FOUR THINGS YOUR STAFFS WISH YOU KNEW!

1.  WE DESERVE RESPECT

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Your staffs expect you to treat them individually with dignity and respect. They want you to be approachable and considerate.

Employees give their best in workplaces where they are valued and treated with respect and dignity and where nobody attempts to or actually molests them. An environment devoid of any form of unethical behaviour is the most productive one.

Treat them with honesty, integrity, probity, diligence, fairness, trust, respect and consistency. Your staffs expect you to provide an environment where conflict is not allowed to fester and grow and where no one makes improper use of an individual's position or of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement.

2.  Give us RECOGNITION

 

© 2011 Tom Distler

Recognition isn’t synonymous with attention. While attention is a part of recognition, it isn’t recognition.

Recognition isn’t:

a.      Praise

b.      Gift items

c.       Money

What does it mean to recognize your staff?

“When employees ask for recognition, they are expressing the need for something much more complex than a cheap gilded plaque or a service pin that thanks them for several years on the job. To employees, the real meaning of the word recognition refers to the presence of systems and practices that reaffirm their value to the organization” ¹

Recognition = Partnering

Don’t just occasionally tell them "good job". This is never enough!

Take time to have meaningful discussions with them about their work in a manner that conveys respect for them and for their part in the growth of the organization. During such discussions, the employee gets the feeling that he is really a part of something and that his efforts are appreciated. THAT IS RECOGNITION

Recognition =Involvement

Do not lock the door of involvement against your staff. Involve them in problem-solving and decision-making. This serves as a major ego boosting “drug” and adds to their sense of value and worth. Always ask them: “What do you think?” “How can we solve this problem?” THAT IS RECOGNITION

“Asking employees their opinions, asking them to help solve problems or implement improvement and providing them with opportunities to discuss important decisions goes a long way towards minimizing the social distinction of the management hierarchy.” ²

Recognition =Respect

Please respect your staff. That’s all that need to be said. THAT IS RECOGNITION

Recognition = Personalised Attention

Every staff is unique and requires what I call here personalised attention. For you to honestly recognise an employee your organisation must be flexible, supportive, and responsive to individual special circumstances.

“One cannot feel recognized as an individual when management shows indifference to legitimate issues and needs by automatically quoting "company policy." ³

3.  What we WANT   what you THINK we want may be different.

What do your staffs really want from you? Can you rank their expectations in order of importance?

“Good managers must have high emotional intelligence competencies to sense what employees and need and to be able to meet them—by relating to them and including them at the feelings level.”

Susan Dunn http://www.susandunn.cc

In 1946 employers in the US were surveyed to find out what they feel their employees require of them, ranking in order of importance ten different items. This survey - from the Labour Relations Institute of New York was published in 1946 in Foreman Facts, and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949 – showed clearly that employers may not actually know what their employees want.

Take a look at the list of what employers think employees want, and then consider what the employees themselves say they actually want.

 

Notice that most managers ranked good wages as the first thing their employees want from them. How untrue!

The first three things your employees want from you aren’t even tied to money. They are tied to how you treat them! They are tied to soft skills that you as the manager must possess. Managers who are empathetic are observed to have an able, content workforce.

These studies have been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).

4.  Create the RIGHT environment for growth

Your staffs expect you to provide an environment where conflict is not allowed to fester and grow and where no one makes improper use of an individual's position or of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement.

A simple illustration will here suffice.

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A business is like a plant. For it to grow and thrive, it must get right amount of sunlight (say support from top management), the right soil type (a conducive atmosphere at work, where all staff are valued and treated respectfully), water (a reasonable benefits and pay package, training and development opportunities) and chlorophyll (of course the staffs’ inherent abilities and talents).

For chlorophyll to even work in plants there is the need for the right conditions. If the soil is not suitable (or any of the other aforementioned factors are not present), the plant will naturally wither and die. As an employer, you must provide your staff with an opportunity to excel. There thriving at what they do ultimately lead to more business for you.

“There is a direct statistical significant relation between the job performance effectiveness and the organizational climate axis.”⁴

The workplace should be warm and respectful, filled with polite people who say “thank you” and are friendly.

Also as an employer, encourage proficiency through training and development.

Training improves a person’s knowledge and skills so that they can carry out a task.

Your staffs benefit from training as:

• they feel more a part of the business

• they become better at their job and so can meet customers’ needs better

• they become more effective with new skills.

Governments understand the need to have a highly army. A well trained army is better equipped to ward off enemy attacks and defend territories. That is why nations spend trillions on defense. The U.S for example estimates it would spend $1.42 trillion on defense in the 2012 fiscal year alone! ⁵

Of the $405 billion revenue WalMart had in 2009 ⁶, it spent according to its 2010 Global Sustainability Report  a total of $6.5 million on training and staff development.

Why do large corporations spend so much on training and development?

It is because investing in people IS preparing your business for further expansion!

Ok so there you go. Those are four additional things your staffs wish you knew!

Apply this knowledge and watch your business grow.

Think.

Act.

Succeed!

3 AESOP FABLES TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS BETTER!

1.     The Crow and Mercury

A CROW caught in a snare prayed to Apollo to release him, making a vow to offer some frankincense at his shrine.  But when rescued from his danger, he forgot his promise.  Shortly afterwards, again caught in a snare, he passed by Apollo and made the same promise to offer frankincense to Mercury.  Mercury soon appeared and said to him, "O thou most base fellow? How can I believe thee, who hast disowned and wronged thy former patron?'

DID YOU GET THE POINT?

KEEP YOUR PROMISES!

Your customers expect you to deliver on promises made to them. If you’ve offered to do the job for half the price of the competition then do it and do it well! Do not shy away from fulfilling obligations to customers simply because you have become ‘better off’ and you think you wouldn’t need them again. No matter how difficult it is to deliver on promises made to clients, it is best if you just do what you say. This leads to trust, trust leads to preference of your product or brand, sustained preference leads inevitably to dependence and dependence (boy that is what you want!) ensures REPEAT PATRONAGE!

The crow in this story forgot that bad word of mouth would lead to future problems. Even if your customers do not complain, others who saw how you treated them deceitfully would not give you their business.

In short:

“Just let your word Yes mean Yes, your No, No.” – Jesus (33CE)

2.      The Dancing Monkeys

A PRINCE had some Monkeys trained to dance.  Being naturally great mimics of men's actions, they showed themselves most apt pupils, and when arrayed in their rich clothes and masks, they danced as well as any of the courtiers.  The spectacle was often repeated with great applause, till on one occasion a courtier, bent on mischief, took from his pocket a handful of nuts and threw them upon the stage.  The Monkeys at the sight of the nuts forgot their dancing and became (as indeed they were) Monkeys instead of actors.  Pulling off their masks and tearing their robes, they fought with one another for the nuts.  The dancing spectacle thus came to an end amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience.

DID YOU GET THE POINT?

      a.     CREATE A LOVABLE PERSONAL PRESENCE!

Your dress and grooming - a subset of your personal presence- has a huge effect on how people perceive you. You must dress and groom according to the standards of the industry you are consulting for.

Aside from dress and grooming, your speech and actions affects your business growth, so talk like a professional, be confident and assured and the business may just keep coming your way.

Even the monkeys in Aesop’s fable got all the attention in the world and they were respected because they dressed well!

In short:

“Dress British, think Yiddish” – Unknown

      b.   IF IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THEN IT PROBABLY ISN’T TRUE!

You want to undertake a business endeavor – or thinking of hiring a new staff to fill a delicate position- the prospects look stunning and the stats are just perfect! But the whole thing just doesn’t feel right.  Like masked, royally adorned expert dancers? Too good to be true?

Then do not hesitate to investigate!

Beneath that entire fancy garb might be a fraud masquerading as the real thing. Ask questions, satisfy your curiosity. Ensure you make sound decisions based on facts, not on emotions

In short:

“Not everything you see is what it appears to be”

3.   The Crow and the Pitcher

A thirsty crow comes upon a pitcher with water at the bottom, beyond the reach of its beak. The thirsty crow tries hard to push the pitcher over but the heavy pitcher won’t even budge. Then the crow happens upon a fine idea. It drops in pebbles one by one into the pitcher until the water rises to the top of the pitcher, allowing the crow to drink.

DID YOU GET THE POINT?

      a.     USE YOUR HEAD: THINK, THINK, THINK!

The Crow and the Pitcher is one of Aesop’s most studied fables and is numbered 390 in the Perry Index. This story stresses the virtue of ingenuity.

You will always be a market leader if you look for smarter and smarter ways to satisfy your customers. If your solutions are trendy, modern, more efficient, then you just might be in business for a long long time.

Steven Jobs was a master at being ingenious; his tablets produced for Apple became popular simply because it afforded customers the ability to do the same things (computing) in a new and more interesting way.

The future belongs to those who look for new ways to solve old problems!

In short:

"Thoughtfulness is superior to brute strength." - Avianus

      b.     DON’T GIVE UP: KEEP TRYING!

A basic lesson from this fable that should not escape the mind of a shrewd business man is this: the crow was persistent. 

The crow did not abandon the pitcher in frustration when it could not turn it over. Think about the number of times it would have to go get pebbles in its beak to drop into the pitcher. Now that is persistence!

As a businessman, you should persistently try to find solutions to problems, not run away from problems. Solutions earned through hard work, does three (3) things for the businessman.

            i.         the lessons learned are ingrained and permanent

            ii.       there is now an increase in self believe and confidence to solve other problems

            iii.       the joy of being "so smart" is a great feeling

In short:

'Where there's a will, there's a way'. - Unknown

IS YOUR PERSONAL PRESENCE WORKING AGAINST YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESS?

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly” - Anonymous

As an entrepreneur, you may be quite skilled and knowledgeable of your area of business. You may even possess qualifications that stand you out as exceptional in the market, but you may find out that business is going away from you rather than coming to you.

What might be responsible for this? While I cannot say specifically what may be in all instances, research has shown that a common denominator of such situations where you are skilled and knowledgeable and the business does not come to you is your personal presence.

But what is your personal presence?

Your personal presence consists of “how you dress, how you conduct yourself, how you use your voice and how others experience your persona when you are with them”¹

People naturally are drawn to people that are just like them. You must act dress, speak and act accordingly.

Best-selling author Diana Booher in her book Creating Personal Presence – Look, Talk, Think and Act Like a Leader classifies your personal presence in four categories viz:

1.       How you look

The way we appear to others has a huge impact on their perception of us. As a businessman, you must have the right look to earn the confidence of current and prospective clients. In fact looks are SO important; you must give it serious thought. A popular cliché is “dress English, think Yiddish”.  Dress to be accepted by the people you are calling on and consulting with. Avoid clothes that make you mundane. Do not wear flashy jewellery, expensive gaudy watches. Before approaching prospective clients, take a good look at yourself in a full length mirror. Do what you see match what you’d like to see? Do you need to start trying to lose some weight? Does your wardrobe need some updating? When in front of the client, translate your body language to credibility.¹

2.       How you talk

Nothing puts people off more than another person who is seen as not knowing “how to talk”. An arrogant professorial manner makes others feel insulted and would ultimately lead to their despising you and the business you stand for. The thing to avoid is to say only the right things at the right time and leave the wrong things unsaid during emotionally charged moments.

Apart from what you say, how you sound also has a direct bearing on whether you would get that business. The book Independent Consulting-A Comprehensive Guide to Building Your Own Consulting Business, provides the following advice: “tape your voice. Do you like what you hear? Does your voice have the qualities of resonance, vitality, clarity and support you’d like?”² It is best to speak before some friends as you would before a prospective client and have them criticise your speech, with emphasis on the tone and quality of the speech. Words of caution though; while you do not want to appear timid and not in control, do not also sugar-coat or embellish your credentials or abilities. Remember; only say things you can reasonably offer. The Latin maxim nemo dat quod non habet should guide you here. It means roughly: you cannot give what you do not possess.

3.       How you think

To be successful, you must think strategically. This involves organising in your mind the key variables and throwing away the clutter which inevitably labours the thought process. The ability to in many cases proffer on the spot solutions for your clients is a big plus to your personal presence. You need to be able to think on your feet while under pressure. Always take a point of view and ensure it is the right one, then think it through without allowing emotions to cloud your decisions. You must be able to organize ideas coherently and think in pictures as it were. Such thinking will help you communicate your ideas in a more colourful and impactful way

4.       How you act

The way you act is the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is your personal presence. You need to act in a confident and calm manner. Note though that confidence and arrogance are two different unrelated concepts. A confident person shows of enough self believe to convey to clients his technical competence and professionalism without offending such clients. If you need to take a different position from what your client is taking do so in a calm manner.  Make commitments when you communicate, show your clients that you appreciate their business. In order to be persuasive, create an atmosphere of working together. Do not concentrate on your achievements; no one wants to hear how good you think you are. Concentrate instead on showing them what they stand to benefit by using your product/service.

On a final note, it is important to here say that if your intent is to add value to your clients business, that intent would come across in what you say, how you say it and in how you act. Your client should hear it in your voice, in your language and in other forms of non-verbal communication. Be genuine, have a good sense of humour. Demonstrate to your clients your thoughtfulness and act with impeccably good manners.

So take a long honest look at yourself and at your business practice. Do you see areas to improve your personal presence? An honest assessment would bring these areas to the fore and help you develop a sound personal presence that would work for and not against your business success!

References

1.         Diana Booher, Creating Personal Presence – Look, Talk, Think and Act Like a Leader. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011

2.       David, Kintler et al. Independent Consulting – A Comprehensive Guide to Building Your Own Consulting Business. F+W Publications, 1998.