REPOST: How To Keep Your Employees Motivated: 6 Tips For Creating Happier Employees

Having loyal and committed staff members can be a challenge to employers. It is important to keep in mind what works, and what doesn’t to motivated them to do their best. Fortunately, this article shares that employees can be motivated by many things other than money.

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This week’s post is especially intended for entrepreneurs, small business owners and managers. Every business owner and manager knows that motivated employees are more productive and also, they do more quality work. Therefore, you need to keep your employees motivated and make them feel excited to come to work every day.

There are many ways to keep your employees happy and motivated without raising their pay. Below you can find some of them:

• Create a Pleasant Work Environment: Make sure the office looks nice cosmetically. Having plants around the office will increase positive feelings as well as help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, noise level and humidity. Also, neutral tones and earth tones are the best for an office because these colors are calming and warm. In addition, a softer light is much better than fluorescent lighting.

• Recognize the Achievements of Your Employees: When your employees accomplish their goals or achieve something, take the time to appreciate them. Write an email or a personal thank you note for their accomplishments and you can even give them a small gift like a gift card or tickets to a sports game. If a team achieves something, you can reward them with a nice lunch.

• Coach Your Employees: Feedback is great for motivating your employees. Nobody likes to be micro-managed. Instead they prefer someone who will motivate them and lead them towards a goal. If you notice that the performance of one of your employees is weaker than others, give him/her constructive feedback so s/he can also improve her/himself. Let your employees know that you care for them.

• Encourage Training: Encourage your employees to learn new skills and go to training sessions. Motivate them to get professional certifications that will be helpful for their job.

• Be Clear in Your Communication: You always have to be transparent when communicating with your employees. Even if the news are bad, you should still clearly talk with your employees and explain them what is going on within the company. Create time to listen to your employees’ concerns and do your best to solve them. Keep an open channel of communication and get their feedback when necessary.

• Casual Fridays: If your company has a dress code for business, making Fridays a casual dress day will boost your employees’ morale and motivate them. You can use holidays to create theme days as well. For example, you can ask your employees to wear something orange on Halloween or green on St.Patrick’s Day. This will let them feel the spirit as well as create a more positive work environment. 

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REPOST: Why Bad People Make The Best Leaders

According to this article from Forbes, effective leaders are less like Santa Claus, but based on reality. Read more below:

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Want to build a great leader? Don’t start with a good person. Start with a bad person–then chisel, sandpaper and polish as necessary.

Most of the modern leadership development industry is based on a myth. It’s a feel-good myth, spread by consultants and academics and “gurus,” about how the best leaders are collaborative, compassionate, empathetic and free of most defects of character.

But it’s false. The best human beings are collaborative, compassionate, empathetic and free of most defects of character. But the best leaders usually are not.

By “best leaders,” I’m talking mainly about people who consistently show the ability to get things done—the ability to sell others on an idea, the ability to take them in new directions, the ability to talk their way out of a jam, the ability to come back from a setback, and so on.

When will we admit it? Effective leaders are less like Santa Claus handing out gifts, less like Mother Teresa blessing sick people, and more like Kobe Bryant coolly sticking a dagger into the heart of an opponent as he drops a three-point buzzer beater to win a tight game.

I saw a column in another publication this morning that captured the modern management myth in all its naïve purity. It was a listicle offering signs of bad leadership—and it included the usual suspects like lack of empathy, bossiness and lack of humility.

Yet then why do we hail the Steve Jobs and the Bill and Hillary Clintons of modernity and the Caesars of antiquity? Their management styles and personalities are often the opposite of what the gurus preach.

The key question is this: If your organization is looking for a strong leader who can really get things done, can you afford to take a chance on the idealized notion that the gurus preach? Or you do you have to admit that you may need someone who has rough and unpleasant edges?

Most management consultants have nice ideas about what it would look like to build the perfect leader from scratch, from warm and fuzzy emotions and kind ingredients. But the influential book Cradles of Eminence revealed years ago that most big-stage leaders had unhappy childhoods. That unhappiness fuels the desire to “make a dent in the universe,” to use the words of Steve Jobs. That unhappiness also fuels the nasty streak that lets them get things done—and that nasty streak is always a mixed blessing.

Also, these leaders’ legacies are always more complicated than we pretend. There are disappointments and hurt feelings and near-disasters along the way. Indeed, big-time leaders usually need a certain amount of luck to retire with their reputations intact.

To the extent that management consultants (like myself) have anything to offer to the discussion of leadership, it’s our ability to challenge strong leaders to build a little humanity into their leadership practice, for their own long-term happiness and for the well-being of their organizations. It’s our ability to remind them that being too determined to put a dent in the universe may well put a dent in the lives of people around them.

But ultimately to build a good leader, you perhaps have to build on a foundation of “bad” qualities—that classic nasty competitive streak, excessive risk-taking, dangerous stubbornness and so on. And then you try to add in the restraint, the wisdom, the compassion and the other qualities that keep leaders from racing off a cliff in their zeal.

That notion of leadership is quite different from what most management gurus are trying to sell you. But at least it’s based on reality, as revealed from ancient times to our own.

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Doing business: Does the plan include actually having a business plan?

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Among financial advisors, whether or not to develop a business plan is a much debated topic. Some analysts think that creating a plan and actually implementing it are two different concepts, and business owners should place more focus on the actual implementation rather than the design. From their perspective, too much time is spent crafting lengthy proposals that sound and look nice but have no real substance. Still, there is a great number of analysts who highly recommend building a business plan to new companies.

The importance of a business plan seems obvious, but there are more reasons it should be done. A few of them are the following:

Learning how to deal with displacement: Defined simply, displacement is understanding the "what-ifs" of the plan. This is where the business owner takes into account the effects of pursuing action A compared to action B; and knowing that by doing action A, actions C and D will not be done. There is a certain amount of forecasting required here, and this cause-and-effect analysis is crucial to any developing business.

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Understanding tax obligations: Business plans are very detailed and include such information as the number of expected employees, targeted business alliances, etc. These proposals require a basic understanding of tax.

The important thing to remember is that business plans are just that, plans. They should be used to guide and set specific objectives for the company. There is always the danger of overthinking and there are plans that are not implemented because of too much detail. However, this should not prevent companies from starting one. It is still generally believed that caution is better than just blindly running the race.

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Bertrand Management Group has helped hundreds of businesses achieve structure through proper business planning. Learn more about sound business plans by visiting this Facebook page.

REPOST: 5 Tips to Supporting a Connected Workforce

With the pervasive effect of technology today, experts from Asure Software advises that companies utilize this in order to maximize employee mobility. Read more tips from this article featured on Mobile Enterprise.

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Managers and business leaders who still rely on spreadsheets, forms and manual process (despite the pervasive use of smartphones, tablets, laptops etc.) may need help to realize how to enhance workforce agility, productivity and engagement—while optimizing their organization's workforce spend and improving profits. Asure Software offers 5 tips to better mobility.

"Progressive organizations are seeing many strategic operational advantages, even imperatives, to leverage technologies in new and better ways for enhanced workforce agility and productivity, while enabling managers and business leaders to track employees more effectively, protect profit loss related to time fraud, and accurately plan and manage staffing," said Steven Rodriguez, Asure Software COO, who outlined these tips:

1. Automate processes: Timecards, paper timesheets submitted to supervisors in-person or via fax, work schedules posted on bulletin boards, PTO forms left in a manager’s in-box—these are all things of the past. Today's user-friendly TLM systems consolidate these processes online, eliminating issues with illegible entries, lost or misplaced forms, data re-entry errors and duplication of efforts, and the risk of manual errors that can occur in this process, and help organizations manage regulatory compliance requirements that are prone to costly errors. And, all data is processed and reported in real-time, eliminating delays and guesswork.

2. Leverage employees’ personal technologies: Most workers are highly connected to technology 24x7 via their own mobile devices, meaning nearly all are "agile workers" to varying degrees. Enabling them to access work systems via their own familiar technologies helps to enhance their engagement and work satisfaction. Organizations can leverage employees' connectivity and help to make their lives easier and more efficient by enabling them to conduct self-service tasks online, such as checking PTO balances, submitting schedule availability or timesheets, searching and signing up for extra shifts, etc. at their convenience.

3. Move to the cloud: Cloud-based TLM solutions free employees from the office walls and work, enabling them to access scheduling systems at their convenience with their own technologies. Using the Cloud also ensures that all employees throughout the organization, regardless of their location, are using the same technology—a key benefit for organization whose employees are increasingly mobile and global. For HR and payroll managers, the Cloud's benefits also include assurance that technology is always current and less reliance on over-stretched corporate IT staff.

4. Explore emerging biometric and geolocation technologies: TLM mobile apps make it convenient and fast for mobile workers and those whose work involves time off-site to log their time and location by enabling their mobile devices to function as a timeclock fueled by selfies. Facial recognition and geolocation technologies combine to quickly verify the user’s identity and location, enabling supervisors to ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time, and helping the organization to prevent time fraud—which can account for up to five percent of payroll costs.

5. Optimize Scheduling: TLM scheduling systems now offer many useful functionalities that spreadsheets can’t even touch, empowering employees to better track and manage their schedules. For instance, employees who want to pick up extra hours can go online to look for open shifts and bid on them. Supervisors have visual dashboards to quickly check availabilities, as well as robust data to optimize staffing and reallocate staff, as needed. If they have shift spot to fill quickly they can push out notices to employees who are eligible to cover.

"Traditional paper-based and manual time and labor tools are cumbersome, error-prone and do not provide the conveniences, efficiencies and flexibilities that workers have come to expect with today's technologies," said Rodriguez. "Most workers have and use their own technologies to plan and organize their lives, and they appreciate and quickly adapt to solutions that enable them to use their own familiar technologies."


The Bertrand Management Group provides extensive seminars and training modules for efficient workflow organization and employee motivation. Subscribe to this blog for more related articles and reports on the latest business trends.

Five ways to empower workers for improved productivity and job performance

Employee empowerment is a term that's often tossed around in management circles, but what does it really mean?

Employee empowerment can mean many things, depending on the organization's culture. Generally, employee empowerment is defined as the process of giving employees the means to make their own decisions regarding their work and the ability to share suggestions and ideas on their work, while ensuring that the choices they make are in line with the company's policies and goals.

The following are five ways for business leaders and executives to empower their workers:


Allow employees to make decisions regarding their work

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Placing decision-making rights in the hands of those who have the most knowledge and the best insight both empowers workers and improves organizational results. However, managers should stress the importance of accountability. This can be accomplished by letting workers know when workers are not meeting their goals and the consequences of wrong decisions.


Encourage creative thinking and idea sharing

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One way is to arrange group brainstorming sessions wherein everyone has a chance to voice out their ideas.


Allow flexibility when possible

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Telecommute options and flexible working hours when possible give employees greater autonomy and free up time for more important tasks.


Clearly explain job roles and expectations

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Workers whose roles are clearly defined can better focus on their own work and are less likely to expend valuable time negotiating roles, avoiding disputes, and protecting turf.


Enforce an open-door policy

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Empowered workers require more than monetary compensation for their hard work. They want to feel that their participation in company efforts matters. An open-door policy lets workers know that their leaders appreciate them and value their contributions to the company.

The benefits of employee empowerment are numerous. Empowered employees feel comfortable with thinking out of the box, asking questions, and sharing new ideas, all of which are critical in preventing organizational stagnation and ensuring that the company stays ahead of the competition. Empowered employees feel more invested in the future of the company they're working for and take pride in their contribution to its success. Another benefit is increased employee satisfaction, which in turn leads to higher levels of loyalty, decreasing turnover rates, and translating to higher productivity and better job performance.

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REPOST: Blurred lines: why working through the weekend works

 It has always been tricky to get that perfect life and work balance. This article by Alexandra Tselios of The Age talks about how work and life need not be separate. 

Busy, and happy to spread the load across the weekend. Photo: iStock | Image Source: theage.com

Every Friday, I will inevitably receive a ‘Happy Friday!’ greeting from an overly excitable colleague or client; or, if it’s a Wednesday, I’ll get at least one ‘Happy Hump Day!’ (which just sounds gross, sorry). But the worst of all of these is the ‘ugh, it’s Monday’ comment.

I really don’t understand the disappointment felt when Sunday night comes to an end. Similarly, Fridays don’t really mean ‘countdown till wine-o’clock’ for me, it is simply another part of my week; and being a grown-up, I can technically have a glass of wine any time I like.

Do I feel anxious about Mondays? Never. Do I feel overly excited about Friday 5pm? Nope.

The reason is that my work and home life have blurred into one. I don’t feel the need to have a clear separation between the two, and while my work doesn’t define who I am, it is definitely a very inclusive part of my life (regardless of the day of the week).

It seems a shame that emotions and mood can be determined simply by what day it is, especially as each new day is inevitable and out of our control.

Staying connected 24/7

 

In a 24/7 connected world, it is misguided of us to manically draw the line between work and pleasure. When once one would rise and check the business papers for an update on the news that broke overnight, now we can check using our phones at 2am while getting a glass of water in the middle of the night.

Almost everything we need to know is at our fingertips at a moment’s notice. But with that overabundance of information (and misinformation), comes a new set of responsibilities. Most professional roles and industries have an expectation that their workers don’t switch off at 5pm, and the onus is on the individual to manage this using clear communication with their employer (or employees).

Working as the online publisher for opinion site The Big Smoke, I wouldn’t think twice about responding to an email at 7am on a Sunday. Instead of it stressing me out on a weekend, it does the opposite; I feel less anxious about coming into the office on Monday.

The best approach to work, and to life in general, is to take it in bite-sized chunks, while referring back to the big picture. This means I don’t have the luxury of ‘switching off’ on the weekend, and nor do I want to. It also gives me the flexibility to work in a way that is conducive to nurturing other important areas of my life -  family, friends and hobbies.

Because I don’t have strict parameters around work and life, it means I can take that hour-long call from a friend who’s having a crisis at 2pm on a Tuesday, because I know that the time I’ve spent with her will be made up working later that evening.

Blurred lines

 

If you have a fixation on these boundaries and an attitude of ‘No I won’t answer a work call, it’s 6pm’, it will only cause you extra stress and pressure over the coming weeks, because you can bet that there will be  a competitor who will happily take five minutes out of their dinner to answer a quick question.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a risk I am not willing to take. It is not viable to assume that in a global marketplace your clients are going to fit in with what you deem to be reasonable hours.

For many professionals, completely switching off is the only way they can feel completely in the moment and if that’s what works, then fantastic. However, there always needs to be some level of connectivity to ensure things aren’t missed.

The concept of the end of the work-free weekend isn’t about turning people into workaholics. It’s about removing the angst that comes with battling to remove all facets of work from your social time, which inevitably builds up the to-do list and results in an unhealthy dislike for Mondays. 

At the end of the day, clients and competitors don’t disappear just because you want to spend the weekend in the Blue Mountains. So look at your career differently and don’t be misguided into taking a technology detox. Instead, continue working on the smaller tasks so that when you return from your break, your duties are manageable.

Take control back

 

If you Google work/life balance, there are a range of self-help articles available, but the common thread between all of these is that the searcher has lost an element of control and needs direction. Get control back by stepping out of the constant internal conflict to compartmentalise your social, family and work time – and embrace them all as parts of your messy, illustrious, productive and sometimes confusing life – whether it’s Monday or Friday.  

I’m not suggesting we all turn into robots. But we do need to become professionals who can discern, focus and include their work organically as part of the bigger picture of their lives

The Bertrand Management Group provides extensive organization and employee training seminars to help improve business workflow and efficiency. Read more articles like this by subscribing to this Facebook page.

REPOST: 15 Great No-Cost Ways to Supercharge Your Employees

This article from Inc.com shares some tips for business leaders on how they can motivate their employees to achieve more.

Image source: http://www.inc.com/

Many bosses think that the best and perhaps the only way to get their employees motivated to do a better job is to pay them more, in the form of higher salaries, bonuses, or other cash rewards. This is a mistake. In reality, there are a lot of things you can do to supercharge employee performance that won't cost you a single dime.

Consider the example of Factory 360, an experiential marketing firm based in New York City. Company founder Michael Fernandez decided to convert an unused office into a yoga studio for employees. Together they practice their yoga moves in the repurposed space. Not only has team morale improved but Fernandez reports that the amenity has helped employees build stronger bonds with one another--and with him.

Try the following no-cost ways for supercharging your employees' morale and performance. You (and your customers) may be surprised at what a difference they make.

1. Don't just tell your employees what to do, explain why they should do it. (And while you're at it, make sure the reasons are good ones!)

2. Provide employees with prompt and candid feedback on their performance. (If improvements are needed, help them understand what they need to do to do better.)

3. Catch your employees doing something right. (And praise them when you do.)

4. Ask your employees what you can do to improve your business. (And implement their suggestions whenever it makes sense to do so.)

5. Really listen to what your employees have to say. (Show your sincere interest by focusing your full attention on your people when they are talking to you.)

6. Ask your employees, "What's one thing I can do better for you this month?" (And then tell them one thing they can do better for you that month.)

7. Assign small projects to your employees that require them to learn new tasks and grow in their jobs. (Serving on a task force to deal with a pressing business problem or presenting a proposal to top management are just two possible options.)

8. Rotate team leadership positions among all members of the team. (Provide all employees with leadership training so they are prepared to lead.)

9. Don't punish employees when they try something and fail. (Instead, help them learn lessons that will help them succeed the next time.)

10. Open your books to employees. (When employees know how what they do at work contributes to the bottom line, they will do more of it.)

11. Communicate a long-range vision for your company. (Make sure it's inspiring and clearly stated.)

12. Share customer letters and email messages of complaint and praise with all employees. (And do it promptly and regularly.)

13.  Expect perfection. (But accept excellence.)

14. Always treat your employees with dignity and respect. (Just as you yourself want and expect to be treated.)

15. Allow your people to be great. (You have the power to let your employees be great, or to shut them down.)







The Bertrand Management Group offers series of organizational and employee trainings to help businesses enhance the performance of their workforce. Follow this Twitter page for more resources on better business practices.