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Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’

How To Motivate Employees To Do The Right Thing

September 6th, 2011

Maria Helm

As a follow-up to my previous post “How to Motivate Clients To Do The Right Thing,” I thought that it will be beneficial for small business owners to motivate their employees to do the same. After all, employees are considered your business’ most valuable asset, right? You want your employees to put in a good day’s work, stick around and help build your business Even better, you want them to want to. So, here’s the carrot approach to consider.

Recognition. Although a raise is always nice, you may be surprised to hear that a little recognition and TLC will go a long way. People don’t always know what the carrot it. A lot of companies think they have to give more money. The real carrot is often announcing at a meeting that this employee has done something special, or a handwritten note from the CEO or owner will do the magic.

Food, glorious food. Food and drink go a long way toward making people feel taken care of. Stock up on snacks like microwave popcorn, chocolate, and flavored water.

Time will get them on your side. A lot of businesses close between Christmas and New Year’s. That works out to three to five bonus days a year. It’s usually a dead time for most businesses anyway, so consider giving your employees a chance to recharge their batteries at the end of the year.

Fit the perk to the workplace. Obviously a policy that works great in one workplace can be a disaster in another. For example if your company is a children clothing manufacturer consider allowing new parents to come to work with their babies; you may find that this practice actually increases productivity of your staff.

And the stick? if an employee is dishonest or consistently deliver poor performance and you think that you’ve given the proper training/coaching, then it’s time to to let the employee go. Before the ultimate decision to terminate is made, company management should spend a few minutes discussing the proposed termination with the company’s general counsel, outside labor counsel or the company’s human resources department. These professionals will see potential pitfalls that the management team may have missed and they can provide a reality check on the reason for termination.

Photo Credit: Bruce Thomson

Posted in Communication

Tags: Attitude, Leadership, productivity, Small Business, Stay motivated, Values

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Plan for Pleasure As Well As Pain

April 15th, 2011

Maria Helm

Listen, working for a living is always going to be a mixed bag. The higher up you go the more true this is. As a lowly file clerk, way back when, I got used to being bored, ticked off, frustrated, idle, and quite frankly, sick of the job. By the time I had risen to be an HR division manager, I was strangely surprised to find myself also bored, ticked off, frustrated, idle and sick of the job. But whereas when I was starting out I didn’t expect any different, by the time I had risen to the heights I was totally unprepared for the same feelings. I guess I expected every day to be exciting, utterly challenging, demanding, dramatic (well, I admit – I had experienced many days of drama, being in HR), cutting-edge stuff. And when it wasn’t, I was – I suppose – disappointed.

Later, of course, I realized that not every day can be fantastic. Some days will be blah. Some days will be adrenaline-filled and exciting – but not as many will be boring. You have to be prepared for the pain and the pleasure. You have to adjust your expectation so that you don’t get ticked off when it is boring, and don’t explode with pleasure when it is too exciting for words.

Trouble is, if it is boring, you might be tempted, as indeed I have been many times, to liven it up a bit by being disruptive. It’s best to sit on your hands and let the feeling pass. As a manager or a business owner, you aren’t allowed to be disruptive – except in an innovative way of course.

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” Tony Robbins

Photo Credit: Pseudo-Melancholy

Posted in Motivation

Tags: Attitude, Leadership, managing health, Pain, Pleasure, Self-help

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Make Honesty Your Best Policy

January 28th, 2011

Maria Helm

Thought I’d share with you a valuable lesson learned from a previous job I had many years ago. Here it goes . . .

Immediately upon showing up for work as a mid-level marketing manager at a new company, I was told that everyone in the company flew coach on domestic flights unless the only seats available were in first class. I understood the rationale behind such a policy and had no problem conforming to the rule. One of my fellow department managers, however, wasn’t so accepting.

After we became better acquainted, he confided over a post-dinner libation that he flew first class on most longer flights and just put on his expense report that the coach section was full so he was “forced” to upgrade his flight status to first class. “No one ever checks,” he boasted. Being relatively new to the company, as well as being relatively honest, I told him I didn’t think his company air travel modus operandi was particularly admirable and that I’d continue to travel in the “cheap” seats. He just scoffed and accused me of being a “real sucker.”

Posted in Motivation

Tags: Attitude, Honesty, Leadership, Self-help, Values

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Ways To Hone Your Communications Skills

October 21st, 2009

Maria Helm

Image: Communication by DailyPic

Communication is the way by which we exchange ideas, learn from each other, and perhaps most importantly, connect to each other. The success of our personal and business relationships depends greatly on our ability to communicate.

So why do we ignore the relevance of communication until it becomes an issue? One reason may be because we don’t take the time to understand its true meaning and how we hone such an important skill.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far. You can be a more effective communicator if you follow 5 basic truths.

Posted in Communication

Tags: Communication, Leadership

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How to Lead for Exceptional Customer Service

August 20th, 2009

Maria Helm

Ever stop to really ponder about what business you’re in? Ask around, and you’ll probably hear things like: retail, food service, manufacturing, etc. If those are the kind of answers you or your employees would give, then you’d be only half right!

One question for you: If all your customers went away for good, would you still have a business? Would your employees still have jobs? Nope, of course not! The more important half of what you and your employees do is CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Everyone in your organization needs to know excellent Customer Service, more importantly need to practice it. And the leadership you provide plays a huge role in making that happen.

Here are some Customer Service Leadership tips:

Start with hiring the right people. Your selection process must be a part of your overall customer service strategy. During interviews, probe the candidate’s passion for providing superior service. Pose hypothetical situations and ask the candidate to describe how s/he would handle them.

State it in Job Descriptions. Make “Customer Service” a part of all job descriptions, no matter the level of function. Make sure that that each employee understands how he or she directly or indirectly “touches” the customer.

Expect it and Inspect it. Clarify your expectations and communicate them to everyone. Have follow-up meetings to make sure that they are clear on what is expected of them. Include “customer service” feedback in all performance evaluations.

Make your Employees Customer Service Experts. Help your employees become experts on the products and services you offer. Provide them with product manuals, sales tools, and appropriate training. The more they know, the better their service will be.

Celebrate Successes. Recognize employees who provide exceptional customer services. Share their stories internally and with your customers.

By applying these ideas and by focusing on the people who focus on the customers, you can help ensure that you don’t end up as one of the losers. You owe it to your customers, you owe it to your organization and you owe it to yourself.

“Motivate them, train them, care about them, and make winners out of them . . . we know that if we treat our employees correctly, they’ll treat the customers right. And if customers are treated right, they’ll come back.” – J. Marriott, Jr.

Posted in Customer Service

Tags: Business, Customer Service, Employees, Hiring, Leadership, Tips

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