Kevin Jones is the featured guest for the next 3 episodes. In this episode we talk about:
- Working through the balance of technology and human side of business and how we cap employees potential.
- Even though we have the best intentions, how employees become disengaged.
- The importance of designing our business for the employees not just the customers.
- And one “simple” solution that can help move your organization to more collaboration and engagement.
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Kevin Jones works with companies to help them reimagine and change the way they work, operate, and how they engage their employees. The only way to do this is to challenge the status quo.
Kevin is an advisor, international speaker, and videographer, his expertise lies in organizational strategy, Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs), initiative adoption, and bringing the best out of employees. He focuses on the human side of business and technology. Kevin’s clients include NASA, Lowes, JCPenny, Dell, and many other well known companies. He’s authored two e-books, and produces videos that help communicate how we can challenge the status quo.
Questions
- Are your company processes, structure, and culture truly aligned to relinquish some control to allow your team to be more agile?
- Do your employees understand the why of their work? The purpose?
- What can you do to design your work so that you enable employees to give their best to provide the best product for the cusotmers?
Resources
Kevin Jones at vinjones.com – https://vinjones.com/
Employee Engagement measurement tools at viaPing – https://viaping.com/
Kevin Jones interview on the Switch and Shift podcast The Rebel Leader, Our Complicated Fascination with Employee Engagement – http://switchandshift.com/fascination-employee-engagement
XPlane and their work to improve action oriented, human centered organizational design. http://www.xplane.com/
Notes Taken During Editing
Technology’s advanced but how we design our work hasn’t advanced as much.
Are humans in the workplace just resources simply to be managed?
We’re marginalizing our people and capping their potential because of how we design our work.
Do you want to move beyond corporate zombies and tap into the potential of your employees? Listen here.
How often are you shooting down the ideas of your team members without consideration for validity.
Employee Capping example: Senior leader who is so busy that he doesn’t have the time to respond to the feedback, so people stop providing feedback, next time he asked.
Is your company set up to put caps on people?
Employees, do you want to love your work?
Engagement is more of a personal thing. Does the employee understand the why of their work? The purpose?
The culture is how we work together. The unsaid things. How we interact. How things get done.
Cost of disengagement and bad culture: mediocrity.
When starting a company we design it for customers. At some point, we need to also think how we design our company for the employees.
Design to enable employees to give their best to provide the best product for the customers.
Change means change in the company structure and processes as much as in people.
Change can come from a scary yet simple solution: give up some control.
Do you want your company to be more agile? Release some control and let your people be more agile.
Portrait Artist – I discovered Meredith Binnette at my son’s school’s senior art show. She drew this picture of Kevin after looking over his website and his press photos. She’s recently graduated high school and is pursuing art in college. Meredith, good luck in your pursuits.
The Inspired and Intentional podcast/business show is copyright 2016 by it’s owner. The music is Funk Game Loop, Kevin MacLeod Royalty Free from Incompatech.