Firing On All Cylinders

I’m a big NASCAR fan.  Every week I watch the races and I can tell when a team is ‘firing on all cylinders’.  It seems as though everything and everyone is working together like magic.   That team is poised to win the race and maybe even the season.

Teams (NASCAR or in business) that are ‘firing on all cylinders’ are:

Fast                  Efficient            Operating at full powerEnergized         Eager               Smooth            Flawless           Focused           Working well together Exciting            Have good timing

What would be the probable business outcome if your team was operating as though they were ‘firing on all cylinders’? You’d have:

• Engaged, eager employees who offer consistent high performance
• Low turnover
• High customer satisfaction and a growing number of loyal customers
• Profit and expansion
• Enjoyable work days

How do you create this type of team power?

How can your team ‘fire on all cylinders’?

The Gallup Organization polled 1 million employees from a broad range of companies, industries and countries to determine what top talent employees need from their workplace.

Gallup’s survey results are revealed in the book: First Break All The Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.

The strength of a workplace can be assessed with these twelve questions:

1. Do I know what is expected of me from work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

If you want strong profits begin using these twelve questions in your workplace immediately.

This Simple Seven Point ‘Firing On All Cylinders’ Plan will help you get started:

1.  Ask your employees to rank the 12 questions, 1 – 5, with 5 being Strongly Agree.
2. Rank employee responses. Make the two lowest scored answers your top priorities.  
3. Enroll a cross-section of employees and managers to develop an action plan.
4. Implement the action plan.
5. Survey your employees’ responses to the twelve questions each year.
6. Review the results and go back to step 2.
7. Keep working until you get ‘Strongly Agree’ answers to all twelve questions.

Talented employees need great managers and leaders. Being a great manager and leader starts with asking the right questions.  Then taking the results and addressing needs with a plan for action.

The Seven Point Plan, based on Gallup’s twelve questions, is simple and clear. It will help you create a team that ‘fires on all cylinders’.

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