Vitalize Your Workforce looks like a helpful book for
owners and management to get the most out of their employees. Can you tell us a little about the book?
Yes, it is a book written for Executives who want to
get more out of their organizations, not just their employees.
For years, Gallup Research reported ”85% of employees aren’t
engaged.” This # should be painful and
a wake-up call for all leaders!
It says that the human potential throughout their
organization -- on every level and in every function -- is stagnating. Employees are “busier” than ever, but don’t
really care.
So, it begs the question: If you want to lead your organization
in new strategic directions, do you know how many of your employees actually
want to make the effort to follow you?
Professor Emeritus, Malcolm McDonald, studied the results of
50 US companies who were “on the move” and reported very
significant losses as a result of poor performance in completing their strategic
plans. It’s not a surprise.
Can you tell us a little about your background and what
you do?
I have a significant management career in Fortune 100
companies as Johnson & Johnson & AT&T. I enjoyed a wide scope of experience in areas
as: medical, consumer health products, consumer electronics, information and
Wireless systems, and more.
What inspired you when writing Vitalize Your Workforce?
I am a huge believer in human potential. This started early
in competitive sports, where a player
might not be good in speed but may be have a really special
skill in strategy.
So, the idea of 85% of your workforce being “busy” but “only
staying for the benefits” is really painful to me. That’s 1/3
of their life just going through the motions.
And I agree with Einstein, if you haven’t solved a problem
in a couple of weeks, it’s time to ask new questions.
This problem has been talked about for almost
20 years… it is way PAST
time to ask new questions and create new answers. That is why we are
here today.
When writing Vitalize Your Workforce did anything
stand out as particularly challenging?
After spending a year in first-hand research around the
country, three things stand out:
1. Lack of engagement
is just a symptom of a deeper, more pervasive, long-term problem:
Personal employee
stagnation.
Employees are
busier than ever, but there is no future for them. No “what’s next.”
Hence the common statements: “Why should I
care?” and “I’m only staying for the benefits.”
2. Looking deeper,
the underlying causes of employee stagnation are the antiquated
workforce
management practices that were created over 100 years ago… of
filling seats
and keeping
people silent and in place …. for consistency of production, forecasting, and
results tracking.
These management
requirements will always be important.
But the context of employees
awareness has
changed.
We now have:
a) ubiquitous
information (that started in the early 2000’s)
b) burgeoning
entrepreneurial opportunities
c) pervasive
demand for “What’s in it for me?” by all
employee groups…
The challenge of
retaining and evolving a workforce HAS to be a priority for
both survival and
success in the 2020’s starting right now!
3. Executives are so
bored with trying to resolve the old “employee lack of engagement”…
that they are either
redesigning their companies or mentally just moving on, saying “go
talk to HR.”
The problem is,
it is not an HR problem. They can’t solve it. They are not
trained for it.
And if executives
don’t solve the underlying employee stagnation problem now,
… they will
simply just take it with them.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I like exercise,
yoga, family, singing, meditation, laughing, and of course, travel
Where can readers find out more about your work?