Page 84 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Steering the Ship and Inspiring the Crew C71

equation. The Kenexa Research Institute, for example, recently con-
ducted a survey of workers in six countries that found only 54 percent
held favorable views of their senior leaders. These results indicated
that a worker’s opinion of overall senior management effectiveness is
driven by the extent to which senior managers gain employees’ con-
fidence through their decisions, actions, and communications; keep
employees well informed regarding company direction; and conduct
business in an ethical fashion. 3

: EMPLOYEES DESCRIBE THE IMPACT OF SENIOR LEADERS

Our analysis of Best-Places-to-Work survey comments confirmed the
aspects Kenexa identified to be relevant. Survey comments, which
we’ve categorized by theme, also revealed several additional dimen-
sions of employees’ views about senior leaders that most assuredly
impact, for better or for worse, the employees’ daily decisions about
whether to expend or withhold discretionary effort.

Theme A: Senior Leaders’ Power to Inspire and Engage
Here are two sets of comments, each illustrating the impact that
senior leaders have on a workforce, for better and for worse.

Positive Comments
One significant take-away from the positive comments is the degree
to which employees appreciate the inspirational effect that leaders can
have on individuals and the organization as a whole:

: “I have been at (the) company for 18 years and can’t imagine
having a better work situation. The company president has
tremendous vision and integrity and sets the tone to treat the
staff well in every regard. My work is professionally reward-
ing and appreciated by supervisors, peers, and staff. I don’t be-