October
2002
Fears of corporate corruption and its fallout are starting to undermine the confidence of the nation's employees, according to a recent Gallup survey. If employees feel they can't trust the people running their companies, then more than productivity will suffer. Hope still remains, however, among the most engaged employees.
When companies evaluate their products' or services' features, they fail to look at the most important factor in creating value: people. But Gallup's research reveals that employees' interactions with customers are the dominant influence on those customers' perceptions of value and are key to their future engagement with the company.
Another day, another triple-digit loss for the stock market. Investors are sending a message, one companies and stock analysts had better not miss. Gallup's research into customer relationships shows that connections between a company and its customers are, at their core, emotional -- and repairing damaged relationships will make the difference between success or failure in the emotional economy.
We are constantly forced to cope with our own weaknesses. Moving into a different job, taking on a challenging project, getting promoted into management -- situations like these usually require us to confront our own "areas for improvement" -- or those of the people we supervise. In this GMJ Q&A, Kenneth A. Tucker tells how using your top talents can help you manage your weaknesses.
Great organizations know that employees and customers aren't rational computers, but human beings with complex feelings, according to the authors of Follow This Path (Warner Books, October 2002). And they understand that engaging those employees and customers emotionally is the approach that will steer their businesses toward unparalleled success.