I remember my first supervisory job back when I was 22 years old, supervising a group of peers my own age and five people who were many years more senior than I (and many of them had previous management experience). Partly based on a fear of making mistakes and an overactive ego/bravado I made many […]
Tag: engaging employees
Are you really listening?
If you are like me, your ability to listen fluctuates from being an excellent and attentive listener to being distracted and disinterested. And most of the time, we aren’t fooling anyone – they can tell if we are really listening. I’ve also noticed in myself, that my listening skills tend to fluctuate depending on my […]
Internal competition: Motivator or Demotivator?
Internal competition – motivator or demotivator? Managers typically are more competitive than average employees. So it’s natural for managers to want to create a competitive spirit between employees, shifts, divisions and locations. And some employees respond really well to this competition. It can even get carried away to include gaming the system to […]
Forty percent of employee motivation is optional
Admit it; you’ve had managers you wanted to see succeed and you’ve likely worked for others that you didn’t respect or trust. And you’ve had occasions where you threw everything you had at your job and other times where you dialed it back to idle. Managers and supervisors often think that the wages or salary […]
Mistakes of Managing to the Metrics
You’ve likely heard the expression, “What gets measured, gets managed.” And companies have improved their capability to measure dozens, or sometimes hundreds of data points that reflect how the business is performing. Unfortunately, managers are falling into the trap of “teaching to the test” which means that they harp on the metrics without coaching the […]