Motivate Like A Master… Without Spending A Cent!

No matter what industry you’re in, motivated and engaged employees are critical to success. Here’s how to motivate like a master – without spending a cent!

Successful managers spend a significant portion of the day working to develop their team’s skills, improve morale, and drive higher levels of performance. (And if you’re not focusing on these key areas, you should be.)

So how do you motivate your employees to achieve more? Most leaders turn to monetary or tangible rewards. After all, money is a great employee motivator, right? Wrong.

While it is important that your compensation plan helps effectively attract and retain great employees, numerous studies show that recognition is a much better retention tool and performance motivator than money.

A survey by a major staffing company found the top reason employees leave an organisation isn’t because of pay issues but because they feel they aren’t recognised and praised for their work.

The key to developing – and maintaining – a highly engaged and motivated team is to use intrinsic motivators, not extrinsic motivators.

What’s the difference? Extrinsic motivation is a reward: a pay rise, a cash bonus, a gift – in other words, a tangible reward for performance given to the employee. (While it sounds harsh, I often think of extrinsic motivators as bribery.)

The major problem with most extrinsic motivation programs is that the programs have to be continually repeated, and any motivation they initially produce wears off.

And it gets worse: if overused, what at first seemed like a great reward quickly becomes an expectation instead of a reward, with the result that the effectiveness of the incentive – and employee performance – flattens out.

To make a bad situation even worse, if the program is discontinued – as it should be if it’s not producing results – employees may see the cancellation as a “takeaway” and lose interest in their jobs.

There’s a better way, and cheaper, way to motivate your employees. It’s called intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes from inside a person: it’s the sense of achievement, responsibility, job satisfaction, purpose, involvement, empowerment, ownership – all the things that make an employee feel that what they’re doing makes a big difference in their lives and in the organisation itself.

If employees feel what they’re doing is insignificant, they’ll feel insignificant; if they feel their work is valued, they in turn feel valued.

Sound complicated? It’s not. The easiest way to provide intrinsic motivation is to say, “Thank you.” Recognising your employees with comments like, “Well done,” or, “Great job,” creates a greater and longer-term effect on employee motivation than providing a cheap reward that’s quickly forgotten. Best of all, in most cases intrinsic motivation doesn’t cost a cent.

What are the benefits of recognising employees through intrinsic motivation? I’ve worked with dozens of companies in the last few years, and in each case effective intrinsic motivation produced these results:

• Improved morale – Both at the employee level and at the team level
• Increased productivity – Employees who feel good about their jobs and their performance tend to perform at an even higher level
• Lower absenteeism – Employees who feel they’re important to the organisation look forward to coming to work
• Higher retention rates – Intrinsic motivators lead to better employee/supervisor relationships, increased engagement, and employees who feel valuable to the organisation – and want to stay with the organisation
• Improved bottom-line results

Here are simple and effective ways to recognise and engage your employees:

1. Praise – Recognise your employees for a job well done. Say, “Thank you,” at the end of the day. Praise your employees for doing a great job. Catch them doing something well – and tell them how well they did. When possible, make your praise public; gather your team together for a moment and celebrate an accomplishment. Spend your day looking for and recognising great performance.
2. Development – Consistently train your employees (and not just the high performers): increase their skill base, prepare them to fill in at the next level, or make temporary assignments to different departments.
3. Promote from within –  An internal promotion not only recognises the employee involved, it also ensures that others know that advancement is possible. Make sure employees know what skills they’ll need to take that next step, and make sure you provide them with the resources to gain those skills.
4. Create informal leadership roles – Leadership roles, even temporary ones, create a higher sense of engagement and recognition. Find ways to create informal leadership roles for your employees: leading a small project, training new employees, giving facility tours to visitors, or sharing experiences from a training seminar or inter-departmental assignment with the rest of the team.
5. Track – and post – key performance metrics – Make sure employees know how they – and the department – are performing. Post results, discuss improvement needs, and most importantly, celebrate accomplishments. Make sure what you measure is in line with your company’s goals; not only will you improve performance but your employees will better understand their place in, and importance to, the organisation.
6. Communicate – Employees in almost every company I’ve worked with say they don’t receive enough communication: formal, informal, written, verbal – you name it. Your employees want to hear what’s going on – and just as importantly, they want to share their ideas, their suggestions, and their concerns. Most managers feel they’re communicating enough; most employees disagree. Start communicating more today.

And that’s just a start. It’s likely you already have a few reward and recognition programs. Before you make any changes, gather your management team and list all of the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators you have in place. Not only will they have great ideas, they’ll also feel more engaged.

If yours is like most organisations, chances are your list of extrinsic motivators will be longer. If so, institute more intrinsic motivators so that there is at least a balance between the two. Better yet, put more intrinsic motivators in place; you’ll reduce your costs and create higher-performing work teams.

Once you’ve developed your ideas as a management team, discuss them with your employees, especially if measurable performance targets are involved.

Employees are truly motivated when they work towards goals that mean something personally to them, and that they had a hand in creating.

If it’s appropriate, negotiate quantitative goals with your employees. Make the goals a challenge to reach but still attainable, and provide regular feedback.

Remember, don’t just reward your employees; recognise them for their achievements, for their contributions, and for their role in the team.

And most importantly, say, “Thank you,” as often as you can. You – and your bottom line – will be glad you did.

Guest Author

James Adonis is Australia’s leading expert on employee engagement. He shows companies how to reduce staff turnover, engage Gen Y, and win the war for talent. Sign up for James’ FREE newsletter Love Your Team: Employee Engagement Newsletter Contact James via Phone: +61 2 9331 2465; Email: james@jamesadonis.com or visit his Web site: http://www.jamesadonis.com

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How To Motivate Unmotivated People

All it takes is an understanding of the appropriate steps to take and a willingness to do them. This article contains the steps. The willingness is up to you.

If you walk around a Walt Disney World resort or theme park, you are likely to witness something that in most other settings would seem bizarre. Not the presence of a large animated character, although you may witness that also. Rather, at any given moment, a person in dress clothes will be walking from one destination to another and will stop, pick up a piece of paper, a cup, or other piece of trash someone dropped, and throw it in a trash can. Executives do it, front line managers do it, hourly employees do it, everybody does it.

There is no special monetary compensation for this behavior. No point system exists where $5 bonuses are given out for every fifteen pieces of trash that someone picks up. There is also no special monitoring system in place which watches for people who don’t do it and then issues penalty points or demerits. Yet, people are motivated to do it anyway.

Now picking up trash may not be your top concern, but are there other things in your department, division, or company that you would like your employees to do? Are you looking for ways to motivate your people?

The answer is not pixie dust or magic. The key is being very good at employing five essential motivation steps.

To some leaders these steps can seem intimidating. First time managers in particular, who were promoted because of their individual skills are often uncomfortable with these ideas. Many times they feel people should just do what needs to be done “because that is what they get paid for”. Or they believe the only way to motivate people is to give them more money.

Successful motivators don’t think that way. They know that by following the five steps, people can be motivated far beyond what they get paid for, and far more effectively than when money is the only incentive.

Step #1 – Clearly articulate what needs to be accomplished and why

Often the problem with getting people to accomplish things is not that they are unmotivated, it is that they are uninformed. Leaders discuss goals with their peers and superiors on a regular basis and are therefore intimately familiar with them. Because of this familiarity, they mistakenly assume all of their employees also know them. Usually this is not the case.

Take time to explain to all of your employees exactly what needs to be accomplished and the reasons why. Don’t forget the “why?” Knowing that enables people to make educated choices in their day to day decisions. For example, the output from a team at a market research company whose goal is to launch three new products, will vary greatly, depending on if they know that the “why?” is because the company is losing market share to competitors with products that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Goals should always include specific numeric objectives and timelines. A goal of “Improve Customer Service” is nebulous and people won’t know how they are doing in their efforts to achieve it. However, “Decrease customer wait times to 10 seconds by June 1st” is something people can visualise and work towards.

Step #2 – Involve people in finding the solutions

People are more motivated to succeed at something if they personally choose to attempt it. Therefore, managers should involve their people in choosing the goals the group needs to accomplish. If this is not possible, then involving people in the creation of how to achieve the goals is the next best thing. Their involvement will generate buy-in and also opens up the opportunity for an optimal solution.

Successful coaches use this technique on a regular basis. While it is true they watch hours and hours of game films looking for weaknesses in their own team as well as their competitors, they also involve their players in finding the best way to win. They do it because no matter how much film they watch, or how close they are to the game, they aren’t in the game. The perspectives of players or employees who are in the midst of the action can be drastically different from a coach or a manager who is near the action.

If those perspectives aren’t incorporated into the solution, two things will happen. First, those in the midst of the action will feel that no-one is listening to them, and they will become unmotivated. Second, decisions will be made without incorporating all the relevant data. Both of these will negatively impact progress toward the goals.

Step #3 – Explain the rules of the game

Have you ever played a new sport or game against people who are experienced players? In the early stages of learning how to play, every few minutes you do something which you think is correct only to be told that it is illegal, or against the rules. It can be exceptionally frustrating.

This scenario often plays out in the workplace. Employees are given a task, but are not told all the parameters or rules. Weeks into a project they present their work to someone, only to be informed that they need to change direction because of something they were never told about.

This is particularly demoralising and should be avoided at all costs. People can find solutions to almost any problem, but they need to know the rules of the game.

Step #4 – Link people’s personal goals with the organisations goals

There is a reason that each employee goes to work. Successful motivators know what that reason is for every person who works for them. Each day they help their employees fulfill those reasons. Really successful motivators understand not only the reason, but how the reason ties into the person’s bigger life goals. When necessary, they help their people think about and articulate those bigger life goals. When a person no longer thinks “I work so that I can make money,” and instead thinks “I work so that I can enable my daughter to attend a school that will give her a chance to go do what she wants in life,” there is a significant mental and motivational shift that occurs.

Understanding that someone comes to work because they thrive on personal interaction, are trying to gain experience so they can run their own corner deli, or whatever is their personal goal, enables a manager to talk in that person’s language. It also enables the manager to assign responsibilities in that person’s area of interest, and remind them how what they are doing is tied to their bigger goals.

Managers who enable people to fulfill their life goals through work never have to worry about how to motivate their people. The act of fulfilling their life goals is enough to keep them motivated. All the manager has to do is find the links between those goals, and the organisation’s needs, and match the two up.

Step #5 – Move negative people off the team

Nothing can halt progress like someone who is discontent simply for the sake of being discontent. It is demoralising to others and it draws energy and time from the tasks being attempted. That doesn’t mean you don’t want good “counter-point” people on your team. Someone who says “Look, I know what we are all trying to do, and I think there is a better way,” can be a valuable resource to help make sure the team is on the right track. However, someone who just regularly says “We’ll never get there,” will just hold everyone back. Move them off the team, and bring in someone who will assist and support the group’s efforts.

Whether you are trying to motivate people to help create a clean environment for guests, or something more pertinent to your organisation, remember that anyone can be a great motivator. Now that you know the steps, all you need is the willingness.

Guest Author

John P. Strelecky is the international best selling author of ‘The Why Café’ and a highly sought after inspirational speaker on; ‘How to Achieve Maximum Success with Minimal Effort.’ His CD series of the same name has received rave reviews from listeners. A graduate of Northwestern University’s MBA program, John has served as a business strategist for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Through his book, CDs, articles, and appearances on television and radio, he has positively impacted the lives of millions of people. John can be reached through his website at http://www.whycafe.com, or by calling 407-342-4181.

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Bye, Bye Boomers: Planning For The Inevitable

Your leaders are leaving soon and you may have gaps within the ranks, both in qualified people and the necessary competencies. While this is potentially alarming information, now is not the time to panic.

Many companies have been stripping out layers of management to gain operating and cost efficiencies. But in the process of paring down, these ‘lean’ organisations cut out many developmental opportunities for next-generation leaders. So there are fewer and fewer candidates ready to step into crucial management roles as older managers retire.

Replacing capable and seasoned employees, while developing a new cadre of managers, certainly takes considerable time and investment. It is time to focus efforts on creating a leadership development strategy to meet this challenge, and then rigorously execute this strategy to maintain – and drive – business both during and after this flux.

The key is to get ahead of other companies by taking action now, with six critical steps designed to competitively position your organisation during and after this dramatic workforce transition:

1. Map the exiting skills and expertise – Determine who is retirement-eligible and when retirement is likely. Have frank discussions with your senior management team on their future plans and determine if they have made any efforts regarding succession planning. Know what skills the company will lose and what functions, locations and roles will be impacted the most.
2. Accelerate knowledge transfer – Start with a preliminary meeting with potential retirees to understand the gap between the knowledge only known by the individual(s) versus that which is documented as part of your company’s process or knowledge management.Once you have a general sense of the information that needs to be captured, you can then decide how to do it. If you use a technology system, be sure to think through how the successor will employ it, in order to balance a system with a lot of “bells and whistles” with a practical one.Also, keep in mind how the knowledge transfer process might change for different positions, and whether a third party will do the gathering or if it will be left to the retiree. The higher the impact of the retirement on the organisation, the more tailored this process needs to be in order to capture all relevant information.

   The process may need to involve speaking with direct reports and job shadowing, particularly for senior management. For departments where there will be a larger number of retirements, a process can be designed for department heads to distribute knowledge transfer plans in a more time efficient manner.

3. Assess talent supply and demand – both internally and externally – Once you have identified the impending skill gaps, the next obvious step is to fill them. First look internally, and use the information you have gathered from retirees and other managers to determine whether the skill sets exist within your organisation. The goal is to identify successors.Where no successors exist, look externally to see if the type of skill you need is available in the market. If talent is available, begin building a pipeline. If it looks like a tough market, use a three-pronged approach: build a pipeline, keep looking internally for potential successors and work to retain Boomers past retirement.

4. Accelerate development – Now that you have identified the successors, they need to start moving towards the goal of stepping into the retiree’s position. This will require creating a plan that develops the required skills within the necessary time frame.This is often a difficult process to balance that only gets tougher the longer companies wait to prepare for retiring Boomers. The plans ideally should include on-the-job activities, formal training and knowledge building.
5. Maintain focus – The first four steps require a methodological approach that is best carried out by one project management office or one team leader depending on company size. Nominate a person or group to centrally coordinate and lead workforce planning. Ensure that the leader(s) also keeps an eye on your employee brand in terms of how retirees are treated as they exit and how the company is portrayed to external candidates during this crunch process.

6. Learn from others – Now that you are aware of your problem areas, keep an eye out for ideas. Consider ways to retain Baby Boomers past their retirement date with alternative arrangements such as part-time retirement.

Many companies have already addressed the Baby Boomer issue. While this is further reason to get started if you have yet to begin, there is also the chance to learn from others who have gone down this path.

Guest Author

Norman Schippers, Capital H Group. Capital H Group is a consulting firm that takes a value-based approach to helping companies manage, and invest in, their human capital. Partnering with our clients, we focus on creating value through their people. For further information, visit web site: http://www.capitalHgroup.com

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Recognising The Traits Of Outstanding Employees

Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers … they possess a wide range of easily-defined – but hard to find – qualities. A few hit the next level and are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals, but nonetheless make a major impact on performance. Forget good to great – what makes a great employee, remarkable?

Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:

1. They ignore job descriptions – The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.When a key customer’s project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there’s a problem and jump in without being asked – even if it’s not their job.
2. They’re eccentric – The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavour. People who aren’t afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.
3. But they know when to dial it back – An unusual personality is a lot of fun … until it isn’t. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team. Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.
4. They publicly praise – Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person. Remarkable employees recognise the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.
5. And they complain privately – We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.
6. They speak when others won’t – Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what’s going on”. He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don’t, and they’re afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you”. Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.
7. They like to prove others wrong – Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn’t have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important – but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.
8. They’re always fiddling – Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to … but because they just can’t help it.

Guest Author

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. Visit http://www.blackbirdinc.com

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10 Issues That Concern Your Employees And Productivity

Work-related concerns have an equal – sometimes greater – effect on employee productivity. Even the issues of just one staff member often can affect the performance of a team or department.

Why employee concerns affect productivity

Employee concerns always affect productivity, positively or negatively. Occasions when their concerns have no effect are rare and possibly non-existent. This is not a psychologically complex reality. Most managers have seen tan
gible effects of personal, if not professional issues, affecting employee performance.

Employees find new boyfriends/girlfriends, get married, receive their college or graduate degrees, or have other wonderful events occur, and their productivity tends to improve.

Conversely, people face divorce, foreclosure, the loss of a parent, issues with children, or a variety of other personal issues, and their productivity declines, for at least the short-term.

Concerns that are satisfied by management for just one team member can often uplift the performance of the whole group. On the down side, should management not address concerns of even one team member, performance of that employee – and possibly the entire team – typically suffers.

The obvious conclusion: Management should address any concerns that employees have to maintain continuity of performance. Certainly, at times, the answers that management must provide are not what the employee wanted. Yet, their concerns were addressed and efforts made to resolve these issues.

How to determine employee concerns

Management sometimes maintain that they didn’t address employee concerns because they were unaware that one or more issues existed. While this statement may be true, it is imperative that management stay aware of employee concerns so they can address them before small issues become major performance detractors.

How can they do this? Just ask. As long as your staff have the security of knowing that they will not be punished or criticised for being truthful about their concerns, they normally will be honest – sometimes brutally honest. But, that is good news. Simple surveys or requests for suggestions or concerns have proven to be sufficient.

The top 10 issues that concern your employees

Surveys indicate that the following issues are the most common employee concerns in a cross section of all industries. These are not listed in any particular order of importance, as people have different concerns when in different situations.

1. Higher salaries and compensation 

   Surprise! Few managers should be surprised by this concern.

2. Benefits programs 

   This is another very common – and understandable – concern of employees. To limit turnover and increase retention, management typically tries to offer the best benefit program they can afford. Should programs fall short of ideal, management should communicate their dedication to make benefits the best they can be.

3. Pay increase guidelines 

   This concern might initially surprise you. Compensation guidelines are normally in place for most larger companies, those with unionised workforces, and government agencies.However, most businesses are classified as smaller companies and it appears that this group often lacks this employee feature, generating confusion and concern from staff.

4. Favouritism 

   This important concern may be related to item number three. Most senior management would dispute this concern, but they may be forgetting one important item: perception.Your company may be diligent in prohibiting favouritism, yet the perception of this failing, or the possibility of its existence, remains a concern of employees.

5. Pay equity 

   While this concern may appear to relate to the above two issues, employee feedback indicates that it stems from a different source. Employees want to feel secure they are earning compensation equal to those who are in similar positions and have comparable experience.

6. The human resource department 

   Most HR professionals are aware of this employee concern. Contemporary workers want and expect their HR departments to be fountains of knowledge about a myriad of issues (benefits, compensation, corporate plans and goals, legal and insurance issues, positions to be open in the future, etc.).

7. Excessive management 

   Sometimes called “over management” or “micro-management”, this concern relates to employees feeling that their every activity is separately managed and little judgment or freedom is permitted.

8. Inadequate communication 

   Has anyone heard this concern before? Employees have a need to believe they are “in the loop” by having as much information as possible on employer plans, goals, dreams, news, etc.

9. Over-work 

   Employees are often afraid that their efforts and high performance may only result in management asking them to do more for the same compensation. Extra efforts should be rewarded by additional compensation (if possible) and/or a sincere “Thank you” at a minimum. Concern addressed.

10. Workplace conditions and cleanliness 

    Management is sometimes caught off guard when advised that this concern consistently appears. But, upon reflection, it is perfectly logical. With more and more people committed to improved health and quality of life in general, it is not surprising that there is deep interest in their workplace’s physical conditions.

It is important to remember that these items are concerns, not necessarily complaints. Senior management in most companies regularly satisfy these and other employee concerns. This compilation of many statistics, however, does display the most common items of interest to the general workforce.

Asking your staff to advise you of their concerns gives management the opportunity to address issues of importance to their employees. Studies indicate that addressing employee concerns – regardless of the answers – is the most important activity.

Management displays their sincerity, their own concern, and their respect for their workforce. Making an honest attempt to address employee concerns typically results in improved staff performance.

Guest Author

Kelly Services is a global recruitment company, operating in 37 countries delivering temporary and full-time recruitment and HR/Recruitment Outsourcing and consulting.

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Top 10 Employee Selection Mistakes … And Solutions

Selecting the right people is a critical leadership lever that drives growth. Employee selection is the ultimate pay-me-now or pay-me-later leadership proposition.

Do it effectively now and reap the benefits of a high-performing team later. Do it fast and cheap now, and pay the price later of increased turnover, underperforming teams, a diluted culture and drain on managerial time.

The cost of turnover averages 40% of annual salary in hard costs only (i.e. does not include ripple costs). Although there are many things managers can do to reduce turnover, making the right selection decision is where you get your bang for your buck. You can do the math: reduce your turnover by just 10 employees with a $40,000 average salary, and you have just dropped $160,000 back to your bottom line.

To help you reduce your turnover and improve your bottom line, below are solutions to the top 10 employee selection mistakes.

Use only a “gut feel” approach

No relationship has been found between years of experience hiring people and effective selection, so the experienced manager is no more effective than the rookie manager. Experienced managers tend to rely more on gut feel and stray from validated practices for effective selection.

Experience and intuition are important, but so are more reliable and valid ways to collect data such as testing, simulations and work samples. No one aspect of the selection process should be relied on exclusively; rather they should be weighted based on the company’s values and the job requirements.

Solution: Design and train on a selection process that contains various forms of data collection (qualitative and quantitative). Design your process and weight each selection component based on your company’s values.

Don’t know what you are looking for

It is hard to find “it” when you do not know what you are looking for.

Solution: Like most decision-making, employee selection is fundamentally emotional. Therefore, it is important to define and prioritise the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the job in advance. This enables clear thinking to establish a specific position profile. Yes, it takes time, but it is an effective use of time versus “shooting in the dark”. See the following Applicant Evaluation Tool to help you avoid this mistake.

Screen in vs. screen out

Most interviewers inherently look for characteristics that match the company culture and job requirements. They want to find a winner – a match! This perspective subtly but significantly makes us filter in good attributes and rationalise why negative attributes will not be a problem if we hire this person.

Solution: View your job as an investigator who is looking for any little clue, any reason, why this candidate will not be wildly successful.

Talk 80% and listen 20%

The reverse should be true. If you are talking too much, then you are selling the job (see below) instead of screening the candidate.

Solution: The interviewer should listen 80% of the time.

Take candidates at their word

Do not settle for vague general responses to be polite.

Solution: You are on a data collection mission. Probe for specific examples and situations where the candidate has demonstrated the success factors you are looking for. Let the candidate know at the beginning of the interview that your goal is to fully and specifically understand his / her capabilities.

Give in to work and market pressures

The vast majority of managers hire too quickly and fire too slowly. In a tight labor market, it is not uncommon for a hiring manager to meet the candidate only once then make an offer. And when candidate supply is plentiful, managers tend to miss the opportunity to sift through lots of candidates to find the very best fit due to “lack of time”. Interesting that these same managers can find the time to deal with performance issues resulting from poor selection – again, pay me now or pay me later.

Solution: Use the 3 x 3 x 3 Rule: 3 employees interview 3 candidates 3 different times. You are thinking, “All that time for one hire?” You will spend much more time than that if you make the wrong hire.

Selling the job

This is another mistake that can be exacerbated in a tight labor market. Managers want to sell the candidate on their company because they know that the candidate likely has an offer on the table from a competing company.

Solution: The effective, long-term objective is to look for a good “fit” for the job and the company, regardless of the labor market conditions.

Oblivious to the legal Do’s and Don’ts

This may not prevent you from making the right selection decision, but it sure will increase your company’s liabilities.

Solution: Ignorance is no excuse. Know, train, and enforce the law in your selection processes.

Go with the flow

This comes down to lack of preparation and relying on those “favorite questions” and gut feel. Most interviewers do not take control of the interview.

Solution: Once you have identified the success factors and prioritised them, then prepare questions (and appropriate follow-up questions / probes) that will extract the necessary information from the candidate. Remember, it is your interview. You set the process, timing, roles, pace and questioning – not the candidate. This requires thoughtful preparation.

Listen only to the candidate’s words

90+% of all communication is nonverbal, so being attuned to the multitude of nonverbal cues provides an interviewer with much richer information about the candidate.

Solution: Don’t stop at the traditional cues: eye contact, posture, facial expressions and gestures. Consider intonation, pacing of speech, energy level, self-confidence. How did you feel after the interview? Enthused, tired, impressed? Perhaps those who work with the candidate will feel the same way.

So there you have it! Select well today, prosper tomorrow.

Guest Author:

Lee J. Colan Ph.D, is a leadership advisor, speaker and author of 10 rapid-read books, including the best selling, ‘Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence’.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com/subscribe/

How To Avoid Sending Mixed Messages

As leaders, we know to be sensitive about mixing our messages. When our staff receive mixed messages, the negative emotion naturally dominates, and becomes – in the minds of our staff – associated with the memory of the event. Discover how to avoid sending mixed signals to communicate more effectively.

We humans make sense of our world by classifying our experiences, conversations and other people. Our classifications are binary in nature; they are an either/or category. The most common is good or bad. Other common classifications are them and us, like me or not like me, happy or sad. We make our classifying decisions based on the emotion we experience – our feelings – at that moment.

Confusing or mixing messages occurs when the receiver of the message thought that the message was going one way (“good”) but it turns out that it was going down the other way (“bad”) or vice versa. Emotions are conflicted.

Examples of mixed messages

By allowing your emotional detectors to guide you, you’ll become more aware of any mixing of your own messages, and can also learn by observing others. Here are some common examples:

1. A CEO is hosting an end-of-year celebration event to thank the staff for a successful year. In his speech the CEO thanks the troops and then can’t help himself – he preaches that “we need to maintain our focus in the year ahead to maintain sales”.

   Mixed message received

   The message is now mixed and the staff wonder if it was really a “thank you” event or a “kick off” event for next year. It alters their feelings associated with the event.

2. A manager calls one of their staff who works in another location. The manager’s intention when calling was just to say hello and to check if the person needs anything (a good thing to do). During the call however, the manager remembers a task that they need to talk to the person about. They raise the task.

   Mixed message received

   Suddenly the receiver who had categorised the call as a “nice check-in” thinks, “Oh, my boss really wanted to get me to do something”.

3. A manager calls a candidate for a job to let them know that they have been unsuccessful. Rather than just let the person know they were unsuccessful and explain why, the manager gushes about what a good candidate they were and how well they interviewed.

   Mixed message received

   The person categorises the call as “insincere”, given that they missed out on the job.

4. A manager recently appointed to the leadership role meets with their new direct reports in individual meetings (a good thing). But the manager confuses the purpose of the meeting by not making it just a get-to-know-you meeting, by also raising their performance expectations.

   Mixed message received

   The staff member, who thought that it was an introductory meeting suddenly feels like they’re put on the spot.

5. A manager gives a staff member negative feedback, but confuses the message by starting with praise (as per the unhelpful “feedback sandwich” approach).

   Mixed message received

   The receiver initially thought they were being acknowledged for their good work, to suddenly find the big BUT shifting the conversation to what they are doing wrong.

Mixing emotions

When we mix our messages, we are confusing the emotional response – the feelings – we trigger in the receiver. In the first part of our message we are leading the person down the path of either good or bad, for example, and then we confuse the message – the person’s emotional detectors – by diverting them down the other path.

Given our hardwired instinct for loss aversion, when we mix our messages, the negative one dominates. The negative emotion becomes the memory of the event.

Tips for leaders

The remedy to avoid mixing messages is simple – stick to one emotion associated with each event. When there are two objectives to cover, it becomes necessary to separate the events, so that the emotions attached to each don’t mix.

Using the examples above:

1. The CEO who is driven by anxieties about next year’s results should celebrate this year’s results and find another occasion to talk about the new year.
2. The manager who is calling for the purpose of checking-in, and who suddenly remembers a task item, should generally leave the task for another call, perhaps the next day.
3. Calling an unsuccessful candidate means letting them know they have been unsuccessful – without the sugar coating that will likely be received as insincere.
4. The manager who is meeting people for the first time should decide if the purpose of this meeting is to be a relaxed and “positive” one and leave the performance target discussion to a second meeting. It doesn’t all have to be covered the first time.
5. Giving negative feedback means covering the topic and generally leaving any praise for another time.

Our guide is the receiver’s emotional detector. If our message is intended to be “positive”, then make that the message and don’t confuse the issue by mixing with a “negative” one. Leaders should avoid trying to squeeze too much into any one interaction, and thereby will achieve greater clarity in their communications with staff.

Guest Author:

Andrew O’Keeffe, Hardwired Humans. Hardwired Humans assists business leaders design and implement people strategies based on human instincts. Through understanding human instincts leaders can predict what will work and can avoid the predictable mistakes if instincts are ignored.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com/subscribe/

Management Tips To Ensure That Your Good Employees Stay

It is difficult to put a value on maintaining a team of loyal, experienced workers, particularly in the present climate of skills shortages and the looming exit of experienced baby boomers. However most employers would agree that good staff are priceless. So, how do you keep good employees satisfied enough to want to stay in your business?

• Have strong core values which demonstrate that you value long-term relationships with both employees and clients
• Ensure there is a two-way street of dignity, trust and respect between management and employees|
• Encourage open two way communication; listen; and back up talk with action
• Nurture a sense of ‘community’ and connection amongst staff
• Provide higher than average benefits
• Build a transparent culture
• Recognise both work and life events
• Encourage and support ongoing education and personal growth
• Encourage a collaborative atmosphere and involve employees in the planning and feedback process
• Empower by encouraging self-reliance and accountability
• Be sensitive to individual employee needs and lifestyle; foster a good work/life balance
• Consider creating an ‘employee care’ program tailored to the needs of your employees

Guest Author:

NSW Business Chamber.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com/subscribe/

Generation Y: Are They Even Worth The Hassle?

“That’s it. I’m only going to hire Baby Boomers from now on… Gen Y are just too much hard work”.

It seems that many managers and business owners have reached breaking point with Gen Y. This younger generation, after all, rarely hangs around in a job for long enough to warrant the financial and time investment of training. What’s more, they have a sense of entitlement and a brash self-confidence that is less than endearing to many older managers.

Gen Y: they have been the topic of countless articles, research papers and books in recent years. Workplaces and employers in every sector are finding this group a great challenge to recruit, motivate and retain. This younger generation seems to operate by a different set of rules. Their concept of patience, respect and work ethic can seem bewildering at best and insulting at worst. Is it any wonder then that many managers are asking if Gen Y are really worth the hassle?

Sure Gen Y may pose some challenges to work with. Sure they may have an approach to the real world that can sometimes seem less than realistic. And yet, this group is a generation of confident, well-educated natural networkers. They are innovative, flexible, tech-savvy and most important of all, at home in the modern era. It is, after all, the only era they have ever known.

Clever managers are recognising that Gen Y are indeed an excellent source of creativity, innovation and a competitive edge. Rather than seeing this group as a challenge or a source of frustration, these managers are seeing the potential of engaging a generation who have a fresh perspective, boundless energy and a keen desire to get runs on the board as quickly as possible.

If you are keen to join the ranks of those that are engaging rather than estranging Gen Y, the following three keys should help:

1. Put relationship before role

   Gen Y are a connected generation. Community, relationships and a sense of belonging are at the core of both their online and offline identities. They have typified the old phrase ‘I don’t care how much you know, till I know how much you care’. Managers that can build a strong relationship and genuine rapport with their Gen Y staff will find that this will indeed be the key to gaining commitment and loyalty from this group. They will not be loyal to companies or corporate mission statements, but they are loyal to people and relationships. A far cry from the power and control days of management, those in authority can no longer rely on creating a separation between themselves and those they lead. If you want to build rapport with Gen Y, two tips; be authentic, and be interested. They don’t want you to be like them, they want you to be you. Walk your talk, be transparent, have some fun at your own expense and Gen Y will love you for it.

2. Focus on outcomes not process

   If outcomes are all about why we do what we do, then perhaps process could best be described as how we do what we do. Of course, while both the why and the how are necessary for organisational performance, many organisations fall into the trap of focussing on process over outcomes. They become so obsessed with structure, lines of authority, rules, policies, benchmarks and KPIs, that they lose sight of the reason these processes were put there in the first place. Process itself is not the enemy, but process that seems disconnected to outcomes is. The biggest turn-offs at work for Gen Y are unnecessary structure, excessive bureaucracy and suffocating red tape.

3. Give regular positive feedback

   Recognition is that all powerful motivator. It’s the one thing that babies will cry for, grown men will die for… and Gen Y will work for. Positive reinforcement is the best and perhaps the only way to bring out the best in the people we lead. Look for and ‘catch’ employees doing the right thing and then reward it, rather than ‘catching’ people doing the wrong thing and then punishing it. This principle is certainly a key to engaging Gen Y.Use positive affirmation, recognition and encouragement with this younger generation and watch them thrive. Two quick tips when doing this; recognise them in person (don’t just send an email), and recognise them in public (they love to be singled out in front of their peers and colleagues).

Engaging Gen Y employees may seem like a lot of hard work. It will certainly require an investment of time and energy and a willingness to change and adapt. However, those managers that can embrace the challenges of working with this group will reap the benefits of a younger workforce that is energetic, switched on and hungry to get ahead.

Guest Author:
Michael McQueen is a leading authority and sought-after presenter on the topic of Understanding & Engaging Generation Y.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com/subscribe/

Tips For Successful Performance Reviews

The following 10 tips are designed to help you prepare for your next performance review process.

Most managers will tell you that they don’t look forward to the annual performance review season. It’s not hard to see why. Reviews are time consuming, they can often take hours to prepare for and many of us have had little or no formal training in facilitating a performance management process, let alone delivering sensitive feedback in a constructive manner or conflict resolution.

Relax. With a little bit of preparation and a positive attitude, you’re certain to learn a great deal about your team and more importantly yourself.

The golden rules

Before we look at the 10 tips below, there are a few golden rules of management that overlay the entire performance review process and in fact successful management techniques in general.

1. Remember that your employees are probably just as anxious about the review process as you are.
2. Like you, your team members have feelings and may from time to time show emotions at work.
3. Treat your employees with the same respect and courtesy that you would expect from your manager.

1. Establish the right mind-set – If I asked you to rate your level of satisfaction with your company’s annual performance review process, how would it fare? If you’re like most managers in most organisations, it probably doesn’t rate highly on the list of tasks outlined on your position description.For your performance reviews to be a success, it is imperative that you go into the process well prepared and with a positive frame of mind. To do this, you need to take a step back and see the process for what it really is; an opportunity for you to spend time with your team so that you can uncover ways to improve their performance and satisfaction. Why is this important? Well, if your team members are happy, they’re more likely to perform better and less likely to leave your organisation. With happy, committed and more productive staff, your life as a manager can only get easier.

   We know for a fact that an employee’s manager is the number one reason for employees seeking alternative employment. With this in mind, the performance review process is your opportunity to learn more about your team; specifically what motivates them, what new challenges they’re looking for and how your needs (i.e. a stable, productive team) and theirs (i.e. personal development and career path) can align. Happy team members really do stay!

2. Remember, reviews are a two way street – As mentioned earlier, managers have typically viewed employee performance reviews as an opportunity to point out all the things an employee’s “stuffed up” over the previous 12 months. Warning: If this is your approach, it’s a sure fire way of increasing staff turnover and damaging employee morale and trust.Savvy organisations have long been using the performance review process to find out how their managers and indeed the organisation can lift its game. By allowing the employee to have their say about where they feel the company or manager could improve, they are also more likely to accept comments about their own performance gaps and areas they need to develop over the next 6 to 12 months.

   A small caution for all managers when hearing feedback about your own performance: sit back and listen to the team members comments – take it all on board. Do not jump down their throat in your defence as this will defeat the purpose. Instead, try to ask probing questions, “can you give me an example of that so I can better understand?’ ‘How do you think I/we could handle that better in the future?”. Acknowledge their comments, “‘I appreciate your comments on that.’ ‘I’m sorry you feel that way.'”

3. Take time out to prepare – A large percentage of managers I speak with only spend 10 minutes on average preparing for an employee performance review. Often this is done 5 or 10 minutes before their next review meeting.If you’re looking to get maximum value out of your review process you need to make time to prepare. Block out at least 1 hour in your calendar for every team member and if possible leave the office to do it; you need time to think about each team member without the normal day to day interruptions. Talk with your manager if you don’t think your current workload or schedule will allow for that to happen and ask for assistance in covering for you during this time.
4. Talk with other people before the review to source other opinions – Performance reviews have traditionally been very insular. That is, they have been based on the opinions of two people – the manager and the employee. If you don’t already, try talking with some other people such as your fellow managers, the employee’s peers and even their subordinates. Try to do this at various stages throughout the year so it doesn’t look like a last minute effort.We know that when feedback is obtained from multiple sources:
   • Employees are more likely to accept the feedback as accurate
   • Managers feel more comfortable discussing the perceptions of ‘many’

   If obtaining the thoughts of other managers, subordinates and peers is a little difficult in your organisation, there are a number of online performance review tools that can facilitate the collection of information from multiple sources. This is often referred to as 360 degree or multi rater feedback.

5. Prepare an agenda and communicate this to employees in advance – It is vital that you have an agenda for the review meeting: a road map that includes the things you intend to cover off. Having an agenda will convey to your team that you are treating the performance review process seriously and that there will be some structure to the conversation. It is particularly useful to provide each employee with the agenda several days before their review and that you encourage your team to add agenda items that they’d like to discuss. Understanding what is on the mind of your employees before the review meeting will help you to be better prepared.  No surprises.
6. Stay on track – It is possible that the review meeting may get a little heated. Conversation may also head in a direction that takes you out of your comfort zone or is non work-related. The minute this happens, excuse yourself [interrupt] and reiterate that you only have an hour now so whilst this issue is of obvious importance, it might be best to get back to the agenda given there are other important issues to get through. If required, the point of contention can be addressed in another forum at a later point in time.To minimise the likelihood of this occurring, make sure you keep the conversation work-related at all times and don’t ever criticize or blame team members directly.

   If you can’t reach consensus on a particular issue, always go back to the agenda and move on. The agenda is your friend; you just need to remember to refer back to it when required.

7. Start and finish with positive feedback – They say that as a rule of thumb, you should give 5 pieces of positive feedback for every 1 piece of negative or constructive feedback. Whilst this may be a little difficult to do in some cases; what it does indicate is that the overall theme or flavour of your review needs to be positive.Always start off by thanking the team member for their contribution over the past 6 or 12 months. Regardless of what you’re about to say, you have to remember that they have turned up for work more often than not over the past 365 days and that they have probably spent more time sitting at their workstation than they have with their family. Scary but true.

   Ensure that you finish the meeting off on a positive note. The following point about action items will help you to do this.

8. Create a list of action items – One of the main complaints employees have of the performance review processes is that nothing ever seems to change after the review.  In fact you can hear these sentiments echoing around the corridors of almost every organisation in the land, “I just spent an hour and half talking about the same stuff I talked about last year and nothing ever changes”. It’s easy to see how employees can be skeptical of the performance review process.Managers have historically left the performance review process and immediately become ‘busy’ again with their own day to day tasks.

   Like any serious business meeting, it is important that you take notes during the meeting. At the end of the meeting, recap the content of the meeting back to the employee; ask them whether you’ve missed or misunderstood anything. Spend 5 or 10 minutes at the end of the performance review meeting to brainstorm the top 5 key action items that can form the basis for that employee’s development plan over the next 6 to 12 months.

   Make sure you spend 5 minutes to brainstorm the top 2 action items for you as their manager to walk away with. This will demonstrate to the employee that you’re also serious about continual improvement and making their life at work better.

9. Have the team member agree on the action items and next steps – So you’ve created a list of action items. The next step in the process is to get the employee to agree and more importantly commit to the action items; that is to treat them seriously. Before leaving the meeting, seek verbal confirmation that the employee understands what was discussed and that they are comfortable with the proposed action items.The final piece of information to convey to the employee in the performance review meeting should be to advise them that you will be typing up notes from the discussion and booking in three half hour ‘catch ups’ over the next 12 weeks to ensure momentum is maintained and the next steps are on track. This is best done in a more relaxed environment; say at a coffee shop over a drink, breakfast or even lunch. Don’t underestimate the power of taking your team out of the office for a meal or a drink.
10. View this as the start of the process not the end – Many managers walk away from the performance review meeting and leave the conversation back in the meeting room. This is only the start of a 12 month program designed to improve the performance and satisfaction of your team.When you walk out of the review, schedule in at least 3 catch up sessions over the next 12 weeks. Once you have completed all of your performance reviews, block some time out of your diary once again to finish off the performance review process. This will include typing up the notes from each review and reviewing each action item to ensure you know what is expected of you as manager. Type up your action items as well and if you’re brave enough (and you’re not breaking confidentiality or trust to do so) stick them up on the wall in your office so that you are looking at them every day.

    As a rule of thumb, you should allow at least 30 minutes per employee for the post performance wrap up.

Guest Author:

Founded in 1999, Onetest’s goal is to provide a more effective and economical way to recruit talented people for your business.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com/subscribe/