Marty Zwilling wrote a great essay detailing exactly what to do to guarantee your team’s DEmotivation.

It’s great because in addition to being oh-so-true it’s tongue-in-cheek sarcastic enough that it might even penetrate the minds of those guilty of what it says.

Zwilling writes for entrepreneurs, but most of the actions he describes apply equally well to any manager at any level, as well as parents and pretty much any human interaction.

Call it universal DEmotivation.

Here are the headings, but you should really read the article to know for sure if you are guilty of some more covert version.

1. Be sure your team doesn’t know what is important to you.
2. Never explain your actions.
3. Hire team members who will follow your instructions.
4. Keep people on their toes with a threat of consequences.
5. Team meetings are for delivering the latest decisions.
6. Agree to milestones and then accelerate them.
7. Thank your employees for the little extras.
8. Be careful not to get too involved in your employees own goals.

In the decades I worked as a recruiter and those since starting RampUp Solutions I’ve heard these or variations of them listed as reasons people left their company.

Because when you get right down to it, people quit managers, not companies, and that is especially true when a manager is also a founder.

SUBMIT YOUR STORY
(like this)
Be the Thursday feature – Entrepreneurs: [your company name]
Share the story of your startup today.
Send it along with your contact information and I’ll be in touch.
Questions? Email or call me at 360.335.8054 Pacific time.

Flickr image credit: Mitchell Laurren-Ring

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Back when I worked for other companies I was considered “difficult.”

When I was young I was fired from one job for not taking my 15 minute breaks twice a day and from another for being too honest with a customer.

I spent 12 years working for a manager who never understood that all I wanted was acknowledgment and/or appreciation—without having to ask for it.

“Good job;” “congratulations, hell of a deal;” “good to see you back, we missed you.”

I was one of the top producers in his office, but the only time he said anything was when I brought whatever to his attention.

As most anyone will tell you, positive feedback or compliments are worthless when you need to prompt the source for them.

Often small efforts yield large results. My boss wanted me to move to the next level, but gave me no reason to put out the effort—the money wasn’t enough, I wanted to matter.

I recently told this story to a manager with high turnover in his department. He responded that he didn’t have time to “babysit” and expected his people to act like adults.

I told him he was a fool.

Stock.xchng image credit: arte_ram

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

Who do you want to hire?

The person who passionately wants to work for a startup or the person who passionately wants to work for your startup?

Think about it.

Who will contribute more?

• The person who always wanted to work in a startup; whose passion is engaged by the mere thought of working in the startup environment; or
• the person who craves the solution your startup proposes even if she never recognized the problem; whose passion is engaged specifically by the idea of contributing to that particular solution no matter where it is done.

Some experts will tell you that it is the drive to work in a startup—any startup—that is most important.

I disagree.

Just as the person who joins a company for money will leave for more money the person who joins because it’s a startup will leave for a sexier startup.

But the person who joins because of a deep, driving passion to be part of that specific solution will stay and fight the good fight long past the time that Hell freezes over.

Option Sanity™ engages the deeply driven.

Come visit Option Sanity for an easy-to-understand, simple-to-implement stock allocation system.  It’s so easy a CEO can do it.

Warning
Do not attempt to use Option Sanity™ without a strong commitment to business planning, financial controls, honesty, ethics, and “doing the right thing.”
Use only as directed.
Users of Option Sanity may experience sudden increases in team cohesion and worker satisfaction. In cases where team productivity, retention and company success is greater than typical, expect media interest and invitations as keynote speaker.

Flickr image credit: HikingArtist

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Last December a post entitled Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best appeared in Talent Forbes and about a month later another contributor boiled the 10 reasons down to one (with 2 parts),

1) Create an organization where those who manage others are hired for their ability to manage well, supported to get even better at managing, and held accountable and rewarded for doing so.

2) Then be clear about what you’re trying to accomplish as an organization – not only in terms of financial goals, but in a more three-dimensional way. What’s your purpose; what do you aspire to bring to the world? What kind of a culture do you want to create in order to do that?  What will the organization look, feel and sound like if you’re embodying that mission and culture?  How will you measure success?  And then, once you’ve clarified your hoped-for future, consistently focus on keeping that vision top of mind and working together to achieve it.

Yesterday’s Ducks in a Row focus was Greg Smith and his resignation from Goldman Sachs. Greg resigned because he felt the culture had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer ethically tell candidates that it’s a great place to work—Goldman’s focus is squarely on maximizing their own profit and clients be damned. (The story is all over traditional and social media.)

At the end of his resignation Greg says,

Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.

The bold is mine and that thought fits the “if you learn nothing else…” admonishment.

But I will go a step further—

You can’t attract great clients without great talent, so even if you make money in the short-term you will die in the long-term—bereft of both talent and clients.

Great culture attracts great talent; great talent attracts great clients; great clients spend great money—over and over and over.

Flickr image credit: Samuel Mann

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

“The stakes are high. You’re dealing with volatility. There are often secrets. … You often feel confused, at odds with a least one of your people, out of control.”

Do you ever feel this way when dealing with team members who are at odds?

It’s actually a quote by Richard Simon, editor of The Psychotherapy Networker (article in the NY Times), addressing the extremely high stress of being a couples therapist. (I did change ‘patient’ to ‘people’)

The parallels between couples therapy and managing are amazing—and frightening.

Frightening because too often these days people are making guns their solution of choice, so ignoring stuff may not be the best option.

Even managers with fantastic teams working in great companies with excellent cultures often feel stressed when dealing with the daily squabbles of normal human beings.

Downgrade any of those components and the stress goes up accordingly.

When dealing with the situation and resulting stress you need to recognize is that it’s not unique to you or your organization; it’s normal.

The first thing to do is make sure that you aren’t the source, but if your MAP is contributing to the problem apply whatever corrections are necessary to change that.

The second thing is to recognize that you have little choice but to act as a therapist on occasion, take time to learn a few of the tools and add them to your management skillset.

Because as much as your team and company will benefit from that knowledge, there is no question that you will benefit more.

Flickr image credit: cliff1066™

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

I dream; you dream; everybody dreams—without dreams there would be no reason to get out of bed in the morning, let alone do anything else.

Robert Kennedy summed up the human attitude towards dreams when he said, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Why not, indeed?

Walt Disney tells us, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

And Jesse Owens elaborated on that when he said, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”

But if you find yourself dreaming more than doing Baltasar Gracian’s advice should help, “Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.”

Entrepreneurs are dreamers big-time and entrepreneurism is truly a global force; Jack Kerouac understood not only the universal appeal of dreams, but also its universal effect, “All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.”

Entrepreneurs looking to hire would do well to remember the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and make them their mantra, Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”

When times are darkest and your dream seems unlikely to reach fruition you will find the words of Christopher Reeve inspiring, “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”

Are you ever too old to dream? John Barrymore has a great answer to that, “A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”

Finally, you can do a lot worse than let the words of Malcolm Forbes be the driving force in your world, “When you cease to dream you cease to live.”

Image credit: Melody Campbell

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

It’s always surprising how often different sources address the same problems offering similar solutions, but in such different ways that at first glance you wouldn’t notice.

Within days of each other, both Fortune/CNN and BNET offered up good information on employee motivation. Fortune/CNN article was science-based, while BNET was experience-based, with a leavening of humor.

They both said essentially the same thing with one exception, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Motivating employees means providing real purpose in their work; it requires challenging them and encouraging them to learn and grow; and it requires clear communications, including well-defined plans, roles and responsibilities.

Pretty standard stuff.

Now for the exception; the science offered up a new twist that just might help your implementation.

Removing obstacles is not the flip side of providing purpose, challenge and clear communications.

In other words, this is not one of those times that removing the negative means the positive will automatically rush in to fill the void or vice versa, that having the positives will overcome the negatives.

In this case you need to address the two as totally separate subjects.

First, remove any obvious negatives.

Next, start implementing the positives.

Third, be on the lookout for new obstacles.

Fourth, and most important, be sure that you on the side of the angels and not one of the obstacles.

Flickr image credit: zedbee

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

I found this great list of dumb boss quotes and thought I’d share my favorites along with my editorializing. You can check out the rest of the list here. There’s an old saying that people don’t quit companies, they quit managers and today’s quotes will tell you why.

First up is the manager who exemplifies the Peter Principle, “I’ve noticed that our ‘cost of goods sold’ rise whenever we experience greater sales. What can we do to reverse this trend?”

Then there is the obviously caring manager known for his leadership skills, “I’m getting a new company car new week. Please call the dealer and ask him to delay the delivery until after Wednesday’s layoffs. I want to appear sensitive.”

Many times what managers tell candidates in an interview isn’t exactly the way things work on the job, “I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression your input would have any effect on my final decision.”

Other managers don’t bother to pretend, “I threw your suggestion away. Only managers can make suggestions.”

Some managers give are known for putting their people in no-win situations, “If you are on schedule, then your plan was not aggressive enough. If you are behind schedule, you must be goofing off.”

There are many managers who really don’t have a clue when it comes to motivation, “Don’t worry, give it a try. You have nothing to fear but failure, demotion and termination.”

Just in case you think that these are all fiction, the following were added by readers.

From Sophia: “You are not here to think, you are here to do.”

From dliney: Manager: “We’re going to promote you- you’ll be like a faculty member.”
Staff: “Then there will be a raise”
Manager: “Uh-no.”

From cwbailey64: “Frankly, I know I hired you, but you have to admit… you have no talent.”

Anonymous: Everyone who disagrees with me signify by saying “I resign.”

I hope enjoyed these as much as I did and will take a minute and add your own to the collection.

Image credit: HikingArtist.com

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Tony Hsieh Has been beating the drum that happy employees provide the best customer experience and help assure success and sharing his wisdom on how to do it.

The other question I keep getting asked is how do you do it when you

• aren’t the CEO or even a senior manager;
• don’t have the budget for great perks; or
• aren’t the touchy-feely rah-rah type (direct quote).

The short answer is in five words, you take time to care.

Why should you care?

The how is nicely summed up in this article about new research from Harvard Business School.

Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually.

$300 billion is a number that should get anyone’s attention.

The engagement issue is relatively simple and definitely cheap to solve.

The problem is that, as usual, employees and managers aren’t on the same page.

The research shows that for employees “the single most important [event] — by far — is simply making progress in meaningful work.”
Managers are another story.

“When we asked 669 managers from companies around the world to rank five employee motivators in terms of importance, they ranked “supporting progress” dead last. Fully 95 percent of these managers failed to recognize that progress in meaningful work is the primary motivator, well ahead of traditional incentives like raises and bonuses.”

What constitutes supporting progress isn’t rocket science, either.

• Autonomy, meaning no micromanagement;
• sufficient resources, meaning valid scheduling and enough of whatever to get the job done without having to beg or being left to fail without them; and
• learning from problems, meaning understanding the why and how, not just the what.

If you find any of the three difficult to provide you need to look in the mirror.

The problem isn’t about having time to support progress; the problem is that your MAP doesn’t support the concept.

Flickr image credit: ZedBee | Zoë Power

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Back in the late Seventies/early Eighties women who chose to stay home, as opposed to working, were, demeaned, called “traitors to the cause” and looked down on for their choice.

Which was stupid.

Today, people who don’t start their own companies or choose to work for established corporations are similarly treated.

Which is just as stupid.

Not everybody should be an entrepreneur; not everybody should work in a startup; and those choices do not reflect negatively on the quality of a person’s skills or attitude.

Choosing to work for an established company or large corporation does not lower people’s intrinsic value; nor does it mean they are dumb, lazy, unmotivated or uncreative.

Some see large company experience as a training ground, while for others there is pride in being part of something large and ongoing and they enjoy the camaraderie.

Some are looking for stability, although that is mostly gone, and some don’t really care as long as they can pay their bills—their job (paycheck) is not their career; that energy is focused on a passion that just doesn’t pay.

Even some entrepreneur’s think traditional jobs can be a better fit.

Just as thousands of intelligent, educated, driven, passionate, creative women chose to stay home and raise their kids, thousands of intelligent, educated, driven, passionate creative people choose to work for large companies.

As I said Tuesday, it’s about fit and “fit” isn’t a reason to judge.

We are all different; you need to find what floats your boat and do it—not do what others say should float it.

Stock.xchng image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1221230

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL