No Bull Business Blog

3 questions that will boost motivation - and business

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Why Good People Jump Ship

Involved employees are motivated employees. So how do you make sure they're involved? Ask employees these three questions and you can boost morale and business:

1. Can you tell me our top three goals for this year? (To analyze the level of engagement, people need to be on the same page.)
2. If you were competing against our company, what would you do? (Managers are often surprised to learn that employees know right where the weaknesses are.)
3. What is currently impossible to do that if it were possible would change everything? (This forces people to think is there something different we can do? What drives us crazy and how can we fix it?)

DIGGING DEEPER
Making sure your best people stay is key to boosting business. To get help doing that, read the Executive Report: Why Good People Jump Ship - and What You Can Do to Keep Them

Are you stressing out your employees?

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Why Good People Burn Out – and How You Can Stop It

As much as you and your employees don't want to suffer from stress and burnout, you could be the "cause" of the stress. Here are some things to watch out for:

• Setting unrealistic goals. Imposing highly ambitious goals on employees will daunt and discourage, rather than motivate, them. If you have tough goals they must achieve, break them into smaller parts before presenting them.
• Looking at the dark side. If you always look at the downside or harp on what's wrong - and allow others to do it - you can bet employees will become de-motivated and stressed. Instead, mention the bright side of every tough circumstance you and your people face. Encourage employees to suggest changes for things they don't like.
• Us vs. them talk. Managers often don't want employees angry at them, so they unintentionally remove themselves from potential guilt. (For instance, "I fought for your pay raise, but you know HR makes the final decision.") Leaders need to stand behind decisions they've made or have been made regarding their employees.
• Allowing some people to slide. Managers who let poor performers get by or allow bad behavior to continue will derail good employees. Confront those issues until they're fixed or gone.
• Talking more than you listen. Whether you deliver bad news or offer an opposing opinion, your employees will want to vent about it. Let them, because that may be all they need to get over it.
• Jumping to conclusions. One person rarely knows how another person feels, so avoid telling employees how they should react or feel in any situation. Let them react and then talk about solutions.
• Poor listening. Nothing is more irritating than not being heard. Paraphrase, take notes or do anything to show employees you care.
• Reacting to anger or anxiety. This only adds fuel to the fire. Instead, keep an even tone and deal with similar situations uniformly.
• Bad habits. Ask a trusted colleague (or loved one), what habits you have that can get on people's nerves.

DIGGING DEEPER

So, are your employees stressed out? Find out what you can do by reading the Executive Report: Why Good People Burn Out – and How You Can Stop It.

Touting your rising stars

Excerpted from the Executive Report 9 Mistakes New Managers Make Most Often

Whenever there is any question as to who gets credit for an accomplishment, pass the credit to the employees.

Why? It's good for managers to develop a reputation of helping rising stars.

In an essay titled How to Manage Smart People, business consultant Scott Berkun makes an amazingly simple and telling finding:

"A manager who treats his reports as cogs in a wheel is guaranteed to get the performance of a cog in a wheel. But a manager that develops and grows people into new strengths and abilities will always get more out of the team."

Cogs in the wheel are just fine if the task is simple and straightforward, and the wheel never needs greasing or changes direction.

But that's not how most of our businesses really run.

Today's managers are challenged with an array of ever-changing tasks, most of which must be performed under the "do more with less" scenario.

Smart, talented employees make the job easier. And touting their accomplishments to others not only motivates the employee, but enhances the manager's reputation as someone who knows how to develop people.

DIGGING DEEPER
The hardest thing to do in business is manage people. Great managers are worth their weight in gold. So how do we turn new managers in to great managers? For help, take a look at the Executive Report 9 Mistakes New Managers Make Most Often

You can't treat every employee the same

Excerpted from the Executive Report: 6 Dumb Ways to Kill Morale - and What You Can Do to Fix It

It's human nature to look at other people through our own prism. When people are very different from us, we have a much more difficult time understanding where they're coming from. Two people facing identical problems or sets of circumstances often choose very different actions.

Does that mean one is smart and the other is dumb? As managers, we may see it that way, but the different actions most likely have very little to do with smarts or lack thereof. People do things more because of their own intrinsic nature than because of any real or perceived lack of expertise or intelligence.

Managers who play to people's strengths do a better job of making new hires work. The easy part is to identify skill sets. It's much harder to identify the behavioral nature that fits the job - that's where most mistakes in people management are made.

DIGGING DEEPER
Managing people is the hardest thing we do. Motivating them and keeping morale up is never ending. For help, read the Executive Report: 6 Dumb Ways to Kill Morale - and What You Can Do to Fix It

Don't waste time on the turkeys

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Turning Good Employees into Great Managers – A Guide for New Managers

If you have a bad apple on your team. Is it better to try and salvage the person or just get rid of that person?

Clearly if the person can do the job and just isn't trying or is goofing off, you want to put some energy into salvaging that individual. New managers often think they can - and should - try to save everyone.

But they shouldn't spend too much of their time on that.

The top commodity a new manager offers to the organization is his or her time. And if you waste too much of it on a lost cause, you're turning yourself into overhead and others you manage will notice. 

To simplify, you can break your employees into three categories:

• eagles: top performers who fly and soar
• robins: folks who come to work and get the job done, but who don't rise to the top
• turkeys: self-explanatory.

Ask: Where am I spending the majority of my time and energy? Nine out of 10 managers will say the lion's share goes to the turkeys - and that's not good!

Best approach: Spend most of your time encouraging the eagles to keep soaring and develop the robins to become eagles.

Spend just enough time with the turkeys to let them know they need to get better - or else.

DIGGING DEEPER

The key to business success is managing people. For more help, check out the Executive Report: Turning Good Employees into Great Managers – A Guide for New Managers

No more raises: 5 ways to motivate employees

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Motivating Without Money: 91 Inexpensive Ways to Keep Employees Happy

 

There will be very few raises this year, but there are still ways to motivate employees and boost morale. Here are five ways:

1. Make your people the face of your organization. You have to advertise anyway, so why not put their smiling faces in your ads or feature them in company publications, such as newsletters.
2. Give shiny cars. You can buy express car washes for about $5. So for $100, you can give 20 employees clean cars.
3. Add a handwritten note to your employees' paychecks from time to time. Highlight something they did, how you felt about it and the effect it will have on the company, co-workers or customers. For instance, "Jill, your perseverance helped us find the software bug. I'm proud you're part of my team. You saved us a lot of time and money."
4. Give employees space to do their own bragging. Put up a large bulletin board and invite them to fill it with certificates, newspaper clippings, artwork and other noteworthy items about themselves or their loved ones.
5. After someone puts in an extra effort, send a care package home to the employee's family. Include items with the company logo and passes for all family members to see a movie.

 

DIGGING DEEPER
Motivating employees is a never-ending job for managers. But there are plenty of ways to do it. For more ideas, read the Executive Report: Motivating Without Money: 91 Inexpensive Ways to Keep Employees Happy.

Is delegating a dirty word?

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Taking Control - 163 Ways to Save Time.

Delegating is a dirty word to many people.

Because doing it properly takes time and energy, they often think: "In the time it would take me to teach someone else to do this task, I could do it myself."

Or: "The only way I can be sure this task will be done right, is if I do it myself."

Here are two reasons to toss out both those ideas:

• Look at the big picture. While it may take more time than you'd like to explain how to do the task the first time around, it will save huge amounts of your time in the long run.
• Perfectionism is one of the biggest time-wasters. Are there some tasks that need to be perfect and require your expertise? Absolutely. But there are so many more tasks that don't need to be perfect, and where "good enough" is just fine. Productive people know how to tell the difference - and so can you.

DIGGING DEEPER

For most managers, working harder really isn't an option. But they try to do it anyway. But there are plenty of ways to streamline your job, eliminate distractions and get others involved. For help, read the Executive Report: Taking Control - 163 Ways to Save Time.

Writer's block: 7 ways to break through

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Business Writing: A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing.

It doesn't matter how many letters, reports or memos you've written. At some point, you'll find yourself staring at a blank screen, struggling to come up with that first paragraph or sentence.

Try these proven techniques for conquering writer's block. The methods are different, but their goal is the same - to get you "unstuck" and writing:

1. Write a headline. Before getting started on your letter, report or memo, ask yourself: "If this were a news story, what would be the headline?" Coming up with a headline forces you to identify the single idea you're trying to get across.

2. Create an outline. We're not talking about a long drawn-out outline with Roman numerals. Just jot down the major points you want to make and use it as a guide while you're writing.

3. Write it wrong. When you're working on your first draft, forget about typos, poorly constructed sentences and awkward transitions. The sole purpose of your first draft is to get your basic ideas down on paper. In other words: Just do it.  You can worry about "cleaning it up" later.

4. Take 10. For 10 minutes (time yourself), write nonstop. Glance at your outline if it helps, but keep writing. Sure, some of it won't be usable. But you'll find the simple process of continuous writing will help shape your thoughts.

5. Say it out loud. If you're drawing a blank trying to write the first sentence, say it out loud. Pretend the person to whom you're writing the letter is sitting across from you. What's the first thing you'd say? Now write it.

6. Switch readers. Sometimes writing a letter can be difficult because you know there's a good chance the reader may be intimidated or angry about your message. Write your first draft as if you're writing to someone else - someone who's friendly and receptive to what you have to say. You can change your tone when you go back to revise it.

7. Pick a card. Stuck on the order in which to present your points? Get a few index cards and write down one idea per card that you'd like to include in your letter. Don't worry about the sequence. Once all your ideas are down on cards, rearrange them so the ideas flow in a logical sequence.

DIGGING DEEPER
The truth is, most of us aren't great writers. One reason is that we try too hard to sound fancy or formal. But concise and conversational does a better job when trying to communicate ideas. For help, get the Executive Report: Business Writing: A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing.

Get a grip – toss the paperwork

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Get More Done in Less Time

 

Even though a lot of communication comes via e-mail, we're still not a paperless society. And the paperwork that flows into our office can kill productivity if handled poorly.

 

Here's how to tame some of the paper:

• Sort and handle papers in the inbox only twice a day.

• Throw out rough drafts once the final is done.

• Highlight the important info on a document to avoid having to sift through it again.

• Toss memos immediately after you mark the date and info on a calendar.

• Request summaries and recommendations with lengthy reports. And create them when you write your own reports.

• Keep these folders to file what you receive and don't toss

• • To do (for things that must be acted on by the end of the day
  • Reading (for long reports and industry publications)Personal (for the good-to-know stuff
  • Training (for useful info on personal and professional development)
  • Upcoming events (details you need that aren't written on the calendar)
  • Projects (one for each that is current)

• If you put something aside more than three times, ask "How likely will I ever need it?" If the answer is "Not likely," toss it.

DIGGING DEEPER

Getting leaner means being more efficient. Good managers can’t afford to waste time. For help, check out the Executive Report: Get More Done in Less Time.

The truth is ... honesty motivates

Excerpted from the Executive Report Motivating Employees: What Every Manager Needs to Know.

 

The best way to motivate employees - tell the truth.

 

When telling the truth is the norm, it's easier for people to be motivated to do their work to the best of their ability.

 

When employees know the boss will be candid with them if their performance is found wanting, they don't worry about interpreting hidden meanings, innuendoes or non-verbal language to decide if the boss is unhappy with them. They can focus on their work and not worry about dark plots.

 

For managers and supervisors, telling the truth is doubly important. Their credibility is their most important leadership asset. Without trust in the manager's credibility, employees don't feel motivated to perform. And even if they did, they don't expect good performance to be recognized, rewarded or appreciated.

 

DIGGING DEEPER

Motivated employees are happier and deliver higher productivity and performance. How do you motivate them? For help, check out the Executive Report Motivating Employees: What Every Manager Needs to Know.

 

When you absolutely need to touch it more than once

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Get More Done in Less Time

 

We've all heard it. The most efficient folks only touch a piece of paper once.

 

Truth is, that's often not possible.

 

Most paperwork that comes across a busy executive's desk needs more than a minute's attention.

 

So it'll likely need to be touched more than once.

 

But the real key is that you take some action every time you have to touch it. Some possibilities:

• post a date on a calendar when real action needs to take place

• file it

• trash it

• make a call to followup or initiate action, or

• delegate someone to read or act on it.

 

DIGGING DEEPER:

Execs who get the most done and are the most effective are the one's who don't waste time on low priority issues. Get help by reading the Executive Report: Get More Done in Less Time.

Keep it simple: 25 ways to say it better

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Business Writing- A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing

 

One of the easiest business writing rules to remember is: Choose shorter words over longer words. The simpler you keep it, the greater the chance the reader will read (rather than skim) your memo or letter and take action. Take a look at these examples:

 

Instead of: The Board looked at several viable alternatives that will facilitate optimizing our health benefits package.

 

Write: The Board looked at a few options to improve our health benefits package. 

 

Here’s a list of some long, heavy words to avoid and substitutions:

 

   Instead of:                               Use:

  accommodate                         serve

  advise                                       tell

  affirmative                                yes

  approximately                         about

  cognizant                                 know

  concerning                              about

  endeavor                                  try

  expedite                                   rush

  facilitate                                   help

  generate                                  make

  indicate                                    say

  in lieu of                                   instead

  numerous                               many

  observe                                   see

  originated                               began

  personnel                               people 

  precipitated                            caused

  pursuant to                             under

  remunerate                            pay

  require                                    need

  retain                                       keep

  solicit                                      ask

  sufficient                                enough

  transpire                                happen

  utilize                                      use

 

DIGGING DEEPER

Communicating clearly and succinctly are keys to successful management. But most of us are not great writers. To get help, check out the Executive Report: Business Writing - A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing.

No Bull Quote

"Don't find fault, find a remedy."
- Henry Ford

You can teach a bear to dance, but it will always dance like a bear

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Why Good People Jump Ship - and What You Can Do to Stop Them. 

Perhaps more than any other aspect, trait or quality, employee retention hinges on a good job fit.

Remember: You can teach a bear to dance, but it will always dance like a bear.

Consider this real-life example: A small, bottled-water company in the mid-Atlantic region was trying to grow. It had some early success using some of its delivery drivers as salespeople to drum up new business at grocery stores and other retail outlets the drivers were already familiar with.

Then the company tried to expand the sales effort by including all drivers. The company offered significant training and a handsome sales commission package. Yet managers were stumped as to why more of the drivers weren’t able to succeed in their new roles as salespeople.

Was it a poor fit? It’s a fair question to ask.

When fitting an employee to the job, the first question to ask is: What is the benchmark? What does it take to be a top performer in this position? Then: Which of these characteristics does the employee already have and which does he/she need training on?

It’s all about fitting a square peg into a square hole. But because managers are dealing with people and ever-changing work roles, it’s not quite as simple.

A clear job description is essential. So is gaining feedback from the employee on his or her strengths and weaknesses, then playing to the strengths first. That builds early success and sets the stage for future success.

Another question to ask: Is the job description realistic?

DIGGING DEEPER
Keeping good people isn't an accident. It takes good managers who know how to create an environment that employees see challenging. For more help, check out the Executive Report: Why Good People Jump Ship - and What You Can Do to Stop Them.

26 phrases you should never use in writing

Excerpted from the Executive Report: Business Writing: A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing

 

Certain phrases are part of the business world - but that doesn’t mean they’re the best choices. You can easily improve your writing and more effectively communicate by using more direct terms and phrases. Here are some examples of wordy phrases and what to use instead:

 

Instead of:                                                            Use:

At this point in time                                               Now

Come to the conclusion                                         Conclude

Despite the fact that                                              Although

Exhibits a tendency to                                           Tends

I am of the opinion                                                 I think

In the amount of                                                    for

Is indicative of                                                       indicates

It is incumbent on me                                            I must

Make a decision to                                                Decide

On the grounds that                                              Since

Perform an analysis of                                           Analyze

Pertaining to                                                         About

Prior to that time                                                   Before

Provide information about                                       Inform

Reached an agreement                                          Agreed

Subsequent to                                                      After

Take under advisement                                          Consider

The committee made an agreement                        We decided

The question as to whether                                    Whether

To summarize the above                                        In summary

Under no circumstances                                        Never

We deem it advisable                                            I suggest

With a view to                                                       To

With regard to                                                       About

With this in mind                                                   Therefore

You will find attached                                            Here is

DIGGING DEEPER
Writing clearly and concisely is key to being successful in business. This writing guide can help: Business Writing: A Guide to Clear, Concise and Effective Writing.