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At the end of the year, it’s common to work on employee evaluations. Which can be a real downer for everyone involved.
If you think about it, they’re not really doing much about what can be affected: the future. So we’re doing it to justify how we have to make management decisions about pay, promotions, job roles and such.
The employee doesn’t get much value out of the whole experience, to be honest.
Read the rest of this entry »I was talking with someone today who doesn’t have more money they can give employees – they’re stretched financially. So the question becomes: How can we motivate our employees?
This is a very common trap that people fall into. But if you think about it, you know that money isn’t everything. It’s part of a complex mix of factors which can be different for each individual.
But before we get to that, it’s critical to first answer: Does each employee feel that they’re being paid a fair living wage? For many (most?) hourly workers, the answer can be no. In which case, getting to fair compensation must be your first priority. Without that, you’ll be battling employee turnover until your business ultimately fails.
So now let’s get to those who ARE being paid decently. What motivates them?
Read the rest of this entry »Last week I talked a bit about the sprint to the finish line, or other periods of gathering together to do the good hard work.
After that hard work, there should be time to celebrate what we’ve been through. Depending on the difficulty of the experience, we should take time to express gratitude and appreciation.
As a leader, this is one of your primary roles. People look to you as the heart of the organization.
Read the rest of this entry »When we’re faced with a huge challenge, it’s time for everyone to get busy and help out. We know we have hard work to do, but doing it together makes things go easier.
There’s a very special energy in aligning as a group!
And it works best when everybody jumps in, from the boss to the bottle washer. It’s a very democratic endeavor that way.
Read the rest of this entry »Most businesses are quite complicated. With customers, employees, partners, regulations, financials, industry dynamics … it’s a whole lot to wrap your mind around.
Don’t get me wrong — that’s all necessary.
The problem is that your team can get lost in all that detail. The larger the organization, the smaller each person’s contribution feels. So motivation slowly ebbs and nobody even notices.
Read the rest of this entry »Today I’m speaking from my heart to your heart. Because we’re all more focused and productive when we bring our heart into our work.
But we struggle to describe how that works. We tend to more strongly relate to the logical, unemotional part of business: income, job tasks, and so on. And that’s fine, but terribly incomplete.
The part which draws you in, and keeps you engaged, is mostly emotional.
Read the rest of this entry »This has been a heady time for Small Fish. And I appreciate the honor, really.
But if the major incentive to recognize people is merely to make them feel good, there’s not going to be much lasting impact. We’ve seen that with round-robin “employee of the month” programs where folks get a reward for … something?
We need to have recognition that’s more focused than that.
Read the rest of this entry »All organizations have goals, no matter what the size. Sometimes they’re clear, sometimes not.
But when the organization gets large, the employees rarely find the goals to be motivating. Instead, they often revert to the lowest common denominator: What do I have to do to keep my job?
This drives leaders nuts.
I started out my career as a software engineer. Software doesn’t tend to be quite as elegant as other forms of machinery, but I totally get the concept that things are beautiful when they run efficiently and reliably.
That’s why I’ve found it amusing that my emphasis has shifted almost entirely to the “people side” of business. People are messy, unpredictably, and endlessly challenging.
I guess it’s because I’m a problem-solver at heart, and people offer an infinite array of problems to work on. Yet, we envision our businesses as that “well-oiled machine,” running like a top.
Read the rest of this entry »Almost 4 million workers in the US quit their jobs in April 2021. That’s just stunning.
And, as we know, it’s a mixture of many job openings, people changing their career paths, and dissatisfaction with current situations. Workers are really rethinking their options right now.
As an employer, I assume that you’d like to keep your best people around. But there’s a problem:
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The Values-Based Business 