Plateauing is basically what happens when an employee reaches the highest level he or she can go in the company. There are no more opportunities for advancement—no chances to grow or to be challenged. Plateaued employees feel completely frustrated by this apparent lack of control over their careers; they frequently don’t put in the same [...]

During tough economic times, employees will worry about their job security. If you know members of your team will be laid off, let them know as soon as possible. Employees should not leave the office uncertain about their position unless it is absolutely necessary. When decisions about layoffs take too long, and employees aren’t given [...]

Taken to the extreme, hands-off management is an abdication of your responsibility and accountability to get the work done. On the other hand, micromanagement, the process of controlling every detail and decision associated with getting a job done, can take away an employee’s pride of ownership in his or her work and can rob the [...]

Actually, workers list having fun as one of the requirements for a satisfying job. What do they mean by "fun"? Not goofing off. According to studies on what it takes to make jobs fun, the greatest factor cited is teamwork. Employees say that they enjoy coming together as a team in the pursuit of common [...]

As the background for your empowerment effort, you want to create a culture of support. To that end consider the following: Listen to employees. Demonstrate your trust. Keep employees informed. Help employees balance work and personal lives. Offer opportunities for lifetime learning. Foster open communication. Give bad news straight. Encourage reasonable risk. Foster autonomy. Praise [...]

You will get the most out of your employees if you, first, create a positive work environment and, second, give employees ownership of their work. Make your employees feel as if they are responsible fully for the outcome and their motivation and efforts will soar. Empowerment is the giving of power, and it’s a win/win/win [...]

Over the short term, competition among employees and teams may stimulate increased performance. Over the long term, however, it can lower productivity by destroying the desire to collaborate. And most work demands some level of cooperation—in very few instances can work be done in isolation. The necessary collaboration is not limited to teams within the [...]

Because certain job features are intrinsically satisfying, redesigning jobs can be a way to motivate employees. It is, after all, easier to change jobs in an organization than it is to change the jobholders. There are three ways to redesign jobs: Job rotation. Moving employees through a variety of jobs, departments, or functions is a [...]

Employees want to work in a well-lit environment that has modern furniture and the latest equipment. Some people still want traditional offices. They don’t want to work in a cubicle, no matter its size. They want offices with doors they can close when they need privacy to concentrate or make a personal phone call. Other [...]

Recognition and rewards can encourage performance improvement from these non-superstars. If you wait for a significant improvement in their performance, you may never get a chance to recognize them, yet without reinforcement of some small improvement they are unlikely to sustain the behavior change long enough to make a major improvement in their work behavior. [...]

High achievers can be challenged with increased responsibility, access to new assignments, new training, and job rotation. Look at a high achiever’s position and the associated tasks. How can they be changed to make the position an opportunity for growth? Redesigning the work may satisfy the needs not only of the high achiever but also [...]

To begin with, the praise offered must be sincere. You can avoid appearing phony by using it only when it is deserved—when the employee is doing excellent work. Praise also works best when it is very specific and immediately follows the event. Exceptional performance should be followed up with not only praise, but rewards as [...]

The list below isn’t complete but it may give you some ideas about how to recognize your employees for outstanding performance: Allow employees to take a long lunch or have a short workday. Offer a round of applause from the team. Distribute movie tickets. Hold a celebration. Offer interesting projects. Bring in food for the [...]

Research in the 1950s identified several things that demotivate employees. The following is based primarily on the work of Herzberg and is a list of motivation don’ts: Never personally attack someone. Never embarrass an employee. Don’t govern by fear. Don’t shoulder all the responsibility. Tell Me More Never personally attack someone. By all means, give [...]

By understanding what pressing, unfulfilled needs people have, managers can motivate them. So the key to motivating employees becomes accurately identifying a person’s needs, then using that information to inspire him or her to do the best possible job. All motivation comes from within, but managers can identify the rewards and recognition that will influence [...]

Your job demands questions to accomplish the following: Questions for inquiry or fact-finding: getting the facts to solve problems or make decisions. Questions for confirmation: confirm facts previously gathered or conclusions made. Rhetorical questions: evoke introspection and contemplation. Each purpose demands a different set of questions: For the purpose of inquiry, start by asking open-ended [...]

If clarity of communication is a problem, then the secret to improving your communication may be to spend more time planning what you will say before putting words to paper. Before beginning to write, if you don’t do so already, you should jot down a few words, phrases, or other notes to help organize your [...]

The best reports are accurate, brief, and clear. If the report is for a specific person, always take into consideration what that person finds useful. Some people want details, others prefer highlights and will ask for more information only if it is needed. Some reports will be read by several people, each with his or [...]

It’s very easy to get caught up in your e-mail, checking almost every few minutes to see if you have another e-mail message. But that is a terrible waste of time. Better to check your e-mail only twice a day, more often only if you receive time-sensitive information. If you aren’t able to check your [...]

Here are some rules to sending effective e-mail messages: Keep messages clear but concise. To help recipients prioritize e-mail, highlight at the top of the message whether your e-mail requires any type of action—for instance, "Action required." Make certain that your information is accurate. Because e-mail can be printed, archived, forwarded, and even broadcast, it [...]

At the very least, before you begin preparing your speech, ask yourself the following questions: What exactly am I supposed to speak on? Will my audience expect me to provide the facts and figures or just an overview? How long am I supposed to speak? A good speaking rate is around 125 to 150 words [...]

Before you enter into any negotiation, you need to be sure of why you are doing so. What specific conditions do you want to exist when an agreement is reached? Will you accept less? What is the absolute minimum you will accept? Just as you know your needs, you need to know about your opposition’s [...]

Giving work to an employee is delegation, one of the hardest tasks for some managers. Part of the problem is due to a reluctance to relinquish control of anything they’re working on. Many managers operate on the basic assumption that someone else either can’t do the work or at least can’t do it as well [...]

Before giving any directions, you need to plan: What you want as the end result of the communication. Set objectives. Who should receive the directions. How you will give the instructions so they will be best understood. That means you have to select the appropriate medium. Would it be better to put the instructions in [...]

Thirty percent of communications via phone are true communications—that is, live communications. The remaining 70 percent of the time in which the phone is used, it is to send voicemail. Here are some tips for using live phone calls: Make telephone appointments for important calls when you need to discuss matters in depth, just as [...]

Not only should you know what it is that you want but you also have to visualize it in terms of the other person’s needs. Consider the implications of your idea. When you present it, be as specific as you can. The key to getting buy-in is to make sure the idea meets some self-interest [...]

Studies have shown that typically we remember only about 30 percent of what we hear. The effective listener will try to improve on this percentage. The techniques for doing so include the following: Practice active listening. Prompt further information. Beware of perceptual filtering. Restate what has been said. Tell Me More Practice active listening. We [...]

The best way to handle the problem is to interrupt the person who has interrupted you. Then, in a calm voice, you should ask, "Please wait until I finish my thought." In group discussions, the perpetrator of the bad habit is likely to back down. Once you have completed your remarks, you might say to [...]

When you think of the grapevine, you think of gossip, mostly bad news about the organization. Whether you like it or not, a grapevine will exist in your company. You can’t eliminate it but you can limit its potential for demotivating staff by feeding it accurate information. Begin by sharing good news with staff members [...]

Surprise. The best way to generate a flood of ideas or information about problems from your employees is to ask them. Beg your people for suggestions if you have to. Make your desire for employee suggestions well known in your written and your spoken announcements. Don’t let up. After a while they’ll understand that you [...]