How hard can it be for a manager to compliment each employee every once in a while? It costs a business lots more money to replace an employee than to retain one—so why not keep your current employees happy?

    Now, there will always be some employees who will perform so outstandingly that they just seem to generate more praise than others. There’s no question it’s important to recognize truly outstanding efforts. But every employee has the potential to go above and beyond in some area. Watch for each employee’s strengths and find something to praise.

    Watch out for something else as well. Sometimes employees who receive large amounts of praise let it go to their heads. If they take the ongoing tribute as a hint that they’re above the law in the company, their merits will quickly fade. So that’s another reason not to give the appearance that you’re playing favorites.

    The manager has to make it very clear that each and every employee plays an important role in the company. “Both committed and non-committed respondents agreed on the importance to see the organization set examples. For the former, exemplarity was a motivator factor in the sense of Hertzberg (1959) while for the latter the absence of exemplarity was a reason for rejection (as an unsatisfied hygiene factor)”.⁸

    The best teachers are those who will always have a good word for everyone; no matter how good or bad the outcome. Can you imagine what would happen if we decided not to encourage the toddler who just starts to walk, no matter how often she falls down in those early attempts?

You are the best horse in my stable…

Who do you motivate?

How do you motivate?

⁸Tessa Melkonian, Change Acceptance: The Role of Exemplarity, p. 9. Dr. Melkonian is Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at the European Institute for LifeLong Learning. She holds a Ph.D. in management from the University of Paris and a degree in clinical psychology from the University of Lyon.

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When a member of the team becomes a manager for the first time, the initial rush gets tempered pretty quickly. The reason? The manager is no longer a “peer” to his or her teammates. Making the transition from peer to leader is more difficult than you might think.

    Can there be a distinction between friendship and business? There has to be. The more problematic issue is whether a manager can be a fair boss during the day and a great friend—to the same people—after work. As a peer, the manager could be friend with everyone. As a manager, there have to be boundaries. There are rules that both the manager and the employees have to follow. An employee who tries to exploit a friendship with the manager to get special favors (easier workload, extra time off, a better work space) isn’t helping anyone. And if the manager gives in—the message to the rest of the staff is, “It’s who you know if you want to get ahead.”

    Managers have to be respectful of their employees—and vice versa. If an employee gets angry at the manager and becomes verbally abusive, the excuse of “Well, he used to be my friend” won’t carry much weight. And if the manager is abusive as well, for the same reason, it sends a bad message to the rest of the staff.

    Lead by example if you want to be respected, acknowledged, and appreciated—by everyone you work with.

Do you lead by example?

Do you let friendships take over?

Are all of your employees your best buddies?

Tags: best buddies boss boundaries darling distinction excuse extra time friendship friendships initial rush problematic issue teammates time off transition work space
 

Management by objectives and management by delegation go hand in hand. Is there a need for an employee when the manager does everything? Well, let’s think about it in different terms: can any manager dance at 50 weddings at the same time?

At how many weddings are you dancing?

    Certainly there will be times when the manager knows best how to do a specific task. But why not take the opportunity to teach the team? Delegation is good management, but it’s also a sign of leadership. Often you hear that managers cut their hours significantly once they learned how to delegate effectively. This gives them more time to concentrate on what managers should be thinking about.

Are you taking over tasks from the team or do you teach?

Do you delegate?

Do you consider delegating before you start a task?

Tags: chinese proverb fish good management leadership management by delegation management by objectives weddings
 

Happy Easter!
Frohe Ostern!

(If you like to learn a few more, look at Happy Easter in many languages )



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It’s a simple concept: either the company makes money or goes out of business. This is even true for charities and the government! This is very often overlooked because the ways you run a profitable business, a charity, or a country are different. Nonetheless they all have to make sure of the needed funding and encourage the customers/donors/citizens to buy them.

Is making money important for your business?

Are you making money?

Pressing the Budget Too Tight

    When you begin with unrealistic budget goals, chaos is bound to set in. Departments fall behind, resources are slow to arrive, and ultimately missions run off the road. The easiest way to avoid having this happen is to create an accurate budget. That means outlining ways to implement better upfront resource planning.

    Let me add that it’s wrong to meet cost savings with potentially punitive measures. What I mean is the old adage “If you don’t spend your whole budget this year, you’ll get less next year” mindset. If a department has saved money and come in under budget, why not consider giving part of those savings back in the form of bonuses? The upfront cost will be offset by higher productivity, and more cost conscious employees.

Do you have a budget?

Do you review it constantly?

Are employees cost conscious?

Tags: budget budget goals chaos charities charity citizens conscious employees donors making money mindset missions old adage productivity profitable business punitive measures resource planning upfront