While completing my MBA, a professor of mine listed a book called The Dream Manager on his class syllabus as recommended reading. When I went to purchase the selection in the campus bookstore, it was small (only 150 pages). I consumed the book in one sitting, and its lessons have stuck with me throughout my career.
The book is a story about a fictional company struggling with the issues of poor morale and high employee turnover. Management decides to explore what truly engages and motivates their employees. They discover their employees are not motivated by promotions, titles, and salary increases. Instead, their employees are motivated when they can follow and realize their personal dreams, things like using banked vacation time to take a bucket list trip, owning a home, learning a foreign language, and finishing a degree. The underlying premise of the book is when employees are empowered to become the best versions of themselves, a company will become the best version of itself.
I was recently preparing to facilitate a leadership workshop, and I came across this book in my office. I decided to perform an internet search to see if the book was still in print. Not only is The Dream Manager still in print, but now there is a program for individuals to become Certified Dream Managers. There are 400 of them to date! These individuals serve as coaches with the goal of increasing employee engagement by determining the connection between employees’ dreams and the organization’s goals.
This book is a creative, great resource for managers. However, this concept is not new. Employees have always been a company’s #1 asset. When a company shows appreciation and invests in its employees, it results in increased loyalty and productivity…ultimately improving the bottom line. Companies can demonstrate appreciation for employees by investing in their training, giving them with meaningful work, allowing them to take risks, and providing them with constructive feedback. By doing so, employees can affect the public perception of a company’s brand, leading to an increase in profitability.
Click on the link to listen to Matthew Kelly’s message about The Dream Manager
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