Know-How Exchange : Other

One of the clubs I am a member of has a few hundred members. We just went through elections for new officers. As the old President stepped down, she made a last speech. Part of that was how she would rather be the officer of our club (an unpaid job requiring a 2 hour drive to get to meetings) than do her day job (architect). As an officer, she was often thanked for her work and told how good a job she was doing. Didn't get that at her job.

Often all it takes is the simple (and free) method of honestly telling the employees about the good job they are doing and thank them. Not always done well (or often) by management, who seems to be more often looking for areas to correct and improve the employee.

Show them the big measurable goal.
Tell them what happens when you meet that goal.
Show them how their work affects that goal.
Regularly update how close you are to that goal (and use a trend line to show last week's effort, etc.).
Allow your staff latitude to creatively (so long as it doesn't violate any company guidelines/ethics) get your company closer to the goal (flextime, different procedures, etc.)

I know it's old-fashioned and works better in a central location, but charts and graphs and celebratory parties at certain levels works everytime.

Wait IF they are realistic goals and integrity is the basis of the company. I've participated in events where sr management watched from the perch like kings. Yeah...not good.

Michael