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The goal of this week’s blog is to get you thinking about your decision-making style and, more importantly, what that style means to your workplace culture and workforce effectiveness.  Said another way, how is your decision making style impacting your organization’s results? 

As a leader, have you ever thought about the number and types of decisions you make every day?  Have you considered how you make those decisions?  What about the implications of your decision-making style on employee engagement, team building, and open communication in the workplace? 

Most of us probably remember this from Management 101: The most commonly used styles are Autocratic, Democratic, Participative, and Consensus.

"I’ll make the decision and you go get it done."  "No, I don’t need any input; I know everything I need to know to make the right decision."  "I’ll handle it; I always do and it turns out fine."  To be fair, the autocratic style is appropriate when a fast decision is required.  Otherwise, this approach ignores the importance of engaging employees and the possibility that "two heads are better than one."  It also has a dampening effect on building trust.  Do you think overusing this style might affect your business results? 

"Let’s vote on it; the majority rules."  "I know we are doing it, but I didn’t vote for it."  This democratic style has some advantages including building trust in the workplace and supporting open communication.  But who really "owns" the outcome?  It is easy for employees to claim, "I didn’t support that" or "I thought he was doing it because he voted for it."  That reaction to the democratic style eats away at a culture of ownership and hinders your effectiveness.  Do you think overusing this style might affect your business results? 

What decision-making style do you use and how is it affecting your bottom line?

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There are so many areas of business where industry can be a barrier to entry: access to credit or a loan, recruiting, partnerships.  Yet, industry is NOT a limiting factor when it comes to implementing progressive people practices that drive a productive workplace.

In other words, no leader of a company, small or large, should ever answer the question "How well do you engage employees?" with "Our industry isn’t conducive to that."

For proof, check out the 17 distinct industries in which our 40 Top Small Company Workplace award finalists for 2010 are operating:

1. Advertising
2. Architecture/design
3. Business-to-business trade
4. Chemicals/pharmaceuticals/biotechnology
5. Computer systems and related services
6. Construction/Engineering
7. Consulting
8. Employment services
9. Health and wellness services
10. Industrial Goods Manufacturing
11. Internet services/data processing and other information services
12. Natural Resources
13. Personal services
14. PR/Marketing
15. Retail Trade
16. Software
17. Travel/hospitality

The bottom line?  Chemicals is about as different from Travel as industries come, but even seemingly disparate firms are united by the common bond of stellar human capital strategies.  And guess what?  These strategies create another bond: steady sales growth and a clear path to achieving or maintaining profitability.

For more on our 2010 small biz award finalists, check out these posts:

• Patagonia Making a Triple Bottom Line Focus More Public
• How Our 2010 Small Biz Award Finalists Beat the Competition
• Map – The 2010 Top Small Company Workplace Award Finalists

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If you were among the over 41 million people who watched the 82nd Academy Awards telecast last Sunday, you might have seen one of our 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces award finalists: outdoor clothing designer/distributor/retailer Patagonia.

During the program American Express ran an ad for their Members Project, a new partnership with social action network Takepart.com.  Here’s the commercial if you missed it:

The ad features Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who according to their application for our award – and the company’s own press materials – is still actively involved in the business he established almost 40 years ago.

This post on Patagonia’s employee and customer blog explains the set piece in the ad, the Matilija Dam, and why removing it would be good for the planet and people (which, along with profit, make up the three pillars of the growing triple bottom line business movement).

Patagonia’s work maintaining a strong triple bottom line is readily apparent.  On their website homepage, a vast Environmentalism section is given equal weight to revenue-friendlier sections such as Clothing & Gear and Product Information.

This perfect weave (pardon the pun) of company mission and like-minded employees and customers has kept business strong, even in a down economy.  I can’t get into specifics, because our Top Small Company Workplaces media partner Inc. Magazine will share those with you in its June issue should Patagonia be named a winner for 2010.  But trust me that they’re doing very well on the key business metrics you’re concerned about in your own organization.

Watch for the June issue of Inc. on newsstands to read about this year’s winning firms and their workplace culture improvement and team engagement activities, which you can adapt for your company.  You can also subscribe to Inc. and get the issue as soon as it comes out.

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This week, once again, my e-mail inbox contained the disappointing results of a Gallup study that indicated that the Work Environment Index dropped to a new low in February. 

The Work Environment Index measures job satisfaction, the ability to use one’s strengths at work, trust, and openness in the workplace, and how one’s supervisor treats him or her.  The Work Environment score was 51.6 in February 2008; 48.7 in February 2009; and is now at 48.0 in February 2010. 

Why are these results so concerning?  Among other things, these scores say two things:

1. Quality of life is negatively impacted, and
2. Workforce effectiveness and workplace productivity aren’t nearly where they could be. 

As a leader, do you want to make sure that these numbers don’t apply to you?  Do you want a productive workplace with highly engaged employees and a culture of ownership?  If so, consider these actions: 

1. Take a hard look at your organization’s culture.  What’s the level of employee engagement?  Do your managers know how to manage and lead?  Do you sense a positive energetic organization or one that reflects fear and/or boredom? 
2. If you think there is an opportunity for improvement, get serious about it.  Start with doing an employee survey to better understand where you are doing things right and where you could improve.  If you are going to be serious about improving your workplace culture, don’t guess.  Get the facts – directly from your team.
3. Once you have the facts, do something about them.  This is where the work gets hard.  Changing a culture, which means changing the way people behave, isn’t easy.  Get outside help if you have to.  Be clear about your "end goal"; if you do this work successfully, what will your workplace culture look like in a couple years?  Develop a plan to get from where you are today to your end goal.  What are the key steps?  How will you measure your success?  How will you engage employees along the way?  How will you build trust, a foundational component of a great workplace? 

The workplace studies are yielding consistent results: there is a growing problem with job satisfaction and, in turn, productivity.  As a leader, do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem?

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So I really appreciated freelance copywriter Denise McGill’s 5 time-saving tips for small business owners that appear on Small Biz Survival.  These run the gamut from things you’re likely already doing if you place a premium on communications team building (put your full contact info in all email signatures – automate this and you’re done), to less-used but no less powerful tactics like deleting or archiving outdated electronic materials on your computer.

In the spirit of saving you time, I’ll keep this post short and conclude by sharing two more related tips:

1. File under startups, legal considerations: employees = payroll service (thanks to Paula at Workplace Fairness).
2. File under work/life balance: outsource your more tedious household responsibilities.

Do you engage employees in discussions of saving everyone time and, thus, your company money?

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Bock cites a blog post by Tom Peters in which he goes so far as to call these managers a "peerless strategic opportunity" for innovation and growth.  Expanding Peters’ case, Bock explicitly links nurturing these integral staff to more desirable outcomes in engagement, turnover, and, yes, profitability.

In addition to Bock’s "boss’s bottom line" that employee leadership development helps a company grow even as its key players do, he provides value in these three qualities to look for in first-line managers to assess their longer-term leadership potential:

• They talk to others about behavior and performance,
• They make decisions, and
• They enjoy helping others succeed.

I hope more leaders read the advice of Peters, Bock, and other respected authorities who are pointing to this pivotal cog in the machine of small business – and business in general – as one that can easily be improved, for the benefit of their bottom line, and ultimately everyone through the job growth more thriving enterprises create.

Related: We wrote an editorial a few years ago on the importance of new manager training to more robust (and productive) employee engagement and people practices, and it still holds up today.  Read it here.

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