Posts Tagged ‘Employee Motivation Ideas’

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Keep your goals visible

Thursday, November 17th, 2016

You made a New Year’s resolution to set goals, and you’re doing it. Bravo! But are you doing it as effectively as possible?

Goals are only effective if you act on them, and you can’t act on them if you can’t see them. Too many people create a list of personal or professional goals, then sock it away in a drawer somewhere. Those goals are as good as dead. They will never happen.

Instead of filing them away, create a very visible place for those goals.

I have a friend who made her list of goals the screensaver on her computer. She sees them a hundred times a day, which means there’s a good chance she’ll achieve them. Laminate them and put them up in the shower. Stick them to your steering wheel. Whatever it takes to keep them front and center.

Organize your goals into separate lists according to timescale—goals for the week, for the month, and for life.

Don’t include everything. Life offers thousands of opportunities, but maybe ten of those will take you where you want to go. Don’t let those crucial ten get lost in a list a mile long. Focus on the ones that count, then post them where you’ll see them every single day.

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Posted in Managing Stress, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Indecision IS a Decision

Monday, September 12th, 2016

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in—business is about making decisions. But sometimes we find ourselves paralyzed, unable to make a decision for fear of making the wrong one. So we say we’re “waiting for more data” or “crunching the numbers” before we decide.

It’s important to be well informed. But there’s always more information to be had, and there comes a time when the lack of a decision begins to impact the outcome. At that point, indecision is a decision. It’s the decision to do nothing, and it can be costly.

For every project, give yourself a timeline not just for the outcome, but for the decision making process that leads to that outcome. Say, “By November 14, the budget will be set. By November 21, all design specs will be in place.” Then hold yourself to those project benchmarks. Make a decision and keep things moving.

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Posted in Dysfunctional Workplace | No Comments »

Learn to Say “No”

Sunday, January 4th, 2015

It happens every single day. Someone finds you out of nowhere and asks you to help them in some way or another. How do you say no?

First, realize that it is completely fine to say no. This alone is a big step for many people. But it should be obvious that when someone asks a yes/no question, there are (at least) two possible answers.

Suppose a client suggests that you come by her office for a conversation that would ordinarily take 10 minutes. But now, with the commute, you’re looking at an hour – and that’s an hour you cannot give up today.

Let the client know how eager you are to connect, and that you’re equally eager to help her avoid the required charge for out-of-office consulting. Suggest conducting this conversation over the webcam. Everybody wins.

Or perhaps Chris, from the cubicle next to yours, pokes his head around the corner in hopes that you can help him with a project he’s been assigned. If you can do it, great. But if you can’t, you really need to find a way to say that.

Make it clear that you appreciate his thinking of you, but that you will not be able to assist him until Tuesday, or whatever it may be. And if you can’t at all, just say that. With all due love, of course!

Commit yourself to tasks that are most profitable. Learn to say no to the rest.

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Posted in Dysfunctional Workplace | 4 Comments »

Keep your goals visible

Monday, June 9th, 2014

You made a New Year’s resolution to set goals, and you’re doing it. Bravo! But are you doing it as effectively as possible?

Goals are only effective if you act on them, and you can’t act on them if you can’t see them. Too many people create a list of personal or professional goals, then sock it away in a drawer somewhere. Those goals are as good as dead. They will never happen.

Instead of filing them away, create a very visible place for those goals.

I have a friend who made her list of goals the screensaver on her computer. She sees them a hundred times a day, which means there’s a good chance she’ll achieve them. Laminate them and put them up in the shower. Stick them to your steering wheel. Whatever it takes to keep them front and center.

Organize your goals into separate lists according to timescale—goals for the week, for the month, and for life.

Don’t include everything. Life offers thousands of opportunities, but maybe ten of those will take you where you want to go. Don’t let those crucial ten get lost in a list a mile long. Focus on the ones that count, then post them where you’ll see them every single day.

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Posted in Managing Stress | No Comments »

Appreciation

Monday, January 20th, 2014

In his landmark book Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman reports on a powerful finding: a one percent improvement in culture results in an average two percent improvement in revenue. And the most direct way to build that culture is through a focus on appreciation.

Now when I say “appreciation,” you might be picturing a manager saying “good job” to an employee. That’s a good thing, of course. But the research shows that regular appreciation among teammates and peers actually has more impact on building confidence than appreciation received from a manager.

If you feel that your company lacks an atmosphere of appreciation, the answer is NOT to complain about it. The answer is to help create that culture. Express appreciation to 20 people around you, not just for what they do, but for who they are. Watch the faces of people whose days are made by your simple act of kindness. In no time at all, you will find yourself on the receiving end. When you help to create a culture of appreciation, everybody wins.

Appreciation has to be felt and reinforced on a regular basis or confidence erodes over time. Creating celebrations and high-fives around accomplishments of critical drivers builds confidence AND keeps team members focused on the right things.

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Posted in Company Culture Change, Culture Transformation | 3 Comments »

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