The Geeky Way of Measuring Employee Happiness

Reading this New York Times Article on Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss will make you go “…Hello??” in only a few seconds. In a quest to improve people management skills, Google had a team analyze countless performance reviews and feedback surveys, turn them into code and hard numbers over a period of several [...]

How To Retain Talents When You Can’t Give Them A Raise

The only way to keep employees in a company by recognizing their needs and responding to them.

This is “Before-The-Fact-Recognition” and creates sustainable motivation that will last even through a financial crisis – as opposed to “After-The-Fact-Recognition” which consists mainly of rewards (for achievements) and only gives short boosts of motivation (as long as the rewards keep coming).

If you give people a chance to grow, to be involved, if you make them feel valuable by giving them a chance to make a difference (to the company, their colleagues, your clients, etc.), if you ask them for their opinion, so they feel respected and important and if you openly communicate your concerns and that you do recognize their needs – then you’re creating a relationship (a psychological and emotional bond) with your employees that they won’t break just because someone offers them more money.

How Was Your First Day, Honey?

Here’s a great Wall Street Journal article by Mike Michalowicz on involving the significant others of your employees into motivating those same employees… What would it do for your employees if they came home to partners every evening, who tell them, “Wow, you’re so lucky to work for that company!” What would it take for [...]

The Answer Is Not 42

You know I get Steve Chandler’s daily messages straight in my inbox every day, and sometimes they are just too good to keep to myself. Here’s today’s message – sooo related to what we’re doing here. I co-wrote a book with Duane Black called The Hands-Off Manager.  Duane is an inspiration. He taught me to [...]

Stealth Disco

Have you ever heard of “Stealth Disco”? Me neither. Stealth Disco: The act of being videotaped dancing or rocking out behind or near someone who is doing something serious and does not notice. This is too funny. Can you create fun like this in your office? Yes, I did steal this post from “The Chief [...]

Use Wacky Appreciation Days To Create Fun At Work

You know that unexpected little surprises make people way happier than expected ones, right? And coming up with something unexpected on a regular basis is not easy, right again? Here’s a source of information that will give you a boost of creativity and ideas in creating more fun for your team at work. It’s a [...]

This Is the Simple Key To Employee Engagement

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. [Albert Einstein] Employer Engagement and Line Manager Engagement lead to Employee Engagement. It’s a perfect example for a 200% relationship, where each party always gives 100% to support the other party – regardless if the other party is able to reciprocate at the same [...]

If You Get The Company Culture Right, The Rest Will Happen Automatically…

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos on core values, hiring practices, onboarding, customer service, company culture and why every line manager is advised to spend 10-20% with their team outside the office… Always a pleasure to listen to his philosophies, attitude and wisdom.

Has Respect Become “Cheesy”?

Recently I contributed to an article on carreerbuilder.com about “How to manage up”. Having just read the published version, this sentence made me think: “I know it sounds cheesy, but respect and trust are the keys to any successful relationship.” This statement really struck me, because I could relate to it. I noticed that as [...]

What motivates employees? Money? Always?

I’ve posted Dan Pink’s talk on motivation here before. This clip adds an entertaining “visual aid” to it, though, which makes it really easy to focus and get the message! Are employees motivated by money?