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Posts Tagged ‘motivating employees’
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Outside of work, people are highly motivated to stretch their mental and physical limits. They complete triathalons in record time, ride dog sleds across frozen tundra, and climb mountain peaks few have mastered. In 1950, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal became the first people to successfully climb Annapurna, an 8,000-meter peak found high in the Himalayas. The toll the mountain took on these men was brutal: each man lost a number of fingers and toes during their climb to the summit, and they were lucky to have not lost their lives. Even today, over 40% of the people who attempt to climb Annapurna die on their way to the summit. So why make the attempt? What draws people to spend their own time and money—and risk their personal safety—to reach this kind of target? The challenge. The mountain stood before them, the summit forbidding and nearly unreachable, and they wanted to see if they had it in them to make it to the top.
 In order to see the benefits of this same level of dedication at work, leaders and managers need to help their employees find a workplace version of Annapurna. Leaders need to provide their employees with opportunities to be challenged, situations that require them to reach well beyond what is expected of them and truly excel. People love to achieve difficult goals, and they love to up the ante. Once they have reached one summit, they will be ready to move on to the next. Achieving easy goals is boring, no matter what the environment. And inside the workplace, requiring employees to reach higher levels of performance makes the work they do more rewarding, resulting in greater job satisfaction, deeper dedication to the organization, and a heftier, healthier bottom line results. So give your employees the chance to sink their teeth into bigger, better challenges. Search for that next summit, find that next challenge, reward your people for striving to reach the top. They can make it, and you’ll find the proof in your bottom line.
Tags: employee goals, employee objectives, motivating employees, motivation to increase performance, performance goals
Posted in bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, goals & goal setting, leadership, productivity | No Comments »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson’s Psychoanalytical Theories help explain positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. They believed that when a stimulus is introduced and a particular behavior is reinforced (such as a teacher giving praise for a right answer), we are more likely to see that behavior repeated. This is the root of the idea of Positive Reinforcement.
 In a recent conversation with a colleague we discussed the ideas of the Psychoanalytical theory and whether it is relevant in today’s society, specifically with regard to the ideas of positive reinforcement. As I thought a little more deeply about this concept, I realized that these ideas are clearly applicable and prevalent in the workplace today.
Do you see the effects of positive reinforcement in your organization? Are your employees being recognized for their hard work? Or are they starving for a little appreciation? If the theory of Positive Reinforcement is applicable in the workplace, and we recognize our employees for their hard work, employees will become more motivated and easier to coach, and will help the business grow over the long term. By taking the time to recognize the effort your employees put forth, they will naturally become more dedicated and will want to achieve your organization’s goals. With the right goals, scorecards, and metrics, you truly can make a difference to your bottom line performance.
So what are some ways that you can acknowledge your employees? I have witnessed a number of ways in which you can recognize employees in order to motivate them and make them more coachable. Here is a list of five very quick, very simple ways to show your employees that you notice and appreciate what they do for you:
1. Simply say “thank you”
2. Take the time, even if it’s in passing, to learn of their successes
3. Reward effort as well as success
4. Publicly announce their success
5. Offer the right incentives to succeed
There are many other ways to show appreciation to and acknowledge your employees for their hard work, efforts, and success. Just remember that by recognizing their labor, you can help your business grow and ultimately achieve the result you want and a boost to your bottom line.
Tags: employee appreciation, employee motivation, motivating employees, positive reinforcement, Psychoanalytical Theories
Posted in bottom line leadership, bottom line performance, bottom line results, performance, praise, productivity, recognition, scorecard | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
 “I hope business is slow today” is a constant theme that is present in many organizations. This theme is about individuals, employee, and managers who do not understand or fully realize the importance and value they provide the organization and work they do. These are the people that come into work today, do their job, and collect a pay check. These are the people that truly hope business is slow today through a misunderstood notation that being slow benefits them. Yet the irony of the situation is if business were slow every day, it is likely the organization who provides their paycheck would cease to exist.
If you pay attention to the world of work, you will observe that this them is quite prevalent. It is likely it exists among employees in your own organization (if you haven’t seen it already). It is likely present with your clients, the vendors who serve you, and even at your favorite lunch spot. You don’t have to look hard or far to find those people who truly hope that business is slow today.
Generally speaking, these people aren’t bad people, free loaders, or poor hires. The fact is many of them fail to see or have not been given the full picture of how they help the organization and why they matter. Leaders and managers must be on the look-out for people who hope business is slow, and make an effort to help motivate these individuals and help them understand how important they are to the organization. Couple this with frequent coaching (formal and informal) and a creating a culture of feedback, and you’ll soon find your employee are engage to have a productive day at work with a focus on the bottom line.
Tags: Coaching, corporate coaching, Employee Coaching, motivating employees, motivation, motivation in the workplace, motivation to increase performance
Posted in accountability, bottom line performance, bottom line results, motivation | No Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Did you pick up your new iPhone this week? Unless you slept on the street for a couple of days, chances are you will need to wait until supply balances out with demand. Isn’t it fascinating that people take time off work and sleep on the ground outside a store just to obtain a $200 device? Why do people put forth so much effort for so little?
It’s ironic that people sacrifice time and wages, lose sleep, and exert a significant amount of physical effort to obtain a unique possession. People are willing to spend money, buy “apps” (applications), and spend large amounts of time to become experts on such devices. Yet we rarely see this type of passion, energy, and motivation in the workplace to drive results and increase profits. Isn’t the time we spend at work more important and valuable?
Dr. George Odiorne, is a well known management expert known for his concept “Management By Objectives.” What if we spin this concept slightly and implement “Management By Motivation.” What if you create the conditions for motivation in your organization. Like a new gadget, toy, or phone, discover what stimulates a behavior change in people at work. Hint: Everyone is a little different. Organization, productivity, and improvement in profits will increase when individuals discover what excites them. If people get excited and involved in their work like it is the latest and greatest gadget phone, organizations will find it truly amazing as to how they can flourish. There is no doubt that excitement and involvement will make a huge impact on the bottom line of any organization.
 As I write this article, I stare at my new phone (the latest and greatest) in a box, ready to be turned on. However, I feel enough motivation in my work that writing this content offers more value to me, my team, and my organization than heading to the break room to play with a new gadget. Are your people motivated to work or motivated to head to the break room and play? Let’s get our people excited and engaged to the goals and objectives that benefits everyone.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
-Aristotle
Tags: iphone hysteria, motivating employees, motivating work, motivation, motivation in the workplace, motivation to increase performance, work environment motivation
Posted in goals & goal setting, leadership | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
We are all aware of the economic challenges in the global economy. In fact, it seems that you can’t even turn the TV or radio on without hearing about it. Staying profitable in these difficult times is obviously a top priority for leaders, including in my organization. But despite the media coverage of businesses going under every day, I have been surprised at how many employees in my organization and others I work with are not concerned about the business’ profitability. It appears to me that the attitude is as long as they have a job, getting a paycheck, and can generally make ends meet, they aren’t as concerned about bottom line performance as they probably should be. Yet, when business are not profitable or can’t make it, look at the indirect trickle down affects on job loss, charitable contributions, the viability of communities, and the lifestyle we have all grown accustomed to.
 Ironically, employees are the life blood of our business, and in fact, have a tremendous impact on bottom line performance. In many cases, I don’t think employees completely understand how they contribute to or influence revenue streams, cash flow, expenses, or other factors that have an impact on profitability and in turn how to make adjustments in their performance in a way that will benefit them and the organization as a whole. With supporting metrics and leader feedback about their performance in key areas, I believe we can keep even the employees engaged in contributing to the success of our organization. So as leaders, let us recommit to helping our team members see how they directly influence the bottom line and motivate them to perform at higher levels during these challenging times.
Tags: bottom line performance, employee participation, employee vision to help business, motivating employees, team inclusion
Posted in bottom line performance, bottom line results, profitability | No Comments »
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