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| Volume 8, Issue 14 |
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In This Issue:
 Quick meeting openers: Icebreakers for introductions
Top 10 ways to help employees deal with economic crisis
The link between employee engagement and customer loyalty
The top five reasons leaders lack influence
The dos and don'ts of giving rewards
 Salary negotiating 101: Making your pitch for a raise
Workplace conflict: Managing employee disputes
 Why most managers are stuck
 Five lessons for managers from Obama's campaign
 6 ways to lead your team to maximum productivity
You can't make more time—use it wisely
Interviewing applicants: Telephone evaluation form
5 ways to celebrate the holidays despite the downturn
 Compensation & salary forecast—Where's the merit-pay payoff?
 Managing the [X/Y] generations
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Quick meeting openers: Icebreakers for introductions
Although most meeting starters can be used to help people introduce themselves, the activities in this section are particularly aimed at doing just this.
And yes, although any of them could be used with people who already know each other, you'll find them more effective with people who don't. They also work well with two separate groups that are coming together for the first time, when the members of each group know their own group but not the other one—like during a merger of two
departments. All the icebreakers in this section can work for any size group. Some are better suited for larger groups, some for smaller. Regardless of what ideal group size is listed for the activity, I've included tips for adjusting for larger or smaller groups when applicable. The key to successful introductions in larger groups is...
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On top of real recognition: Top 10 ways to help employees deal with economic crisis
With an economy screeching to a dire halt, it’s more important than ever for managers to ensure that their employees stay motivated and focused on the task at hand—or else your team’s productivity may be the next thing to come crashing down.
Here are the top 10 ways you can keep your staff inspired from Roy Saunderson, president of the Recognition Management Institute:...
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The link between employee engagement and customer loyalty
Companies in all industries are recognizing the strategic importance of customer satisfaction and how the quality of frontline customer service employees can make or break a company. A recent survey conducted by Maritz found that 43 percent of
customers who stopped doing business with a company made their decision based on poor customer service.
Engaged employees are the key to excellent customer service. Engaged employees are employees that feel as though they are truly valued at work; that their efforts directly contribute towards the mission and success of the company. Engaged employees are more productive and less likely to look outside of the company for employment. A
recent study by Harvard Business School found that every 1 percent increase in staff loyalty resulted in a half percent increase in customer loyalty. Additionally, Gallop's 2006 research to better understand the linkage between employee satisfaction and return on investment (ROI) found that companies with higher levels of employee
engagement enjoyed higher ROI.[The Maritz Poll also found that employees who are completely satisfied with their company's reward and recognition program are significantly more satisfied with their jobs, more likely to remain with the company, and more likely to recommend their workplace to others. Benchmark Study of Employee
and Supervisory Reward & Recognition Programs With this in mind, Ascent Group conducted research during the second and third quarter of 2008 to better understand reward and recognition programs offered to front-line customer service employees and supervisors...]
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The top five reasons leaders lack influence
Do you wear the shoes of change? And influence others to follow in your footsteps?
Influence challenges exist at every level of an organization. According to a study we recently conducted, one of the main culprits of these challenges is that leaders have little, if any, influence over the way employees behave. In fact, the data reveals that only 20 percent of leaders are true "influencers"-those capable of influencing positive change in a way that lasts.
For example, after six years and millions of dollars in resources, one CEO we worked with declared failure on a Lean/Six Sigma effort. When asked why he was giving up, he lamented, "I'm tired of trying to teach old dogs new tricks. I haven't figured out how to make Six Sigma part of our culture. And it's too expensive to keep trying."
Leaders' inability to influence the behavior of their people-to engage their hearts, minds and hands-is at the root of the vast majority of corporate disappointments. Here are the top five reasons most leaders lack influence...
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The dos and don'ts of giving rewards
There is more to giving a merchandise award than just selecting the right product.
Most of us have heard the expression "no good deed goes unpunished." While that is not always true, this expression is usually the first thing that pops into your mind every time the good deed that you go out of your way to complete blows up in your face. Sometimes this happens just because, well, stuff happens; and other times it happens
because you didn't think things through and you didn't anticipate the worst. Well, if you're putting together a merchandise award program for your employees, you'd better think of everything in advance. Many years ago I was working for a company and our New York City salesperson had a record year. He not only had the highest sales volume, he
made a sale that forced the company to think more creatively than they ever had before—it started a whole new successful approach to the business for the company. The national sales manager decided to give the salesman and his wife a nice gift in recognition of his accomplishments. He sent a case of steaks to the salesman's home
for him to enjoy with his family. Unfortunately, the salesman and his wife were vegetarians and were highly insulted that, after working in the same office with the him for five years, the manager didn’t think about the award and who was receiving it.
Instead of a positive and rewarding experience, it had a very negative result. The Dos and Don'ts of Giving...
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Why most managers are stuck
Consider the following factually based scenario: A team in the company needs a new manager. The most competent individual contributor on the team is promoted. After several years in the position, he still hasn't fully transitioned into the manager role. People on the team lament, "We lost a great individual contributor and gained an
awful manager." This scenario plays itself out thousands of times a year in companies throughout the United States and Canada.
Research-based training firm ConceptReserve recently released findings from "The Transition to Manager: Why Most are Stuck," a study that included data from 2,600 managers from 149 companies and based on assessments by more than 19,000 people during a five-year period. The data revealed 9 percent of these managers were still acting as
individual contributors; 66 percent were stuck somewhere in the transition; and 25 percent were fully functioning and effective in their manager role. Tracking these managers over a 12- to 18-month period after the initial assessment, it became clear most managers underestimated the complexity, difficulty, time and effort involved in
making the transition to manager. The study exposes a problem of epidemic proportions. According to the data...
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Five lessons for managers from Obama's campaign
The Obama victory was no accident, and business managers should study its organization and execution for valuable tips for success.
The day after Barack Obama's historic victory, talk show hosts of a right-leaning nature were already promoting the idea that his election was nothing more than a vote against George W. Bush, that any Democrat might have won, and that Obama's electoral landslide was really not much of an accomplishment at all. Plenty of pundits and
observers would disagree, and I'm one of them. Barack Obama's Presidential campaign was noted from the start for its well-oiled fundraising and volunteer-cultivation machinery, as evidenced by the jokes circulating on the Internet now. (One features a faux script for an Obama volunteer calling undecided voters, during which the
volunteer offers to drive a voter to the polls and even to the grocery store, inquires about the health of the family cat, and generally bends over backward to attend to the potentially Democratic voter's needs.) Refuting the conventional wisdom that Republicans are disciplined at running campaigns while the Democrats are passionate
and scatterbrained, Obama's organization—led by campaign manager David Plouffe—built and sustained an impressive level of coordination, communication with supporters, and thoughtful media relations that observers say has set a new standard for campaign
leadership in the 21st century. What leadership lessons can managers take away from the Obama campaign experience? Here are our top five picks:...
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Special report: Compensation & salary forecast—Where's the merit-pay payoff?
The evidence is overwhelming that individual pay for performance does not improve organizational performance except in very limited cases. Why do people , when confronted with the facts, turn their backs on them?"
—Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
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It doesn’t exist, several recognized experts say. The issue for companies is not whether they should be paying more for performance compensation programs, but whether they should be paying less.
When tensions mount on the job, the math and science whizzes at Moretrench American Corp., a New Jersey-based construction company, require another tool entirely: mastery of the written word. Consider Exhibit A: a change order. In that document, an engineer must detail in writing why the job specifics have changed, a scenario that
frequently requires a client to fork over more cash, says Jack Paluszek, organizational development coordinator at the company, which employs about 600 people nationwide. Writing clearly and persuasively matters to the bottom line, he notes. "Our people are very good technically on the engineering end of things, but probably
could use help writing better," Paluszek says. So Paluszek persuaded the company’s chief executive to invest in a series of writing workshops that began this year. To date, about three dozen engineers and administrative assistants have completed at least six hours of writing training, with additional workshops planned for this fall...
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Managing the [X/Y] Generations
Those in Gen Y are totally different from their Gen X coworkers. In her new book, workplace expert Tamara Erickson looks at what motivates these Millenials.
Some say they're entitled. Others say spoiled. Not so fast, says workplace expert Tamara Erickson. Generation Y--those born between 1980 and 2000--have had a lot to contend with in their young lives. For those now in the workplace, their ideas of the
world were shaped during the Columbine school shootings in 1999 and Sept. 11. If they've learned anything from those events, it's that life is fleeting. Live for the moment. But as Erickson shows in her book...
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