The Culture Builders: Leadership Strategies for Employee Performance

The Culture Builders: Leadership Strategies for Employee Performance

by JaneSparrow (Author)

Synopsis

As with many people-oriented initiatives, employee engagement remains an emerging science with as many advocates as detractors. In The Culture Builders Jane Sparrow shares the insight of her research and experience into how companies are creating an engaged workforce. Along the way she looks at the evidence, the case for engagement and how organizations are measuring and defining it. Having an engagement strategy is merely a first step and so the book explores how to enable the manager-as-engager. Alongside the practical models and the guidance, there are stories and examples from leaders and organizations allowing you to learn, amongst other things, about the strong sense of purpose felt in John Lewis Partnership; the importance Innocence places on values; how Sony has used visual metaphors to give context and strategic direction and how MGM Resorts targets engagement strategies to the needs of specific employee groups. The need for sustained employee performance has been put into sharp focus in recent years. The Culture Builders is a book that provides the theory and practice to connect employee engagement to long-term performance. Simply reading it won't guarantee that performance. Reading it, learning and applying the lessons it offers, will dramatically improve your chances.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 260
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 05 Oct 2012

ISBN 10: 1409437248
ISBN 13: 9781409437246

Media Reviews
'It is easy to forget the people element in challenging times with sights focused solely on hitting targets. Yet a sound employee engagement strategy enables an organisation to retain its top talent and reap the benefits of a loyal workforce committed to the future success of the business. The Culture Builders is a practical guide to support you to achieve these aims, and is written with clear passion, sharing many inspiring examples of best practice.' David Williams, CEO Impact International, (A Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work For since 2005) 'Jane brings her considerable knowledge of what motivates and engages people into this book. It just oozes with story after story of her and others' practical experiences to be a must read for any manager serious about this topic.' Russell Grossman, Director of Communications, Department of Business, Skills and Innovation, UK 'A great insight into experiential leadership rather than management theory. One to share.' Sue O'Brien, CEO, Norman Broadbent 'The Culture Builders is packed with inspirational stories and practical, hands-on advice to help business leaders and managers deliver performance through people. No high-performing leader can afford to miss it.' Sherri Nadeau, SVP, Human Resources, Shopzilla 'The Culture Builders is a great place to go whenever you face a challenge getting partners, clients or employees engaged in supporting strategic objectives. This book offers a wealth of ideas about the communication styles, and associated practical steps, that can help you bring about positive change in individuals, teams and whole organisations.' Ezri Carlebach FRSA, Deputy Director of Communication and External Affairs, University of the Arts London, UK 'Jane Sparrow has been lucky enough to work with and for some outstanding leaders. She brings this experience, together with her wider research, in to a readable and compelling narrative that simply expands the theory and case for employee engagement into how managers and leaders need to show up in their organisations and engage their people as investors rather savers . Contemporary examples and stories, and the all-important how-to guides, provide the reader with samples of best practice along with advice about how to implement what she characterises as the five roles of manager as engager. This should be essential reading for anyone embarking on their first supervisory role right through to organisational leadership.' Simon Hardaker, Director Group Employee Communications, GKN plc. 'This is a fresh new voice in leadership strategy, and one that takes a deeper dive into the world of empowering people than most. Jane delivers this through an engaging combination of practical examples gained from her wide corporate career and meaningful insights that immediately resonate with the reader. The result is a wise, impactful and passionate analysis of how best to achieve shared ownership and growth within your teams.' Lesley Morgan, Group IT Director, Hachette UK 'First: I am biased. Having worked with Jane and seen her skills, talents and extraordinary energy as consultant and client I can't but help say what you get from her is an unbeatable mix. You get deep insight mixed with simplicity of action which we need in a complex world; you get energy mixed with humility that is so critical today in business where top down doesn't work; and you get skills and tools you can use for life - inside and outside of work. She has poured all of this into this book. In short. If you get just one thing from this book which you can use for the rest of your life then the ROI will be 1000%. I guarantee you will double or treble that return.' Kevin Thomson: Author of Emotional Capital, The Company Culture Cookbook, The Employee Revolution '...A fascinating mix of powerful stories, compelling data and practical guidance.' Amanda Davies, HR Director - Mars Chocolate UK 'As managers we often place the softer skills of human motivation well down the pecking order when focussing on tools to drive optimum organisational performance. Jane Sparrow does a great job in unlocking and describing some of the key drivers from an engagement and leadership perspective, using clear examples of effective behaviours and actions we can all learn from.' Paul Hide VP European Operations, Sharp Europe Ltd '...The Culture Builders really is a must-have read for any manager, leader or human resources professional (in fact, anyone who has to work with people!). ... All in all, this is an excellent text that should form part of any quality/management professional's toolkit.' Quality World 'The Culture Builders is a valuable companion for anybody, business or HR, looking to drive culture transformation in their organisation. ...Jane writes as though you're having a frank conversation with a trusted peer or colleague. She's direct, knowledgeable, non-judgemental, balanced, honest and insightful. Everything that you want from a companion. Throughout the book Jane weaves together easy to implement tips and techniques, explanations, snippets of real world examples from high-calibre companies (Innocent, Pfizer, Sony, John Lewis and Diageo to name a few) with models that are relevant across all industries. The case-studies in the final chapter are essential reading. ... All in all this is a great read and well worth your time and attention. It's full of solid examples and valuable insights from some incredible companies. It goes beyond the realm of theory and conjecture straight to the heart of practical application. An enjoyable and engaging read, from start to finish.' David James, WeCommend
Author Bio
Jane Sparrow began her career in IBM and has held a variety of senior positions in organizations such as Sony Europe, The Energy Project, and MCA (now part of the WPP Group). As Director of Communication and Change for Sony Europe she instigated a new culture of communication, involvement and personal growth through coaching members of the board to engage, motivate their people and sustain high performance. Jane is an active member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the past Programme Chair for the IABC Global Conference in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Jane is a co-author of the IABC Handbook of Organisational Communication and she publishes frequent articles in a variety of journals and publications and has been rated an 'All Star Speaker' by the attendees at the IABC World Conference.