Role Misalignment and Disengagement
A Wake-Up Call for Business Leaders from Gallup
By Bob Moore, CMC
Jim Harter, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Workplace Management and Wellbeing for Gallup’s workplace management practice, recently wrote an article entitled, “Companies Are Maximizing Only 5% of their Workforces.” Here are the highlights of his article:
>The longest tenured are also the least likely to be engaged,
>Three key attributes to performance exist in only 5% of workers,
>Companies must align talent, engagement and tenure strategies.
Harter adds, “Let this be a wake-up call for business leaders: employees with the longest tenures in your company are also the least likely to be engaged.
Gallup’s data suggest that companies’ highest performing individuals have three things going for them:
- Have tenures of a decade or more in their organizations,
- Are engaged in their work, and
- Are in roles where the expectations of the job align with their innate talents.
Each variable affects outcomes on its own, but the highest performance comes from the combination.
But here’s the unfortunate fact: in the typical company among the hundreds we’ve studied, this combination exists in just 5% of individual contributors.
Managers and team leaders significantly influence engagement. Gallup’s research shows that employees are most likely to be engaged — and stay with their companies — when they report that their managers understand them and give them the chance to do what they do best every day. Managers can help employees find ways to do more of what they’re good at.
The Talent Management Institute Has a Solution
I believe this makes a case that all key positions must be benchmarked, a process that identifies the behaviors, motivators and essential skills required by the job. A Job-Talent Fit can be determined by assessing candidates and incumbents with a gap report. With this information, managers know precisely how to develop employees into top talent.
To learn more about the Job-Talent Fit process, send an email to Bob@Effectiveness.com with “JT Fit” in the subject line.
Bob Moore, CMC® is CEO of Effectiveness, Inc and The Talent Management Institute
Contact: 919-439-5811 or Bob@effectiveness.com