The Importance of Top Down “Buy In”

February 9, 2016 7:00 am Published by

My name is George Gotschall and I have been in management for about 35 years in both corporate and private enterprise.  I am currently the owner of a placement agency and a consulting company helping organizations choose their next employee wisely.

In November 2014, Dr. White and Tim Hepner introduced me to the concept of Appreciation at Work and I fell in love with it!  Treating people like individuals, what a concept!  Since I am a certified behavioral analyst, the idea fit perfectly with the behavioral surveys I sell to my clients.

The concept of treating employees like human beings with families, frailties and fears is not new but it is, sadly, not the norm.  You see, managers are too busy overseeing too many people and projects,  blah, blah, blah.  Actually, the Harvard Business Review released an article “Beware the Busy Manager”  that says “fully 90% of managers squander their time in all sorts of ineffective activities.  In other words, a mere 10% of managers spend their time in a committed, purposeful, and reflective manner.”  Believe me, new concepts such as Appreciation at Work can be implemented in any company at any level.  The manager has the time.

In my many years of experience as a manager at corporations, I have learned that managers do what their bosses want (or they won’t be managers very long).  When I was the Vice President of Quality Systems at Picker International our mission was to increase Total Quality (sales to service).  Fortunately, we had the commitment of our CEO.  With his backing we were able to far exceed the customer requirements for our products and make tons of money in the process.

The same is true with trying to change the culture to appreciate and value your employees.  You have to get the “top dog” involved and active.  They need to not only “embrace the change” but lead it.  The others will follow.  My message is to the CEOs out there that have managers who are “too busy”.  They need to learn how to value their employees by truly appreciating them as individuals. This is partly done through finding out the way (language) they want to be appreciated.  Get involved!  You will personally see changes that will amaze you.  Managers actually having conversations with their employees.  Employees feeling valued and as a result getting more engaged with their job on a day to day basis.  Yes, Virginia, it is true, employees can actually like the work they do AND their boss!  I am a witness to this phenomenon.

For more information about George and how he can serve you, connect with him on LinkedIn.

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February 9, 2016 7:00 am

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