In the times of an economic downturn, many organizations find it more difficult to achieve performance and financial targets. But it doesn't have to be so. As things slow in the economy, fire up the greatest asset all organizations have - intellectual capital - the thinking power of employees.

Our business world has changed; we have moved from manufacturing to service - from brawn to brain. As author Seth Godin states, "We used to make food (agrarian society), then we made things (industrial age) now we make ideas (service economy)." Our days no longer involve the same repetitive process that was a significant part of the manufacturing era. Much of manufacturing moved offshore and left us with a service economy. Service is a thinking environment; each employee must be fully engaged to provide the right level of service for each customer and build customer loyalty and long-term profitability. Disappointed, unhappy, disengaged, or non-thinking employees negatively affect customer loyalty and company results. Today, ideas matter most; thinking matters most. This thinking is resident in each employee.

Despite this, significant research from the Gallup Organization indicates that in today's workforce, 65 percent of employees do just enough so they don't get fired. Seventeen percent of employees don't care if they get fired - they feel that they will find another job. Only 18 percent of employees are therefore fully engaged and maximizing performance each day. This means that organizations are not tapping their most significant asset - the brainpower of their employees. No organization can survive with less than 20 percent of their employees actively participating, inventing, solving, and creating. Now is the time to look into the power of the organization to unleash the Human EDGE - the power of humanity, the power of thinking. Today's success is in employees who "SuperThink."

To help your employees SuperThink, do the following:

Match our people to right role:
All of us have talents and interests that make us unique. Talents are our top of mind reactions, thinking and passions; we are happiest and most productive when our roles let us use our talents. Successful accountants are strong analytical thinkers who like and are good at details, analysis and figures. Successful sales employees are good at social interactions, handling many things at once and building rapport. Each of these employees perform best when their thinking (talents) are matched to their role. They feel most at home in the roles that are in line with their competence and with the things they like to do. Change the roles and put the accountant in the salesman role - or vice versa - and you start to create disengaged or unhappy employees. An unhappy or employee who feels misplaced is not likely to SuperThink since our best thinking happens when we are in our "element" or in our comfort zone.

Your goal is to create engaged, high performing and happy employees; you can do this by matching your employees' talents to their roles. These employees find creative solutions for problems, innovate new directions in down economies and invent extraordinary responses for customers.

To access the power of talents:
• Use a talent assessment tool such as StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath to identify the most significant talents by employee. Next, define the talents required by role for the role to be done well.
• Review new and existing employees' talents to determine if they are the proper fit. Realign employees who are mismatched to their role; this will inhibit their performance.
• Additionally, solicit input from employees to create sculpted or more appropriate role for each employee.

Employees who work in their talent area are working in their comfort zone. The better they fit, the greater their thinking will be.

Let them own their work:
All jobs in an organization should have defined performance expectations - the "what needs to be done." One of the ways we stop our employees from thinking is when we tell them not only what to do, but how to do it. Instead, consider clearly defining performance expectations but leave the process of achieving the expectation up to the employee. Not only does it encourage thinking, it encourages owner thinking. Employees are now accountable for determining how to achieve their goals, how to review their plans and progress with management and how to make the results happen. This empowers employees, they become more active in their roles, they invent better, create more personalized responses, and SuperThink. The manager now helps the employee implement his plan by coaching, training and mentoring the employee. The decisions are now left up to the employee, activating thinking, engagement and empowerment ... the triple force of performance.

Share the right information:
Employees stop contributing when they feel like they are kept in the dark. All employees need to be actively included in information that affects their work, roles, team, and performance. In today's fast technology world, information is more readily available; that however does not mean it is the right information. Include all employees in the organization's mission, goals, performance targets, problems, and issues. Without this information, employees work with limitation. A SuperThinking environment imposes no limitations. The goal is to get employees thinking the organization and ways to improve, invent and drive performance. In this thinking economy, it is important to eliminate any obstacle in communication. Information is power and this power must move easily and accurately through the organization.

To encourage more open communication:
• Publish the organization's mission statement and goals; review them with employees.
• Publish important customer service, financial and short term targets to show employees what is important.
• Create a daily/weekly/monthly meeting process to define priorities, share information and brainstorm problem areas.
• Ask employees to contribute one idea per week to improve efficiencies, improve service or increase profitability.

Make the workplace fun and dynamic
For many employees and managers, work is a four-letter word. But, if we want our employees to think in a big way, they need to have fun in the process. Our brains are activated by workplaces that are dynamic, fun, entertaining, and enjoyable. No one contributes their best when they are bored or unhappy. To encourage employees to SuperThink, managers need to supercharge the work environment with high energy, fun and dynamic events.

Consider the following to make work more fun:
• Appoint a FunMaster - an employee whose role it is to add some fun and humor into the workplace. Change roles every quarter to allow others to participate.
• Create a monthly office or store theme; dress up, host a lunch, give prizes.
• Host a high energy creative brainstorming session for an hour before lunch or on a Friday afternoon. Post the topic before the meeting so employees can prepare.
• Allow employees to decorate and freshen up common areas or break rooms.
• Have a "raise you one" meeting where one department challenges another to invent great ideas for service, products, efficiencies, etc. The best ideas are implemented.

All employees want to work for an organization that values them as individuals and treats them as assets. All employees want to work in roles that match their talents so that they feel productive, competent, capable, and motivated. All employees want to work in an environment of trust, easy information movement, celebration, and fun. And in return, employees come to work engaged, excited and thinking. In fact, they come to work SuperThinking. As managers address employee needs, increase their interest in them, and commit to their success in the workplace, they return this effort with greater loyalty, creativity and contribution. In the time of a slowing economy, spend time looking into your employees. Know them, align them, applaud them ... then demand great things from them. They will respond in a super way.