It was the famous 19th-century steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie who said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” By Harry Welby-Cooke There are literally thousands of pearls of wisdom gleaned from great thinkers throughout the ages that underscore the importance of innovation in the workplace. In fact, it is probably because of the sheer amount of advice out there that many managers and business owners simply accept innovation as a happy accident in business — something that can’t be planned and often can’t be explained. One may be tempted to assume that bringing together a number of employees with complementary skills in a project-group will automatically result in a high-performing team capable of innovation. Experienced managers and business owners, however, understand that a group doesn’t auto...

Your employees are directly linked to your business’ success. For your employees to take your customer’ experience to the next level, they need the skill, knowledge, capability and passion. Wouldn’t it be great if employers could generate the same level of dedication in their staff that we see in the loyalty of sports fans to their team? How do you create the same passion and emotional buy-in for your employer brand? Customer experience can only ever match employee satisfaction. Employee engagement not only affects employee commitment and employee loyalty, but it also has a direct and indirect impact on customer satisfaction. “We place great emphasis on employee satisfaction,” says Heino Gehle, General Manager of PLP SA . “Satisfied employees are motivated employees and they have the motivational resources to deliver adequate effort and care. Satisfied employees are empowered and they have the resources, training and responsibilities to understand and serve customer needs. Satisfied ...

Quinton Douman Incompetence, or just plain toxic behavior of employees, negatively affects the culture, and by extension, the overall success of an organisation and yet there are not enough people getting dismissed for this. While it is a cumbersome legal process and often tough to prove or even to correct, the main reason is that management is unwilling to have honest and tough conversations that ultimately lead to difficult decisions. This is a leadership deficiency that we see in small businesses as well as within executive teams in big organisations and in governments. CEO of 212 Consulting , Quinton Douman, explains further. Organisations are filled with employees who really don’t want to be there. We all know them, they are the ones who will not contribute in meetings, instead they will have a separate caucus after the real meeting and it will often only be with people who are equally miserable. But dare I say that sometimes the disgruntled employee is a result of their own c...

How to achieve employee engagement Wouldn't it be great if employers could generate the same level of dedication in their staff that we see in the loyalty of sports fans to their team? How do you create the same passion and emotional buy-in for your employer brand? Employee engagement is the emotional, cognitive and physical investment of an employee to perform. A common challenge employer’s face, is to get employees to buy into the brand’s philosophy, energy and culture. How we communicate within a company and how we engage with employees is critical to brand success. How can companies achieve a high level of connection with their employees? How do we inspire our team?  1) Align individual values to the organisation’s ethos Employees can no longer be manipulated by a ‘better the devil you know’ ethos that downplays the competition. Employers must identify and harness the attributes that will inspire employees’ loyalty to ensure that their values and motivation are al...