Is “Recognition” A Management Style?

I was recently discussing which is the best management style out there and while I’m all for a “coaching management style”, I vote for an eclectic one that uses different styles in different situations. If I had to give it a name I’d call it “Recognition-based Management Style”. And – if you’ve been here before [...]

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 [...]

Not Smiling Is Not Professional :)

This comes straight from today’s newsletter of manager-tools.com. I agree 100% and have nothing to add… Smiling At Strangers I spend a lot of time in other company’s offices. And that means I walk up and down hallways, and make eye contact with people I don’t know. I’ve been doing this for 20+ years, and [...]

Why can’t everyone behave normally, … like me?

Workshop on Personality Types “for busy people”. In only two hours you will learn how to recognize people’s different behavioural styles and how to deal with each one differently in order to improve your communication and relationships with them – be it your boss, your client or your spouse. ….What you will gain from this [...]

The Offline LIKE Button And Recognition

Yesterday I had the pleasure to visit TamTam – a Dutch “Fullservice Internetbureau” specializing in getting their clients “connected” and creating engaging online experiences for their client’s clients. TamTam is an organization that supports the individual independence and personal growth of their employees. They even created a “LefJeDroom” program (see the introduction in Dutch here) [...]

When Recognition backfires…

At my company, when a colleague does something great – secures a new account, exceeds a goal, etc. – everyone is called into the lobby. The person’s supervisor announces what she did and she has to dance in front of everyone. I’ve heard that public speaking is the most common fear, and public dancing has [...]

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.

Are You Judging Behavior or Intention?

We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior. To overcome conflict, or even avoid conflict completely, look beyond the other person’s BEHAVIOR to see their positive INTENTION. Think about this if you are a manager judging your employees an employee judging your manager an employee judging your peers a business partner judging [...]