Do you “engage” your employees?
May 12, 2008
How do you get your employees to really “buy in” to their work and passionately “join the team” all the way?
As the picture above suggests, success is often built, piece by piece, by an engaged group of workers.
The delightfully-named David Zinger has a 39 page ebook with 300 zen like suggestions on increasing the engagement of your team members. Click here to download this ebook.
Energy? Being fully engaged in something you believe in — there’s energy there!
The Fine Line
February 4, 2008
I recently noticed two headlines on the front page of the FP Work, the first was “10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures” and the other “No need to resort to tea leaves, some tips to help discern if you are to be sacked”.
The yin and yang of corporate life displayed on the front page for all to see.
As I looked over the list of the “10 Best” I was unsurprised to find WestJet in first position. This feisty 1996 start-up has taken the airline industry by storm not only because of phenomenal profits in an industry plagued by losses. It has set a new standard for customer service.
I remember the first time I flew with them, the kiddish enthusiasm of the flight crew was as surprising as it was contagious, I loved it and the smiles on the faces of most of the other travelers said they were as confused and delighted as I was. Since that time whenever possible I chose WestJet.
WestJet has a corporate culture which includes profit-sharing and a “department” dedicated to ensuring that its employees are happy and engaged. Let me repeat that a “department” at WestJet is dedicated to making sure employees are happy and engaged in the corporate culture. Wow, that really struck me as outrageous.
We all have experienced the HR department which by it’s very name de-humanizes the experience of work. Human resources, hum, am I gold or a lump of coal? The check list evaluation, the disinterest in anything you have to say. The formulaic answers and response given by the interviewer who may have no contact with you on a daily basis. It is a dreaded occasion in most companies and a sure way to squash productive and creative employees.
The evaluation becomes a occasion to engage in corporate double speak and spout platitudes. Instead of an opportunity to communicate and appreciate the contributions of the employee from the manger’s and the employee’s point of view.
The evaluation is a golden opportunity for honest talk about what is happening in the workplace. The evaluation often becomes a occasion to engage in corporate double speak and spout platitudes.
The evaluation itself is often given in the context of the salary scale. You can only move up the scale at a certain rate not because of the merit of your contribution but because the budget dictates.
Then I looked at the “how do you know that you are about to be fired” piece and realized in some companies, too many, it would be difficult for some of us to tell if it was business as usual or as Mr. Levitt says the “tea leaves” point to your imminent dismissal.
Too many employees, experience a culture in which fault finding and not praise giving is the way people are managed.
I read a Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) blog post about the secret of Dale Carnegie courses and the secret is…………..praise, find something to praise and shout it out over and over and watch the performance of the person reach new excellence.
Scott Adam’s talks about a woman who came to Dale Carneige unable to utter a word in front of the class the first session. She became an accomplished public speaker by the end of the course, simply because no matter what she did the facilitator was ecstatic and communicated this enthusiastically.
Non-communication, not being included in meetings and no say in decision-making are business as usual in most companies. Add to this mix little opportunity to communicate with managers at any level and a deaf ear to staff suggestions and voila job dissatisfaction equals low productivity.
Productivity should be the number one issue for any thinking executive! Productive employees naturally create wealth for the company. A cynical, de-energized work force will never be whipped into a top high productivity by the same stall methods that created the situation.
Productivity Tip For Your Sales Force
January 7, 2008
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S SECRET OF SUCCESS
Benjamin Franklin, just a small printer in Philadelphia, found himself badly in debt.
He thought of himself as a simple man of ordinary ability, but believed he could acquire the essential principles of successful living, if only he could find the right method. Having an inventive mind, he devised a method so simple, yet so practical, that anyone could use it.
Franklin chose 13 subjects, which he felt were necessary or desirable for him to acquire and try to master, and he gave a week’s strict attention to each subject, successively. In this way, he was able to go through his entire list in 13 weeks, and repeat the process four times in a year. It was to this one idea that Benjamin Franklin felt he owed all his success and happiness.
Frank Bettger took Franklin’s idea and applied it to selling. Frank Bettger wrote several classic books on selling.
I have taken the liberty of adding my own energy-boosting thoughts to those of Bettger and Franklin.
Here’s my Outrageous Energy version of Franklin and Bettger’s lists:
1. Enthusiasm
2. Breathe deeply and slowly
3. Think in terms of others’ interests
4. Ask More Questions
5. What IS Their Key issue?
6. Silence: listen
7. Sincerity: deserve confidence by being authentic
8. Knowledge of my business
9. Appreciation and praise
10. Smile: happiness
11. Remember names and faces
12. Service
13. Closing the sale: or opening a relationship, which action is best now?
Franklin used what he called a Pocket Reminder and kept it with him at all times. I suggest that you follow his example.
Please write the words below on a 3×5 index card. Carry simple this Pocket Reminder with you. Read it several times a day. Memorize it. I believe you’ll boost your performance!
POCKET REMINDER #1Enthusiasm
• Force yourself to act enthusiastic, and you’ll become enthusiastic.
• Enthusiasm puts your fear to work for you.
• Enthusiasm is contagious.
• Enthusiasm sustains you in the difficult times.
• Commit to double the amount of enthusiasm that you have been putting into your work and into your life.
Remember — Enthusiasm builds Outrageous Energy!
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Stress&Productivity: Company’s don’t run on paper they run on people
January 1, 2008
Canadians are some of the least productive workers in the G7.
The G7 workforce is the most educated and materially blessed in the world. Productivity in the work place is directly related to job satisfaction. Many of us believe that money is the most important fact in job satisfaction.
Money can translate into benefits, pensions, as well as salaries and bonuses of all kinds, and yet…….. what people really want is the chance to contribute to the company through their own gifts and talents. People want to know they make a difference at work and the first step toward excellence aka productivity is the ability to have input into the way you do your job.
One of the geniuses of Microsoft and founder Bill Gates is the stock purchasing plan. If people own stock they feel that they are part of the management, they have a say in the operations of the company.My friends in the USA are telling me about a new term “presentism” being at work physically without any commitment to do the job. People are coming to work without any passion without any buy-in, they put in their time like prisioners and go home exhausted. Their work performance is effecting their entire life.Think about enforced indolence for 8 hours a day. If you spent 8 hours a day listlessly doing work that bores you, work you my think is not worth doing, you are creating an energtic path away from passion.
I was once told I would not fit into the workplace in Toronto because I laughed to loud, had too much fun at work, this stunned and amazed me. It was true, I would have been noisy. I would have also been energetic and commited to what I was doing. I have worked for myself for the past decade and am now working at a paid position 40 hours a week, it is a low level job and what constantly amazes me that my co-workers are so commited to doing a good job. The resources to suppport them in excellence are small. Often unskilful leadership, exemplified by poor to no communication stand in the way and yet these low status, poorly paid workers, soldier on, caring about the customers and the company. The furnace doesn’t work in the warehouse, it has been repaired numerous times it still doesn’t work. No manager knows the status of it’s repair, the warehouse staff do there work in freezing conditions and are still told they aren’t productive enough. No one has even offered a space heater or seemed to care if there is no heat. One manager as heard to say he liked it he was alway to hot on the floor and was happy to come and work in a cool place. He seemed unaware that he spends perhaps 2 hours out of 8 in the cool and then returned to the warmth. The worker who spends 8 hours in the cool doesn’t find it so charming. Contests are set up, staff participate and no on ever hears who won. Sales promotions are explained differently depending on which manager is asked for details.
The information from the morning meeting is left to trickle down to anyone who is not present. And yet…….customers are served, as a matter of fact, these workers deserve awards for customer service, everyday at least a dozen times I see someone go above and beyond making the sale and making a difference for this customer.These workers are discouraged. They are not told what they need to know to do the job the company expects. They are often called on the carpet because some other worker tattled on them, training is negligible.
On the job training has transformed to “with the customer waiting training”.
Dedicated workers watch some other workers not do their job and see that managers don’t speak up because it’s hard to find people or it’s a busy time and we need him/her we’ll talk to him/her after the rush is over. These same unproductive workers get the same bonuses as those who have worked with dedication and commitment. What message is being send here? It seems that those who are dedicated are on the same level as those who literally couldn’t care less about their work.
So what is the answer? More discipline, more money, more training, more checklists, more workshops, more Coke in the fridge?
The number one thing you can do is to acknowledge people and listen to them. People would rather have you critize their performance than ignore it. It reminds me of my family doctor telling me my son was simply trying to get my attention by acting so badly. It was true as soon as I set some rules his behavior improved.The number one thing we need to do in Canada is talk to our co-workers, realize that we are in this together. Imagine that everyone you work with went home……. How would you do your job? If you are a manager or an executive or a board member, when was the last time you had coffee with your c0-workers? not your fellow executives but the workers the people who make it happen in the cubes and corridors of your organization, you no the ones we think of as lower status? I will guaruntee you that if it is longer than 30 days ago since you had face time with the”little people”, you are out of touch with the operations of your company. Companys do not run on paper they run on people.Paper makes people think you don’t trust them. People make a company one you can trust.
Energetically if you withhold your attention from your co-workers you are a blockage and a blockage of energy causes stagnation. It’s the law.
In my next article in this series, I will talk about building an energetic workplace.
Boosting Productivity In The Workplace
December 20, 2007
Article about this subject.
