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The Dream Manager program is an initiative Taipan has adopted, based off the book of the same name by Matthew Kelly. The book explores how a company can achieve remarkable results by helping their employees fulfill their goals and dreams. The book also investigates what really drives employees, and presents a theory on how this is connected to problems many businesses face, such as high turnover and low morale.
The theory states that the key to motivation isn’t necessarily the promise of a bigger pay packet or title, but rather the fulfillment of important personal dreams. People at every level need to be offered specific kinds of help and encouragement, or their dreams will forever remain just dreams and they may grow dissatisfied with their lives and jobs. A company can only become the best version of itself to the extent that its employees are becoming better versions of themselves.
There is a connection between the dreams we are chasing personally and the way we all engage in work. This connection is discovered when people work together to achieve company objectives and personal dreams.
It is the role of the Dream Manager to ensure we are giving every single employee the opportunity to explore and dream big. The day-to-day of packing product and giving excellent customer service is only fulfilling short term; our people need something to look forward to. Through the initiative, we give our team members the flexibility to make an appointment or ‘drop in’ when they have a lightbulb moment. Sometimes they don’t know how to dream, so the initiative can help them to get started.
Most employee dreams are money focused, or are reliant on money. Generally, a Dream Manager will help people with budgets, learning to save, superannuation and all the things necessary to set them up for a big purchase. There are also plenty of other resources I have available as Dream Manager. As I like to say, ‘the sky’s the limit’.
No two days are ever the same for a Dream Manager. A day can range from organising, prepping for and attending meetings with team members, to working on budget planners and sourcing information from 3rd parties. Doing research on the subject a team member may want to discuss is also incredibly important, as it can help in working out goals and what action needs to be taken to achieve these. Training is also a major element of the role, whether it be career development, leadership training, or even implementing Myers-Briggs testing to find out what works best for different people. The approach a Dream Manager takes is individualised to each team member to ensure they get the most out of the initiative.
As part of the process, we keep in constant contact with our people to document progress, keep each other accountable for the agreed actions and celebrate success. So far, the initiative has helped 7 of our employees build, buy or be in a position to buy, their very first homes. In today’s economy, that’s a dream a lot of people don’t think is a reality. The absolute joy I get out of helping people to reach a goal that big is truly amazing.
The initiative has helped people start new careers, quit smoking, enrol in further training and helped some team members get their mental health back on track. All of these things increase employee morale and ultimately reduce staff turnover.
If your business experiences low morale or high turnover, this initiative might be easier to implement than you think. For more information how to implement a Dream Manager program within your own business, look out for the second part of this two-part series in next month’s newsletter.
For any enquiries, please reach out to myself or our Managing Director, Allan, on 1300 654 782 and we will happily chat about our Dream Manager initiative.
