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Archive for the ‘Employee Relations’ Category

I was giving a presentation on ” the Value of Recognition” to the office workers of a large Canadian City. The City Commissioner ended his welcome to those present with these words, ” I have an open door policy so I want to encourage you to come and talk to me when you have a concern.” When he left I heard a couple of people in the front row say with a hint of sarcasm,
” Yeah sure. He has an open door policy as long as what you have to say is flattering and doesn’t rock the boat.”

We all have known leaders like this and we all have had similar reactions to them. It is quite apparent that many managers and supervisors don’t listen well and are easily threatened when a challenge or criticism is made by someone over whom they have authority.

I recall having a supervisor ask me to schedule an appointment to see him. He wanted to tap my brain. I should have been suspicious right from the start because in over 20 years he had never once asked my opinion on anything. In spite of this I prepared thoroughly and was eager to finally have the chance to share my wisdom and experience. Maybe he was turning over a new leaf.

When the interview began the supervisor fell asleep within minutes. Is that all the time it took to “Tap my mind?” Since I pride myself on being a rather dynamic and energetic speaker I was really taken aback by this. What a blow!! It was a relief to find out later that he suffered from sleeping sickness and had a difficult time staying awake at the best of times. I dismissed myself from the meeting saying that perhaps I could return when he was feeling better. ( I won’t tell you what I really wanted to say.)

Along with proclaiming to have an open door policy I think we would all benefit from people in leadership positions declaring that they had an open mind policy as well. Managers with an open mind listen attentively to the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others without becoming upset or threatened when a contrary or critical position or opinion is presented.

No one person, no matter what their position or level of expertise, has a monopoly on wisdom, insight or correct thinking. Wisdom resides in the collective and not in any one individual. The following story illustrates what I mean by this.

It seems that a rather prestigious country club was having a problem with disappearing bottles of shampoo in the mens’ shower room. No matter what the management did the bottles kept disappearing. Signs were posted and meetings were held encouraging the members to leave the shampoo bottles where they found them. Nothing worked.

One day the manager of the club was inspecting the shower room while a custodian was mopping the floor. When the manager saw that another shampoo bottle had disappeared he expressed his anger and frustration to the custodian, ” We’ve tried everything.

Nothing works. What more can we do?” The custodian stopped mopping, looked up at the manager and said, ” Why don’t you take the top off each new bottle of shampoo and throw it away? Nobody will take a shampoo bottle without a top.” When the manager asked him why he hadn’t offered this great solution before, the caretaker replied, ” Nobody ever asks my opinion. Nobody gets my opinion.”

This is the sad reality in far too many businesses and organizations. If you want a happy, healthy and more productive workplace access the wisdom and experience of the group. Cultivate a genuine “Open Door Policy” and combine it with a genuine ” Open Mind Policy” and watch great things start to happen in your workplace. By the way it works effectively in your family as well..

” Boat rockers should be considered cherished resources not pains in the neck.” M. Moore

Mike Moore is an international speaker on the role of humor in human relations. Mike’s articles and cartoons have appeared in publications throughout the world. For more on what Mike can do for your organization visit
http://motivationalplus.com/cgi/a/t.cgi?motplusarticles

1. Humor reduces stress levels and stress is the number one problem confronting employees today.

2. Laughter boosts morale while stress erodes staff morale. It is in the best interest of any business to invest in the happiness of its employees. Laughter is an effective barometer of just how happy your people are.

3. Keeping things in perspective tends to boost morale and humor helps us keep things in perspective.

4. Humor helps facilitate change. Change is inevitable and people who laugh well and often tend to be more flexible and adaptable.

5. Communication improves when humor is used appropriately. The timely use of humor can get a point across effectively and assists in the process of problem solving.

6. Laughter and humor relieve boredom and increase creative energy.

7. Humor builds confidence. When we laugh at ourselves we are less rigid and more spontaneous. We tend to bounce back more quickly when negative things happen. Humor also makes us less fearful of making mistakes and more confident about overcoming setbacks.

8. Laughter and humor promote positive relationships. When you hear a funny story your first impulse is to tell someone and share the laughter. When laughter is shared a natural bonding takes place.

9. Humor promotes happiness and joy. It’s good to be alive.

10. Quality relationships are measured by the amount of laughter present. When relationships are good, people laugh a lot. The same applies to businesses. When employees enjoy one another and laugh easily and often, we see performance improve and profits increase.

11. The humor I speak of here must never be based on laughing at someone, racism, sexism, put downs, sarcasm or ridicule. These forms of humor are destructive attempts at making one look good by making another look and feel badly. There is enough good humor to last a lifetime. Just look for it.

THEY WHO LAUGH…………LAST

Mike Moore is an international speaker on Humor in the Workplace/ Humor and Stress Management/ Humor and Staff Potential

Get a copy of his free cartoon ebook on humor and staff morale here http://motivationalplus.com/cgi/a/t.cgi?begin

We all like to be acknowledged, but for thousands, even millions of employees, such recognision never happens.

From one day to the next, there are no positive messages for their contribution - yet as their boss, you can do this - and it will pay untold benefit for your business, organisation and, of course, you and your people.

Encouraged by the recognition, Sarah Lewsiton went home from work that day, full of self-belief and wonder that she had made the leap at last.

In her last job, she had always felt that she was unsuitable, in fact below par, for the place. On her very first day at this new job, it was different. On the very first day, her supervisor had recognised her in a way that no-one had done before.

At 17, she had gone into the workplace ready to conquer the world. A positive girl, she had never understood that her hard work, unstoppable enthusiasm and keen willingness might not be enough.

At the last place, where she had worked for nearly two years, they had, subtly, yet consistently, knocked that out of her, through criticising, embarrassing and slighting her.

So much so, that she had changed to be cynical, sceptical and sarcastic. In the end they had to part, badly, and it had taken a few weeks for Sarah to build the courage to go for another job.

Yet on the very first day in the new place, someone had made her day, just by saying two little words - ‘Well done’.

In life, especially in our busy workplaces, there sometimes seems to be no time to say, ‘Well done’.

Yet we all know how it feels when we are on the receiving end, just as Sarah did. It costs nothing, except a few moments and a bit of focus - but it makes the world of difference.

For Sarah Lewsiton, tomorrow would be another good day, because the culture was naturally supportive, encouraging and enlightened. And her place of work would come to benefit over the years she would stay.

She would contribute more, become a great team player, work well when delegated to and have simple, yet constructive ideas about how to take the business forward.

Two little words, ‘Well Done’ - that’s all it takes.

People management skills are vital for managers - it may sound simple, yet some managers find it so challenging.

But there are just a few simple ideas that you can start to incorporate.

To get the best results you have to be very good at people management…and it’s not as hard as you might think.

Here are the secrets of the very best managers:-

The best at people management…

1) Manage!

They focus on getting their people to deliver the key activities and don’t attempt do too much themselves. The best managers delegate widely, using the ethic ‘Ask for forgiveness, not for permission’ to free their people from blame or wrongdoing.

2) Build the Best Teams

Leveraging the exceptional talents of all the people around them, managers develop and utilise capability fully - and glue it together.

3) Focus on Delivery

Managers are there to deliver the day to day tactical results the business or organisation needs. Here, there is little space for strategy or vision as such, but those great at managing peoplewill keep a reference point there. Every manager’s defined goal is measurable results.

4) Build Relationships

As it’s all about people, great managers build relationships easily and make it a priority, day-in-day out. They spend a lot of time with and listening to, their people.

5) Accept Feedback

Actually, they don’t just accept it, they suck feedback in - they use their excellent listening skills to seek out feedback all the time - in every interaction.

6) Develop Others

Grasping the opportunities, the best managers quickly link them to those who can make progress in their own development - and in line with ongoing Succession Planning, prepare for the future well in advance.

7) Are Accountable

They are very clear that they are ‘where the buck stops’. No blame elsewhere, not upwards deflection of decisions; no ’someone else’s fault’. They are where the action is and they accept it. It’s down to them.

Set Standards

To ensure that everyone is clear, great managers have simple and clear standards throughout their area of operation - ideally created in collaboration with their people.

9) Are Determined

Focusing entirely on value-creation, they stick to plans, policies and change programmes like glue. They have a skill to know and deliver what is right, without veering from their Vision.

10) Can Be Trusted

The best managers are ethically sound, fair and honest. They make promises only when they know they can deliver. Everyone is treated equally and their own behaviour models fairness and transparency.

Simple steps, using them can make 90% of your management very, very effective. Checkout the website below for key information in 40 different people skills to develop your management skills fast!

Whatever else you are doing - STOP! - whenever you engage with someone in conversation. Ignore pagers. Put off interruptions. At the very least make sure that you ‘honour’ the space that you have when you are in any sort of one-to-one with someone else.

If you have ever been in conversation with someone who was being continually interrupted, how did you feel? I guess you felt pretty devalued by their lack of focus on you, what you were saying and the issues you were discussing. In the busy lives we lead it is so difficult not to get disturbed. Here are some incidences of what you might look out for and beneath, some ideas on how you can do it differently:-

- Letting the phone take priority
- Having poor boundaries such that others disturb you whatever you would wish for
- Letting your boss do this to you
- Having an ‘always open door’ policy
- Not apologising and getting back to people if it is that urgent you must be disturbed
- Failing to keep appointments for one-to-ones
- Being distracted (checking e-mails when on the phone is typical)
- Talking too much
- Raising your own issues rather than listening fully to others

There are more!

What you can do to resolve this:-

1. Set standards where interruptees know they must not interrupt you in such circumstances

2. Fully focus on the other person

3. Find times to talk when you are less likely to be disturbed

4. Don’t start a conversation when under time pressure and scoot off before completion (conversely, learn tactics to ‘escape’ when cornered by especially verbose individuals - just do it nicely!)

5. Close your door and mean it when you want focused one-to-one meetings

6. Have calls held when you are ‘people’ busy

7. Clear your desk and switch off computer screens

8. If senior management appear unexpectedly, give them feedback to avoid recurrence. Maintain commitments to your people.

9. Follow through on commitments you make

10. Show how you value people by acknowledging the contribution they make

11. Be consistent

The time invested in making people feel valued will make for great team spirit amongst your people and show yourself as a fine leader worthy of excellent followers!

The rewards will be immeasurable over time.

There are a whole load of resources you can find on ‘motivation’. Books, tapes, internet etc. Yet it need not be so complicated…

Recently, I had the opportunity to show appreciation to someone. I was really surprised to hear back from her the following, “Are you being sarcastic?” It turned out that she had never been appreciated. No one had ever said a simple “Thank you” to her.

That’s it this week, notice good work and say thank you.

When?

When can you apply this? Well, it’s easy to apply it to everything you see good in people and their performance. But, if it’s been something you haven’t made a habit of in the past, you need to be a bit smarter than that, to avoid your people wondering what’s going on - even worse, they might end up being rather suspicious of what’s going on.

So in this case, try and pick out special efforts of each of your people at least once a week to start with. Be fair and consistent with everyone. When that embeds, try it twice a week. Be real though, saying thank-you and giving greater appreciation when it doesn’t really mean anything, will end up with a response like I heard above.

Where?

Where can you use this simple encouragement? It’s easy. Find the moment when you experience something good from your team members and share your appreciation in the moment if you can. It is so powerful to say it as it happens. And again, even if you forget at the time, don’t give up on it, being able to say, “I meant to tell you earlier, but I missed the opportunity, thank you for the way you…”, still works.

In fact this can be even more powerful - that you meant to say something, forgot, yet still found the time not to miss the opportunity show how much you really care. Strong relationship building stuff!

Back to the point - where? Anywhere that you notice.

Keep praise informal and frequent so that your people come to appreciate it when it’s due (them appreciating you eh?). So not just in an office, but out in the workplace - in the moment.

Why?

Why bother? Well now, let’s see. When was the last time someone thanked you for a great piece of work? When was the last time someone thanked you for your help today?

If you haven’t been on the receiving end, then I’m sorry. But when you have been, it’s a great warm feeling when you are recognised for the efforts you’ve made. Going home at the end of the day feeling that your contribution is valuable and valued is a very strong motivator.

Your people will feel much more inclined to come back the next day, to a job they do well and feel appreciated for.

So if you have had that experience - share it with your people and if you haven’t, try it out on others and see the benefit it creates.

Being appreciated is one of the strongest motivators I know for people - give it a go - and there’s no time like the present!

What does it take to truly motivate an employee? What breaks an employee’s resistance to showing up on time and lets them work with joy? What makes employees brag about the company that pays them?

How do successful corporations succeed in keeping loyal employees? Not by fear or intimidation. Once pressure is applied ‘to perform or produce,’ either more or better, the average employee becomes less effective.

Many employees are completely self-motivated and never need any outside impetus. They are content with fulfilling their own inward goals. Others need some inspiring, positive feedback in order to apply their most creative and heartfelt energies to a job. They need an incentive to feel they belong, to have a sense of identity with the corporation they work for. The desire for recognition resides in all of us and having this need acknowledged is an important part of one’s work life.

Although an employee is an individual and works as an individual, there is always a need to be aware that the employee is also a part of the whole group, the total corporation, and that each individual is important. When the corporation treats the employees as someone important, the employees will also feel the corporation is important and will feel proud to be a part of its success and growth.

The secret of employee performance comes from the awareness by management or peers that a person is doing a great job and then outwardly recognizing that performance. One proven technique is giving corporate awards that recognize the unique contribution that an employee provides. To be powerful, this award needs to be of a lasting nature and something that others will be able to see and recognize. A sincere compliment is always welcome, but material objects such as rings make the difference in employee loyalty. The inspiration received from a corporate gift can transform an entire department. Motivation to do an even better job enlivens the atmosphere.

Employees aren’t usually going to blatantly ask for recognition. Actually, when singled out for a special award they will appear shy and mutter something about not really deserving it. However, inside they are glowing and are probably having a hard time holding back tears of appreciation — making acceptance speeches isn’t part of one’s everyday activity in ordinary corporate life. When an employee receives a reward in the form of a pay raise, the reaction is usually one of relief. “Whew! I actually got it!” When one receives a Safety Award Ring or a Company Ring with a special inscription on it, awkwardness can be expected. The implication, silently stated, is, “You are unique and special! We truly appreciate you.” Acceptance of this appreciation is often best expressed with eyes meeting in trust and a nod of the head.

The power represented by an award of this type goes beyond the dollar value in a corporation. Without loyal, fantastic employees a corporation doesn’t exist. Those who are the life blood of the corporation truly deserve all the awards and recognition that are bestowed upon them.

Dave Cohen founded Onera Company Rings in 1990 to create employee service recognition incentive awards jewelry that can be worn with pride. Dave has been in the jewelry business 25 years.

Ever been frustrated by someone who made a decision that seemed to be the wrong decision?

Of course you have - we all have.

Have you ever made a decision that was deemed to be the ‘wrong’ decision?

You got it - we’ve all done this.

Did you make that wrong decision intentionally; wilfully; on purpose?

Of course not.

In fact, if you’re anything like me, maybe you wrangled over which way to go.

Exactly which was the best decision.

Perhaps not for you, but perhaps for the circumstances that you found yourself in (maybe the wrong reason, but hey, who’s for a peaceful life - there is a whole other thing here about going with your heart etc., but that’s for another piece).

You made a considered decision, for the best reasons and, frankly you did your best, didn’t you?

And maybe you still were deemed to get it ‘wrong’. Maybe you got yourself chewed off too.

I wonder how you felt when after all your deliberations and doing your best - you still got it wrong.

Pretty frustrated eh?

Let’s swing it around 180o.

If one of the people you manage makes, in your eyes anyhow, a ‘wrong’ decision, how will you handle that?

This is important, because it is fundamental in how you build relationships with every one of your people.

The way you respond to their ‘best effort’, a decision they have made to the best of their ability, in that moment, their very best effort, is crucial to what you get from that person.

If it is a pattern, it is vital to the whole relationship with everyone in your team (and if it happens with one, it is probably a pattern!).

Thinking about how you handle ‘incorrect’ decisions in your people is worth time and consideration - careful consideration.

Getting it right hugely accelerates the trust they place in you.

Performance results from motivated and on-side people, people who trust you - even when their best efforts didn’t quite go to plan - of course, your plan.

Every day, everyone can make the world a better place. It’s simple; it’s quick and it is free.

All it requires is a recipe containing you (yes, that’s YOU!), awareness and a natural disposition to be brave enough, to change the day of everyone you come into contact with in a positive way.

Appreciating what people do for you, whenever you come into contact with them is the first step.

It may not sound much, but saying a sincere ‘Thank You’ means much to many people - sadly, it is not what they experience normally.

This can be a ‘Thank You’ to someone who holds a door open for you, or maybe to the guy you buy your morning paper from. It can be to an employee who you manage, for something, for goodness sakes, for anything they did well - in the moment, sincerely.

The next step, when it is comfortable for you, is to explain what it was they did that was great.

So, as an example, it could be to an employee who you manage,

‘Thank you for that piece of work, your effort has made such a difference to it’.

It could be a ‘Well done’ as you stand in front of a display of merchandise…

‘What I especially like about it, is how you made such a great impact with the cornflakes display’

Outside your place of work, you buy a sandwich,

‘Thank you - can I just say what a great job you did putting that together for me; I truly appreciate it’.

Sharing positive observations that people might not see in themselves, because there is not enough positive feedback in the world creates positivity.

You can make a difference to literally dozens of people every day and makes their lives brighter.

And how do you think they will respond to the next customer; and the next.

Research shows that they will be buzzing for the next 5 interactions with others. Maybe they will ‘Pay it Forward’ as in the film. (Not seen it? Do!).

This is about small things that you can do every day.

And if you can’t do it consistently? Just do it sometimes - that is much, much better than never at all.

You may never know the positive difference you have made to someone you spend a little time, a little courtesy with - but you will have to live with that delicious ‘not knowing’!

Tip? Set yourself a target of doing this five times a day - and if you do, give yourself a pat on the back!

This works in business and the real (:-)) world too!

Gone are the days when employee incentives are confined to department store gift vouchers and cash bonuses. In order for companies to attract and attain the best staff companies are now becoming more and more creative in how they reward and incentivise their staff. Now human resource departments are presented with a wide range of options when making decisions on innovative incentives.

In fact, their bestselling options include dive holidays, trial instruction flight lessons, pamper-me packages as well as a helicopter twilight dinner. Indeed, these incentives will truly work their way to thrill employees and provide them with the rewards that they truly deserve! The great thing about giving activities as a way reward staff is that it gives them an opportunity to experience something that they may not ordinarily do or buy.

If you are thinking that these activities may be too costly or are only single-person experiences, think again! Many of these activities can start from as low as a $50, and they are just as fancy as higher priced incentives. Some examples of these would include body massages, coffee training courses or even rollerblading classes, all of which are relaxing and fun!

Alternatively, innovative activities for groups are also a great and fun way to build strong work relationships and foster greater team work amongst staff. After all you tend to spend a third of your day stuck in an office together, why not do something fun outside of office hours and have something exciting to talk about together. This naturally creates are much more harmonious workplace that is more conducive to greater productivity which is great for staff and the company concerned. For teambuilding, relaxing as well as some healthy intra-organization competition, activities such as corporate well-being programs, flying trapeze or go-kart mini grand prix, all of which will do nicely to help boost employee morale.

Extreme or high adrenalin sports are also very popular will would make great and attractive packages for the younger staff. Amongst these are shark dives, abseiling, AUSCAR driving courses, acrobatic air-show display flights and even jet-fighter flights. All of these are just great ideas and will definitely work their magic in encouraging employees to attain their goals.

At the end of the day staff want to know that they are not missing out on the finer things in life and feel as though their workplace is contributing to their work life balance. After all isn’t life all about the experiences we do and share together. Why not make your workplace a place where experiences are shared.

Terence Young - For more great gift ideas visit http://www.surpriseinabox.com. Where every gift is an experience.