Page 267 - leadership-experience-2008

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248 PART 4: THE LEADER AS A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
engaged and committed to helping the organization accomplish its goals. The
Gallup researchers developed a metric called the Q12, a list of 12 questions that
provides a way to evaluate how leaders are doing in creating an environment that
provides intrinsic rewards by meeting higher-level needs. The Q12
Action Memo
evaluates characteristics such as whether employees know what is
expected of them, whether they have opportunities to learn and
grow, whether they have a friend at work, and whether they feel
As a leader, you can build an environment
that unleashes employee potential and
that their opinions are important. The full list of questions on the
allows people to fi nd meaning in their
Q12 survey can be found in the book, First Break All the Rules, by
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work. You can also apply ideas, such as
researchers Marcus Cunningham and Curt Coffman. When a major-
ity of employees can answer the Q12 questions positively, the organi-
employee ownership, job enrichment, and
zation enjoys a highly motivated, engaged, and productive workforce.
new incentives, to motivate people toward
greater cooperation and teamwork.
Buckingham has since written a new book, discussed in the Leader’s
Bookshelf, which takes a more in-depth look at what constitutes supe-
rior leadership.
Organizations where employees give high marks on the Q12 enjoy
reduced turnover, are more productive and profitable, and enjoy greater employee

and customer loyalty. Unfortunately, Gallup’s semi-annual Employee Engage-
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ment Index reveals that employee engagement is at a low level. The most recent
results found that only 29 percent of U.S. employees are actively engaged. A similar
Towers Perrin global survey reflects even more dismal results, with only 14 percent

of employees worldwide showing high engagement levels. 76
Leaders can identify the level of engagement in their organizations and imple-
ment strategies to facilitate full engagement and improve organizational perfor-
mance. Consider how the Medical Center of Plano (Texas) used the Q12 to spark
a turnaround.
IN THE LEAD Medical Center of Plano

“You can’t make a profit in this business unless you’re a quality provider of health
care,” says Jerry McMorrough, vice president of human resources at the Medical
Center of Plano. The 427-bed Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) facility com-
petes with 29 other world-class hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area, all
with great location, state-of-the-art technology, and sophisticated public relations.
Leaders knew that getting and staying ahead of the pack required getting the
very best from every employee. Unfortunately, the Medical Center had high turn-
over and low morale, and leaders couldn’t put their fi nger on the reasons why. They
decided to use the Gallup Q12 as a way to measure employee expectations and
how well the organization was meeting them. The results were shocking: only 18
percent of employees were engaged, 55 percent were not engaged, and 27 per-
cent were actively disengaged, meaning that they were actively undermining the
hospital’s success.
CEO Harvey Fishero and other leaders guided their transformation of the Medi-
cal Center by focusing on each element of the Q12, which includes such questions
as At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?; Does my
supervisor seem to care about me as a person?, and Do I have the materials and
equipment that I need in order to do my work right?

Within five years, the percentage of actively disengaged employees at the Medical
Center of Plano dropped to 9 percent, whereas the percentage of engaged employees
jumped to 61 percent. The facility went from ranking near the bottom of all HCA hospi-
tals on employee engagement to ranking the second highest of all HCA’s 191 facilities.
In addition, turnover has declined, customer satisfaction has improved, costs have gone
77

down, and profits have gone up as employee engagement levels have risen.