Seven Suggestions For Sensational Staff

Posted on April 2, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

Apply these seven simple suggestions to nurture your team and you’ll end up with the best team in town!

Quite often when I’m out stumping the speaking circuit a boss with a problem corners me. The problem – “How can I keep my good staff?” and they want an instant solution.

The story is always much the same. They have a terrific team, but they keep losing team members.

In working with teams from many types of businesses, I’ve found that if there are some common elements in place it makes it much easier to retain top performing people. They are:

Communication
High on the list of complaints of team members in virtually every company I’ve worked with has always been “lack of communication”. Most bosses think they communicate well with their staff but that’s not the way the team sees it. Sometimes the only information they get is what they find out on the notorious “grapevine”. Sit down with them on a regular basis and ensure that they know what you know and that they have the opportunity to get answers to their questions.
Training
A perennial complaint is that there’s no point in training people and losing them. Sure, but there’s one thing worse…not training people and keeping them! Frankly, I’m amazed at how few bosses ensure their people are provided with the skills training that they need to perform their job better. This is especially true in areas where team members have acquired their skills “on-the-job” by watching what other team members do. When they get to the level of proficiency of their colleagues, they see the only course open to them that will change their results is to change their employer. It is far better for you to skills train existing staff. By training them you will retain staff.
Team meetings
Great team meetings are one of the most important contributors to a stable, contented and productive team. They need be of no more than one hour’s duration and should always start on time. The objective is to motivate, educate, inform and recognise and to do it in such a way that team members want to be there.
Recognition
A good team leader will look for opportunities to acknowledge the achievements of all performers publicly amongst their peers. The team meeting affords a great opportunity to do this. Private recognition is also very powerful! This can be as simple as sending a personal letter home to a team member just to let them know that they’ve done a great job.
Authority and responsibility
One of the gripes I constantly hear from bosses is that their team members left to take a job with higher responsibility but “if they’d only just waited they would have had the same opportunity here.” Don’t make your team members leave to get authority and responsibility: give it to them soon rather than later.
Reward
Your team members want to feel that their efforts are valued and that they are earning rewards in line with the market. If you’re going to have your team perform, pay them the income they reckon they’re worth and then manage them so they earn it. Over pay your people and establish an environment in which they can over perform.
Interesting job
In the poll of what people look for in their work this was their most important demand. People want a job that has variety and interest. Maybe they see that they are just doing the same old thing day after day with no relief from the relentless grind. Give them an occasional challenge, a nutty problem or an interesting project to get their teeth into that will add variety, flavor and spice to their routine activities. A little bit of curry in a bland diet works miracles.

Guest Author:

Winston Marsh. Ideas are just one of the weapons in Winston Marsh’s incredible business building holsters. You can harness the power of his fantastic ideas at your next conference to fire up your business, people and your profits.

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 every week. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com.au/subscribe/

Paying Incentives – Do You Need To?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

If an incentive plan is designed correctly and implemented properly it can reinforce the key objectives of the business, support the culture you want and have a significant affect on the performance and profitability.

Let’s start off with some definitions.

Firstly, any base salary review should have a significant focus on performance. If this is done properly the need for further incentives or “performance pay” is often removed.
Secondly, part of the definition of bonus in the English Oxford Dictionary is “over and above that which is normally expected”. We see this as a discretionary payment which a business may give to employees. There is no real contractual obligation to do this. Employees may see this as “cream on the top”, but often are not sure what to do to make sure they get it again.

We see incentives differently. This is a payment that will be made if certain actions are taken or targets achieved. It is a contractual obligation.

While bonuses in some businesses, usually small, private companies, can work, there are some downsides. They are usually provided without clear targets being set and they often lead to expectations that they will continue regardless of performance. Sometimes they can make the “giver” feel good but have little impact on employee performance.

On the other hand, they can build a strong culture within a business when the boss is seen to share some of the gains without any prior agreement to do so. Incentives are far more focused and for this article we will discuss a few guidelines to assist in implementing a plan that works.

The first step is to decide what you are trying to achieve. If it is something employees aren’t doing, but should be, will a financial incentive change their behaviour? Is there some other reason why they are not doing what they should be? If you are clear on what you want them to do and think an incentive will help, try asking employees what they think about the idea.
If you have decided that an incentive is the way forward – to either maintain good staff performance or encourage even further effort – then you need to make sure the measures you have in place align with your business objectives. Don’t set targets based on volume if your focus is on quality.
Participants in an incentive program should have some control over what is being measured. It is not much good providing an incentive for sales if someone has no influence on sales at all. The targets must be challenging, otherwise there is not much point in having a plan, but achievable. Where the targets are never achieved people will lose interest. Where they happen too easily it will be expected each time without any extra effort being expended.
The amount paid must be meaningful – too little won’t make the difference you want. A percentage of salary is usually best to have a similar affect on each participant. Non-financial incentives such as trips may have a different appeal for individual employees.
It should encourage high performers to stay with the company. It should be rewarding, with the chance of it being even more rewarding in the future. Long-term incentive plans can be designed to achieve this more easily than short-term plans. Often a combination of these plans can achieve the desired result, as just a focus on short term profit can deter investment in longer term plans that will bring future benefits.
Participants must be able to understand the measures and what they have to do to earn an incentive. It is no good having a complicated formula that no one understands. It should be clearly communicated in writing so there are no disagreements as to when it will be paid, how much and under what circumstances.

There should be a review process at regular intervals to determine if the plan is delivering the results you need.

If these guidelines are followed you stand a greater chance of success than if you approach setting targets and offering incentives in an ad-hoc way. You will also be able to avoid much of the friction that badly planned programs often cause.

Guest Author:

Paul Phillips, Horizon Management Group.

How To Engage Disengaged Employees

Posted on January 9, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

The more employee engagement in your people, the better your workplace. And the better your workplace, the better your business. So go out there and “engage” everyone you can.

You work hard. You care about your company, your products, and services. You care about your coworkers and your customers. And you’re constantly trying to do your very best. But you wonder why everybody else in your organisation doesn’t feel the same way?

The reason is simple. They’ve lost their PASSION. They’re no longer excited about their careers and their jobs … if indeed, they ever were. And without that passion, those coworkers will never give you and your customers the results you’d like to see. You’ll get sporadic, mediocre performance instead of consistent, soaring excellence.

Of course, in today’s world, the word “passion” might sound a bit soft or outdated. But it’s not. It’s simply another way of saying that too many workers are “disengaged”. As author Terri Kabachnick says in her book, “I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You”, disengagement is a common, fast-spreading, and dangerous disease that must be dealt with. I couldn’t agree more.

The cost of disengagement
If you’re a business owner, leader, or manager, disengagement may be killing your business. A recent Gallup poll said disengagement costs businesses more than $250 billion a year! And in many cases, that $250 billion loss is the difference between your profitability and your bankruptcy.Plainly put, you cannot afford to keep a disengaged workforce or even a disengaged employee on the payroll.

The human costs of disengagement may be even greater than the financial costs. After all, if your staff are just putting in their time, waiting for the day to end, and getting little or no satisfaction out of their job, their whole life is going to suffer. Their outlook on life will begin to sour; self-esteem will go down the tubes; health will be challenged, and relationships will suffer. No one can feel good about themselves when they do just enough to get by, and no one likes to work or live with someone who is a slacker.

That being the case, you need to know how to spot the lack of employee engagement in those around you.
The look of disengagementWhen you’re disengaged, you stop caring about what you do. You stop caring about your work, your job, your team, your boss, and your customers. You do what you know you have to do, but you’ve lost the love of doing it. You’ve lost heart. It’s what I call “Stage One” of the disengagement disease. It’s a somewhat passive stage.
Stage 2 of the disengagement disease is more active and possibly more dangerous. You become negative and discontent, and you don’t mind letting other people know about it. If the disease is not stopped and cured at this stage, the negativity begins to spread like a virus throughout the workplace, even infecting some of the good, engaged employees.

Obviously, you can’t allow that to happen. More importantly, you’ve got to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Spend more time “engaging” your people in conversationDon’t fool yourself into thinking you’re too busy for this. As author Michael Kardo says, “There is nothing small about small talk”. When you carry on an interesting and meaningful discussion with someone, you’re validating that person. And there isn’t a person in the world that doesn’t want more validation.
Unfortunately, some of the most disengaged departments are led by some of the most disengaged leaders. They’re unskilled or unwilling to engage in non work-related discussions. No problem. You can learn the art of “engaging” conversation.

Follow communication expert Marjorie Brody’s advice. Stay informed about current events and professional happenings. Read newspapers and magazines. Learn about the person with whom you plan to speak, especially those things you may have in common.

Learn what topics are safe and what topics to avoid. For example, the weather and the traffic are tried and true topics for starting conversations. Whether you’ve known someone for two minutes or 20 years, chances are one of the first things you’ll talk about is the weather or traffic. They may not be creative topics, but they break the ice and usually lead to more interesting discussions.

Generally speaking, you can then move on to other “safe” topics, such as current events, travel, hobbies, sports, cultural events, movies, children, food, restaurants, and possibly work. Avoid such topics as politics, religion, gossip, off-color jokes, your health, your personal misfortunes, and bad mouthing the competition or anyone else.

To make your conversation even more engaging, use Brody’s 3-part communication system: observe, reveal, and question. With the “observe” method, you can make a positive comment about an event the two of you are attending, the venue, the cause, the food, or the view. For example, “This is a wonderful event. It looks like everyone is having a good time”. You can “reveal” a positive opinion you might have, such as, “That’s a unique tie. I really like it”. And you can get the other person involved with a “question,” such as “What brought you to this meeting?”.

They’re simple techniques, but they work. They start to engage other people.
Keep on teaching your peopleIt will make them feel better about themselves, and it will make them more valuable to your organisation. According to the research, almost everyone craves some reward and recognition. And one of the best, most desired reward, is EXCELLENT training that not only educates but motivates the attendees.
You see, if you invest in HIGH QUALITY training, you’re telling your people they’re worth the investment you are making. You are affirming their worth. And that always increases their engagement at work.

Of course, I know there are some skeptics out there who will ask me, “What if I invest all this money in training my people and they leave?”. I answer them by asking, “What if you don’t train your people and they stay?”.

And then, with their newly gained information and skills, if you want to elicit even more engagement…
Give them a chance to make a differenceYou simply cannot have an engaged workforce or an engaged employee if they don’t think their work makes any difference. Indeed, if that’s what they think, you’ll soon notice that they do just enough work to get by.
You’ve got to give them a chance to make a difference somehow, somewhere. It’s one of the basic laws of motivation.

When you give people a chance to make a difference they keep on giving their best. So ask yourself, “What are you doing today that helps other people make a meaningful and noticeable difference?”.

Guest Author:

Dr. Alan Zimmerman As a best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr. Zimmerman has worked with more than a million people, helping them become more effective communicators on and off the job.

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

Five Factors That Disconnect Your Team

Posted on December 13, 2011 by CEO Leadership Skills

Dealing with these will improve synergy and stability within your company, freeing up your staff’s energy to move the business ahead.

“What’s wrong with my team? Why don’t they co-operate more? Where’s their team spirit? Why do they seem surly so much of the time? Why don’t they speak up at staff meetings? Why do we have such a high turnover of staff? Why do people seem to operate in their own little world and not care about the ‘Big Picture’?”

Often we fail to get the best from our staff simply because we haven’t yet made ways for each member of the team to actually live in a healthy relational connection with the rest of the team. In fact the word team is a misnomer for many workplaces which are staffing a bunch of individuals doing their own thing in ways that merely keep them employed.

Is your workplace a place where people compete for resources rather than collaborating toward outcomes? Where self-protective behaviour prevents innovation and synergy?

While your staff can quote the mission statement, do their daily activities actually seem to work against it?

If you’ve answered YES to any of these questions, perhaps some of the following disconnecting factors are affecting your team.

Napoleonic wars
There are some individuals who – while occupying “small” positions in context with the wider organisation – pursue their own grandiose dreams with a super-sized passion. Effectively they wage a war of attrition on your resources, your time, the morale of the team, even your relationship with your customers. At the very least, they annoy and distract some of your most talented and loyal people.At the same time, there is an upside to this Napoleonic lust for conquest and expansion. You may have in your midst some true mover and shakers, pioneering go-getters. If treated correctly, these people can be an asset rather than a pain in the assets – a force for the up-turn rather than the stagnation of your business.Rather than blocking and crushing them, negotiate with them to find the way in which their “vision” can serve your vision. Debrief and rebrief them regularly. Make them go through management to access resources so that they don’t play people off against each other. Keep them on a tight (not necessarily short) leash through clear direction and consistent accountability. Empower them fully to the limit that you set. Remind them constantly of their place in the team.
No relational space

When there are no rhythms that place us across the lunch-table or pool-table from each other, then misunderstandings and offences can take root and fester far more easily. When there are no shared spaces where team-mates can laugh, debate and commiserate, workplace relations can be colourless and superficial. You don’t need to program relationships; it’s our default setting. We just need the opportunity.Make a physical space which invites your team to chat, to spend time together without a productivity-focus. Create traditions where your team can “break bread”. Give your staff the chance to do life together, to ask “What’s up?” or “Have I done something to offend you?”, to dig through their differences and find common ground.
Faddish cycles of change

Personality profiling tells us that up to 70% of the general population actually dislike and resist change. If that’s true, then when you are initiating change in the workplace, you better make sure it’s worth the hard work of helping these people adopt it.If your workplace has a proven track-record of adopting the latest business or marketing idea, it’s possible it also has a track-record of alienating over half its staffers in the process. While this might contribute to those staffers banding together to form passive-aggressive resistance movements, I think you’d agree that’s not the kind of teamworkyou’re looking for. You now have a disconnect between management and staff.Long-term team-members watch the fashionable initiatives come and go, slowly losing their passion and commitment, finding their own ruts to stay in, regardless of what the latest memo says. Change for change’s sake can be easily justified with flashy charts and jingoistic phrases, but its nature is unhealthy and unhelpful.When considering any major change to the organisation’s environment, methodology or other systems, think long and hard about old adages like “If it ain’t broke…” and “reinventing the wheel”!
Fear

Nothing causes people to hunker down and keep to themselves like this “f”-word!Where staffers seem reticent to share their thoughts, where they avoid contact with management, where they lash out in completely irrational ways – these may be indications that these people are scared.Spend some time discerning what could be causing the fear. Is there an air of uncertainty in the air? Are disciplinary issues dealt with harshly?I love the story I heard about an Australian CEO and one of his new admin staff. When it turned out the young lady had made an enormous error in regards to printing promotional material – an error which would cost the organisation over $16000 – she reported it to the senior manager.

She ended her confession with: “I suppose that’s the end for me?” The CEO replied “Why would I sack you? I’ve just spent $16000 training you.” While she was left in no doubt as to the seriousness of her mistake, the grace that was shown this young woman resulted in her fast-paced professional development and deep loyalty toward her employer.

It also worked wonders for the morale of other team members.

What can you do about anxiety and uncertainty in your company?
The Talk Monopoly

Who holds the floor in the staff meeting? Can you pick the small group of individuals who do most of the talking, who freeze out others’ contributions opinions and ideas?Try finding ways to acknowledge the monopolisers while giving other team members equal time. (“Ralph, thanks for that perspective. I’m really interested in what Betty sees as the issue here.”)Remember that some people won’t speak without being asked, yet they could hold the very idea your group needs. Others need help focussing their thoughts so you will have to ask them a specific question to elicit a response (“Graham, what would you do in my position?” rather than “Graham, what do you think?”).

Guest Author:

Peter Aldin is founder of Great Circle Life Coaching. In a complex world, instinct and habit often drive us off course rather than steering us toward success and satisfaction. Great Circle is about re-learning and re-thinking our approach to family and business dynamics and relationships.

6 Steps To Effective Incentive Compensation

Posted on November 28, 2011 by CEO Leadership Skills

The elements of a successful incentive plan – whether for a manufacturer, a credit union, a general contractor, or a restaurant franchise – are all the same. Here are 6 steps to making your incentive compensation a success and motivating employees to better performance.

Determine what the plan intends to accomplish
Identify, in detail, the improvable conditions desired, and the likely, attainable behaviours necessary to achieve them. Analyse for appropriateness in your environment.And really determine what you want when motivating employees. Be specific, because in compensation, it’s not what you wish for, hope for, or even plan for … it’s what you pay for that you get.For example: A client wanted to reduce worker’s compensation claims and their subsequent costs in two of their facilities. They simply created a “safety bonus” of 10% of the manager’s pay, reduced by 3% for the first accident, and 7% for the second.So what happened? You guessed it: fewer reported accidents, though they put no other safe-work or prevention efforts in place. Needless to say, this one got ugly before better, to be sure.
Determine participants
Realise that missing a key employee or position can put a wrench in the viability and success of the entire plan. Consider more inclusion than exclusion.The key to success in incentives – the basis of which behaviour is changed – is that the right people must be motivated to do the right things. If you exclude a group of people, specifically, from an applicable incentive, don’t be shocked when they don’t put that particular goal achievement at the very top of their daily “must-do” list.Human nature kicks in here, and employees will, first and foremost, do the things that most benefit their self-interest. This doesn’t mean they’re mercenaries, it simply means they’re human.
Develop clear performance goals
These should be simple, supported by historic, valid information, and clearly quantifiable. Think 2-3 total goals – the fewer the better. If you exceed 4 or 5, you’ve gone too far, and are trying to do too much with the plan. Model the potential payouts to ensure affordability.Be realistic. Be prepared to pay for incremental improvement, not just home runs. I was working with a metal smelter once; we were implementing a gain-sharing plan whereby line employees would share in all financial improvements from a predetermined threshold. Where we argued, of course, was where to initially put that threshold. I wanted it at or near the three-year historical performance levels; the client wanted it several percentage points below that. Bad juju. Employees can sniff out one-sided deals.
Determine logistics This includes dates of incentive consideration, payout dates, what is and isn’t considered, plan revision procedures, termination payouts, and effective dates of the plan.All plans should have a starting date and ending date.Two reasons: you’re giving yourself an automatic review cycle, and it lessens the likelihood that the incentive plan will morph into an entitlement with participants. We want incentives to always remain something extra, don’t we? Don’t even get me started on how many incentive plans I’ve encountered that evolved into a bonafide employee entitlement.
COMMUNICATE
Effective and thorough communications cannot be over-emphasised. Participants must realise the attention given to the incentive plan, clearly understand its parameters and intent, and have ample knowledge to successfully achieve those behaviours necessary to reach various incentive levels.Tell participants, in plain, easy-to-understand English, what the plan is designed to do, and what your expectations are for their performance within the plan. Sort of like the “whereas” parts of the recitals at the beginning of a contract. Further, the communication should be brief, and again, easy to understand.If you need four pages for an incentive plan, I’ll tell you what you have: One page, maybe a page and a half, for the actual “who does what, and who gets paid” part; the rest to tell participants how they can lose out under myriad conditions. Don’t do it. Be direct, and realise there will be judgement calls along the way.
Rinse and repeat
Evaluate the success and/or failures of the plan. Determine what worked, what didn’t, and what can easily be modified or improved for better results. Check payouts against modeling done earlier for accuracy and variations. Don’t rely solely on a consultant’s expertise. Make sure it passes your own sniff test, and that real dollars are appropriately in play, on both the incentive target side, and the payout side.Reward levels are determined by the triangulation of desired results, employee efforts, and financial impact (savings versus costs).

Dig deeper than most, and look to share something closer to 30-40% of savings/additional revenue; if employees believe you are simply enjoying a windfall for their efforts, while providing them just a few extra peanuts in their box, they’ll eventually rebel, and employee motivation will reverse. After all, if incentives are accurately implemented, you’re paying them from money you wouldn’t have had anyway… Think about that.

Guest Author:

Kevin Berchelmann, Triangle Performance. Described as a Human Capital Expert by The Harvard Business Press, Kevin Berchelmann helps new managers at private equity, Fortune 500 and small to medium sized businesses become top leaders that deliver results.

Managing Remote Employees

Posted on November 13, 2011 by CEO Leadership Skills

Remote working is undoubtedly the way of the future. But just because they’re out of sight doesn’t mean they should be out of mind. Don’t leave them stranded.

Remote employees are those who work from home, or on a different floor, a different site, or even from a car.

Managing employees who work remotely is just like having them stranded on a desert island. Instead of being separated from civilisation, they’re separated from head office. So what people do to survive on a desert island are the same things remote employees need to perform and be engaged.

Review resources
Top of the list for desert islanders is to take stock of what they’ve got, such as radios and maps. Resources are top of the list for your remote employees, too. Make sure they’ve got easy access to manuals, stationery, and people.
Start a fire
Desert islanders use fire to cook food and stay warm. The equivalent of fire for remote employees is technology. Having fast and reliable computer systems, email servers, and phone services are paramount for remote working to be successful.
Build shelter
Desert islanders need to build a safe place to sleep. Your remote employees need a similar safe place to work. Make sure that their workspaces are ergonomic, conducive to high productivity, and have safety protocols in place.
Find food and water
A primary goal for a desert islander is to find food and water – the basic necessities for survival. The basic necessity for remote employees is feedback. Hold coaching sessions which focus on results. You’re not there to monitor how and when they work, so your expectations need to be explicit, objective, and clearly understood.
Make contact
People stranded on a desert island use mirrors, radios, and flares to desperately make contact with rescuers. Communication really needs to be ramped up when you’ve got remote employees. Make the most of tools like the telephone, instant online messaging, and video conferencing to stay in touch.
Become acquainted
Eventually if no help arrives, desert islanders need to become friends with their fellow animals – as must your remote employees with their peers. Hold frequent team meetings, maximise interaction between your remote employees and their colleagues, and encourage them to visit the office occasionally. Nothing beats face-to-face.

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. For more information and free e-books, visit http://www.jamesadonis.com, phone +61 2 9331 2465, or email james@jamesadonis.com.

10 Ways To Make Your Employees More Productive

Posted on November 4, 2011 by CEO Leadership Skills

It’s a simple equation. Improving staff productivity is likely to boost the profitability of your business. So, what straight-forward steps can you take to get more out of your people?

Improve the workplace A cleaner, more orderly or spacious work environment is likely to boost employee morale and increase their motivation. Ask yourself whether it’s time to redecorate – maybe it’s time to move to new premises altogether. Always maintain best-practice health and safety standards, too. This will help to limit the likelihood of staff absence because of sickness or injury.
Keep the workplace organised This will help you to maximise workflow efficiency by removing the likelihood of employees wasting time by not being able to find things they need when they need them.
Consider training Assess the skills of your staff and consider whether sending employees on training or development courses could enable them to do their job better.
Assess absence and punctuality If you suspect some of your employees are taking time off without genuine reason or if their timekeeping is poor, then putting effective policies in place can remedy the situation. These can include such things as return-to-work interviews for all absent employees – however short the absence.
Don’t let employees work long hours habitually It can lead to a decline in the quality of their work. Moreover, if a staff member becomes overly tired or stressed too often, their productivity can fall, while they could feel the need to look for employment elsewhere. Good management includes knowing when to tell an employee to take a break or go home.
Encourage teamwork Employees are usually more productive when they work as a team. Teams can also share skills and increase their problem-solving capacity through collaboration.
Incentivise staff Rewards can be financial or non-financial. They should be tailored to both the employee’s personal needs and your business goals. You might offer family-friendly benefits (such as child care vouchers or flexi-time) or pay a bonus when employees perform well.
Encourage openness By creating such a work culture, you can get to learn about areas within the business you can improve. Moreover, employees whose opinions are listened to are likely to feel valued, which can increase their motivation.
Give your staff clear and achievable goals

If everyone knows what you expect of them, then your employees have targets to aim at. Such goals should always encourage employees to push themselves, to learn new skills and gain added experience.
Provide adequate resources Make sure your employees have got the things they need to get the job done on time and to the necessary standard.