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Being happy – for goodness’ sake

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

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The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good. —Bertrand Russell

If it seems weird for a column about making work more fun and engaging to open with a quote from the philosopher Bertrand Russell—then honey, you don’t know Bert.

Some philosophers spend their time working out obscure problems that don’t seem to have much to do with you and me. But Bertrand Russell spent a lot of his time thinking about everyday things—like happiness, and what it means to be good. (more…)

Tags: Company Culture Change, Culture In the Workplace, Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, High-Performance Culture, Improving Morale, Inspired Workplace, Joy at Work, Love Your Work, Motivating Employees, Office Morale, Organizational Culture Change, Positive Attitude, Workplace Motivation, Workplace Performance
Posted in Culture Transformation, Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Motivating Employees, Personal Transformation, Self-Growth, Workplace Performance | No Comments »

The Ten Commandments of Workplace Motivation

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Unmotivated employees have rightly been called “the black holes of the business universe.” Fortunately, motivation is not something a person is born with or without. Applying these Ten Commandments can go a long way to helping existing employees find their motivation. (more…)

Tags: Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, High-Performance Culture, Improving Morale, Inspired Workplace, Joy at Work, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees, Workplace Motivation, Workplace Performance
Posted in Culture Transformation, Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Motivating Employees, Workplace Performance | No Comments »

Creating a Celebration Culture

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

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When’s the last time you heard someone say, “The problem with working here is I’m just appreciated way too much?” Healthy cultures have appreciation and celebration as their cultural backbone. They create an environment in which everyone oohs and aahs over each other’s successes and contributions.

Notice I said EVERYONE, not just managers. You might convince yourself that the manager who high-fives the top salespeople is just doing his or her job. But once you get celebration and congratulation flowing from peer to peer, you know you’ve created a celebration culture.

So how do you get there? By creating rituals of celebration. (more…)

Tags: Culture In the Workplace, Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, Happy at Work, High-Performance Culture, Hoopla, Improving Morale, Inspired Workplace, Joy at Work, Love Your Work, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees, Office Morale, Organizational Culture Change, Sales Culture, Workplace Motivation, Workplace Performance
Posted in Employee Engagement, Hoopla Team, Improving Morale, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees, Sales Culture | No Comments »

From “The Company” to “Our Company”

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

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Imagine yourself transported to an unknown city by helicopter. A stadium comes into view below you. The chopper descends and lowers you gently into a seat. You are handed a hot dog and a pennant and given one instruction: Cheer for the home team.

You glance at the pennant to see what team you’re rooting for, then start cheering halfheartedly: Uh…woohoo. Go, uh…team! Beat the visitors.

No matter how many foot-longs they feed you, this is gonna get old fast. You can’t plop me down in a random stadium in a random town and expect wholehearted, red-in-the-face cheering as if it was MY team! You’ll go through the motions until you’re full, then all bets are off.

Seems like a wacky scenario, doesn’t it? But take a look around corporate America and you’ll see much the same approach to employee morale and productivity. Employees are expected to be productive and loyal to the company that happens to own the chair they’re sitting in just because it keeps them in hot dogs. And it doesn’t work. (more…)

Tags: Company Culture Change, Culture In the Workplace, Culture Transformation, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, Improving Morale, Inspired Workplace, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees, Office Morale, Organizational Culture Change, Workplace Motivation
Posted in Culture Transformation, Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees, Workplace Performance | No Comments »

Massive Study Confirms It: Employee Engagement is Key

Monday, March 9th, 2009

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Data keeps pouring in on the importance of employee engagement.

One of the most impressive entries yet is a monumental survey recently completed by Watson Wyatt. The company’s survey included 13,000 U.S. workers and found that highly engaged employees are 26 percent more productive than disengaged employees, and their companies earned 13 percent more shareholder return over the last five years.

There’s more. The engaged employees also take 20 percent fewer days off and tend to be more supportive of organizational change.

So how do you achieve that engaged workforce? (more…)

Tags: Culture In the Workplace, Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, Improving Morale, Motivating Employees, Office Morale, Workplace Motivation
Posted in Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Managing Employees, Motivating Employees | No Comments »

Attitude is EVERYTHING

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Lyle Spencer is a research wonk—the kind of guy whose name keeps showing up attached to solid, smart research. So when he discovered a straightforward logarithmic relationship between service improvements and revenue, I sat up and took notice.

Here it is: For every one percent improvement in service climate, there is a two percent increase in revenue. Improve your service by 25 percent and you’ll improve your revenue by half.

And if you’re a regular on this blog, you already know the key to improving your service. All together now: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT! (more…)

Tags: Customer Service Training, Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, Happy at Work, Improving Morale, Joy at Work, Love Your Work, Motivating Employees, Office Morale, Positive Attitude, Workplace Motivation
Posted in Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Motivating Employees, Personal Transformation, Workplace Performance | No Comments »

Keeping the Party Alive

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

I’ve got to tell you – I’m a little mixed about this whole Wells Fargo thing.

People are having a lot of fun right now waggling their fingers at corporate overspending. The Germans (who have a word for everything – remember Fahrvergnugen?) have a word for this kind of fun: Schadenfreude, or delighting in somebody else’s misfortune.

And yes, it’s fun to point and laugh at people like John Thain, driving their companies into multibillion-dollar nosedives while buying $1400 wastecans and $35,000 antique toilets.

But Wells Fargo’s supposed sin is quite different.

In case you haven’t heard, they’ve taken quite a flogging in the press and in Congress for planning to fly their top people to Vegas for a big recognition event after receiving bailout money.

Sure, the planned event was pretty lavish – just the latest in a long Wells Fargo tradition that has included wine-tasting trips, helicopter junkets, and even a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for a thousand employees. The Vegas trip was to include twelve days and nights on the Strip.

Now it’s been called off.

So why are my feelings mixed? (more…)

Tags: Employee Engagement, Employee Motivation Ideas, Engaged Employees, Hoopla, Improving Morale, Inspired Workplace, Workplace Performance
Posted in Employee Engagement, Hoopla Team, Improving Morale, Workplace Performance | No Comments »

After the Ax— Keeping Employees Engaged After Layoffs

Friday, February 6th, 2009

There’s no sugarcoating it—it’s just not pretty out there. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 2,275 “mass actions” (layoffs of 50 or more) for the fourth quarter—a total of nearly a quarter million lost jobs. And that doesn’t even count the uncountable smaller layoffs.

Every one of these is tragic for the laid off individuals and their families. But there’s another issue that’s been less talked about—the folks and the companies that are left behind.

You know that employee motivation and engagement are key to the success of your company in good times and in bad. So how do you get morale back where it needs to be and keep it there after the ax has fallen? (more…)

Tags: Employee Engagement, Engaged Employees, Improving Morale
Posted in Employee Engagement, Improving Morale, Training and Development | No Comments »

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