Connecting the “soft” to the “hard”

Since the end of 2008 we have measured the culture, climate and engagement levels of the staff of a Western Cape construction company on a yearly basis using the Motto Survey. This has been an exciting journey for both the business and the ±120 staff. It has been fascinating to see how the staff responses change from year to year. In the first year the movement in responses were massive, as were the change in staff attitude and performance. Thereafter there has been a consistent and more gradual improvement on 90% of the measured items every year.

The reaction from all business owners and managers to this is always: “That’s great, but how did the business perform?” After all, we are here to make money. The successful business leaders understand that link – the connection between the “soft” measures vs. the “hard” ones.

The good news is that this company has been showing a consistent growth in profit in spite of the struggling construction industry.

Since the Motto Survey was first used in this business in 2008 we were able to design and implement Organisation Development (OD) strategies that could target the specific challenges and at the same time build capacity for future strategic business needs.

One of the many success stories over the years is of an Operations Manager that were able to make a complete turnaround in his management style, specifically the way he communicated with his staff. Staff responses on most of the leadership feedback items moved from 50-70% negativity to less than 30% on all related items from 2008 to 2013.

The success of this turnaround was achieved by a combination of intervention strategies, but if you ask the Operations Manager what made the staff responses change, he will talk about his staff communication lessons. Both the interactive workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions over time gave him insight on how to change the way he was managing the supervisors and staff. As a result the staff losses have been minimal over the years and very little disciplinary issues arise.

Being able to know exactly which area/department and which issue to tackle as part of the OD strategy enables business leaders to minimise staff loss, build capacity and create a performance driven workforce.

Compiled by Dr. Mariheca Otto. She writes a weekly blog: www.motto.za.net
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