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Help Your Employees Become Opportunity Hunters

Monday, April 7th, 2014

When the recession hit just over 5 years ago, company after company laid off some of their best people in an effort to cut costs. They released amazing talent to the workplace that other savvy companies were able to hire in a moment to build a more powerful team. These savvy companies know that to survive a recession, they can’t stay the same. They know to get the best people and find/create new opportunities. Many of these companies had a windfall when others had a fall.

There is a misconception that when tough economic times happen, opportunities diminish; that the best way to respond to a down economy is to cut back on spending and scale things back. However, as many wise companies that survived the recession know, when times get tough you activate your teams into becoming opportunity hunters. You keep your best talent and have them go out and find new and meaningful ways of adding value.

Consider the following to help your employees become better at opportunity hunting:

  1. Share meaningful information. It is impossible for employees to create or find high-value ideas if they are not able to know what is fact, true and meaningful. Be sure information moves easily in the organization – both up and down the organizational structure.
  2. Raise the expectations. Celebrate new ideas, meaningful risk-taking and pushing the limits. Share success stories of ideas that turned into successes and regularly ask employees for their best ideas. If you don’t ask, they won’t deliver.
  3. Share the wealth. When something new and valuable is implemented, share some of the value back with those who created it, researched it or implemented it. Remember the adage, “what gets rewarded gets repeated.” Draw attention to remarkable work and ideas by sharing the wealth.
  4. Be an opportunity-hunter. Leaders must model the behavior. Many of the managers and leaders I know are not opportunity-hunters; they focus on doing the business the same way each day/week/month/year. But those who openly search out and bring new ways of doing things in the workplace, new products and services and new ways to stay relevant, inspire their employees to do the same. Employees watch what leaders do more than what they say.

Successful organizations train, empower and incentivize their employees to be opportunity hunters. The remind employees that they are the eyes and the ears of the organization, gathering information and looking for ways to connect their unique capabilities and the organization’s core abilities to provide new and meaningful applications. Many of the organizations that failed in the recession held firmly to who they were instead of rethinking how to reinvent and repackage what they do best to address a new and changed world and workplace; they clung to their outdated script and quickly became irrelevant or non-competitive.

How opportunity-focused are you and your employees? What two things could you start today that could increase performance and results?

Need help? Our Fire Up! coaches are experts in assisting organizations in creative thinking, value-building and driving performance. Contact us or review our performance workshops – they focus on talent, culture, service and leadership – the four pillars of outstanding organizations.

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Don’t Be Cheap With Praise

Monday, March 10th, 2014

You have just finished a marathon day – nearly 12 hours. Because of the heat, customers in your business seemed more short-tempered than normal. Despite this, every customer was well treated, the service level remained high and your attitude was great. In fact, you don’t quite know how you pulled it off.

Finally, it is quitting time. You are dreaming about the pie you’ll have for dessert and how great a long cool shower will feel. You walk by your manager’s office and say, “That was quite a day.” He looks up at you and agrees, and follows it with, “see you in the morning.” You loiter for a moment only to see your manager finish what he was working on; you keep moving towards the door, shrug and make your way in the dark to your car…

How do you feel? Why?

Okay, same situation, different ending… You have just finished a marathon day – nearly 12 hours… You walk by your manager’s office and say, “That was quite a day.” This time  instead of dismissing you like he did in the earlier version, he now calls out, “Do you have one more minute?” You return to his office. He says, “Thanks for doing so well today. We really showed the customers what we are made of. I don’t know about you but I was really proud of everyone today.” You smile and nod. Your manager adds, “Tell your family I’m sorry to have kept you so late – tell them I’ll make it up to them when things slow down.” You smile and tell your manager not to worry about it. He stands and shakes your hand and adds a final, “I really appreciated your effort today. Thanks again – and get some rest tonight.” You make your way out the door and to your car in the dark….

Now, how do you feel? Why? What changed?

They say the two things people want more than money are praise and recognition. To be noticed for hard work, for extra effort, for great energy is one of the most motivating things a manager can do for his/her people. All it takes is some time and thought.

Rewards and recognition are critical tools of today’s best managers. In order to compete in this constantly changing and dramatic business environment, companies need to use every tool available to them to direct their business and control their success. Remember the phrase, what gets rewarded, gets repeated. When you see your employees put in the extra effort, take a greater degree of responsibility, give personally or act seamlessly as a team, be sure to comment on it. Notice it. Applaud it. If nothing gets noticed or recognized, then you will get nothing (special) from them.

“High-performing companies have abundant recognition,” says Harvard professor, consultant and author Rosabeth Moss Kanter. They use it in conjunction with a sound compensation and benefits program – to get the most from their employees. “At a time when companies are dependent on extraordinary skills and talents of their employees just to survive, it is especially important for employees to be reminded that extra efforts are noticed and rewarded.”

The best way to use recognition effectively is to:

• Customize its delivery – be sure that it matches the personality and character of the person receiving the recognition (some people want recognition in private, others want a billboard).

• Be honest and sincere in its delivery – speak from the heart or people will see through it.

• Do it at the right time – catch your people in the act of doing something right. Celebrate it when you see it.

Recognition done right is a powerful tool in attracting great employees and encouraging them to stay. Exceptional organizations continually encourage exceptional employee performance – they catch employees in the act of doing something great and applaud it. That helps the employee to see that exceptional performance gets them noticed; they feel appreciated and energized to give and do more.Everyone likes (and needs) a regular pat on the back.

Please contact us to learn how to build meaningful reward and recognition programs into your workplace and culture, and share this with someone who can benefit from it. Remember, how you treat your employees is how your employees will treat your customers. Don’t be cheap with praise.

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Fit and Alignment

Monday, February 24th, 2014

Fit and alignment are two words that most affect every workplace manager’s job. Fit – do you hire employees who have the behaviors, in addition to the skills and experience that fit the job? Alignment – are you constantly looking for ways to align your employees’ greatest abilities to the needs, challenges and opportunities in your business?

Let’s start at the beginning: talent. Having the right talent – people who have the behaviors and interests to successfully and consistently do the work (who fit the job) – is the key difference between average and exceptional performing organizations. This requires understanding the activities the job is responsible for then assessing which behaviors must an employee have to be successful at these activities. Using this thinking, behaviors become obvious. Does this role require the person to be driven, focused, methodical and analytical, or persuasive, charismatic, nurturing and kind?

Core behaviors are hardwired in us; we can’t influence a non-analytical person to be analytical or non-creative person to be intrinsically creative. Hire for fit means identifying the thinking the job needs based on the activities it performs, then sourcing employees who have those behaviors.

Once the right employees are hired into the organization – the next focus is alignment. Though the employee is a good fit for his current role, employees always have greater abilities and interests than just those required for the job. The more we know our employees, the more we see their other talents, interests and values. As we better understand the needs, challenges and opportunities in our business, we can then go to these additional abilities in our team to get things done.

For example, if an employee who works in customer service (hired well because her talents and strengths align to those needed in the role) has additional strengths in writing and performing, she may be the right choice to develop a company’s marketing jingle or starting an internal company newsletter. Or, an employee who is a good fit for the sales role he is hired into, has a passion for sports; he then could be involved in a fitness challenge for the organization, or the creation of a company softball league to build camaraderie and company spirit. As we align a greater amount of our employees to their work and workplace, we connect them at a greater personal and emotional level.This impacts their level of energy, engagement and performance.

We are all much larger and more able than our jobs require. First, hiring for fit assures we are capable in our jobs. Then, by spending time with each employee to know his additional talents, values and interests, today’s managers can better connect and align his team to opportunities that are meaningful to both the employee AND the organization.

Fit and alignment – the two things to watch for to ensure today’s employees show up interested, capable and competent in their work. It is management’s responsibility to make this happen.

At TGZ Group, we are experts at helping organizations define the talents needed by role to hire for fit. We also train managers to job sculpt to align employees to tasks that connect their additional abilities to the needs, challenges and opportunities in the workplace. Contact us for more information and to learn how this process can help you engage and inspire your workforce to greater performance.

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Get Your Employees Out Of Their Comfort Zones

Monday, February 10th, 2014

There is a part of our brain that hates change. Maybe hate is too strong of a word, but our brain wants to feel safe and in control, and when change happens, we feel out of control. So, our natural feeling is to avoid what makes us feel unsafe – we avoid change.

The problem is we then get stuck doing what we always do; we become afraid to try new things. We get stuck in our comfort zones, ready to do each day what we did the day before. For an organization this is a death wish because nothing stays the same; organizations that don’t change, disappear.

In the workplace we need our employees to be our eyes and ears – connecting us more powerfully and actually to our world. We need our employees to constantly offer ideas to push us forward – to move ahead, try new things and invent. How likely is this if our employees just want to hunker down and stay where they are? We’ll have to help them get out of their comfort zones. Here’s how:

1. Make change the daily discussion. Most times employees are afraid of change is because management is afraid of change. Instead, welcome change as a workplace value – a critical belief of workplace success. Start each day with some news or review of the outside world and its impact on the business. For example, in teaching our multiple-day workshops, we start the day with the statement and question – “When you went to bed last night, the world changed. How has any of this change affected what you do and how you do it?” Even if nothing specific needs changing, employees learn to watch for change.

2. Be a change lover. Our employees take the lead from us; how we perceive change is directly influencing how they perceive it. Be a change lover by openly accepting how things are, and always responding to them with optimism and ideas. The more upbeat and focused on success managers are, the more they influence the attitudes and perceptions of employees; we inspire our employees to share this “can-do” instead of a “will-fear” attitude.

3. Connect change with success. We have learned that change is fearful. We can also learn that change is exciting and successful. Create a change success dashboard. Track new and innovative projects and responses to help employees see the tangible impact of moving out of their comfort zones – of embracing change and using it to be more clever, creative and responsive.

4. Require daily learning. The more we expand our minds, the more aware we become of learning and appreciating new things; we become less fearful. This is due partly because we know more (and knowledge is a powerful antidote to the fear of change) and our thinking expands. We develop comfort with our greater abilities; we become more competent and therefore more courageous.

Change inspires fear. To end the fear and employees’ tenacious holding on to their comfort zones, support, empower, inspire and educate employees about change – and how to use change as springboard to greater opportunities and successes.

 to learn more about how our performance workshops, coaching and consulting are helping organizations and employees welcome and use change to drive results and stay ahead. The sooner you learn how to accept and work with change, the sooner it becomes a resource and not an obstacle.

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