Page 90 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Steering the Ship and Inspiring the Crew C77

: “After working at other companies, I don’t think that I can ever see
myself working for another organization, and particularly for any
other people. The trust that I have in our general manager and
president is beyond anything that I have ever experienced.”
: “I’ve worked in environments where I didn’t entirely trust the CEO
and management, which is why working at ABC Company is so re-
freshing. I really believe that the management team has a lot of integ-
rity, and it’s genuine. The CEO is a focused, inspirational leader.”

We noted with interest that the themes and comments above are
remarkably similar to the factors Kenexa found to be most important
for senior leaders: having confidence in their decisions and actions,
keeping employees informed, and following ethical business practices.
Still, they were not the only key themes we found that were directly
related to senior leaders.
In analyzing the Best-Places-to-Work survey comments, several ad-
ditional themes surfaced that have their own power to increase or
decrease a given employee’s willingness to give discretionary effort.

Theme D: Open, Two-Way Communication by Senior Leaders
It comes as no surprise that most employees view openness and two-
way communication from leaders as a key factor in their willingness to
engage. When leaders provide it, employees’ anxieties tend to lessen
and their trust is renewed. When leaders withhold it, fear, anxiety,
doubt, and distrust often prevail.

Negative Comments
Numerous employees, including many middle managers, wrote com-
ments expressing frustration with how little senior leaders listened to
their concerns and how reluctant the top leaders were to share infor-
mation with them, as shown below:

: “The leaders in this company direct things and make all of the de-
cisions without the opinions of the employees. Most of the time