As owners and founders, If we could have things our way, our employees would gladly give at least 70 hours per week to the business, just like us, and they would do it with perpetual smiles on their faces.

Over the course of the past 13 years, I’ve interacted with nearly 200 business owners who had questions about optimizing employee engagement within their organizations. It’s not that the organizations were in desperate need of help. On the contrary, some of these businesses were performing very well, and the owners of these companies simply wished to explore the possibility that some ingredients might be missing that would allow these companies to perform even better if they could be discovered.

The 7Q7P Framework is partially built on the presumption that employee buy-in needs to occur on an ongoing basis. Having a single discussion with your workers and having them agree that they belong in your organization is a great start, but things are never static in business, and all of the elements that drive the business forward are constantly changing. In addition to that, the features of your employees’ private lives will also fluctuate as time marches on.

Depending on which dictionary you use, the primary definition for the word “cognizance” will vary. According to YourDictionary.com, cognizance is defined as “perception or knowledge,” and especially “the range of knowledge possible through observation.” In Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, cognizance is primarily defined “a distinguishing mark or emblem,” while Dictionary.com defines cognizance as “awareness, realization or knowledge.”

Within the 7 Question - 7 Promise Framework, the matter of employees embracing the ways in which they are measured is an important one. Yet, there are some interesting examples from outside the world of business that shine a spotlight on how success measurements can vary from organization to organization, and why it is essential for people to embrace the ways in which they are measured so that they don’t feel like the metrics being used to gauge their performances are unfair, or unwillingly imposed upon them.

Within the 7 Question - 7 Promise Framework, we’re big on accountability. We consider it to be not only reasonable but essential that every worker in an organization understands and embraces the ways in which they are accountable.

The Coronavirus pandemic is having a crippling effect on many business organizations throughout the world. Within the 7 Question - 7 Promise Framework, perhaps the area most likely to be compromised by the havoc caused by the spread of this virus and its stifling effect on commerce is the ability for your employees to maintain a “yes” answer to the 5th question “Do I feel heard?”

“The biggest leadership gift you can give right now is helping employees focus productively at work.”

In uncertain times we leaders have it tough because we are fighting a battle on two fronts. We are fighting our own internal battle and we are leading the battle being fought by our organization. Our employees are also fighting two battles, their personal battle and what they are supposed to be doing at work to be productive.

There is a scene from the film We Are Marshall that perfectly conveys the importance of verbal communication if you truly wish to be heard and understood and to have the full significance of your statements appreciated.

We all like to think that our companies are functioning at a high level, but are there hidden inefficiencies lurking within your organization? There is a simple way to get an accurate response to that question.