Make the Most of Staff Potential

People are naturally productive. It is a manager's job simply to tap into this intrinsic potential. Here are examples of leaders who have successfully capitalized on their employees' internal drive to succeed:

• Issue a challenge. To encourage employees to think of creative solutions, Jerry Schlaegel and Steve Schneider at Monarch Marking Systems formed a series of teams, each one specifically tasked with improving a particular performance number. The challenge? They gave each team no more than 30 days to study the problem and implement a solution. Results were outstanding: The success of the over 100 teams literally created a new culture within the organization.
• Empower employees to act. As part of a massive turnaround effort at Rowe Furniture Company, manufacturing head Charlene Pedrolie decided to jumpstart productivity by letting workers redesign the workflow. Because of her unconventional approach, the company moved from an environment in which each person handled part of a work process to fully cross-trained manufacturing cells producing a whole product. This new sense of personal control transformed the culture, sparking innovation and efficiency in every corner of the plant.
• Aim high. When it comes to setting goals for employees, many managers aim too low. That is the lesson Dupont manager Richard Knowles learned when he experimented with letting staffers set their own goals. Knowles says he discovered that his employees set higher goals for themselves than he ever did. The point? Never underestimate the amount of energy staffers will dedicate if they participate in making decisions.
  Adapted from "Help People Thrive at Work!" Susan Heathfield, About Human Resources, humanresources.about.com.

Managing ADD adults
If you have a highly skilled and talented employee who just can't get things done on time, you may be dealing with an adult worker with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Other signs include extreme restlessness or fidgeting, difficulty staying focused or engaging in quiet activities and chronic lateness or forgetfulness.

Although ADD is not yet a recognized "accommodation" under the Americans with Disabilities Act, making a few simple adjustments in the way you design work will keep these workers productive. Try these modifications:

• Break down tasks and assign them one at a time.
• Provide a quieter workspace.
• Create a highly structured work environment by using written lists, phone reminders, memos and to-do lists.
• Partner the staffer with a co-worker who has complementary skills.

Bottom line: Experts say that people with ADD often shine in positions that require lots of energy and creativity. They also typically excel at meeting short timelines and thinking on their feet. However, they can have difficulty in jobs that require attention to detail, long deadlines, little feedback and rigorous time management.
Adapted from HRfocus News Briefs, ioma.com.

Where to Find the Best Ideas
The more you let front-line employees suggest how to improve operations, the more productive your team will be.

Keith Coogan, vice president of operations for cable company Time Warner Houston, started his career driving a warehouse forklift. The experience taught him that "workers will do every dumb thing management demands they do." But they can also be a rich source for how to do things better. That's why Coogan created the Houston's Heroes program, a task force of technical employees and supervisors who meet monthly to assess workflow. "We focus on removing obstacles," Coogan says.

One simple suggestion increased each worker's output by two service calls a day: Employees now take their work trucks home at night so they can schedule a call on the way home and one on the way in to work the next day.

Manager's take-away: Consider creating a regular forum for your employees to contribute ideas on how to improve workflow.
Adapted from "Fishing for Excellence," Linda Haugsted, Multichannel News, multichannel.com.

HC