I want to share those little acts in business I’ve seen which lead to happier employees, tremendous loyalty and yes, greater productivity. There is so much that is right with the world…let’s shine on that for a while.

At a client’s monthly manager meeting, they have a tradition.  Someone recognizes another in the meeting for something special they did above and beyond and then gives them the traditional goofy stuffed frog.  I don’t know the significance of the frog, but I have seen it displayed proudly on the desk of the recipient.  Being recognized and praised in front of others feels great at any age.

A small business owner friend of mine, concerned about her own sedentary job and hearing similar concerns from her employees,  went out and bought everyone a pedometer.  They love those pedometers and proudly wear them every day.  Woven into normal business conversations, they share their steps number with other employees. Nearly every afternoon around 3, a group of them walk around the business complex.  This has improved afternoon productivity,  some have lost weight and feel better.  And those employees know how much the business owner cares about them as people.

If you have a story about something interesting you’ve seen that positively affects employees, please let me know.   I am all for bringing a bit more sunshine and spirit into the workplace!

Harbaugh’s simple approach is based on 5 C’s:  competence, credibility, candor, communication, and camaraderie.    And these 5 words make sense to me.  Simple, direct and they are all words that we understand.

Competence:  Harbaugh is definitely competent.  He has succeeded throughout his career, both as a 15 season NFL quarterback and as a college coach prior to coming to San Francisco.  He exudes competence and confidence in his abilities.  Strong leaders  are competent in their abilities and lifelong learners.

Credibility:  His players know that he doesn’t ask anything from them that he wouldn’t ask of himself.  Strong leaders inspire through example, not only words.   If what you do isn’t aligned with what you say, all credibility is lost. Gone, and it mars everything you’ve ever done. (Think about another coach recently in the news—Joe Paterno’s final legacy–ugh!)

Communication:  According to his players, their coach not only pays attention to details, he presents things in a way that everyone understands their role and what they have to do.  He also understands what they want and need and what they will tune out.   A great leader is succinct and gets to the point. Also, one of the players was quoted as saying, ” I have trouble remembering stuff that doesn’t make any sense, and he makes sense.”

Candor:  His team believes what he says and they believe he is honest.  He doesn’t “make nice” and he gets to the point and they all know where he stands.

Camaraderie.  Yes, that’s team spirit, esprit de corps which is the glue that makes it all come together and create magical results. It’s the enthusiasm, the fun and that invisible energetic field which transforms a group into a team.   We can’t manufacture it or even predict when it will occur.  When it does,  anyone who has every been on a team can feel it and knows it is present.

These are key traits of a strong leader and ones you should consider to ensure a winning season!  Go Niners!

The positive energy and enthusiasm we all feel during those planning discussions tends to give way to urgent demands, unexpected issues, and exhaustion from the daily grind.

It’s time to step back, review your goals and renew the spirit of your team.

1.  Review, re-engage and recharge your team by tapping into the power of  meaningful goals.

Are the goals still relevant, clearly understood by all, and achievable?  If so, are all team members engaged to address them and realize the importance and impact their role has in the success of the organization.  Hearts and minds behind the actions lead to inspired actions, extraordinary results and happy employees.

2.  Change it up and delegate.

Look at what’s being done and who’s currently doing it.  Does it really need to be done, is the right person doing it and is it getting you where you want to be?  If not, this is the perfect time to realign and refocus your team.  One person’s dreaded chore can become another employee’s exciting growth opportunity.   We tend to underestimate the capabilities of others,  so maybe its time to better utilize your people in meaningful, invigorating ways.

3.  Give credit often to those who deserve it.

Recognition and appreciation are the secret sauce of success!  When last did you acknowledge an employee for their contributions and value to the team publicly?  Do you recognize and thank your employees often, letting them know how important they are and that they matter?  You can’t do it alone.  It takes the ideas, talents, and capabilities of everyone to make an organization thrive.   The number one complaint I hear from employees is a lack of recognition from their manager.  Appreciation doesn’t cost a dime and is so highly valued.

These are 3 ideas which can help you and a more engaged team get back on track to achieve the goals you want.

There are two critical components…the hard costs and the indirect/soft costs.  The hard costs are those represented in your accounting records.  For a great tip, check this out from my colleagues at Silicon Valley Accounting Solutions.   While accurate and true, this only represents the partial cost of an employee.

Additional costs of a new hire include the time, resources and money required in the search, interviews, hiring, and on-boarding of each new employee.  Also, you must include the additional equipment and office space need for the employee.  While the new candidate may be a terrific hire,  studies indicate that it takes from 6 months to 18 months to be fully productive.  Ok, so factor that in.  Training in your systems, processes and programs, along with the inevitable mistakes, extra supervision, coaching and mentoring time are also normal investments in a new hire.  These all should be factored into the real costs of a new hire.

I consider training costs, successful onboarding, and coaching  as  investments in a valued asset, your employee.

Are your employees treated as a line item on a general ledger or a valued asset?  That’s certainly a topic for future discussion…..

Photo: www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1.  Incentive rewards not aligned with business goals and strategies. It’s essential that organizations (and employees) know what they want to accomplish in the upcoming year.  This varies year to year, certainly the measures do. The leadership must be clear of the direction, how the goals will be measured (revenues, % of market, ROI, etc.)  and what strategies will be implemented to achieve them.   Incentive plans from the top down should be aligned with those measures and reward the desired performance.

2. Vague, unmeasurable objectives. Quantifiable  goals, such as Revenue and Net Operating Income (NOI) are easy.  Customer satisfaction is an admirable goal, but often a challenge to really define and measure effectively.  How is satisfaction determined, is that measure accurate, and how does the employee’s performance affect it?  If  employees know they cannot impact the results, the incentive plan quickly turns into a negative, adversely impacting performance and morale.

3.  Plans too complicated and poorly communicated.  I’m a strong believer in the Power of 3.  Not more than 3 measures rewarded in a plan, incentives pay easy to calculate, they’re well understood by all.  I’ve seen too many plans with up to 6 or more incentive components for which the employee is paid.  Too many components diffuse focus on what’s really important and the dollars paid on them are not meaningful.  If there not enough money at risk, why bother?

Years ago, I was on a sales team with a plan so complicated and so poorly communicated no one, including the sales manager, understood what the plan actually paid for, or how it was computed.  When we got our quarterly checks the amount was always a total surprise and made no sense.  Fortunately we all loved the work we did and the dollars were so insignificant it didn’t matter to us at that time.

Pay for performance is a well meaning and often powerful compensation strategy.  However, it is critical that incentive plans pay for what is important to the business, the measures are clear, and the plans relatively simple.

While organizations project modest growth for 2011 and beyond, more than half (54 percent) of those CEOs surveyed fear their employees are already too stretched to deliver current business objectives.

Following 3 years of  controlling costs, there is heightened focus now on managing performance, primarily “discretionary” performance.  Recent findings indicate 40% of an employee’s performance is considered discretionary, which means, they choose to do more or not.  While leaders recognize the need to improve individual performance, the systems to do so, remain inadequate or ineffective.

I continually see 3 critical mistakes in performance management systems.

1. Individual performance is not aligned with the business objectives and strategies. Employees needs to know how their role affects the company goals.  The Hay Study found less than 13% of companies did so.
2. Performance expectations aren’t clearly defined and the individual’s performance reviewed or communicated in real time. Employees need to know what’s expected from them and how and when that’s  measured, reviewed and recognized.
3. Poor performing employees are rarely addressed soon enough.  Leaders need to provide guidance, support, and coaching to improve performance to the required levels, or manage the employee (legally and humanely) out of the organization. sooner than later.

Most organizations have a performance management process, but it can be improved to encourage employees to perform in new and beneficial ways–for the employee and the company.   A few improvements can reap great rewards in tapping into higher levels of performance.

I believe simply that inequitable, unfair and misunderstood pay practices are huge de-motivators. However, just because an employee is fairly paid, they are not necessarily motivated to do more or go that extra mile when needed.

Each of us are internally motivated to perform well when we are passionate about what we want to do, or the work is meaningful.  My friend and colleague, Ann Tardy, is currently riding her bicycle across the US in an attempt to find out why people love their jobs!  Visit her blog MoxieRide, and read some of her interviews with people in all walks of life and types of jobs. And think about it…what would your employees say!

What inspires you in your work?

The latest studies in brain science support what most of us have known instinctively for years.  The annual performance review provides feedback which often worsens performance, decreases motivation and does not serve the purposes for which it is intended.  The story below illustrates this.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a long time friend/colleague. She’s a professional woman who works for a very well known, mature, successful Silicon Valley high-tech company.  She was upset about her annual performance review recently given by her manager.  My colleague is a high performer, well liked and respected by her peers,  highly-regarded and often re-hired by past managers, and simply a delightful person to work with.   She received a rating of 3 out of 5. Not bad, except no one has ever received a 4 or 5 from this manager.  While 3 may equal “meets expectations”, it feels like “average”, i.e. not that great.  She received a couple of 2’s (“below meets”) which, after she shared her side of the issues, were promptly moved up to 3’s.  The manager seemed unaware of her employee’s project results and rated her in error, which were changed to her credit. Also, a major project my colleague completed early in the year was not reviewed or even discussed. The good news,  the employee did receive a substantial merit increase, but it didn’t seem to correlate with the “meets” rating received.

Epilogue:  My friend felt the manager had no idea what she did; the manager did not ask for peer (or the employee’s) input prior to the review;  the review did not reflect the entire year;  and it had little impact on the so-called merit increase granted.  But that’s not the worst part.  Today, the employee feels under-valued, unappreciated for her contributions,  completely unmotivated, no longer engaged in her work, and has begun to look for another job.

These elements are not unique and I have heard similar complaints for years from employees at all levels in organizations.  Just as blood-letting ceased to improve a patient’s health and often made it worse,  perhaps it’s time to give up this archaic practice too.

Know who your top performers are and make sure they are recognized and rewarded for that strong performance.  If you have incentive plans or performance bonus plans, review how they performed in 2010 to target, and if they need to be revised to address the company’s goals and strategic initiatives for 2011.  Good compensation plans help ensure you will keep your best employees. They are (or will be) getting calls from many companies who are now hiring selectively and go after top talent.   You’ll need your best employees to make 2011 be your best year yet!

Two years ago after several years of thinking about it, I decided to buy LTC insurance as I reviewed my overall financial plan.  Yes, it’s expensive, but the value to me outweighs the cost.  (If you’d like more information on Long Term Care insurance or my decision points, let me know.)

What decisions in your life are you not doing or have procrastinated about?  Isn’t it time to make decisions based on the value of doing something vs. the cost you may incur?

This can be applied to both personal and business decisions.  Good decisions bring a sense of serenity.