How to and How Not to Get People to Work Happily and Productively

There is such a thing. I was comparing the difference between Fring and Skype for ease of download, installation, use, ease of managing settings and de-installation. I called 6 CXOs to discuss the title of this blog post at the same time. I plan to write about both on my TMC blog some time in June.  For now...

Some videos on Youtube that focus on CXOs and human resources:

How to Motivate at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-ifiDuvls ... usually sitting on the front row and aware of everyone around you... are they asleep, awake or using their Blackberry. "Thank God, I am alive today. Let's go make another spreadsheet."

Funny! Advice to managers: use big words, tell your employees what they should be doing even though have never actually done what they are doing for 10 hours in a row, always find soemthing wrong with what your people are doing or else ... why are you even there? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYtFI8hXwiA

CEO Rob Davidson on leading in a flexible work environment ... over a 90 person recruitment firm at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmFp2mgh2WQ ...  "A Road to Damascus experience."

Idiot CEO? 123 of Great Teamworking ... a bit funny ... I watched this and thought ... it looks like he is doing everything for his team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxySwKKp-xs



... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. Find out how to get your telephone company to offer phone numbers from around the world. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

How to Treat your Over-achieving Team Members

Once upon a time, I worked for Kelly Services so that I could get new job experiences quickly and see the world in new ways. One of the places I worked at was Johnson's Supply who sold wholesale industrial supplies. Their one complaint to me was to slow down because they would run out of things for me to do.

When your hardest working, proactive staff do things like:
1. Try to talk to you face to face about major and crucial issues.
2. Try to suggest new ways to do things.
3. Refuse to write logs that list only five items when they do a range of 50 or more major categories of tasks.
4. Inform you that property the company gave them was stolen by someone else.
5. Get way more done in one day with high quality results that your other employees.
6. Try to work through team efforts, not always by themselves.
7. Try to discuss with you why they are unhappy working with you and that they are considering... leaving the company.
8. Ask why they have been making less than $21,000 USD per year for 6 years and would like a raise to say... $24,000 USD per year.

Don't:
1. Tell them that they should take care of this on email or IM. You are saying to them that they are of no value to you, not valuable enough to talk to face to face about the company.
2. Tell them keep their new ideas to themselves or argue each suggestion down as not usable.
3. Insist on the log when you will not read it and when you might start reading the first few lines of the emails they copy like they read all of your complete emails. Or start sending them a log every day also.
4. Lay them off or fire them. Instead, begin a police investigation and keep them on!! Of course!
5. Give them twice more to do and get upset when they don't get it done before 5 PM.
6. Tell them it is their job and not to involve anyone else.
7. Respond that they are dispensable, tell them you will replace them with someone at less than their current wages, and that, "I don't work for you. I don't even work for myself." Or... that your boyfriend has been good for the company. WT ... O?
8. Tell them you can replace them for less. Instead, thank your lucky stars they have not left you. You need them, and there is nothing to be ashamed of in admitting that.

Get a grip, CEOs, bosses, presidents, all the head honchos. You will lose your best people.


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Gravity Wants to Bring us Down?

More is not always better at work, in love, in money, in sex, in food, in drink, in anything. Even if the glass is half empty, at least there's something there. Make the best of it. Lesson to self and anyone else who cares to read... ;-)

Watch the video, read the lyrics, and add on your Facebook if you like!



Gravity
By John Mayer

Gravity
Is working against me
And gravity
Wants to bring me down

Whoa I'll never know
What makes this man
With all the love
That his heart can stand
Dream of ways
To throw it all away

Whoa Gravity
Is working against me
And gravity
Wants to bring me down

Oh twice as much
Ain’t twice as good
And can't sustain
Like one half could
It's wanting more
It's gonna send me to my knees

instrumental

Oh twice as much
Ain’t twice as good
And can't sustain
Like one half could
It's wanting more
It's gonna send me to my knees

Oh gravity
Stay the hell away from me
Oh gravity
Has taken better men than me
Now how can that be?

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
C’mon keep me where the light is
C’mon keep me where the light is
C’mon keep me where keep me where the light is


http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/John+Mayer/track/Gravity



Love ya!
Suzanne

Worst Way to Motivate Employees

Don't try to make your team feel sorry about the bottom line of the company. The best will LEAVE.

Our company has been really lucky since 1999 to have hard-working and extremely self-motivated/intrinsically motivated team and leadership. Our bottom line and number and quality of clients and partners and suppliers have improved each year also.

We would never try to motivate our team in the following manner: I read an email where I was cc'd by a CEO of another company to her employee. She used a threat of the fact that their company was low on money and wouldn't be able to pay bills to push her over-achieving employee to get moving even more.

Hmm... that would not motivate me at all. I think I might be looking for another job. Don't say things like that to your team, especially if that person is one of your top and over achievers.