The Smart Examiner

It’s that time of year again: the time of holiday parties, Christmas cards to write, shopping to do (even online…at work!), vacations, family commitments, and more stress. It is no wonder that a recent survey by Accountemps found that 44% of executives feel employees are less productive the week before a major holiday.

While this may be true, there are ways that we as leaders can counteract all of the distractions and stress and help people be as productive now as at any time of the year. Following are some suggestions to keep the focus and results high as the bells ring louder and the shopping days disappear. Rather than avoiding the challenges or denying the distractions the season offers, ESCAPE the problems by applying the suggestions below.

Expect good results. Set high expectations and you will typically get great results. Set low ones and you’ll get the matching results too. As a leader, one of your responsibilities is to set clear expectations and goals for others. However successful you have been at communicating and gaining understanding on these expectations, the holidays require some additional expectation setting. Give people a sense of where they are on their annual goals, and encourage them to finish the year strong. As you set and reinforce these expectations, remember to give people the support and resources they need to succeed. And of course, lead by example. Have high expectations of yourself to finish the year strong.

Share spirit. While some people have a bit of a cynical, stressed out, scrooge attitude towards the holidays, most find their spirits lifted and thoughtfulness is at an annual high. Encourage people to show their spirit and sense of goodwill when communicating with others inside the organization. Even more importantly, encourage those sales people, Customer Service professionals and others who communicate with Customers to use that holiday good cheer in their interactions. Customers will notice and everyone wins.

Celebrate! You probably have a holiday party at a restaurant or hotel, which is great. But consider doing an on-site workday event too. There are many options -”Secret Santa”, a white elephant gift exchange, or daily afternoon holiday snack break with different people bringing things each day are just three suggestions. A little time spent here can help build relationships, bring people closer together and focus them on their work for the rest of the day and week. Make sure to let people who are interested in these kinds of events plan them – don’t delegate it to the unwilling or overworked because it won’t have the same results.

Acknowledge the challenges and distractions. Let people know that you realize the holidays are a tough time of year to stay focused. Share your shopping and social calendar with them, so they understand that you feel the seasonal stress that they feel too. When people know you understand their situation, you gain credibility when talking about expectations and year end goals.

Present positive anticipation for the New Year. Give people something to look forward to. Get them excited about a target or project that will make a real difference early in the New Year. Giving people this forward focus will help the focus now, but will really help people past the doldrums that can come after January 1.

Engage outside your organization. Take the lead by organizing a group to lead a toy campaign, contribute to a food drive, or better yet, do something as a team in the community. Your group will feel proud of their efforts, pleased that their organization supported and encouraged the activity, and the team will improve their relationships which has a long term impact on team health and productivity.

These suggestions individually can help you navigate the holiday season more effectively. Taken together, however, they will help you ESCAPE the pitfalls and make December a valuable and productive close to the year and a jump start to the new one.

Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company. To receive a free Special Report on leadership that includes resources, ideas, and advice go to www.kevineikenberry.com/leadership.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.

There are many resemblances between politics and management. One of them is that they both share the development of Policies.
Where should your company differ from a political institution in order to be successful?

A policy is like a map that serves to guide an organization into a certain direction. A governmental policy serves in the same way to guide citizens. The resemblance between government and management is even more striking for larger corporations with the practice of corporate governance;

• Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. Corporate governance also includes the relationships among the many players involved (the stakeholders) and the goals for which the corporation is governed. The principal players are the shareholders, management and the board of directors. Other stakeholders include employees, suppliers, customers, banks and other lenders, regulators, the environment and the community at large. (www.wikipedia.org)

This means that politics and business converge with the size of a corporation and with the increasing number of stakeholders – especially the environment and the community.

…An important part of corporate governance deals with accountability, fiduciary duty and mechanisms of auditing and control. In this sense, corporate governance players should comply with codes to the overall good of all constituents.

And with this increase in size the “codes” (policies) increase as well. Both politics and organization deal with credibility. Politicians are facing a hard time to remain credible because of the enormous number of issues they are dealing with and which they need to respond to with a coherent line of policy. The more they deviate from this line the less credible they appear to be.

Larger organization can narrow their focus which will make it easier to pursue a consistent policy.
The difference between government (and governmental organizations) and market organizations is that the former lacks a strategy.

In line with this reasoning, and observing real politics, a company that lacks a strategy will have a hard time implementing a policy.
Or put differently; make sure that you elaborate a sound strategy if you do not want (internal) political debates leading you nowhere.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account.

Employee motivation is a mystery for many managers. But, it doesn’t have to be. Instead, understanding how motivation impacts employee performance, and understanding how to use motivation to improve performance can be reduced to five master keys. Organizations desiring to improve employee motivation need a system in place that consistently rewards employee achievements. I’m always surprised how few organizations have such a system.

However, not all employees respond to the same motivations. Each person has his or her own likes and dislikes, passions, interests and desires. The role of the successful manager is to learn how to identify what motivates each employee, and learn how to leverage those motives to simultaneously fulfill the goals of the organization, as well as the goals of each employee.

The five key employee motivation factors include: satisfaction, appreciation, recognition, inspiration and compensation.

1. Employee Motivation By Building Satisfaction

In their book “The Service Profit Chain,” James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard Schlesinger make a compelling case that regardless your business, the only way to generate sustained profits is to build a work environment that attracts, focuses, and keeps talented employees. In other words, they have to be motivated to show up, get committed and perform at a level of excellence.

Employee motivation as it relates to employees satisfaction is vitally important. And, it goes way beyond just a “happier workforce.” Why?

Because there is an undeniable link between satisfied, motivated employees, and satisfied customers. In other words, focus on creating satisfied employees, focus on employee motivation, and those motivated, satisfied employees will take care of your customers.

2. Employee Motivation Through Genuine Appreciation

At times, managers unknowingly sabotage employee motivation by failing to recognize the positive behaviors and achievements of their employees. As a result, employees don’t know whether or not they are doing a good job.

I recently had an employee of an organization tell me, “The only time we ever hear anything from management is when we do something wrong!”

Fortunately, savvy managers can improve employee motivation by rewarding employees with personal attention. This can include a pat on the back, a hand-written note, or a quick comment in the hall.

When showing appreciation, be specific. Instead of just saying, “We really are grateful for the good job you do around here,” the approach might be, “I really appreciate how you handled the Franklin Industries account last week when we had to get their rush order out late Friday afternoon. Your effort really made a difference.”

By being specific, the employer comes across as much more sincere, and the employee realizes their actions are truly being watched. And, a highly level of employee motivation is the natural result.

3. Employee Motivation Through Recognition

Many people will do for recognition what they will not do for money. And, this is the manager’s secret weapon for employee motivation. Some people are motivated by the opportunity to get their name on the wall, receive a trophy at an annual banquet, or see their name in the company newsletter. It gives them an “emotional payoff” for their actions.

Look for ways to increase employee motivation by recognizing excellence in the workplace. Ring a bell every time an individual or team hits the production target. Put up posters with the photographs of team members who have had the most days without accidents. Give out awards for attendance records. Just do something. It is so inexpensive, yet highly effective in your efforts of employee motivation.

4. Employee Motivation Through Inspiration

Inspiration comes from leadership. This form of employee motivation includes the company’s mission, purpose and goals. People want to be part of an organization that is going somewhere, that stands for something, and that provides a meaningful service to the marketplace.

If you want to lead an inspired, mission-guided organization, follow these steps and watch employee motivation improve dramatically.

Have a clear mission – in other words, know where you are going.
Be excited and passionate about your mission. After all, if you don’t get excited, they won’t either.

Be able to communicate the mission, it’s value to the marketplace. In other words, why it’s worthwhile.

Make sure everyone in the organization understands and can communicate the mission.

Be sure employees understand how they fit into the process of fulfilling the organization’s mission.

Make the connection between the mission and the individual values and goals of your employees.

Keep your mission in front of everyone in the organization.

5. Employee Motivation Through Compensation

Some employees are motivated by money. In fact, most are motivated by money; at least for their basic needs. Employee motivation through compensation can come in the form of raises, performance bonuses, commissions, profit sharing, or any number of “extra benefits” like, automobiles, vacations, or other tangible items purchased and used as rewards.

I noticed an interesting program in a hotel where I recently stayed. They have a sophisticated system for rewarding employees based on customer feedback. Throughout the hotel, they have placed customer feedback forms and boxes for depositing the forms. When customers comment on the performance of a hotel employee, the employee accumulates points that can be used to purchase rewards like trips, gifts, and other incentives.

Taking Action On Employee Motivation

Whatever the chosen method, it is important to have a system in place that builds employee motivation. Not every person is motivated by the same factor, or combination of factors. Offering all five – satisfaction, appreciation, recognition, inspiration and compensation insures that the organization has something to contribute to the motivation of each employee.

JP Maroney a.k.a. “The Pitbull of Business Development” is a business growth strategist, best-selling author and award-winning speaker. Receive his FREE “Strategic Briefing” e-newsletter by visiting http://www.JPMaroney.com or calling 1-800-304-5758.