Leadership: New, Old, or Just What Works?

Ultimately, regardless of our situation as leader, manager, supervisor, or employee, we are all looking for a return on our investment (ROI). If you invest a few moments reading this article, I guarantee you a return. You will receive at least one idea that you can implement immediately.

Like you, I have put in countless hours of windshield time listening to leadership and employee motivation gurus on tape, CD, and MP3. Unlike you perhaps; I personally know many of these influencers. Like you, I have attended numerous conferences, sat in on a myriad of keynotes, seminars, and workshops. Unlike you perhaps; I have also been the speaker at many of these, around the globe, meetings.

I believe there are a number of ageless truths that are applicable to anyone who attempts to successfully lead others. Good ideas are ageless, while continually emerging flavor-of-the-month leadership and management strategies fade without concern or impunity.

Have you ever wondered who influences the influencers? In my 20+ years of serving the world marketplace as an author, consultant, facilitator, keynoter, and seminar leader, there have been many that have left their indelible mark on me. I’ll talk about some of them as we progress. Before that I’d like to share with you some of the ideas that form the foundation of my work.

“Perception; the conversation I have with myself about you, is my reality.”

“Focus on getting things done rather than to obsess on being right.”

“Make your relationship bank deposits before you attempt to take withdrawals.”

At just about every public presentation I give, I make the above points. I believe these to be immutable truths for anyone that leads, manages, or follows.

“Perception; the conversation I have with myself about you, is my reality.”

Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall and listen to what your team, boss, or employees say about you? Be honest now—sure you have. Regardless of how you see yourself, it is how others see you determine how they feel about you. This can be a disastrous dynamic for any leader. This dynamic applies to partners, investors, suppliers, customers, and employees. In all situations a leader must know how he or she is perceived. This will frequently be either the deal maker or the deal breaker.

My good friend of over 20 years, Dr. Terry Paulson, is the author of several management and leadership books, his latest The Optimism Advantage, frequently shares the following idea with his audiences and is an idea for which I’ll always remember him. “If someone calls you a horse’s rear end (ass), ignore them. However, if several people call you a horse’s rear end (ass), perhaps it’s time for you to buy a saddle?” It is good to be honest with yourself.

For years I have used a quotation from Sun Tzu, author of, The Art of War; written about 2,500 years ago. I have found this quotation to be applicable in many situations and for many persons.

“If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

For just about every leadership or management situation, challenge, or conflict you can simply take out “enemy” and insert the person, group, or situation and the quotation makes perfect sense and is a sure strategy for your success. It’s old, and it just works.

I realize your next thought might be, “Thanks Ed, but how to I get to know my ‘enemy’ or insert here: person, group, or situation?” I have two ideas for you that have continually prove successful for my clients.

Relationship Value Update

This is something that I synthesized from years of interviewing successful alliance leaders—the idea of extracting from others how they feel about a particular business relationship. Many large companies go to extraordinary lengths to gain, process, and understand this relationship perception information; you can do it much more simply. Many organizations will do something similar with their customers or suppliers and the term that is generally used is scorecard or report card. You can use this both internally and externally.

For a simple Relationship Value Update there are three necessary elements:

1. The value you/your company receive from this relationship.

2. The value you believe I/my company receives from this relationship.

3. Ideas for relationship improvement.

The method for use is: (a) put these three elements to paper, and the other person or organization to do the same. (b) Complete your update independent of the other. (c) Transmit or mail to the other, as the other also transmits theirs to you. (d) After each has reviewed, then have a face to face meeting to discuss differences and strategies for improvement. (e) Do this quarterly if possible.

The 3 on 3

I learned this idea from Patricia Fripp over 20 years ago, have used it and have taught it—and many have reported back their success in using it. To find out what another thinks, simply ask them. The process is as follows:

1. Have this meeting in a neutral environment.

2. Ask the person to share with you three things, which they do not care for about the way you (manage them, work for them, sell to them, buy from them, etc.)

3. Your only comment to each thing they share with you is, “Thank you.” You do not justify or explain yourself. You may ask a question if you do not understand what they are saying or need additional information to better understand. Remember, all you say is, “Thank you.”

4. After they share the three negative, ask them to share three positive things—things they like about the way you (manage them, work for them, sell to them, buy from them, etc.) Again, all you say is, “Thank you.”

5. At the end of your meeting tell the person that you’ll get back with them in a week or two, whatever works best, and you will have some ideas on how to use the information that they gave you.

6. No matter what—have that second meeting in the prescribed passage of time, no longer. Tell them what you have put in place, changed, implemented, etc. Letting the other person know what you have done with their information goes a long way to improve the conversation they have with themselves about you, and your business relationship.

“Focus on getting things done rather than to obsess on being right.”

Would you like to better motivate the people around you? Great; give up the idea that you always have to me right. For years, in just about all my public presentations, I have been conducting a simple exercise. If you are willing, let’s do it:

1. Understand this, in human conflict, humans operate from one of two emotional places; dug in on their position or trying to understand the other.

2. Think about a recent argument that you had; at home, at work, wherever.

3. See the other person in that argument, were they being difficult and unreasonable?

4. See yourself, were you operating from a place of being right…or from trying to understand the other?

5. If you said you were being right, I believe you. If you said that you were tiring to understand the other, I have one question. How could you of been trying to understand if you were arguing?

Generational and Cultural Issues

We are living in an interesting time; a lousy economy, high unemployment, and huge generational differences among workers. Sounds like a perfect storm. Really, it is a perfect opportunity—an opportunity to move forward by getting off the idea of being right and embracing the idea of understanding the generational and cultural issues of the persons with which you work, lead or follow. If you are a baby boomer, as are many of today’s business leaders, the GenX and the GenY most likely do drive you a bit crazy.

The GenX folks saw their parents get shafted during the “rightsizing” movement of the 90s. It is difficult for them to believe you when you tell them to keep their nose to the grindstone and they will have a bright future with your company. The GenY folks grew up with technology in such a way that it is ingrained into their personality DNA. You cannot BS them, they have the technological capability to effectively “check” whatever you say.

Now throw into the mix, the sear number of Hispanic (mostly from Mexico ) immigrants in America and Islamic immigrants worldwide and you are dealing with a huge paradigm shift. The reality is simple; you do not know people like you think you know people. For the traditional white, black, and Asian Americans dealing with Hispanic employees I highly suggest my good friend, Carlos Conejo’s book titled, Motivating Hispanic Employees. This is the best, bar none, book available today on motivating Hispanic employees.

“Make your relationship bank deposits before you attempt to take withdrawals.”

Our world has givers and takers. Giving and taking needs a balance; to take someone has to give and to give, someone has to receive. While there is really nothing wrong with taking, in a business environment you will build quality relationships faster if you give before you try to take. Giving is a relationship bank deposit and taking is a withdrawal.

My long-time friend, Robert B. Tucker, is the author of several books on innovation. In many of his keynotes and seminars he talks about how to take an idea to the point of implementation or production. He uses the analogy of a conveyer belt carrying your idea but continually on the left and right of the belt are influences trying to knock your idea off the belt. You cannot just place it on the belt and expect it to get where it needs to go. He says that you have to be diligent in protecting your idea to get it to that point of implementation or production. I call this, making your relationship bank deposits. Withdrawals come later—not the other way around.

For years I have used a Ziggy cartoon in my seminars to make the point of relationship bank deposits first. Visualize Ziggy with a dejected look on his face, standing next to the bank teller. She has just handed him back his withdrawal slip with a “REJECT” stamped on it. The caption states, “…Try not to think of it as overdrawn…we prefer to think of it as underdeposited…”

If you want to receive, and who in business doesn’t want a return on their investment, probably the best book available to help you make the smart and most effective “deposits” is Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. In his book he covers: weapons of influence; reciprocation; commitment and consistency; social proof; liking; authority; and scarcity—detailing for you how to use each tool to influence others, or as I would put it, making relationship bank deposits.

Don’t Eat the Marshmallow…Yet! This book written by my friend of many years, Dr. Joachim de Posada, is awesome. The book about the benefit of delayed gratification, what I would also call; relationship bank deposits first. While the book has sold millions of copies internationally, Joachim has also traveled the world giving lectures based on the ideas. The concept of delayed gratification is one that is embraced throughout the world. I highly suggest you too consider delaying the gratification of relationship bank withdrawals until after you make your deposits.

I could write volumes about the people, books, and ideas that have influenced me but what I believe might be important to you are the ideas I gleaned and have influenced me to attempt to influence you. Before you jump to the newest flavor-of-the-month leadership strategy, first take stock of what you already know but might not have used lately. Look at what used to work and ask why you no longer use it. New ideas are just fine, yet be mindful of what has proven to be successful in the past. Wishing you the best of success…

Sipping from a Fire Hydrant

How do I stop the insanity? Monthly, I get about 60 trade magazines mailed to my office. Daily, I receive about 10 electronic newsletters in my email in-box. And, social electronic networking—between Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter, I’m bombarded hourly.

Information Assault

How about you? Are you finding it hard to decide where to dedicate your time? For over 20 years I have been listening to my friend, Dr. Terry Paulson, talk about “today’s” information flow is like trying to sip from a fire hydrant. Well Terry, it just gets worse—and the productivity professionals—yeah sure thing. We have a two-fold challenge; information flow and information retention.

For the Rest of Us

Back in the mid-1990s I used to teach a full-day course for the Dun & Bradstreet Foundation titled, “Managing Multiple Priorities” which was a solid program (for the day) on getting stuff done. The course was deeply based in tactics yet strategy is the real issue. Let’s face it, how many “pending” emails are in your inbox, neatly stored in an archive system? With how many sources of information flow are you dealing? Most importantly, how many much of this information do you really need?

A couple years ago, for some unknown reason, America Online closed the email account that I had been using for over a decade and I thought the world had come to an end. After a while I realized that it was no major disaster and actually was a nice spring cleaning. The point is that we hold onto so much that we might “someday” use and all that stuff is creating what I call, information constipation. Right this minute, look around your office. What can you toss? Before you read another word, get up and toss it—yes, I mean right now! Admit it, didn’t that feel good? That’s what we all need more of; the willingness to toss stuff.

Toss and Block

The, what to toss question has both physical and emotional elements. Letting go of the physical stuff is generally easier than the emotional. As an example, it is much easier for me to toss my piles of trade magazines than it is to decide that I no longer need the subscriptions—thinking that I might miss out on an important piece of information. Then there is the issue of what to block all together. More on making those decisions later.

While de-cluttering one’s mind and workplace is a very liberating experience, one must make decisions on one’s standard operating procedures (SOPS)—what to accept, to keep, to toss, or to block. This goes for both the mind and workplace. Without doing this, you will soon be, again, in confusion. Below, I’ve listed some helpful “dumping” questions. But first, you really do need to develop some sort of system for yourself on easily retrieving the stuff you really, really, really do need. And that is very little. Perhaps understanding why we do not get stuff done will help in the decision process?

Why We Do Not Do Stuff

The information below is from a survey I recently conducted. I asked the question, “What keeps you from doing what you say?” While I consider the first two items to be effectively the same, I listed them separately because they are subsets of the issue.

16% - Poor prioritizing

10% - Lack of time

11% - Fear of failure/lack of self confidence

9.5% - Lack of focus/distractions

9.5% - No motivation/purpose/passion

8.5% - Over commitment

8.5% - Change in priorities

4% - Circumstances beyond personal control

5% - Miscellaneous

18% - Denial (Survey respondents stated, “I always do what I say.”)

Reviewing the above list; which one is your Achilles heal? I realize that you may have more than one issue, however, there is one over-arching issue that when resolved, the others cascade behind and become resolved.

Getting Over It

At the end of each day, we all do a quick mental review and are either pleased or displeased with the day’s activities. When pleased, we sleep well—but, when we believe we could have achieved so much more; sleep can be an elusive commodity.

Below are some questions to ask yourself about the flow and retention of your physical and mental junk:

1. Do I really, really, really need to look at this?

2. Do I really, really, really need to keep this?

3. What’s the worse thing that could happen if I didn’t have access to this?

4. Am I really, really, really willing to tell others to stop sending me stuff?

My best suggestion is for you to adopt the philosophy of first only accepting what you really need and secondly scan and dump most of what you do accept. This will keep you in the know, and out of the clutter. The reality is, you will be able to find the info again if you really need it. The great lesson that I learned from AOL closing my account was that I really didn’t need all that information that I was hording. How about you?

Motivate Today’s Employees with Recognition

Are you wondering how to motivate your employees? Do you fear that today’s employees are sometimes un-motivate-able? Here’s the good news; employee motivation is easier than you might realize. Today’s employees really are motivated through recognition. The key is to understand the various kinds of activities considered to be recognition of an employee’s abilities, hence motivational for today’s employees.

Several years ago I conducted an employee motivation research project while I was traveling North America for the Dun & Bradstreet Foundation delivering full-day public seminars, targeted to business. After several months and hundreds of responses to a simple question, “What can your boss, or your company, do to improve your company loyalty?” It was amazing! Over 50% of the responses were: recognition, or something very similar. Guess what, it is the same today.

Part of Something Bigger

When you can find a way to help your employees to be part of something bigger than them, they are more engaged and their work has a purpose beyond the daily grind. For most of today’s active workforce in North America, this involvement is perceived as recognition. They receive pleasure from participating in something special; a huge marketing and sales campaign, a contest, company reorganization, special research project, community activity, etc.

The smart employer that really understands employee motivation gets in front and leads. As an example, a community project might seem like a drain on resources for a small business, but really is a marketing/publicity campaign if administered correctly. Employees are allowed to spend a small amount of company time on the project and encouraged to spend some of their own time doing the same. The innovative business leader finds ways to “spin” the project for publicity which will translate to more community involvement with the company and into increased sales.

Give Them Some Control

It has been proven over and over again since the famous “Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works” study conducted by Harvard back in the late 1930s that employee productivity increases when the employees have control over their environment. I wrote about a similar situation that I observed at a Grand Rapids manufacturing company in my first book, “The Art of Partnering.” When employees took over control of the worst production line at the factory, they solved many of the challenges. The line soon became one of the most productive and also desirable among employees to work. In both cases the employees were given the recognition of trust that they could successfully control their work environment.

Trust and Respect Are Powerful Recognitions

Today’s employees want to be trusted and respected as having something to contribute beyond mindless labor and compliance; and they want it now! For the “Baby Boomer” aged business leader, trust and respect is something that must be earned over a period of time. The natural gap here is the length of time. In order to motivate today’s employees, older business leaders must dramatically speed up their distribution of trust and respect—not a naturally easy thing to do.

For many of today’s employees, an employer’s trust equals respect in their minds; and respect equals belonging. If you can see your way to helping your employees to have an emotional ownership in belonging to the community of your organization, they will see that as recognition and will be motivated to participate at accelerated levels within the “community.” This accelerated participation, if channeled correctly, will mean accelerated productivity.

Give What They Cannot Buy

It goes without saying that you have to pay (total package) your employees well. If you do not, your competitors will. However, beyond the compensation package, you will find a myriad of opportunities to show appreciation for the value employees deliver to your organization.

Find, discover, and develop appreciation (recognition) in conduits with legs. When you hand out cash recognitions, the cash disappears instantly and is forgotten almost as quickly. Let’s say that you gave an employee $200. There are a number of consumable niceties that they could instantly enjoy—then they simply want more cash.

Or, perhaps take that same $200 and have your company logo embroidered on the back of a trendy leather jacket. Give the jacket to that same employee. How long to you think they will enjoy the jacket? Most likely for years, and every time they wear the jacket it is a reminder of your appreciation for their work. By the way, whatever you select as recognitions, make sure those items are not available to employees through purchase. Give them what they cannot but.

Recognition for today’s employees need not be elusive to employers. To motivate today’s employees, recognitions must be thought-out and implemented with the same care as a military operation; innovate, research, decide, organize, and implement. Do these things any you will motivate your employees to do more and be more than you had previously considered possible.

Transforming Your Commitment into Reality

In a tough economy, it is quite easy for sales and business development persons to blame the economy for their lack of prospecting and follow through. It is equally as easy for business owners and leaders to hunker down into sluggishness and immobility. Put more bluntly; just blame your shortcomings on the economy, everyone else does.

The Question

What keeps you from doing what you say? That was the survey question I recently put out to a wide range of business leaders and solo practitioners. I was quite amazed at one of the responses that kept repeating, “I always do what I say.” First, that was not the question, however quite a number of respondents seemed to feel it necessary to tell me that they were not guilty of my query. Second, I did not believe a one of them. Be it to customers and colleagues or family and friends—even to one’s self; not a one of us ALWAYS does what we say!

Why We Do—Not

Below, I have listed for you my survey results. The first two on the list are one in the same to me; however I listed them separately because they are subsets of the issue.

16% - Poor prioritizing

10% - Lack of time

11% - Fear of failure/lack of self confidence

9.5% - Lack of focus/distractions

9.5% - No motivation/purpose/passion

8.5% - Over commitment

8.5% - Change in priorities

4% - Circumstances beyond personal control

5% - Miscellaneous

18% - Denial (I always do what I say response)

Total equals 100%

A Quarter of the Respondents

As I stated earlier, I believe that poor prioritizing and lack of time are one in the same. Adding them together and that is the reason one-fourth of the folks that responded offered as the key reason for them not doing what they say. Is the answer to hire a productivity professional? I really do not think so. These people need a reason to do better. They are in their comfort zone and are not being challenged. Unfortunately, their attitude is I’ll get to it when I get to it. If something really matters to these people, they will make it priority one and find the time—I guarantee.

What About Denial?

The next to the highest ranking answer category (18%) was what I refer to as denial—they just will not admit any shortcomings. Every one of the twelve-step programs for overcoming dependencies calls for your admission of problem as an early step. How in the world can you fix it if you will not admit there is a problem? Sure, some might be near perfect in doing what they say, in one area: customers, colleagues, friends, family, or self—but come on, we are all human and imperfect.

Pain Verses Pleasure

I believe that, for the majority of the population, pain is more persuasive than pleasure. Simply put, people tend to be more motivated to avoid pain than by the promise of pleasure. Yes, sure—you have examples to prove me wrong; however I will stand with my statement. And, if you really think about the population in general, you’ll surely agree with me—especially in the area of getting things done.

Mechanisms for Achievement

Regardless of the reason behind non-performance, ultimately you want to end the anxiety of lost opportunities and unfulfilled promises and learn how to get the things done that you said you would. In achieving the results you want there are four basic mechanisms for doing this:

1. Do it yourself. You have a “come to Jesus” talk with yourself and motivate yourself to do better. This method tends to be short lived and you will most likely backslide into your old habits of non-performance.
2. Get a friend to be your accountability buddy. If you seek help from a friend by giving them permission to hassle you when you do not do what you say, you will get things done for a while. However at some point your friend will give up hassling you. This is because at some point they will perceive that to push you any harder will damage the friendship and they value the friendship more than your productivity.
3. Get a distant colleague as your accountability buddy. This method will generally last much longer than the first two as long as both accountability buddies are somewhat pushing equally. Since there is much less of a quality of friendship at issue, each will feel empowered to drive the other harder and for a longer period of time.
4. Get a paid accountability advisor. If you are really serious about doing what you say, there is nothing better than a paid advisor. First, since you are spending your money, you appreciate the relationship more. Second, it is your advisor’s job to not accept your BS excuses for non-performance. A paid advisor with whom you communicate weekly, will in almost every situation, help you to go further toward ending your anxiety of lost opportunities and unfulfilled promises and help you to stay focused in the area of getting the things done that you said you would.

Add On Sales

There is a reason why McDonald’s enjoyed total revenues of $23.5 billion in 2008. Could it be that there are more than 31,000 McDonald’s restaurants around the world in 118 countries? That is partly the reason, however I believe the fact that they sell 9 million pounds of their delicious French fries per day is an even more important element.

What they really do well is ask, “Would you like fries with that?” McDonald’s world wide excels at add on sales. I realize that others have also gotten on the “add on sales” band wagon, yet McDonald’s consistently performs year after year.

What Would it Take?

What would it take for you to create this kind of culture in your organization? You might be finding yourself a bit resistant, thinking that the MacDonald’s employees are mindless robots; and you might be right. However, they consistently perform. What would it take for your organization to perform at the level McDonald’s expects? Could the roadblocks be ego, intellect, and perception?

The Ego Roadblock

In my experience professional service corporations and chic retailers are the worst offenders in the area of letting ego get in the way of add on sales. I’ll ask you this. ”Do you want to hold on to your costly erroneous beliefs or do you want to increase revenues? When you let your ego get in your way, revenues will decrease.

The Intellect Roadblock

“I’ll do it my way because I know better.” This is the battle cry for intellects. In solving complex problems this is fine, however it is not acceptable is selling more of your products and/or services. Intellects are infatuated with features as opposed to being conscious of benefits. Intellects love to hear themselves talk about the technical side of anything and everything. Guess what? Your customers really do not care. They just want to know how your product or service will make their lives better—and, that it is a good value.

The Perception Roadblock

The perception roadblock to add on sales is one that will definitely need a brain adjustment. Business owners and the employees that sell for them too often feel it is an imposition on their customer to offer something additional. Somehow these folks got their head screwed on cockeyed and they really do need some help. When one truly cares about their customer, client, or patient; it is incumbent on them to offer every bit of value your/their organization has to offer.

One might say that McDonald’s is making people fat and unhealthy by offering supersizing or just “fries with that.” I do not think so. McDonalds is not cramming the food down the throats of their dining patrons but simply offering more value. Customers make choices. What you need to do is to simply offer your customers more choices and more value.

Success in Simplicity

McDonald’s, I believe, is successful because of simplicity. They do not rattle off 20 additional dining options but rather one or two. If you were to adapt this idea of simplicity to your organization, it might be done by just offering one single item to every customer as an add on, or possible having just one specific and different customized add on offering for every individual product or service. Needless to say, the multi-item approach is much more difficult to implement.

Why Else Don’t They Offer?

I have found that the primary reason you and your employees do not offer add on sales is because of a lack of training. I bet you thought I was going to say laziness. In my two decades of experience in work with organizations as a consultant, I have identified lack of training as the culprit much more often than apathy or sloth.

A Simple Solution

Your simple solution to increasing add on sales in your organization is daily training. Try this for a month and see if I’m not completely correct. At the start of every day, spend two to three minutes explaining to all the persons in your organization, why a particular product or service helps your customers’ lives to be better and suggest that they suggest it to customers that day. At the end of a month you have trained your entire company, on how to offer 20 new and or different, add on products or services. And your employees have consciously participated in that training.

Yes, it will take you, the leader, a bit of pre-planning time but, my gosh—isn’t that your job anyway? Do this rigorously for one month and I guarantee you that you’ll be pleased with the results. It is the little things that make the difference.

Three on Three—the Magnificent Supervision Tool

What an Idea--proven over time! It was in the mid-1980s, when I owned a manufacturers representative sales agency that I heard Patricia Fripp talking about this idea in one of her success seminars. I tried the idea with my sales team and it worked magnificently. For over a decade now, I too have been sharing this tool with audiences across North America and have received numerous notes of success from attendees.

Let me first warn you—while this tool is simple to understand and quite easy to use, if executed incorrectly, can be crushing to your ego. But, what the hay—as a leader, it is your job to leave your ego at the door when you come to work each day.

The Value

The important value you will receive from this tool is that of knowing what perceptions your employees hold about you and their work environment. I absolutely believe that in every company—no matter how caring toward employees—exists a metaphorical two-story outhouse. Since we all know what flows downhill, your concern needs to be that of determining how to dismantle or tear down this barrier between you and your employees, no matter how inconsequential you believe it to be. Learning the perceptions of your employees is key to bettering the work environment for them. It is also true for creating an open door safety net that will allow employees to operate in an environment that encourages them point out overlooked mistakes before they become costly catastrophes.

The Tool

The brief description of this tool is to sit down with your key employees, department heads or executive team—one at a time—and ask them to share with you three things that they do not like about how you manage them and the organization. Then to ask them to share with you three things they do like.

A Word of Caution

In order for you to successfully use this tool you need to realize that your employees will be very skeptical at first. They will wonder what’s gotten into you—what’s your true motivation in asking these questions? Also, you must be aware of the fact that they will “feel the water before jumping in” meaning that they will test you first before they will share their true perceptions. With this being stated, be cautious to only thank them for their answers rather than to question or challenge their answers in a knee-jerk fashion. If you do not understand what they are saying, it is okay to ask for clarification but any comment other than a “Thank you” will greatly diminish your employees’ willingness to take a risk and tell you the truth.

Tool Implementation

Select the employee with whom you believe you have the best relationship for your first go at the Three on Three. Do this because you will be the most at ease with this person. After your first success, each consecutive session gets easier to conduct.

1. Find a neutral location (your office is unacceptable) and sit them down in a relaxed atmosphere.
2. Tell your employee that you have a desire to improve your management style and the work environment for all the employees.
3. Ask them for their help in honestly answering some questions.
4. Insure them that nothing they say will ever be held against them in the future.
5. Now ask them to share three things with you that they don’t like about your management style or the work environment. Remember, the first answer is testing the water so even if you feel like you’ve just been stabbed in the heart, you must only reply with, “Thank you.”
6. Repeat step #5 two more times. Generally, the second or perhaps third response is where you hit gold and get some real feedback.
7. In a sincere manner, tell them that you will work on what they said and that you will get back to them in a week or two to discuss what you have done about the items they shared.
8. Now you can ask for three things they do like about your management style and the work environment. Again, only respond with, “Thank you.” This is not the time to puff up your chest and talk about your greatness.
9. After the third positive response assure them that you are going to try to do more of those things in the future.
10. The master key to this whole process is that you MUST get back with this employee in the week or two that you promised and have completed some definitive action toward improvement on at least one of the items they shared with you as being a problem—an action toward all three issues is optimal.

Do this Three on Three process with your key people at least twice a year—quarterly is better—and at this time next year, I guarantee that you will have noticed results.

Praise Employees for a Job Well Done

Praise for a job well done! Was the response most frequently given to me during my six-month Employee Loyalty Survey in 1995. At seminars across the country, I asked attendees to tell me the one thing that would improve their company loyalty. Present, were of all levels from entry to executive, and recognition is what American workers want most!

I believe most executives, owners and managers secretly yearn for employees who have an emotional ownership in their company. Employees that operate as if they owned the company and always looked out for the company's best interests. Unfortunately, few are willing to do what it takes to cultivate this emotional ownership. Often, I hear managers saying that loyalty is too costly. But, how much does it cost to say, "Good job" or "Thank you?" Not a cent! The cost is the manager giving of him or herself--and to some, that price is too high. I have found that a little bit of recognition goes a long way.

Find creative ways to recognize your team. Don't let your creativity limit you, ask your employees what they might like. Ask colleagues what they have done. Listed below are 50 "easier" low cost recognitions offered by my seminar attendees.

Low Cost Employee Recognition

1. A visit from the president.

2. E-mail from the president.

3. Notice to all employees of a special performance.

4. Letter of recognition in employee's permanent file.

5. "Highlighting Employee" section in company newsletter.

6. "Well Done" pens.

7. Company coffee cup.

8. "Attaboy or Attagirl" stickers.

9. Paid time off.

10. Recognition at meeting.

11. Flowers.

12. T-shirt.

13. Lunch with the president or other executive.

14. New title.

15. Balloons.

16. Gift certificates to local restaurant, theater or video/DVD rental store.

17. Flex time.

18. Special parking space.

19. Private verbal praise.

20. Team pot luck celebration.

21. Choice of work assignments.

22. Certificate of Appreciation.

23. Cookies.

23. Team congratulatory song.

24. Selecting the workplace radio station for a week.

25. Come in late or get off early card.

26. Get the workplace recycled soda cans for a month.

27. Hand shake and "Thank you."

28. Company specialty advertising items.

29. Boss for a day.

30. Care package to spouse or children of employee.

31. Wash employee's car.

32. Food: all-day suckers, pizza, donuts or maybe something healthy.

33. "Get Out of Meeting" card.

34. Free vending machine privileges for the week.

35. Lotto tickets.

36. Gold star on desk.

37. Facial, pedicure or massage.

38. Cater breakfast at employee's desk.

39. Party at owner's or executive's home.

40. "We'll do it Your Way Today" card.

41. Software, special keyboard, new chair, etc.

42. Notice about employee accomplishments in local newspaper.

43. Assign additional responsibility.

44. Guaranteed quiet/thinking time.

45. Include employee in decision making.

46. Decorate office for holidays.

47. Lunch or dinner at long meetings and training classes.

48. Listen to the employee.

49. Encouragement.

50. Allowed to attend a seminar of their choice.

In The Art of Partnering I wrote about Management By Partnering Around (MBPA). I believe MBPA is the best possible solution to greater productivity. This applies to anybody who considers them a manager or better yet, a leader. Use Ken Blanchard's model from the One Minute Manager, find employees doing things right and give them a "one minute praising" on the spot. What a great way to build relationships.

Management by Partnering Around
When I suggest partnering around, I'm simply suggesting that you create mini-alliances throughout your organization with employees, teams, executives, and others. As in networking, your goal in MBPA is to get to know as many employees as possible. Next, learn their strengths, weaknesses, and their interests. This knowledge will allow you to successfully put people together using the "Adaptive Organization" model. It will serve you well by unleashing employee creativity and more effectively utilizing their unique abilities.

If you will commit to MBPA, you can add my favorite recognition program to all your other incentive or motivational workplace programs. Rigsbee's Recommended Recognition Program is that of offering negotiable corporate tender. The benefits to this recognition system are: Immediate and customized recognitions. We all want to know how we are doing. Who would not like their "reward" customized to their individual preferences?

Employee Recognition Certificates

Too expensive you say--not at all! This is the best deal in town if you do it correctly. Print recognition bucks assign a value and hand them out when you catch your employees doing a great job. It's praise for a job well done. Who should hand out the certificates? It should be supervisors, managers and executives/owners.

Assigning the value is a bit tricky. You want them coveted by the employees but not so valuable that your managers are hesitant to hand them out. An Air Force major I met in Alaska assigned the value as a paid day off but for most companies it is too valuable. Managers are much less likely to hand out days off than a coffee mug.

First look at what you already have that would create value in the lives of your employees, vender freebies, specialty advertising items and so forth. Then see what toys can barter for within your community and then post a list of "recognitions" and assign how many certificates needed for redemption. One certificate might be worth a paid hour off or a T-shirt. Two certificates might get your employee movie tickets for two or lunch at a local haunt. Five certificates might get a company jacket of paid vacation day. Play with it, put up new postings each month of the newly acquired goodies. Be creative, always add something new to keep the program fresh and your employees guessing.

This program only works of the supervisors, managers and executives/owners will give of themselves to find employees doing things right and reward them for a job well done. Take a risk and try it. All you have to lose is the productivity your not now currently getting. Whatever method you select for recognizing your employees, the important thing is to start now.