This is the second in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention. The articles will cover:
1. Competitive Compensation & Benefits
2. Sound Organizational Structure
3. Leadership & a Motivating Work Environment
4. Recognition & Rewards
5. Employee Dreams & Empowerment

The premise of the articles is that employee retention is not a program or product, but rather the result of effective organization and leadership practices.

Sound Organizational Structure
A sound organizational structure contains four elements: Vision/Mission, Plan, Measurements, and Accountability.

Vision and Mission define your organization's direction and purpose - the first step in planning.

Planning is comprised of Vision/Mission, establishing Goals to fulfill your Vision/Mission, creating measurable Objectives for each goal, and Action Plans to fulfill each objective.

Controls represent the means by which you will determine whether or not your plan is working.

Accountability defines success in measurable terms for departments and individuals.

Without a solid organizational base, all management efforts to direct employee efforts become just more P.O.T.Y.s. [Programs Of The Year]. Variations of POTYs include Programs of the Month and Programs du Jour. Whatever their names, they yield cynicism as employees realize that the latest management "imperative" is just another POTY.

Organizations that are not well structured nurture 'bottom feeder' employees. Bottom feeders tend to thrive because they wallow in organizations that have no clear direction, measurements, or definition of success. For bottom feeders, unmeasured equals undiscovered.

For the same reasons, top performers flee from disorganized departments and companies. Top performers revel in opportunities to apply their talents in objectively measured performance that makes a meaningful contribution. You want to retain these employees.

Organizational auditing resources
Several excellent resources are available to assist you in auditing your organization's structure.

1. The first four chapters of Common Sense Managing provide an inexpensive option. These sections are devoted to Vision, Planning, Controlling [measuring], and Accountability. They include practical examples of each structural element and over 40 self auditing organizational questions.

2. Review the following symptoms of organizational structure problems. Your organization has an opportunity for improvement if you are experiencing four or more of the following symptoms.

__ You feel like you're constantly putting out fires

__ You assign work, but spend too much time following up to insure that it gets done properly

__ Your staff seems more concerned with fixing the blame than the problem

__ Despite your best efforts, people in your organization don't seem to know what's going on

__ Meetings you attend are generally non-productive

__ Parking lot" stories have more credibility than management's communications

__ Your organization's training doesn't seem to produce lasting, if any, change

__ Budgeting seems more of an aversion issue than a planning issue

__ You pay your people well, but they still complain about compensation

__ Getting promotions and raises seems to be based more on style than results

__ You think that your employees are satisfied, but you're not sure how many are

__ You sometimes feel as though your organization is out of control

__ You sense inconsistency in the delivery of your products and services

__ You think that your customers are satisfied, but you're not sure how many are

__ Despite your best efforts, customers complain about not getting accurate information

__ Frequently people within your organization over promise and under deliver

__ You perceive that you are giving away too much 'free' service

__ Customer complaints seem to be rising

__ Your organization is profitable, but could be doing a lot better

3. Hire a third party consultant, such as Growth Associates, to conduct an organizational audit. It usually takes about 5-10 days and is always an excellent investment. Without a solid organizational base your leadership "rockets" [retention, motivation, customer service, training, etc.] will ineffectively fizzle.

Observations over a 20 year period indicate that at least 75 percent of organizations do not have a basic organizational structure in place. I refer to them as disorganizations.

They don't have accountability because there are no measurements for which to hold anyone accountable.

They don't have meaningful measurements because they don't have a plan which determines what to measure.

They don't have a plan because they have no vision/mission.

Competitive compensation and benefits may enable you to attract talented people. A solid organization structure is a major step toward retaining them.

Employees' Preferences
I've asked employees in over 100 organizations whether they would prefer to be on a team with fancy state of the art uniforms or be on a winning team. So far no one has selected the fancy uniforms over the winning team, although several people have opted for both.

'Fancy uniform' organizations have such qualities as the latest equipment, physically attractive work place, and a prestigious company name. 'Winning team' organizations are ones in which:

Employees know their roles
They know the importance of their contributions
They are held accountable for work that is measured in a timely and accurate way. These characteristics can only exist in an organization with a solid organization structure.

Winning organizations are able to attract, satisfy, and retain winning top performing employees. Research cited in Heskett, Sasser, and Schlesinger's book, The Service Profit Chain, found strong relationships between:

Profit and customer loyalty
Employee loyalty and customer loyalty
Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction
Establishing a strong organizational structure is the first, and most significant, step in building a winning organization. An organization that:

Makes sense to everyone on your organization chart.
Retains its top performers
Attains top profits in its market
The Pyramid
Before you read on, pause for a moment and picture your organization's chart. [Oh, indulge me . . . stop and picture it.] Does it look something like a pyramid with the CEO at the top, then VPs and Directors, with Managers and Supervisors under them, and maybe your Front Line people at the bottom?

Now picture it again. Only this time turn it upside down. Then add the following two items. First in bold letters picture the word CUSTOMER all the way across the flat top of your inverted organizational chart. Then replace the Front Line people's job titles with the title V.I.P.

These are your Very Important People because they are the ones who are closest to your customers. They are the employees who:

Interact with and touch your customers
Determine your customers' perception of your organization
Directly affect your customers' satisfaction, loyalty, and future buying decisions
Are Most Important to the success of your organization.
Now imagine what would happen to your retention rate if you began treating your front line people as VIPs!

Part 3: Leadership and Motivating Work Environment will explore the leadership style and motivating work environment that evolves when you put your front line people at the top of the organization chart and begin treating them as the VIP that they are.