1989 US management guru

Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s

When Giants Learn to Dance

suggests that employees are

most productive when

empowered to make their

own decisions.