5 Tips to Keep Employees Loyal

1. Compliment them

Offer regular statements of praise for a job well done. Don’t forget your top performers. We sometimes overlook them because we feel they already know how good they are. And, you’ll be surprised what can happen with sub-standard performers after hearing words of encouragement.

2. Have regular one-to-one meetings with EVERYONE that reports to you

When surveyed, employees say more individual time with their boss is invaluable. Once scheduled, avoid canceling as the message you send can be interpreted that you don’t feel they are important.  Have too many direct reports to do this? Reevaluate how your team is structured to reduce your number of direct reports. This can open opportunities for Team Leads, Supervisors, Assistant Managers, etc.

3. Give honest, fair and consistent feedback

Let them know where they stand. Tell them when something isn’t going well. Give them an opportunity to improve by hearing your open feedback.

4. Ask what they need from you to do a better job

Find out how you can improve their work environment to make it an enjoyable place to come to every day. Identifying small things you can change quickly will go a long way toward loyalty.

5. Make them feel important

Bottom line, show you care about them as a person.  Respect and understand their individuality. There is so much talk today about teamwork …which is important. However, teams are made up of individuals. And, individuals are most productive when they feel they matter.

Five simple practices of great leaders. How many are you doing?

There is no such thing as time management!

Yes, you read it right.  It is impossible to manage time. There are always going to be 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. No way around it. Managing time is a fallacy.

If you can't manage time, what can you do? You can manage how you spend your time during those 24 hours. That's it. Very simple, yet people struggle day in and day out between over committing and missing deadlines.

Here is one way to help dispel the myth of managing time and replace it with being more efficient with how you spend your time.

BE REALISTIC! 

Un-realistic: Poor planning.

Think about how many times we get caught being late for meetings. Often it's not realistic to physically go from back to back meetings when they are on different floors, or even worse - in another building!  When we were in high school, we had a bell that rang between classes allowing us 5 minutes to get from one place to another. Yet, today we book meetings every hour unrealistically expecting all of them to start on time. 

Solution? Try scheduling them to begin at the quarter hour... one from 8-9am and the next one starting at 9:15am. Another suggestion...be realistic when allowing how long a meeting will go. Too often they are scheduled for 30 minutes when the subject matter will take longer to discuss.

Un-realistic: Over committing.

Your good intentions to please can put more on your schedule than physically possible. Consider the last time someone asked you for something and you quickly replied “yes” only to question yourself later as to how on earth you would ever meet the commitment. What typically follows is a missed deadline resulting in your reputation suffering.

Solution? Learn these two phrases: "I'm sorry, I can't do that...but what I can do is..." and "What is the soonest and the latest you need it?" That first statement will get you started managing your time better. It shows you are still willing to please but mindful of your prior commitments. You will be surprised to hear the response on the second statement. We often put false deadlines on ourselves thinking someone will need something sooner than we thought.

Starting today, manage time by simply being realistic - and let me know how it is working for you.

The Kaleidoscope Leader

This is from my 2nd book on Leadership: The Kaleidoscope Leader which I hope you will enjoy!

A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects, such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern due to the reflection off the mirrors.

Read about the Six Styles of Leadership and see which ones are like you:

The Solutions-Based Leader * The Servant-Centered Leader * The Process-Driven Leader * The Financially-focused Leader * The Visionary Leader * The Charismatic Leader

Then explore the Six Beliefs of a Kaleidoscope Leader - a leader that believes their success is predicated on the success of others:

Put Other First * Take Ownership * Foster an Optimistic Attitude * Drive Results Through the Details * Inspire Others * Practice Lifelong Learning

Kaleidoscope leaders are individuals who embrace a multitude of leadership techniques to be successful. As they look within, their methods of leading change are due to the reflection they see in others. My book about how leaders can reach their peak through the utilization of a variety of skills, talents, and behaviors to guide themselves and others to greatness.

Buy a copy and let me know what you think!

Available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle edition along with all major online retailers.

Switch Your Thinking from Delegating to Developing

In the last week I have had several conversations with leaders regarding the challenges of delegating. Over the years I have found this is one of the most difficult practices to learn when supervising others. 

Bosses get caught up believing:

“I can do it a lot faster myself.”

“They’ll never do it as good as me.”

“How can I give them more work when I know they’re swamped?”

If you find yourself agreeing with any of these statements and want to change your belief about delegating consider this:

Switch the word delegate to develop. 

It is your responsibility as a leader to teach and cultivate your staff which you can do by developing them through delegation. When you don’t delegate work you deny others to grow.   

An easy way to get started practicing this concept is to list on a sheet of paper all of the tasks you do on a daily basis. Then draw three columns next to the list.

Entitle the first column Keep Doing – these are tasks only you can accomplish.

Name the second column Stop Doing – these are time wasters that have little to no bearing on your productivity.

Label the third column Give Away – this is the important column – look at each task and think about who you could delegate it to? Who needs to learn and develop a skill so they can take on this task? 

By changing your thinking from delegating to developing and breaking down your workload into the three columns previously discussed, you will be on the road to becoming a leader that is known for cultivating great talent. 

This one is dedicated to Avi and his team at Jarden Solutions: Carlos Christiana, David, and Ray and Diana from Aventura – some of the best growing leaders I know.

The simplest way to inspire others

I am noticing a trend in the workplace today that revolves around dissatisfied employees. They aren't unhappy with their jobs or the company. Instead, they are disillusioned with their boss. They tell me stories of canceled one to one meetings, performance appraisals without meaning and overall lack of attention.

 

Knowing how busy management can become, I have a simple solution for helping your staff feel engaged and appreciated. It is to simply believe in them.

That’s it! Yet as easy as it sounds, it’s often overlooked, rarely discussed, and for some difficult to implement.

Think back to the people in your life that believed in you. They were the ones who understood you could do things that you thought impossible.

Starting today you can become that same guide inspiring others to greatness by applying these 5 practices:

1. Learn what makes someone tick. Find out what they love doing and what they avoid. Understand their past to help set the path for their future.

2. Encourage them. When things are going well, compliment and praise often. When they are troubled, remind them of their greatness.

3. Remove doubt. Don’t let them own beliefs that aren’t true. When they can’t believe in themselves help to refocus direction by expressing how much you believe in them.

4. Stop and just listen. Be the one person that will stay present in the moment with them. Let them talk and talk and talk until they run out of fuel.

5. Keep them going. Be available when they need you. Check in periodically to offer words of reassurance to help stay on track.

Whether you are a manager, coach,  (even parent or friend), you can make a great a difference in the lives of others if you will just believe in them.

Hernando makes you think...

Let me introduce you to Hernando Nicholas, Sr. Customer Service, Call Center Representative at Jim Moran & Associates. He has been in customer service most of his life and was drawn to it because of his sincere intention to help others. Over the years as his desire to serve remains strong, his patience is starting to waver. Here is his story…  

“Customer service in the past is extremely different than it is today. With the popularity of mobile phones we receive more calls than ever from the unprepared customer. Callers of old phoned from their office or home where they had access to the information needed to complete the call. Today the call occurs at random times from random locations due to the freedom of their mobile device.  

Our dialogue now includes a variety of sounds which ranges from the wind tunnel effect while calling from outdoors to blue tooth calls that come with delays and echoes. Of course let’s not forget the endless calls that occur while the customer is in the store checkout line, trying on clothes, walking into a meeting, etc. Not only is the caller unprepared, they become annoyed with me because I can’t hear them or understand what they are saying.  This lack of preparation and poor use of equipment leads to frustration on both the part of the caller and the person receiving the call. 

What psychological/emotional tactics do customer service reps use to adjust our internal reaction to the unprepared, preoccupied caller?  

How can we raise consumer awareness around placing a call?” 

Hernando makes some very interesting points. Today, we are more preoccupied with who is answering the phone from where than how we conduct ourselves.  

The next time you are the caller think about Hernando’s desire to help you and how you can positively impact the transaction by being prepared and mindful of your surroundings.

IIWII – It’s not a radio station!

Instead IIWII is one of the most popular phrases being used today. It stands for: It is what it is. Think about how often you have heard it or said it in the past few weeks.  

It is used as a confirmation of facts. A statement validating a truth. An acceptance of a situation offering a sense of finality. More often than not IIWII is typically aligned with a negative account of things.

“This has been one of the worst winters."– IIWII
“My rent just went up!” – IIWII
“Traffic is backed up for miles.” - IIWII
As you are making the statement, IIWII, you obviously understand the situation you are in. You realize the predicament.

The question is: What are you going to do about it?
Can you influence the circumstances or are you paralyzed to do anything?  
Are you in a position to accept the predicament and move on – releasing the outcome without looking back?
Or, are there factors within your control that offers alternatives to outcomes?

As human beings, we have been blessed with the ability to make choices how we will react to the situations we face on a daily basis.
With that in mind, the next time you find yourself stating “IIWII” follow it with: “and here's what I'm going to do about it.”
Or...let it go.