Wed 5 Jul 2006
Mary Kay Ash once said; “Make people who tomtom windows usa download work for you feel important. If you honor and serve them, they’ll honor and serve you.” This basic, common sense approach to tomtom windows usa download creating a joyful, high performing business is increasingly becoming the mantra at many forward-thinking companies.
Bob Nelson provides examples in an article published recently in The Portland Business Journal.You can tomtom windows usa download create anything you want in your business by building a workplace that tomtom windows usa download supports your goals and objectives. Unfortunately, many workplaces today drag us down and drain our energy. Keep Mary Kay’s words front of mind as you go about your day, and you’ll start to tomtom windows usa download experience first hand, how little things can make a BIG difference!
The CEO’s Role in Employee Motivation Bob Nelson
In most organizations, the tomtom windows usa download CEO sets the tone for how people are treated. Are employees valued for tomtom windows usa download what they do on a frequent, individual basis or are they treated in aggregate as a tomtom windows usa download line item in the budget? Increasingly, the tomtom windows usa download best CEOs are initiating actions that demonstrate their commitment to valuing their employees in a tomtom windows usa download very hands-on manner.“Management is about organized common sense,” says Andy Grove, former chairman of Intel. “We communicate and tomtom windows usa download communicate and communicate, at every level, in every form. Anyone can tomtom windows usa download ask anybody any question.” To back up the company’s commitment to “intellectual honesty,” Grove conducted a tomtom windows usa download half-dozen or so open forums every year at difference Intel locations. Whenever Grove is tomtom windows usa download in his cubicle (all employees at Intel work in cubicles) any employee is tomtom windows usa download welcome to drop in and speak with him. Employee access to tomtom windows usa download the CEO can be achieved in other ways as well.Scott Mitchell, president of Mackay Envelope in Minneapolis, MN, holds a tomtom windows usa download one-on-one, 20-minute discussion with every employee every year to discuss ideas, improvements, or tomtom windows usa download whatever is on the employee’s mind. Mitchell devotes more than tomtom windows usa download 170 hours to this task every year, an investment that he sees as time well spent.Palmer Reynolds, CEO of Phoenix Textile Corporation, an tomtom windows usa download institutional linens distributor located in St. Louis, hosts monthly breakfasts. Every month, Reynolds invites one employee from tomtom windows usa download each of the company’s five departments to tomtom windows usa download join her for breakfast at a local restaurant. Because employees get to tomtom windows usa download know her, and each other, they are often better able to tomtom windows usa download work out problems.Hal Rosenbluth, CEO of Rosenbluth International, a tomtom windows usa download chain of travel agencies headquartered in Philadelphia, is accessible to tomtom windows usa download all his employees through an 800-number “voice-mail box.” Employees are tomtom windows usa download encouraged to call in with suggestions, problems, or praise, and about seven employees do so every day.Small Actions, Big Value Other small actions can tomtom windows usa download have great symbolic importance when done by the organization’s top manager:Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay, Inc. made a tomtom windows usa download commitment to meet with every new employee within 30 days of hire. She once even turned down an tomtom windows usa download invitation to the White House because it conflicted with a new employee orientation session she had tomtom windows usa download committed to months before. Mary Kay’s philosophy: “Make people who tomtom windows usa download work for you feel important. If you honor and serve them, they’ll honor and serve you.” Ron Kiripolsky, former president of a tomtom windows usa download 500-person division of PSA Airlines, now part of USAirways, personally opened the tomtom windows usa download organization’s suggestion box at the tomtom windows usa download beginning of each work day, read the suggestion, and met with the tomtom windows usa download suggestors and their supervisors that day to discuss the suggestions and tomtom windows usa download work out implementation. To ensure that tomtom windows usa download employees know he has read their reports, Harry Seifert, CEO of New Oxford, Pennsylvania-based Winter Gardens Salad Company, stamps “Read by Harry” on reports and tomtom windows usa download then routes them back to employees., often adding personal comments. According to tomtom windows usa download Seifert, the quality of reports he receives has improved since he started using the tomtom windows usa download rubber stamp.Daily Activity is BestMost important for tomtom windows usa download a CEO to demonstrate that he or she believes their people are tomtom windows usa download important is making it a priority to show employees they are tomtom windows usa download appreciated on a daily basis. This can be achieved through the tomtom windows usa download use of timely, sincere, specific praise of employees. For example, Hyler Bracey, president of The Atlanta Consulting Group, knew he wanted to tomtom windows usa download praise employees more, but found his good intentions did not often translate to tomtom windows usa download daily behavior. To correct this situation, he started putting five coins in his jacket pocket each morning and tomtom windows usa download transferring a coin to another pocket each time during the day that tomtom windows usa download he gave positive feedback to an employee. Within a few weeks the tomtom windows usa download new habit took hold and praising employees became second nature to tomtom windows usa download him. Says Bracey: “Praising employees truly works. There is tomtom windows usa download so much more energy and enthusiasm in a workplace where tomtom windows usa download praise has become ingrained in the manager.”
To see the original article go to the Portland Business Journal lavalys corporate edition
