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AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Motivating employees: Is it possible to do? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating team CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate others CATEGORY: How to motivate staff CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Motivate staff CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employees DATE: 12/06/2006 01:44:05 PM ----- BODY:

How do you motivate your employees?

1. You cannot motivate an employee or member of staff who does not want to be motivated.

2. You need to motivate yourself before you can think about motivating others. So it stands to reason that  if you cannot motivate yourself, how on earth are you going to motivate other people? As long as you are enthusiastically going in the right direction, people will want to join you. Of course if they don't "want" to, then little you do or say will help. What happens then is the resolve of line managers and the HR department to come to an agreement on any course of action you need to take.

3. Employee of the month. Employers use all sorts of tactics and tricks to motivate employees, including the embarrasing pictures of "employee of the month" hanging on the wall in the lobby. Have you noticed that sometimes those pictures don't change for months on end. What sort of "motivation" does that signal to the employees?

4. Incentive schemes. Do not reward people for doing the job they were employed to do. Limit rewards for behaviour and actions over and above their normal duties.  However, you should also be consistent. Don't start something you are not willing to continue for the long run, as this introduces resentment. Beware also, some employees "expect" bonuses and gifts, and if those gifts do not meet expectations then that too can be met with resentment.

5. Team building days. Employers also try "firing up" their employees by hiring motivational speakers, or doing some kind of team building activities, both of which have little or no long term lasting effect. Motivating others is impossible if the people do not want to be motivated. If they are doing a job they hate, with people they dislike they are not likely to bond with these same people on a raft in the middle of a river now are they?

So what can you do?

Well you could lead by example:

1. Fire people up with your enthusiasm: If you have a job you enjoy doing you are more likely to fire other people up with your enthusiasm than any other way that I know. But make sure everyone is excited about the best thing!

On the other side - if you have a job you hate. Before you get a new one, ask yourself a simple question - is your attitude towards your job the problem? Or is it the job? If it's your attitude it doesn't matter where you work, you'll always hate what you do. You could be earning thousands a week and still be miserable. So check the attitude factor before you chuck in the job.

Oh and -

Don't take your personal problems to work, don't snap at people and then try and be nice when you want something - guess what - it doesn't work.

 

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Resisting Change - Why being told to change is the worst thing that can be said. STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Employee motivation training DATE: 09/28/2007 05:39:00 AM ----- BODY:

As a trainer I am constantly amazed by the people who attend our training courses. You can tell the ones who truly wanted to be there, they're the ones listening eagerly, writing down notes and asking the questions. The ones who didn't want to be there - are the ones who sit with stony faces, arms folded with body language that says "I am not going to learn anything new today, I don't know why I'm here" "I've heard it all before" "Tried it, it didn't work" kind of people.

You know the type of person I'm talking about. The manager has "told" them they have a problem and they need to go on a course to "fix" it. Of course it may not have been said in quite those terms, but the manager and the employee both know that's what it means.

So how can you persuade the people you work with, live with or share space with that they have a problem and get them to admit they do? Well it isn't easy. But you may be able to do it - by looking at their problem from their point of view. We all want to know "what's in it for me" - it's also interesting that the subject most people like to talk about is themselves. So put yourself in their shoes, and suggest that if "it were me" I'd consider x, y and z MAY help. Once you get to that point, and they agree with you - you are almost there. Then it's a case of "wonder what training is available?" "Wonder if they do a discount if we can send a couple of people?"

If you are willing to look at a situation from someone elses point of view rather than your own - you will begin to get buy in from the people you are responsible for.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Business Success: Hire the right kind of people STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Employee motivation articles CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques DATE: 02/17/2010 12:17:35 PM ----- BODY:

"I don't hire anybody who's not brighter than I am. If they're not brighter than I am, I don't need them"
Paul "Bear" Bryant, I Ain't Never Been Nothing but a Winner

If you are ever in the position of hiring another person, a couple of words of "advice".

1. Beware the self-reference criteria. You don't want people who say yes because they agree with what you say "ALL THE TIME" what you need are people who will make you question your stance and make you decide whether or not it is the correct one.

2. Don't hire people based on who you think you will like, you also need people who can do the job they're going to be paid to do.

3. Do you hire based on qualifications or experience?  The best combination I've found are people with the qualifications who also have real world experience. But if you had the choice between one or the other? Personally I'd go with experience any day of the week because education has a very short shelf life especially when it comes to technology.

4. Hire people who want the job. Some people see the next job as a mere stepping stone to the "big time". Now it depends whether you think the person will be around long to make a positive difference to the organisation, but beware someone who has a CV that reads like yellow pages, it would make me quesiton their commitment to your organisation.

5. Always ask about future plans. Where do they want to be in 5 years - if they are content to still be doing the same job you are hiring them to do - are they the kind of people you want in your company?

Everything in life is a compromise. You can get more from people with the right kind of attitude than you will ever get from someone with the right bit of paper and arrogance.

 


----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Job Search Success STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Job Search DATE: 03/11/2010 02:49:38 AM ----- BODY:

Do you struggle to get to the interview stage in the job search process?

If you cannot convince a potential employer in writing that you are the best person for the job, then you will never do it in peson.

Get the written application part right and you will stand out from your job search competition.

Download a copy of the CV Template, work through the steps and create a CV that works for you.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Essential Leaderships Skills: Practice what you preach and you will reap what you sow STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: How to motivate others CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale DATE: 03/16/2011 03:29:47 AM ----- BODY:

When it comes to motivating employees, the book by Jason Jennings entitled "Hit the Ground Running" has 10 'rules' for successful leaders, in it he says:

Anecdote: Leadership Archives

1. Practice the golden rule in everything you do - you will reap exactly what you sow
2. Gain the belief of everyone around you instead of demanding of expecting respect.
3. Ask everyone around for help; don’t pretend to have all the answers or the plan. Remember what happened to Carly Fiorina at HP. On her first day she announced to the company that she had the plan and strategy for HP. Everyone felt left out, came to hate her and her regal ways and during her reign she halved the companies value.
4. Work ruthlessly to simplify everything instead of making it more complicated.
5. Make sure that everyone in the company knows the strategy and their role in its achievement.
6. Cultivate a fierce sense of urgency in everyone because either things aren’t going well and you need to fix them fast or things are going well but the world (and your circumstances) are going to change and you need to be ready.

If we need to motivate employees, motivate others, or just ourselves, if we use these "rules" we can improve morale, improve our business and improve ourselves.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: If stories motivate employees why can't we tell when they're being told STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Motivate staff CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employees DATE: 03/21/2011 08:01:58 PM ----- BODY: Do you want ways to motivate your employees? Do you think you can do that through telling a good story? Well yes you can motivate staff through story telling, the problem it seems is that we don't know what is a story as opposed to an opinion, analogy or case study. OOps.

Anecdote
TheStoryTest.com has 10 examples of stories and non-stories and your job is to decide which is which. At the end you'll get a score and get a link to the answers. We want as many people as possible in every organisation in the world to build their story intelligence. It will help bring more humanity to organisations.

TheStoryTest.com was born from the observation that many good folk who came to our Storytelling for Business Leaders training couldn't say for certain when a story was told. Probably about 70% were either unsure or totally off base.
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Changing employee behaviour through smell STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees DATE: 04/04/2011 09:41:17 PM ----- BODY: When it comes to motivating employees has the thought of using smell (scent) crossed your mind? It hadn't mine either which is strange because I do use it at home. So why not our work places? Can motivating employees be as easy as lighting an oil burner?

Can lemon scented air freshener boost an employees behaviour? Does the waft of lavender soothe the stressed out worker? How about using the smell of cinnamon to cure employee errors. Recent studies suggest that all of the above can be true. But is it too much like big brother in the workplace? As the author rightly pointed out you can't "not" smell the scent being pumped through the workplace air conditioning system (unless one has one's own air supply you carry with you). But it is something to think about if you want to find pleasant ways to boost employee behaviour.

Anecdote
Retailers have long recognised the positive effects that smells can have on people's buying behaviours. Supermarkets lure shoppers with wafts of baking bread and we have all heard stories of Real Estate agents telling people to freshly brew coffee when having an open home. Other businesses are signing on too, some choosing scents that carry apt connotations for particular products they want to sell, a technique called billboarding.

Bloomingdale's, for instance, billboards the smell of baby powder in its infant-clothing department, while hints of lilac waft around the department store's intimate-apparel displays. American upscale ice cream chain Emack & Bolio's recently adopted a waffle-cone smell to attract patrons to the scoop shop within their Hard Rock Hotel branch, where sales had been flagging. The effect? Ice cream sales shot up more than a third.
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Easy Ways to Give Employee or Co-Worker Recognition STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating team CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate others CATEGORY: How to motivate staff CATEGORY: Employee motivation articles CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Motivate staff CATEGORY: Employees motivation CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employees CATEGORY: Staff motivation CATEGORY: Motivate others DATE: 04/05/2011 06:28:07 PM ----- BODY: Interesting article on how to motivate employees. Employee recognition. Sounds simple, but to motivate staff, employee recognition has to be consistent. You can't have an employee of the month award and then fail to take down the last photograph (believe me I've seen it done)... so ensure if you are going to give employee recognition as a way to engage and motivate employees the program is one that you can follow through with.

Seeds of SUCCESS - The FREE weekly newsletter for ideas, inspiration, insight and growing achievement.
Employees' happiness is often the most important non-financial vital sign for a small business to monitor, says Jennifer Openshaw, author of The Millionaire Zone and other books for entrepreneurs and investors. "If they're not happy, it's going to impact your bottom line."

While conducting formal employee surveys is one way to measure employee morale, less-formal surveillance can produce useful results. "Just look on their faces and body language."

To infuse more life into your company, here are some unique ways to give employee recognition:

• Use the corporate intranet as a way to spread praise.

• A low-tech way to reward others is writing on whiteboards with dry erase markers. Author Tim Sanders points to a "Recognition Whiteboard" he observed at the British Columbia Lottery System. Anyone could scribble notes of recognition for other team members. Introverted types found the whiteboard a great way to thank each other for contributions to a project's success.

• Recognize employees' work anniversaries as a way to let them know how they've made a difference in the company.

• When inquiring about completed projects, managers should ask their project managers, "Who else helped you accomplish this?" It's a great way to broaden praise beyond the "face" of the project.
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: We have an announcement to make STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Motivate staff CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques CATEGORY: Motivate employees DATE: 05/17/2011 11:52:13 PM ----- BODY: Said without a smile, a tremor in the voice and rounded shoulders your employees could be mistaken the "annoucement" is going to be a negative one. And when it comes to communication and leadership and motivating employees it is something we ought to take on board.

Anecdote
A small business is owned by a husband and wife and employs eight workers. One Monday morning just after 9am the couple made an announcement: ‘Could everyone please stop work. We have some important news.’ They asked the employees to immediately join them in the kitchen at the round table they use for lunch and tea breaks. The workers stopped what they were doing and filed into the kitchen with puzzled looks on their faces. Such an impromptu staff meeting this early on a Monday was unusual. When everyone had gathered the husband began. ‘Thanks everyone. We have some important news.’ He paused to let his wife continue. People tensed.

So, what do you think is going to happen?

‘We’ve had a terrific quarter financially,’ she said with a big smile, ‘and we want to share our success with you!’ The husband waived eight envelopes. ‘These are for you,’ he said, ‘one each. Inside your envelope is five hundred dollars! Now, you can take your envelope, but on one condition-that you leave work right now, spend your money today and come back at 3 o’clock and show the rest of us what you bought.’

Almost invariably people assume the worst when they are reading or hearing this story. The business is about to fold, or the couple are separating are common reactions. We don’t remain in a neutral state waiting for the story to unfold and we normally assume the worst. Humans are hardwired to screen for pain and danger first.
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Values centered leadership: Why leaders can lose their way STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Motivate employees DATE: 07/06/2011 06:08:39 PM ----- BODY: What motivates a person to become a leader? What then motivates a leader to lead an organisation to power? Does power corrupt or does it motivate and inspire?

This interesting article by Bill George looks at why and how some leaders their way. Some may say "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and that may be true if the "leader" is looking at ego first, money and a desire to do whatever it takes to get to the top and stay there. Bill says and I think this is true of a good leader "reframing their leadership from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead" is to my way of thinking the best way of motivating employees as well as themselves. What do you think?

Why Leaders Lose Their Way — HBS Working Knowledge
Leading is high stress work. There is no way to avoid the constant challenges of being responsible for people, organizations, outcomes, and uncertainties in the environment. Leaders who move up have greater freedom to control their destinies, but also experience increased pressure and seduction.

Leaders can avoid these pitfalls by devoting themselves to personal development that cultivates their inner compass, or True North. This requires reframing their leadership from being heroes to beingservants of the people they lead. This process requires thought and introspection because many people get into leadership roles in response to their ego needs. It enables them to transition from seeking external gratification to finding internal satisfaction by making meaningful contributions through their leadership.

Maintaining their equilibrium amid this stress requires discipline. Some people practice meditation or yoga to relieve stress, while others find solace in prayer or taking long runs or walks. Still others find relief through laughter, music, television, sporting events, and reading. Their choices don't matter, as long as they relieve stress and enable them to think clearly about work and personal issues.
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Staff motivation: Sometimes it's more than just money STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate staff CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Employees motivation CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees DATE: 01/15/2012 03:17:34 AM ----- BODY:

What motivates your employees will differ from person to person. For some the reward will be "money" for others acknolwedging a job well done, while others thrive on challenge and additional training. Which does make me wonder why organisations rarely tailor their reward program to the individual, preferring across the board pay rises... So you "reward" the ones who do the most, exactly the same as the dead wood? And how is that working for you? What's your attrition rate like?

You could of course use sliding scales, but then you might be tempted to oil the squeeky wheel rather than the one(s) who are always there, diligently doing their work and a bit more besides...

So what do you do?

Well Barbara Corcoran - a self-made real-estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group, and personality on ABC's Shark Tank talks about how she got her employees to go after big deals. And it all came down to recognition - but probably not how or what you may expect ... I'll let Barbara explain.

 

 

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Keeping fit and showing that you are paying attention: Employee Engagement STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Employee Engagement CATEGORY: Engaging Employees DATE: 02/07/2012 03:01:40 AM ----- BODY:

Doug Conant, former president and CEO of the Campbell Soup Company wrote 30,000 notes over the course of his career with the company. He said, that no matter where he went in the world, he would see a handwritten note on the board celebrating someone's achievement. He also mentioned that the company only had 20,000 employees at the time.

He wrote a long of notes.

Why?

Doug wanted his employees to know that he was paying attention.

Doug also incorporated a 2nd strategy into his daily activity of keeping up with what was going on in his company. He walked. Not only did he walk for at least half an hour a day, he wanted people to know that he was also doing it to keep fit. He would put on his walking (track shoes) his pedometer and he would walk. It would be a different time each day, but that time allowed him to engage with his employees like nothing else could have.

Something to think about if you are struggling with employee engagement. Are you paying attention to what is happening?

If you would like to watch the short but engaging video - go to Get Your Employees Engaged

 

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Shenoi EMAIL: [email protected] IP: 106.51.250.180 URL: DATE: 02/17/2014 12:48:58 PM Still the employers and managers have been using the same old motivation techniques to try to make their workforce more productive. But the technology have improved now and it's time to change their motivation techniques too.

In our office, My boss have introduced Replicon's time card software ( http://www.replicon.com/olp/timecard-software.aspx ) to motivate our employees. Making time sheets had taken up much of my time at office and when my boss introduced this software, it has become a very easy task. We are able to track the time spent on different tasks accurately. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Which Business Books Would You Re-Read? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 DATE: 08/02/2012 01:20:03 AM ----- BODY:

Ryan Healy posed an interesting question on his blog today. He asked

Imagine that for one full year you could not read any business books you hadn’t read before… and that you were only allowed to read business books you had previously finished reading.

Which books would you re-read?

You can read his list by clicking on the link above.

Which of course got me thinking about the books I would re-read. So here is my list. I have quite a varied list as I need to determine what makes people do what they do ...

 

What can chief executives learn from stand-up comedians? Fifty essential skills top performers perfect and you can learn -  Roger Edward Jones

Roger Edward Jones, one of Europe's foremost leadership experts, theorised that business executives could glean more than humor from the best stand-up comics. And what better way to test this premise than to give it a try?

What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite - David DiSalvo

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story - Jerry Weissman

Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

Eight Pillars of Prosperity - James Allen

I am a big believer in finding and reading the "old" books. Timeless classics that bear as much relation to today's issues and problems as many of the newer books. I also love reading (and re-reading) the business parables - my top 3 are:

The Go- Giver - Bob Burg and John David Mann

It's Not About You - Bob Burg and John David Mann

The Angel Inside: Michelangelo's Secrets for Following Your Passion and Finding the Work You Love - Chris Widener

Which business books would you re-read?

 

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Employee engagement through social networks STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Employee motivation articles CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees CATEGORY: Employee Engagement DATE: 09/27/2012 03:58:20 AM ----- BODY:

Most people when asked to decide what is the best company to work for often cite Google as THE place they would like to work. It's not hard to see why - it doesn't look like a workplace, people get time to work on pet projects that often turn out to be extremely profitable for the company and turnover rates are low.

Google of course is not alone, but the question is why? It can't just be the funky workplace, and a time off to experiment. To my mind it is how people are engaged while they are in the workplace that is one of the keys to this interesting puzzle.

Part of the employee engagement lies of course with the leadership. How they communicate their vision of the organisations future, and the role the employees will play in that role. Mostly as we will see this kind of engagement comes as a result of the leader being - well human. And what do human's do well? They tell stories. Don't believe me - well Roger Edward Jones is a master storyteller, and he can explain it better than I can.

But that's not really what this is about. Employee engagement and therefore employee motivation isn't just about having a leader who can spin a good yarn or two, it has to go beyond that.

Remember those awful team building days we were forced to go on. What were they really, but a chance to wear different clothes, eat different foods and chat. Did we take anything from them? Did those feelings last? I'd say no - they did little or nothing for me. Just as the odd movie ticket and mug was nice, it did little or nothing for the long term effect of the morale of the workforce as a whole. But maybe I was just working for a difficult company. But your thoughts would be appreciated. Did they motivate you and your colleagues? How long did that motivation last?

If I am right and these kinds of points means prizes kinds of gimmicks don't work, what does?

Well I read with interest about a social network that is slowly gaining respect in the business community - called The Hive, it allows peer to peer recognition that has nothing to do with money (well after you've paid the subscription fee that is).

I know how nice it is to get a hand written thank you note for a job well done, or a virtual pat on the back through the email, well it appears this takes it one step further.

It's not cheap to join the hive, but if what you are doing isn't motivating your workforce, maybe it is something to consider.

TemboSocial Makes Employee Motivation Everyone's Business - Forbes

As a way to "let everyone inside a company give people a virtual pat on the back in full view of everyone else.

The Hive has three key features:

Green clearly believes that customers value TemboSocial’s Hive because it works better and costs less than points and prizes competitors. As Green concluded, “The Hive costs about 10% of what a Rewards and Recognition program would cost while being more relevant to today’s knowledge worker who value recognition as currency– much more so than trying to accumulate points towards another catalogue prize.”

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Hiring for attitude not skills STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 DATE: 11/26/2012 04:19:13 AM ----- BODY:

"If you don't have a good attitude, we don't want you, no matter how skilled you are. We can change skill levels through training. We can't change attitude.”

    - Herb Kelleher, Founder, Southwest Airlines

This is quite fascinating, but something I have noticed time and time again.

FW: Culture of Fun: Southwest Airlines and Great Hires - [email protected] - Motivate Me! Mail

A study by Leadership IQ found that 46% of new hires are either fired or disciplined within their first 18 months. And in a staggering 89% of those cases, the reason for the action isn't incompetence, but attitude: poor motivation, bad temperament, or emotional issues.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Social Media tool that may encourage employee motivation STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 DATE: 01/02/2013 03:59:15 AM ----- BODY:

Let's face it, we've all been there. We think we've done a good job, but rarely do we get any kind of thank you let alone anything more. Now it could be argued that we get paid for the job we do and if we do that job well - well that should be all the motivation we need. But what happens when we go over and above our call of duty - surely then we should be rewarded? Well I am not the only one who thinks so...

Social Media Tool that Encourages Employee Motivation - Business Review USA

Employee recognition and appreciation are important drivers of employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention. However, despite the fact that companies spend over $46 billion dollars a year on recognition programs, studies show that over 50% of employees do not feel appreciated and 59% are unsatisfied at work. To help solve this problem, today, MeritShare is launching the first employee recognition service that combines both online and offline awards, peer recognition, social trophies, and gamification features to help companies motivate, inspire, and ultimately, retain their teams.

MeritShare's online service creates a company-specific online site with awards, shout-outs, comments and points. MeritShare manages email engagement campaigns, reminders, and a weekly email digest to build a stronger work community around recognition and achievement.

"As demand for talent continues to outpace supply, companies need to do more than offer perks de jour to retain their best employees," said Travis Pearl, co-founder of MeritShare. Pearl adds, "With MeritShare, we offer organizations of any size, a easy and affordable way to for employees to give and receive recognition and appreciation."
----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Motivating Employees: Use Positive Language STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 0 CATEGORY: How to motivate staff CATEGORY: Employees motivation CATEGORY: Employee Engagement CATEGORY: Engaging Employees DATE: 02/07/2016 11:38:40 PM ----- BODY:

When it comes to motivating employees, it is vital to use positive language. There is nothing worse than listening to managers saying things like ...

"We're doing OK - BUT"

But

It is a word that usually makes hearts sink because the following sentence tends to be negative, so take it out of your vocabulary.

 

 

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Music as a way to motivate employees STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating team CATEGORY: Motivating employees CATEGORY: How to motivate employees CATEGORY: Motivate employee CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Motivate staff CATEGORY: Employee motivation techniques CATEGORY: Ways to motivate employees CATEGORY: Employee motivation training CATEGORY: Motivate employees DATE: 03/15/2011 10:15:19 PM ----- BODY: I'm sure, like me, you will have been on many "team building days" - those times out of the office where you have to mingle, socialise and play "games" with your fellow employees with the vain hope leaders have of motivating staff. Do team building days work as a way to motivate staff? I have to say I don't think I have ever been on one that has had long lasting positive effects, but maybe I just worked for really bad companies that needed to use team building days in the hope of motivating employees and hope they stayed motivated.

But is there a better way of engaging with and motivating employees? Have you heard of the "Otis Redding Problem?"

Anecdote: Employee engagement Archives
This is where you put in place too many metrics to measure individuals, teams, or business units. meaning they can’t even think about all of them at once. They therefore end-up doing what they believe are important or that will bring them rewards.

This is based on the line from the famous Otis Redding song Sitting By the Dock of the Bay; “Can’t do what ten people tell me to do, so I guess I’ll remain the same.”

Say you wanted to explore levels of engagement within a team or department. Asking straight out is unlikely to get you an accurate picture, depending on the culture, environment, who is present etc.

What you could do is get groups to come up with, say, a written 'Playlist' of songs that sum up levels of engagement for them within the team. Or you could give them an iPod and get them to actually create one and play it back to the room.

If you can take the fear out of saying what you really feel, using a simple a technique as music, how else can we engage our employees?

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Staying optimistic during your job search STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Employee motivation and morale CATEGORY: Job Search DATE: 04/13/2010 02:46:40 AM ----- BODY:

There have been numerous reports over recent months about the number of people out of work and looking for new career opportunities in the US. We can all be forgiven for feeling less than happy about being out of work or looking for a new job during a downturn and this has been borne out in recent research published by Gallup.

Of the 4,000 unemployed people interviewed in January 2010, 60% are not confident about finding work. Human Resources / Leader - 2 March 2010 p8

Whilst the survey may be skewed by the style of questioning used it did throw up some interesting points nonetheless.

So what can you do if you find yourself out of work and not sure where your next job is coming from?

Network - but not with the people you see on a regular basis, but friends and contacts of people you know vaguely. Don't monopolise people at parties or networking events, but you could let it be known you are available. And if someone asks you to follow up by telephoning or sending in a resume then for goodness sake do so. Similary - facebook and twitter may allow you to find opportunities.

Don't limit yourself to your previous job title. Look at the skills you have and the skills needed by an employer, the job title may not be the same, but some skills translate across many disciplines.

Job Boards - Get online and see what openings there are, don't just send in a single CV and hope you land the position, get as many out there as you can, but don't be sloppy - make sure you address each job specifically.

Employment Agencies - these may be the foot in the door you need. If your confidence has taken a battering as a result of a job loss, working on short-term contracts can help you get that confidence back. And who knows where that short-term contract will end up. There are many stories where a person went in for a single day and ended up working there for years, and /or being asked back on a regular basis because of their reliability. And it looks good on your resume too - just remember to say it was a contract position through an employment agency otherwise employers will want to know why you appear to be job-hopping.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Motivating Employees: Carrots vs Stick Approach STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Motivating staff CATEGORY: Motivating team CATEGORY: Motivating employees DATE: 01/11/2007 05:21:28 AM ----- BODY:

A recent news story said that if you want happier workers then you should drop the stick, and find more carrots....

According to a 10-year survey of 200,000 managers and employees around the world conducted by The Jackson Organization in Laurel, Md., organizations that consistently recognize excellence generate a return on equity more than three times higher than institutions that don't.  http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9007686&pageNumber=1

 

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