November 2018

Unlock the secret to employee motivation

Nov 27, 2018 Comments

UNLOCK THE SECRET TO EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

One of the best and free methods to use to motivate employees is giving positive feedback, recognition and praise. I’ve spoken and written about this extensively in other videos and articles.

Yet even though this method of employee motivation is free, it is used infrequently by leaders and managers when compared with negative feedback. It seems easier to spot and point out the negatives than the positives.

There is one thing that I believe stands in the way of making it easy to recognize and praise employee performance. Yet again this one thing is free and accessible to us all and that one thing is APPRECIATION.

Appreciation is more than an attitude. It is a state of being. When we are feeling appreciative, it is easy to notice what is going well, both in ourselves and around us.

Appreciation emanates from within us. It is a feeling of contentment and acknowledgement of life and the gifts we’ve been given. When we can begin each day with that feeling and carry it with us, we become happier and able to recognize and praise both ourselves and others.

We can all do this. If we have developed the habit of negative expression, we can surely develop the habit of appreciation and positive expression.

The first step to appreciation is to accept and recognize that it starts from within. It does require conscious effort and focus at first to appreciate. But just like any habit, after a while of sustained daily effort it becomes routine.

You can start by writing down all you can be thankful and appreciative for in your life. Begin and end each day by looking at your list. You can also begin to practice prayer or mediation. Everyone can find their own way to get into the state of appreciation.

As you develop this new habit, recognize the qualities you see in others close to you, family, friends and employees. Start to express your appreciation verbally and see how you feel and how it makes others feel.

Appreciation is a human trait that when used has the power of personal transformation and growth that is unparalleled.

Who Done It? Create a Culture of No Fault, No Blame

Nov 20, 2018 Comments

Who Done It?

Who is Responsible for the Things that Fall Through the Cracks?

When people do not take full responsibility, things seem to fall through the cracks in organizations and tasks do not get done. This can become a nagging issue and if not addressed develop a habit that is hard to break.

In our training program Style of Leadership and Team Development we tell the following story. People laugh as it is funny but often true. We then engage in a discussion about the cause and solutions.

Once upon a time there was a work unit with four members named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Do you hear people speaking this way when something doesn’t get done and no one takes ownership? If so it’s time to put an end to it.

I created an exercise using this story that you can conduct with your team. Download it from the documents section of our website or on Eloquens.com. Search for the Who Done It excercise.

Why Bother? I heard this from Two Young Millennials

Nov 13, 2018 Comments

Why Bother? I heard this from Two Young Millennials

Why bother is an expression we hear often from someone who is frustrated about someone they either work with or live with. Yet this can be a very poor attitude when it comes to feeling inspired to work hard and contribute to quality results.

When employees are hired, they don’t start their new job with a why bother attitude. But for some it does grow over time as a result of specific circumstances.

According to the two young millennials with whom I was exchanging, the cause was lack of feedback and recognition for the contribution they were making. The young man who was working part time at a retailer said he was the top performing salesperson. Yet over time he became discouraged due to the lack of recognition and positive feedback.

This is a very simple problem to solve and I have written about this often. All it requires is an informed leader who understands the leader’s role and appreciates the efforts people make in the company. It means acting to recognize and give praise employees.

This powerful leadership behaviour is free, no cost to the leader or company. It is not hard to do. What is hard is breaking the habit of not doing it. This could be due to shyness or even lack of skill. But those things are easy to overcome with a little effort.

As I have suggested in many articles and videos, leaders just need to adjust their leadership style to become a coach rather than a director. Coaching means taking the time to meet with each direct report to discuss how they are doing, clarify what is most important and provide support for them to do their job well and achieve their goals.

Start now to recognize what employees are doing well and give praise. You can download my performance record form to track their positive performance contributions. You can also track where they need improvement and provide coaching in those areas.

Employee Conflict and the 3 R’s

Nov 06, 2018 Comments

The 3R’s Can Cause Employee Conflicts and a Drop in Employee Performance & Motivation

When people feel poorly treated by someone at work the 3R’s can kick in and this can negatively impact employee performance, motivation, teamwork and productivity. It can be very destructive and even toxic.

Resistance

The first R stands for resistance. So, when someone says or does something hurtful, disrespectful etc., that person can feel victimized. They may then start to resist the other person. They might avoid contact with them or start talking to others about what the person did to cause them to feel hurt or attacked.

Resentment

Resistance can then turn to resentment if the situation persists. The conflict or problem needs to be addressed or the person who feels like the victim might keep building up resistance until they start to resent the other person.

Revenge

As resentment grows and not addressed it can easily result in revenge. This is when the victim finds ways to fight back on the injustice that was dealt them. If the cause came from management, the person might do something to take revenge on management by delivering poorer work performance.

I once was conducting

an organization climate survey in a company and one employee was saying how a co-worker was causing a slow down in production because they were angry at management.

We’ve all seen or heard of situations where one person is so called stabbed in the back by another because of something that was done to them that they felt was unjust or hurtful.

Solutions

The best way to avoid the 3R’s from occurring is to practice prevention. It could be a great topic for a team discussion meeting about improving teamwork.

You could start the discussion by asking a question to the team, have you ever felt mistreated by a co-worker or a manager? Then introduce the concept of the 3R’s and discuss how to resolve this type of situation.

Providing training on conflict resolution that includes communication skills like active listening and diplomatic disagreement can prevent issues like the 3R’s getting out of control and creating a toxic environment.

The 3 R’s is a behaviour that is quite common and a source of entertainment on television sitcoms and dramas. We can easily be exposed to this daily but in cannot be acceptable behaviour in the workplace and must be counteracted with training and development and responsible leadership.

Monthly Archives: November 2018