Follow This Path

Reviewed by D. Richard Dance, CPA, President/CEO of UPchannels and Ann H. Jenkins, Office Manager

January 2003

Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina's Follow This Path is an in-depth look at how employees function in the workplace. The book analyzes three types of employees: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged.

The book also recommends twelve ways to help "engage" employees. Emphasis is also placed on the development of talents and common errors found in businesses.

---

Great organizations know how to navigate the worldwide competitive maze to keep their customer relationships intact and thriving. They do this by connecting to their customers on an emotional level. When that happens, customers return because of the way they feel. The response has been so phenomenal that these organizations don't refer to their return patrons as loyal, they speak of them as being emotionally engaged customers.

They create an environment in which their best performers can do what they excel at over and over again. These men and women are so tuned in to what they are doing, and so effective at responding to the needs of customers, that profits and growth flourish, as do the employees. These men and women are referred to, with gratitude, as being emotionally engaged employees.

This may not seem like an e-business book, but it is because of its main message which is: if you base your e-business solely on price you will go broke over time. We can't maintain our margins from normal operations when we are faced with extreme competition. The problem is caused by a customer relationship based solely on price. When all you have that differentiates you is your price, you are a commodity.

The Main Premise

The three main premises of the book are:

1. Identify talent and fit it to the right roles.
2. Create an environment that allows employees to be engaged.
3. Do things that emotionally engage your customers.

Talent

Everyone has talent—natural abilities that make each person particularly effective. When talent is appropriately used, superior performance is generated. The trick is to find that role in which talents can be put to their best use.

34 Talents in Four Main Themes

Relating Themes	Impacting Themes	Striving Themes	Thinking Themes
Communication	Command	Achiever	Analytical
Empathy	Competition	Activator	Arranger
Harmony	Developer	Adaptability	Connectedness
Includer	Maximizer	Belief	Consistency
Individualization	Positivity	Discipline	Context
Relator	Woo	Focus	Deliberative
Responsibility		Restorative	Futuristic
		Self-Assurance	Ideation
		Assurance	Input
		Significance	Intellection
			Learner
			Strategic

A portion of the book explains each talent and how the combination of our talents in different themes makes us unique.

Engaged Employees Q12 â„¢

Employees can be profiled into three categories:

1. Engaged
   • Use their talents everyday.
   • Consistent levels of high performance.
   • Natural innovation and drive for efficiency.
   • Intentional building of supportive relationships.
   • Clear about the desired outcomes of their role.
   • Emotionally committed to what they do.
   • Challenge purpose to achieve goals.
   • High energy and enthusiasm.
   • Never run out of things to do, create positive things to act on.
   • Broaden what they do and build on it.
   • Commitment to company, work group, and role.
2. Not-engaged
   • Meets the basics.
   • Confusion or ability to act with confidence.
   • Low-risk responses and commitment.
   • No real sense of achievement.
   • Possible commitment to organization, but not always to role or work group.
   • Will speak frankly about negative views.
3. Actively disengaged:
   • Normal reaction starts with resistance.
   • Low trust.
   • "I'm okay, everyone else is not."
   • Inability to move from the problem to the solution.
   • Low commitment to company, work group, and role.
   • Isolation
   • Won't speak frankly about negative views but will act out frustration, either overtly or covertly.

Gallup recommends 12 ways to help employees become engaged:

1. Focus on me.
2. Equip me.
3. Know me.
4. Help me see my value.
5. Care about me.
6. Help me grow.
7. Hear me.
8. Help me see my importance.
9. Help me feel proud.
10. Help me build mutual trust.
11. Help me review my contributions.
12. Challenge me.

Common Errors

Organizations continue to implement several wrong-minded decisions about employees that profoundly impact operations.

• The first misstep is in the selection process because it doesn't address what talents are needed to fill a position, much less the talents people bring with them.
• The second misstep is evaluation, a circular process that ends up going nowhere. So much time is spent concentrating on what a person doesn't bring to the job—after being hired to do it! Frustration on behalf of managers and employees is the inevitable result.
• The third misstep is training. Being sent to learn something that they have little interest or aptitude in is not a good use of either the employee's or trainer's time. Receiving extra training to augment strengths is rarely considered.
• The fourth misstep is role allocation. In most organizations promotions are supposed to reflect accumulated knowledge and prestige. But in actuality talent is usually promoted to positions where it cannot shine.

What the Book Does

Follow This Path takes you down a 10 step sequential path that the Gallup organization believes you must do to create the environment for employees so that they can engage customers who in turn create sustainable growth, real profit, and stock increase. This is called "The Gallup Path". See www.gallup.com/management/path.asp for a diagram.

Where to Obtain the Book

It can be purchased directly from the following sources:

• Amazon.com web site www.amazon.com [Hardcover/Audio Cassette] $18.87; [Audio CD-Abridged] $17.49; [Download: Adobe Reader] $14.95.
• Barnes and Noble store or web site www.bn.com[Hardcover] $21.56; [Audio Cassette] $18.98; [Audio CD] $24.98.
• Booksamillion web site www.bamm.com [Hardcover] Regular price $20.08, Club price $18.07; [Audio Cassette-Abridged] Regular price $14.14, Club price $12.73; [Audio CD-Abridged] |Regular price $18.61, Club price $16.75.

---

Standard Information about UPchannels

UPchannels focuses on delivering five primary services:

1. Provides hope for information overload through Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) training and seminars for individuals, families, and organizations.
2. Offers the CRM Researcher's Directory through Bob Thompson's CRMGuru.
3. Serves as Knowledge Management editor for the Open Directory Project on the Internet.
4. Creates XBRL Financial Reporting knowledge bases and training for CPAs and companies.
5. Does special projects and marketing whitepapers for growth oriented software vendors.

For more information on UPchannels visit their website at www.upchannels.com

Advisory Board

• Advisory Board Members
• Make a Donation
• Member List
• Past meetings
• Upcoming meetings

Courses

• eBusiness Lecture Series
• Management Consulting
• Web Analytics

Web Analytics Competition

• Contest Information
• Fall 2006 Winners
• Winter 2007 Winners

e-Business Plan Competition

• Contest Information
• Judging Criteria
• Winners 2006
• Business Plan Competition

Contact Us

• Rollins Center for eBusiness
• 574 TNRB, Provo, UT 84602
• Phone: (801) 422-2815
• Fax: (801) 422-3449
• E-mail: ebusiness@byu.edu