Rewarding performance doesn’t work. Employees are not rats in a cage pushing a lever for a pellet. Rewards promised, whether bonuses, raises, or carrots, have a short-lived, minimal, and, sometimes negative, impact on productivity. People work hardest when they care about the results, when the activity fits their natural inclinations, when they are challenged, when they are learning, and when they have made a personal commitment. In other words, people work hardest when their motivation springs from within.
What couple of changes will make the biggest difference for you in the new year? Answer this question at the executive level, the individual level, and every level in between. Focus and alignment are critical. Do you need to: Offer different products or services to provide compelling, differentiated, and profitable value Change your sales and distribution channels to increase sales and profits Communicate more carefully so your target markets know you exist, customers know what to expect, suppliers know what is important, and employees can contribute successfully Improve your execution so you are better, faster, and cheaper Develop new capabilities so you have more opportunities for success You can’t do it all and you can’t succeed if your organization is running around like a “chicken with its head cut off,” as my mother used to say. Dig into the broad categories above and choose just a few priorities. Be specific. What needs to be different? What will success look like? How can each individual help make those top priorities successful? Need help establishing your top priorities, communicating what they are and why they are important, and creating the alignment and commitment throughout your organization? Give us a call at 800-527-0087.
My hotels in Times Square and Philadelphia this past week were equally hypocritical or clueless, I’m not sure which. Both displayed similar little, green trimmed cards informing me in elegant script that the management embraces conservation and wishes to support my efforts to conserve, should I choose to do so. Towels on the floor will be replaced; hanging towels will be left to be used once again. This little card was hanging on the only hook. There were no towel racks. Conservation wasn’t an option. Is this stupidity or hypocrisy? Why print and display cards that make you look foolish? Those who equate luxury with throwing towels on the floor are unlikely to be impressed with the little cards. Those who are eager to conserve will only be extra irritated. This is a classic example of jumping on a marketing bandwagon instead of developing a trustworthy brand that signifies reliable value. If you want to appeal to people who value green practices, find real ways to be green. Pretending to be green while filling the world with wet towels and little plastic cards is both hypocritical and stupid.
Easthampton, MA – Ann Latham’s second volume of Clear Thoughts, featuring 33 concise, powerful, and pragmatic articles from her globally popular newsletter of the same name, has just been published. These articles will shift your thinking and help you get better results in half the time.
Many “facts” that control your behavior aren’t facts! If you are a manager or a parent, knowing the difference between facts and assumptions is critical, but not common!
Gen X, Gen Y, the Greatest Generation – Give me a break! Generalization X, Generalization Y, and the Greatest Generalization sounds more like it to me! Imagine if all the energy and money devoted to trying to define and understand these generalizations, excuse me, generations, was instead spent on treating people like the individuals they are. Times change, but no one is a generation. When people describe Gen Y to me, they certainly aren’t talking about my daughters. Nor does my nearly 90 year old father, who sends me narrated DVDs with background music that he makes from old home movies, fit the image of his generation. You don’t hire a generation. You can’t teach a generation. You can’t get to know a generation. And it’s unfair to slap any stereotype on someone before you’ve even been introduced. It’s wrong and it’s insulting. We know that race and gender stereotypes are inappropriate and yet we embrace generation stereotypes with writing, training, and endless discussion. Why? It’s much more productive to simply listen, learn, and respect individuals as the individuals that they are. What do you think? Let me know at by email.
Whom should you invite to your decision? I’m glad you asked! Most people invite the same old group to all their decisions. The whole department, the same old management team, the entire marketing team, etc. Standing meetings with default attendees too often determine who is “invited.” The result is wasted time by those with little to contribute, poor decisions if the group is uninformed or ill-equipped to make the decision, and anger from those who thought they should have been included. In order to invite wisely, there are two main considerations: making a good decision and ensuring the decision is accepted.
Could your meetings be shorter and more powerful? I guarantee it. I have no doubt that 25 – 50% of the time you spend in meetings could be avoided or used to accomplish far more. Unfortunately, few organizations recognize the incredible potential to save time and money while improving productivity and morale by improving meetings. Try totaling the dollars devoted to this month’s meetings. Figure out what percentage of your people are effectively employed just to attend meetings. Imagine your productivity on a day uninterrupted by meetings. The value of better meetings in half the time is enormous! Ironically, those that do recognize the potential for improvement often react by scheduling a series of meetings! They get a bunch of interested people together to develop new rules that they think will solve the problem. Once they’ve all agreed, everyone else is invited to more meetings to learn the new rules. Too bad those rules are just bandaids and do nothing to eliminate the cause of the problem. You can’t solve a problem without eliminating the cause. If you can’t identify the cause of ineffective meetings, give me a call. I’d be happy to save you oodles of time, money, and frustration in the short term, and much more time, money, and frustration once your meetings are short, powerful, and known for getting better results in half the time! Call 800-527-0087 or email info@uncommonclarity.com today!
Do these questions sound familiar? Did you finish X? Where do things stand with Y? Are we on schedule? Are you on budget? How long do you think that will take? Do you need help? What are we going to do about Z? These are pretty typical questions managers and project managers ask their team members. Unfortunately, these are dangerous questions.
You can: Love the activity Love the result Love neither Some people love cooking, running, or making customers happy. Motivation is not a problem when you love the activity. Others love eating the things they cook, the way they feel after running, or the business that comes from happy customers. Motivation is not a problem when you love the result. Trouble arrives when you love neither the activity, nor the result. In that case, there are three choices: