Thursday, May 28, 2009

Motivation

I went to one of coffee bars yesterday, the server seemed to be dull and lost.
The coffee bar was bustling with activities and people were coming, drinking and chatting.
I was like usual sitting and sipping my coffee waiting for a friend for an hour before the meeting as I had arrived early for the meeting.

I saw a young man, No offence to him and his company, but I could see he was not motivated and not happy.
He was delivering monotonous coffee to every customer, like another coffee and another job. Coy and introvert, as I have seen in India, they donot barge the personal space. They are afraid to talk to strangers or vice versa.

I ordered sandwich, as I was hungry. The same young man served me.......I had remembered the concept Fish!
and started talking to him life, business, home and job.

My friend came about 5 minutes into my discussion with this little boy, my friend who got quizzed about my behaviour and started looking in distress that I was ignoring him for a server, rather than giving time to our meeting. It was meeting my friend after 3 years on return to India. During the short conversation I had with the young man, I could feel, lack of happiness in job, because of his monotonous job.

After 10 minutes of talking his heart out, he seemed to be in relaxed, buzzing with zoom. My eyes were stuck on him during my 1 hour catch-up old time sake meeting. I could see changed person, the same young man who was serving coffee like dead bowl of red ants, was bouncing from table to table for serving.

The young man was home sick and things were not going so great for him, hence we was planning to quit the job, because of his home sickness, but he seems to changed when he spoke to a stranger.

This motivated me to write to PassionHR, as we HR profs are talking, drinking, sleeping eating, contemplating ways to motivate employees, improve productivity let us just motivate people we meet and see if this helps to put a smile on a face. It would not cost us money! Just a simple smile on each transaction, but dont become transactional on passing smiles. It would be like putting a dead meat on the groused donkey!

So, we in HR can become smiling and prosperity gurus rather management or business gurus, if we can motivate people around us. It is now said, that it is time for knowledge workers, who are bored to death with their routine jobs. I have seen that in Engineering, Retail, IT, Finance, Pharma Industry, let us spread smiles.

Hence as a part of PassionHR, where all HR confluences, can we spread the cheer and motivate people,

What say Mr. Nair on motivational week/month for PassionHR and if you guys have any comments, it will be much appreciated.

Just a thought!

Happy anniversary, hope you have many more!

Manager Vs. Manager

Employees worried about their jobs because of the tough economy are competing against each other in unhealthy ways. But HR executives can mitigate such problems in several ways, including making people feel more appreciated.

As the economy falters, it's more of a dog-eat-dog world than ever -- and your best managers and executives may be the ones snapping at each other's throats.

Executive coaches and others say that high anxiety in corporate America is causing co-workers to be more competitive, often in harmful ways.

"August is the biggest month I've had in 25 years," says Anna Maravelas, a coach and author of How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress. "I've had human resource directors calling me up, they were hyperventilating over the state of their executive teams. They say, 'Our teams are dysfunctional, the executives are hostile to each other.'"

Maravelas, founder of the St. Paul, Minn.-based firm Thera Rising, which focuses on team building, conflict resolution and leadership development, says co-worker competitiveness has significantly increased over the past year -- a situation she attributes to the downturn in the economy.

'When people's economic security is at risk, their behavior deteriorates," she says. Among the most serious problems among managers and executives are "backstabbing and avoidance," she says. "You do something that annoys me, or I don't agree with, I don't bring it up. I don't ask for explanations when things aren't going well in your division."

Eventually, she says, executives will stop offering each other a head's up about imminent problems -- "Or worse, they'll set you up to fail."

There are other signs co-worker competitiveness is growing. A recent survey of 150 senior executives from large U.S. companies found that nearly half (46 percent) believe employees are more competitive with their co-workers than they were 10 years ago.

But, just in the past year, the competitiveness has been accelerating, says Dave Willmer, executive director of OfficeTeam, which commissioned the survey. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing firm, a division of Robert Half International, places professional and customer-service professionals.

He also puts the blame on the economy.

Competition among co-workers can be healthy, and can benefit companies when times get tough, says Willmer. But HR leaders need to be on the lookout for competition that becomes unhealthy -- which can lead to poor morale, lower productivity and difficulty in retaining good employees.

Employee often feel more anxious about their jobs when they don't get enough recognition, says Willmer. "If recognition is unfairly distributed or not distributed, people become competitive to seek that," he says.

Competitiveness among co-workers also increases when companies don't communicate with their employees well -- not only about where things stand with the company's health, but about where an employee's career stands. "When you don't know, you tell yourself, 'I have to do whatever I can,'" says Willmer. "But that may not be a healthy thing."

Joseph Koob, author of Succeeding with Difficult Co-Workers, says he's seen a growing competitiveness over the last five or six years, as companies have cut back and eliminated entire levels of management. "They're leaner and meaner, but that creates more work and takes away a fair amount of advancement," he says.

"Mid-level and senior executives are working tremendously long hours, which puts pressure on everybody," says Koob, founder of Metacoach, based in Lansdale, Pa.

At the same time, he says, there's less loyalty to companies, and people are jumping from one to another -- which means "you have all these people floating around who are really good." That gets managers and others worried about their own job security, which creates even more angst and competitiveness, he says.

Co-worker competition can be good when it helps people to do their best, but becomes unhealthy when employees are so unhappy they leave, says Koob. "That eventually undermines the whole organization," he says.

How can a manager or executive tell when competition has moved from healthy to unhealthy? Koob suggests that leaders walk around and talk to people. Among the signs: "People will be complaining about other people, pointing their fingers. They'll be blaming others. They'll be whining about their own situations."

Like other experts, Koob says that if employees feel appreciated, they're less likely to worry about their jobs and engage in harmful competition. "It comes down to how people are treated," he says. "If a manager makes an effort to understand who they are, and appreciate who they are, then competition is fine."

Maravelas, of Thera Rising, offers these suggestions for keeping competition from getting out of control:

1. Acknowledge the contributions of your direct reports and other divisions daily." She recommends inviting leaders and employees from other departments to staff meetings and publicly thanking them. This helps everyone feel appreciated.

2. Eliminate performance measures "that reward employees and leaders for sacrificing the needs of other divisions for their own gain" such as a sales-compensation structure "that drives wedges between groups and leaders."

3. "Build the consistent message that we don't throw people under the bus here. As soon as you see a person disrespect or target another person or group, you shut that down."

Maintaining Positive State of Mind

Winning the Thought Battle
If you have read my articles or heard me speak, you know that I always come down to action. We need to act if we are going to be successful!

Yet, our success starts long before our actions. In fact, our success begins in our thoughts.

The process is that thoughts become actions and actions produce results. So the equation starts with the thoughts. So the key to success is to start with and control the thoughts that we have. Good thoughts become good actions become good results.

But there is this predicament we have as humans. It is this "battle" we have with our thoughts. Thoughts of depression, negative thoughts, thoughts of fear etc constantly creep into our minds and cause us to act in certain ways that are going to produce the antithesis of the kind we want that will produce success.

So what can we do to win the battle with thoughts? Here are a few main points. Apply these immediately and then constantly and you will be on your way to winning the thought battle.

Guard your mind. Pretend that behind that forehead of yours is a very precious thing your mind because it is precious. If you had a storehouse of gold in your house, you would hire an armed guard to stand watch and keep all the bad guys out. Yet, many of us let any old thing come into our minds.

We need to keep the bad thoughts, the negative thoughts O-U-T! Now when I say this, I mean both the ones that start in our heads and the ones that come from external sources.

Proactively place good thoughts in your head. Just like a garden, where you weed, or pull the bad stuff out, and plant, put the good stuff in, so we do the same thing with our thoughts. Buy tapes and music that will produce good, happy thoughts in your head! Watch TV programs and videos that put good thoughts in your head!

Avoid the naysayer. They are all around you. You work with them, you live near them some are even in your family! Whatever you do, do not let them affect you with their negative thoughts. Spend as little time as you can with them (unless it is your spouse or kids then you need counseling!)

Act on the positive thoughts that you do have. When a positive thought comes into your head, act on it! This will begin to produce a "bridge" between what you think and how you act! This will then make that transition even easier as time goes by!

Four key ideas to win the thought battle:

Guard your mind..
Proactively place good thoughts in your head.
Avoid the naysayer.
Act on the positive thoughts that you do have.

Go forth and Win the Battle!

Go the extra mile. Instead of saying: "Why don't they do something?" Say, "Here's what I'm doing about it." Instead of, "Why me?" Think, "Try me!" Look for rainbows in thunderstorms, and instead of worrying about the icy streets, put on your ice skates. Live out the story of the little boy who bought a new pair of ice skates with his allowance so he could skate on the frozen pond. His mother and father, watching him slide, slip and fall every time he tried to stand up, ran to his rescue, cautioning: "Let's put them away, son, before you get hurt!" The boy continued struggling and replied: "Mom, Dad, I didn't get them to give up with – I got my skates to learn with!" So this week concentrate on doing more than you are asked and contributing more than is required.

HR Behavior - Better Employee Behavior

The vagaries of employee behavior—from chewing gum or potato chips while on the phone with customers to a penchant for showing up everyday at the office fashionably late—will gain consistency if you draw up the company’s behavioral preferences in the form of a contract. That's the advice of Quint Studer, author of "Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top." Studer offers tips for putting together your employee behavioral mandate:

• Don't Assume You'll Meet Resistance. "Most employees are as irritated by the offenders as you and your customers are," says Studer. "Most people appreciate having official guidelines—it eliminates their own confusion, as well as that of their coworkers."

• Common Courtesy Isn't Common. You might assume knocking before entering an office with a closed door is par for the course, Studer says. But for people who grew up in large families with few physical boundaries, knocking on doors might feel like a needless formality. "In other words, common sense is a subjective concept, depending in part on an individual's background," he says. "Still, it's very important that every employee display behavior consistent with company standards and aligned with desired outcomes."

• Behavioral Rules Create a Happier Workplace. Consistent behavior in the office means a better work environment. "Employees who frequently behave in ways their coworkers deem inappropriate are not contributing to a happy, unified, productive team," says Studer. "And here's the real bottom line: If you don't spell out which behaviors are acceptable and which are not, you can't hold people accountable for them."

• Draw Up Your Own Contract. Develop a "Standards of Behavior" contract, and have everyone, from CEO to receptionist, sign it, he advises. This document can address any work-related behavior, says Studer, "from interaction with clients to phone etiquette to 'good manners' (knocking on doors) to 'positive attitude' markers (smiling or saying thank you)." Then make all employees sign it.

• Seek Input From All Employees In Creating the Document. Put together a "Standards Team" to spearhead the initiative and create the first draft. "Be sure everyone has a chance to review the document and provide input before it's finalized," he says. "Do not have human resources write it and impose it on everyone else. You want to create buy-in, and that requires companywide participation."

• Align Desired Behaviors With Corporate Goals and Desired Outcomes. Take a look at your organization's long-term goals and areas that need improvement. "You must be able to measure the success of your standards by seeing an impact in many of the key metrics of your operation," says Studer, "whether those are increased customer satisfaction, reduced rejects, or other measures."

• If You Do It Right, Your Contract Will Serve As An Ongoing Reminder Of Proper Behavior. "Just knowing a Standards of Behavior document exists—and that their signature is affixed to a pledge to uphold it—is enough to keep employees on their toes," he explains. "It creates an extra boost of awareness that really does affect day-to-day behavior. It creates the same behavior expectations for the entire team. Best of all, it functions as a tidal pull on problem employees, bringing them up to a higher level of performance."