I love quotes!  I have since I was young. I would collect them, make collages of them, and put them on hand made cards for my friends.  Whether it’s a success saying or a success quotation – it’s a bite-size form of coaching. It’s powerful information and inspiration in a bite.

Here’s a Management Success Tip: Include quotes in your team culture.

Why? Consider what quotes do…

1. Inspire = motivate

2. Direct

3. Instruct

4. Feed our spirit

5. Stimulate our thinking

…just to name a few and I’m sure you can think of more.

How powerful is it to have just a few words carry so much weight and do so much good! And you know the funny thing?…a new social media phenomena creates a context for that to regularly occur – Twitter.

I am going to be sharing my favorite quotes there, so if you’re not following me…do so!  I promise I will not bother you with my personal, inane activities.  What I will do is pass on quotes and information that are worth your time and support you in developing the quality life you desire to have.  Twitter Web Site

To start, here are a few of my favorites and how they impact me:

Category: Wise & Instructive

Humphrey Bogart once said: “Enjoy the moments, kid, because in the end they add up to a life.”

Coaching point: Live in the moment.  Don’t waste your time dwelling on the past or too much anticipating the future.  Make the most of now…each now adds up to a life.

Category: Inspirational

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.” Michael Jordan, American Basketball Player

Coaching point: go after it, plan on loosing a lot to be a winner.

Category: Motivational

“Go big or go home.” Donald Trump

Coaching point: give it all ya got!

These 3 hit me in so many ways….all in just a few words.  Join me on Twitter for a regular does of these Power Qutoes!

Access Twitter Here

Remember the success tip...Use quotes in your team culture and to coach yourself

To your success!  JoAnn

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Related to performance success, this is essential and I want to recommend a method that is a twist on the more traditional ways of approaching this.

To follow is a link to an assessment tool called – Annual Portfolio Evaluation.  What is unique about this assessment approach is the human part of the equation commonly known as our strengths and weaknesses is now reframed as an ASSEST OR LIABILITY, which is the language used on a company balance sheet and other company resources.

I think that this is the key advantage to using this approach.  You and those you use this with can feel a greater sense of responsibility to what you can contribute, in essence the value you and members of your team bring to an organization.  Framing it this way vs. “strength and weakness,” adds a whole new dimension to working in the context of human resource. In fact many use the word human capital vs. human resource.

This also can be used in developing a Personal Development Plan or integrating the information into any development program currently being used in any organization.

Conversely, there is something called a “liability.”  A liability is explained in Websters a follows:
3 : one that acts as a disadvantage : drawback.

This is a useful way of helping somone see that what would otherwise be considered a weakness is actually a cost.  The message is stronger – that behavior or lack of skill is costing you and the company.  There is a cost. As somone who runs my own firm, I am keenly aware of what weaknesses I have and how they tangibly translate into costing me money. Each employee needs to constructively feel that on some level.

This message and experience is much stronger than, “you’ve got a weakness.”

I recommend you download the free assessment sheet above and give it a whirl.  Got any questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me at joann@joanncorley.com

To your success! JoAnn

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It’s been consistently reported that many employees don’t feel valued and appreciated.  Please know that does impact their ability to really give their best. Only the unique few will do their best inspite of the absence of appropriate thank yous.  And I believe, at some point, that won’t go on forever.

One manager I met in one of my pubic seminars shared that she had written 100+ hand written notes to her whole department!  Wow….what does that say about her besides the fact that she has a strong writing hand?  I’m sure you could come up with a constructive list.

The irony?  Companies spend thousands and some millions on employee incentive, reward and recognition programs.  Yet a simple “thank you” cost absolutely nothing!

Coaching Questions: Does every member of your team feel appreicated?  When is the last time you gave a heart-felt thank you to members of your staff?

One cool idea: One company due to extended work hours, sent thank you gifts to the families of those working all those long hours.

Source: 1001 Ways to Reward Employees You can get a discounted version at Amazon by clicking the title link.
TSUWAEE7ADR5

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Though this article was written sometime ago, I think it flew under the radar for some time.  I’d like to resurrect it.  At the end of this post you’ll find the link to the full story.

The headline? Why Zappos Offers New Hires $2,000 to Quit. Now at first blush you might be thinking…what?…it cost me money to hire them and now I’m going to pay more money to let them go…encourage them to leave?

This thought begs an essential question regarding profitable management and here it is, “How much does it cost to keep an employee who is underperforming, has proven to not be a good fit, has proven to not be coachable and is now disruptive?”  Might I suggest way more than $2,000.00. If nothing else think of the ripple effect on fellow team members and their productivity.

The cost is more explicitly spelled out in a study conducted by The Future Foundation. You can find the key findings via an article at this link. The Hidden Cost of Poor People Performance. It worth your time to read!

It’s been my experience as I’ve connected with thousands of managers across North America, that it is a very common practice to keep these kind of employee way too long!  Now there are many reasons for that, but the point is it’s happening more than it should and it absolutely does hurt a companies bottom line as well as the morale of the direct reports and fellow team members.

In this new economy where there is a crying need to be innovative in all areas of business practice, more innovation regarding this people part of business is essential as well.

I am going to consider this a potential best practice.  Here is the link to the full article: Full Article

Coaching tip: See how this practice can be implemented or modified in some way or see how the spirit of the practice can be applied in your situation.

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Several years ago, there was a survey done among a certain segment of the healthcare population and one of the questions that was posed in the survey was this:  If you could get anything from your boss, what would it be? 

The number one most popular answer was this, “a handwritten thank you note from my boss.”  Wow!  We think handwritten thank you notes are somewhat a thing of the past.  But you know what?  I think they probably should come back. 

I recently encountered a manager at a workshop that I conducted that did exactly that.  But she added one other element to it that I think is worth your consideration.  This manager had 150 employees and in an effort to express to her employees how much she appreciated them, she did write a handwritten thank you note to every member of her staff. 

However, rather than distributing them at work, she thought it would be much more effective and have much more impact to actually send the notes to their homes.  You know, I thought, “How brilliant.  What a great idea!” 

You know the place of recognition in every home that is tried and true?…the refrigerator! I would suspect that even for the shyest employees, to have that handwritten thank you note posted on that refrigerator would be a great source of pride.  They would get to see it in the privacy of their own space every day and also, to be able to display it to their other family members.

That constant reminder of their manager’s gratitude,   I’m thinking that would go a long way in motivating an employee on an ongoing basis.  Talk about making lots of deposits in their emotional, psychological, and spiritual fuel cells.

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That very saying was confirmed in the HR Newsletter where a survey was conducted to determine the top 3 reasons why someone had left a job.  The number one most popular answer was their boss.

Now, this post is not to get down on managers.  It is to serve a reality check though the essential to employee motivation and employee retention is the relationship you have with each of your staff members.  Consider it the glue that helps to hold an entire team together.  But again, it begins with you.

The reality is the person you are on the inside is the kind of manager you’ll be on the outside and how you are on the outside directly impacts the motivation of your employees.  Are you ready to OWN this important fact?

I believe at the heart of effective management is the manager’s ability AND WILLINGNESS to see themselves honestly and how they impact the people they manage.

Recommended action:
1. Write out a list of what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Create a plan of what you’d like to work on this next year. (Some of you may already do this with formal performance management plans)
3. Ask your staff to also access you.  The formal name for this is a 360 feedback which is a written or electronic survey done anonymously to provide a manager with performance feedback.

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Well, studies have shown that managers who take a few minutes each week to supportively talk to each member of their staff maintain team stability, good rapport, and that results in better retention. Why retention?  People who get attention feel cared for, valued, and respected.  Consider that you are putting deposits in their emotional fuel cell – fueling their motivation.  And the good news is it’s all free.   So consider using this tip – The One Minute Moment.

Here’s an easy way to execute this tip automatically.  Most managers today function with an electronic, time management system of some kind.  Plug into your calendar what time of the week you would like to do this.  Make it reoccurring and rely on your calendar to remind you and then, just do it.  Hmm, that sounds like a familiar phrase.

If you really want to test the value of this behavior, in a month or two ask your employees and get feedback from them on how that specific behavior has impacted them.  I’ll bet you’ll discover an extraordinary return on investment.

Now lest you’re concerned that may appear insincere or rigid, then just change up the time each week or change how you do it.  For example, instead of verbal, just write a quick note or leave a post-it note on someone’s computer with a compliment.
One final thought…consider what could be the enormous value of employee retention – it can save a company lots of moolah and this act you can do for FREE!

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Each employee has something known as an emotional bank.  Depending on what’s going on during a work day, that emotional bank either gets deposits or withdrawals. 

So, if you are pleasant to that employee, you say thank you or communicate that you appreciate the work they do; you are making “deposits” in their emotional bank.

If on the other, you let a negative employee reign in the group (I call them toxic) or you are critical of the work of the employee, that would result in withdrawals.  (By the way what I don’t mean here is giving useful, constructive feedback.)

Why does that matter?  The emotional bank of an employee is the hub of individual motivation.  You, as a manager, have a significant opportunity to keep an employee motivated with this knowledge.

Create an ongoing plan to continually make deposits in the emotional banks of your employees.

Remember that the motivation of an employee is an asset – a resource …ah ..gives new meaning to the word “human resource.”

Final thought: Hey, even if you’re not a manager, every team member could use a few deposits!

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