Comments on: The Power of Positive Influence in Employee Engagement http://www.davidzinger.com/the-power-of-positive-influence-in-employee-engagement-1035/ The best in employee engagement... Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:03:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bennet Simonton http://www.davidzinger.com/the-power-of-positive-influence-in-employee-engagement-1035/comment-page-1/#comment-1654 Bennet Simonton Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:55:41 +0000 http://www.davidzinger.com/?p=1035#comment-1654 David, I don't sell my material or services. I am not sure if you read any of my articles, but according to most readers they are long on specifics, not short. Sorry if I misjudged Jerry as not having managed large numbers of people. Best regards, Ben David,

I don’t sell my material or services. I am not sure if you read any of my articles, but according to most readers they are long on specifics, not short.

Sorry if I misjudged Jerry as not having managed large numbers of people.

Best regards, Ben

]]> By: David Zinger http://www.davidzinger.com/the-power-of-positive-influence-in-employee-engagement-1035/comment-page-1/#comment-1651 David Zinger Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:11:05 +0000 http://www.davidzinger.com/?p=1035#comment-1651 Hi Ben, I appreciate you commenting but not sure I care much for your second line. Jerry states his perspective and offers concrete and specific actions managers can take. I read your comments and visited your website and you are very short on specifics and the content seems geared towards copywriting and selling your material or services. Am I missing something? David Hi Ben,

I appreciate you commenting but not sure I care much for your second line.

Jerry states his perspective and offers concrete and specific actions managers can take.

I read your comments and visited your website and you are very short on specifics and the content seems geared towards copywriting and selling your material or services.

Am I missing something?

David

]]> By: Bennet Simonton http://www.davidzinger.com/the-power-of-positive-influence-in-employee-engagement-1035/comment-page-1/#comment-1649 Bennet Simonton Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:58:35 +0000 http://www.davidzinger.com/?p=1035#comment-1649 Jerry is absolutely right about top-down being a disaster. It actually creates the very poor performance by employees that it purports to prevent. But Jerry doesn't go far enough. It is not apparent that he has ever managed people and proven that what he professes is capable of creating the best results. I managed people for over 30 years, my first 12 years using the traditional top-down command and control approach to managing people. I read a book and started listening to my people for the first time. In that position, as Commanding Officer of a destroyer escort that was a real basket case, by listening to people and respectfully responding to their complaints, suggestions and questions, most of which were valid), I turned it around to superstar status in just 18 months. In the process, I learned that as a group people were twice as capable as I had thought possible. When I went to my next assignment, the man who took over was a top-down type who returned the ship to being a basket case in less time than it had taken me to turn it around. Why had I just made a house of cards? In the following years, I developed a strategy to address this "house of cards" problem and proved it in two subsequent turn arounds, the second being a 1300 person unionized group in New York City. In the process, I learned that as a group people are at least 4 times more capable than I had originally thought possible. There is a "mother lode" of creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation, and commitment in any workforce and it takes a superior strategy to cause them to unleash it all. We are talking a 500% gain in productivity per person from a poorly motivated group to one with the highest levels of morale and commitment. To learn more about what I learned, please read these <a href="http://www.bensimonton.com/articles.html" rel="nofollow">Leadership Articles</a> starting with the article "Leadership, Good or Bad". Best regards, Ben Jerry is absolutely right about top-down being a disaster. It actually creates the very poor performance by employees that it purports to prevent.

But Jerry doesn’t go far enough. It is not apparent that he has ever managed people and proven that what he professes is capable of creating the best results.

I managed people for over 30 years, my first 12 years using the traditional top-down command and control approach to managing people. I read a book and started listening to my people for the first time. In that position, as Commanding Officer of a destroyer escort that was a real basket case, by listening to people and respectfully responding to their complaints, suggestions and questions, most of which were valid), I turned it around to superstar status in just 18 months. In the process, I learned that as a group people were twice as capable as I had thought possible.

When I went to my next assignment, the man who took over was a top-down type who returned the ship to being a basket case in less time than it had taken me to turn it around. Why had I just made a house of cards?

In the following years, I developed a strategy to address this “house of cards” problem and proved it in two subsequent turn arounds, the second being a 1300 person unionized group in New York City. In the process, I learned that as a group people are at least 4 times more capable than I had originally thought possible.

There is a “mother lode” of creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation, and commitment in any workforce and it takes a superior strategy to cause them to unleash it all. We are talking a 500% gain in productivity per person from a poorly motivated group to one with the highest levels of morale and commitment.

To learn more about what I learned, please read these Leadership Articles starting with the article “Leadership, Good or Bad”.

Best regards, Ben

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