Archive for November, 2009

Tips and Tactics November 2009: Motivating Employees

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

There is nothing more challenging than motivating your employees.


I know. I know. The standard response to this is:
no one can motivate anyone unless they are self-motivated.


Well, I don’t buy it.

If you are waiting for your employees to wake up tomorrow morning, be at work an hour earlier than you are, work a 60 hour work week, be willing to put in their own money if receivables aren’t coming in fast enough — you’re dreaming.

It’s your job to create an environment where employees WANT to work hard.


However, having been in your shoes, I also know how hard it is to come up with programs that will provide some kind of incentive to help those employees become motivated.

I’m not talking about profit sharing or monthly, quarterly or annual bonus programs. These are definitely worthwhile. I’m talking about simple, easy-to-administer incentive ideas you can have fun with and still get your employees’ attention.

And I’m talking about programs that your employees get excited about because the act of offering these incentives show you care about your employees.

Anyway, read on. I’ve included some ideas for proven programs you can implement based on your stage of growth.

Yours in Growth,
Laurie Taylor

Managing by the Numbers ….

Guess what employees want from you –

Trust,
Compassion,
Stability,
Hope.

This is according to a recent Gallup Survey of 10,000 employees.

That’s a tall order. Anytime. It takes a long time to build Trust. Compassion requires a leader to be transparent. Stability isn’t a word used much today. And Hope requires a leader to believe it exists.

But there you have it. A REAL SURVEY of real employees telling us what they want from us as leaders.

Before you run screaming from the room or press the DELETE key, take a moment and explore some proven management ideas that have shown results.

Those results are all about engaging employees in the work of the business. These proven examples of how to motivate employees are at least worth thinking about.

Tip:
Start thinking about ideas you can implement in your company that send a strong message to your employees. That message is:

I appreciate what you do.

Tactic:
Get creative. Don’t think you have to spend a lot of money. Motivating your employees begins with just putting out the effort. Start small. But just start. Here are some ideas broken down by Stages of Growth.

Stage 1 — 1 – 10 employees
Stage 2 — 11 – 19 employees
Stage 3 — 20 – 34 employees
Stage 4 — 35 – 57 employees
Stage 5 — 58 – 95 employees
Stage 6 — 96 – 160 employees
Stage 7 —

161 – 500 employees

Align Your Team for 2010 Before You Align Your Goals

I’ve witnessed too many examples of great goals gone bad because the CEO didn’t have alignment within their team. If you are getting ready to begin your strategic planning for 2010, here are 5 steps a CEO can take to make sure a team is aligned BEFORE goals are set.

1) Make sure you, the CEO, are very clear on what you want for the company going forward. Your team will look to you for direction.

2) Be aware of CEO Disease — when people withhold information from leaders, especially negative information. Don’t let people off the hook too easily. You may have to ask the tough questions.

3) Hire an outside facilitator that can objectively help you and your team approach all issues, not just the ones that are easy to talk about.

4) Ask your management team (or key employees) to jot down their ideas and submit them to you at least a week before the planning session — this forces them to do their own thinking and lets you know in advance what their ideas are.

5) Take the planning group out to dinner the night before and let the socialization of the evening help people to laugh and enjoy each other in a relaxed setting.

Planning sessions are tough. They require a lot of focus and a willingness on the part of the players to be honest, forthright and objective. Your ability to maintain the traction to address the goals for 2010 will be dependent upon your team believing in the plan from the start.

For years, FlashPoint! has worked with CEOs through the Stages of Growth XRay, an alignment tool that allows the CEO and his/her management team to address issues based on past, current and future stages of growth challenges.

This process takes the guesswork out of planning by providing research-proven information critical for each stage of a company’s growth. And with the 5 stages of growth assessments that all partipants complete prior to the planning session, everyone’s top issues are uncovered.

You aren’t pulling ideas out of the air. These are real issues felt by each participant.

The final planning tool isn’t a ’sit on the shelf’ set of planning documents. It’s the company’s own visual Growth Map outlining the top 6 – 8 initiatives that align with the company’s current stage of growth. Issues that were relevant, clearly stated, with an agreement from the group on each priority.

To learn more about FlashPoint!’s Stages of Growth XRay, contact Laurie at laurie@igniteyourbiz.com.
Einstein

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. Albert Einstein


How about preventing some problems in 2010?


Whether you run a Stage 1 company with 1 – 10 employees or a much larger entity, Stage 7,  with up to 500 employees, you have specific challenges based on where you are in your stage of growth.

Challenges such as:

  1. Profits that are inadequate to grow your company,
  2. Difficulty forecasting problems before they surface,
  3. Staff buy-in challenges,
  4. Improving sales,
  5. Products not differentiated in the marketplace,
  6. Hiring quality staff,
  7. Core values unclear,
  8. Cash flow challenges,
  9. Culture resistant to change,
  10. Difficulty diagnosing the real problems,
  11. Too slow getting systems and procedures in place.


With my online programs, you pick your challenge and I provide you answers. Sign up based on your current stage of growth. Prior to the call, you have the opportunity to complete the 27 Challenges Exercise.

Select your TOP CHALLENGE and send it to me. During the online program, I’ll provide you ideas on how to address your top challenge!

Simple. Effective. Affordable.

You’ll walk away with specific actions to address specific growth challenges. You’ll also hear solutions to challenges that the other participants struggle with so you’ll walk away with ideas on how to deal with a variety of business challenges.

As a bonus, you’ll also learn why your leadership style impacts your ability to improve profitability. This is a little bit about you, the leader, and a little bit about your organization.

Want to know what your managers consider the company’s top challenges? Sign up your entire management team and start aligning your 2010 challenges right away!

Sign up for your stage of growth by clicking on the link below.

Stage 1:  1 – 10 employees
Stage 2:  11 – 19 employees
Stage 3:  20 – 34 employees
Stage 4:  35 – 57 employees
Stage 5:  58 – 95 employees
Stage 6:  96 – 160 employees
Stage 7:  161 – 500 employees

You pick the topic. I provide answers. Get ready to prevent problems in 2010!

Navigate Your Own Growth Curve

Einstein

If you are looking for a leadership strategies that give you a roadmap to success, you’ll find it in James Fischer’s book, “Navigating the Growth Curve: 9 Fundamentals that Build a Profit-Driven, People-Centered, Growth-Smart Company“.
It’s a mystery novel and a business book all in one.
Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and CEO of BNI highly recommends this book and says:
“Navigating the Growth Curve is a tremendous read. It has fresh ideas and practical solutions that any business leader could use in growing their company. I highly recommend this book.”
Fresh ideas and pratical solutions — what business owner would turn that down?

This makes a GREAT Christmas present for clients, employees, and business friends!

You can order the book on FlashPoint!’s website or contact me directly for quantity discounts.
Quantity discounts send an email to Laurie@igniteyourbiz.com
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