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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke **** Feel free to forward this eNewsletter to others. **** IN THIS ISSUE 1. HOT STUFF YOU WANT TO KNOW 2. HOW TO KEEP GOOD EMPLOYEES 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS 4. HOW TO GET YOUR PROBLEM SOLVED 5. HUMOR BREAK 6. FREE STUFF AND SPECIAL OF THE MONTH 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== REALITY CHECK The foundation of management effectiveness is to accept people the way they are, not the way they ought to be. --Wolf J. Rinke ======================================================== 1. HOT STUFF YOU WANT TO KNOW ======================================================== WHAT KEEPS MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT For 2000 and beyond, finding and keeping good employees is the #1 concern of 50% of 4,000 executives surveyed by Management Recruiters International, Inc., followed by "keeping up with technology" (18.5%), "the economy" (16.2%), and "global competition" (15.5%). The #1 concern has remained the same since 1995. However the respective runner-ups in 1995 were "increasing sales," "improving customer service, "and cutting operations costs." SOLUTION: Read "How to Keep Good Employees" below. Also "How to Reduce Turnover Parts I and II in previous issues of this eNewsletter at http://www.WolfRinke.com/wmenl.html Better yet have your employees answer the following 12 questions. They have been distilled from more than a million interviews conducted by the Gallup Organization over a 25 year period. According to Buckingham and Coffman, these questions "measure" the "core elements" that a company must master if it wants to attract and keep the best employees. 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? 4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work? 5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count? 8. Does the mission or my company make me feel like my work is important? 9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? 10. Do I have a best friend at work? 11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress? 12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow? Source: Buckingham, M. and C. Coffman. First Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. LESS TURNOVER FOR MANAGERS Contrary to popular opinion managers are staying longer at their jobs. Challenger, Grey & Christmas Inc. studied 3,000 managers and executives and found that their median tenure in 1999 was 9.8 years compared to 6.5 years in 1991. SOLUTION: Take time finding the right job and the right organization. The right job is a job that enables you to build on your strengths. (This is the one attribute shared by all self- made millionaires.) The right organization is one that knows where it is going, is committed to helping employees grow both professionally and personally. You can pre-screen organizations by reviewing their mission, vision and core values statements. Once you get to the interview talk to employees and co-workers, not just prospective bosses. And remember joining an organization is like getting married, so ask lots of questions and take your time. HOW TO FRUSTRATE CUSTOMERS Tarp, of Arlington, VA found that one-third of customers who wanted to get their problem solved by e-mail ended up using the telephone at least once. Compared to 80-90% of phoned-in complaints which were resolved in a single call. SOLUTION: Discourage customers from e-mailing their complaints. Instead provide easy access to "live" operators who have been trained and empowered to autonomously solve customer service problems on the spot. Source: The Wall Street Journal, p. A1, Feb. 3, 00. ======================================================= 2. HOW TO KEEP GOOD EMPLOYEES by Wolf J. Rinke, PhD, CSP ======================================================= Probably the single most important thing you can do to make sure that you keep your good team members is to take a look at how well you have tied rewards to performance. Here is how: Step 1: Establish Reasonable and Fair Objectives Make sure that they are easy to understand, measurable, and tied to specific goals you and your organization want to accomplish. Have people compete against themselves or against standards. Avoid having people compete against each other within the same organization. The reason: if there is a winner, there will be a loser. And losing demoralizes people, and demoralized people are more likely to quit. Also make sure that the goals and objectives are perceived as attainable by the majority of your team members. If they donÕt think they can achieve them, they wonÕt even try. An obvious, but often overlooked strategy to accomplish this is to involve people in the goal setting process for your organization. Step 2: Measure the Right Objectives Make sure you are measuring what you want to accomplish and what team members can have an impact on. Typically managers measure global indicators, such as sticking to the budget, over which many team members have little control. Your team members have no reason to stretch if they canÕt influence the outcome. ItÕs better to measure such things as customer satisfaction, because everyone has a customer, and everyone can have an impact on customer satisfaction measurements. Step 3: Tell people more than they want to know. Let your team members know how they are doing more often than you think is necessary. Distribute status reports using a variety of media. Make liberal use of charts and graphs. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. And if they donÕt understand it, YOU have not explained it very well. And be sure to make performance information public. Yes, both the good and the bad. Just exercise double caution to make sure that your information is accurate. When the enthusiasm wanes, itÕs time for more communication. Step 4: Offer the Right Stuff Make sure that awards and incentives are important to your team members. For example donÕt be like one my clients in Chicago. They offered a free parking space to the employee of the month. Unfortunately it did not mean much to most employees. Why? Because most used public transportation. How can you figure out what people really want? ASK them! Or better yet, involve them by inviting employees to become members of an awards team. Give the awards team a budget and watch them create magic! Step 5: Celebrate More, and More Often Than You Think Is Wise All human beings move themselves in the direction of pleasure, and move away from pain. So if you have trouble keeping your great team members, ask them how much fun they are having at work. Whenever you have a chance, celebrate achievements and performance. Having fun is what this is all about. So do it up right and do it as often as possible! Do it in front of team members, and be sure that the rewards are proportionate to the achievements. If the energy wanes, itÕs time for more celebration. Remember: "If itÕs fun, it gets done." Want additional employee retention strategies, devour my book Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High- Performance Organizations. See the special offer below! -------------------------------------------------------- *** NEW ** NEW ** WEB BASED TRAINING ** NEW ** NEW *** Now you and your employees can receive training the convenient and inexpensive way by enrolling on-line in a wide variety of courses. From management development to sexual harassment. All training can be tracked. Try it out for FREE today! You won't believe how easy and effective it is. Simply click on http://www.WolfRinke.com/mgttraining.html DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, SUGGESTION OR A MANAGEMENT SUCCESS STORY? We are getting some great success stories from our subscribers, and would like to hear yours. Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com. ======================================================== 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS ======================================================== DO IT IN PUBLIC Take a look at how people are told that they have done a good job in your organization. If fewer than two-thirds of your team members have been publicly recognized during the past year, change your recognition program so that ultimately 75 percent of all team members receive public recognition every year. PRACTICE MBA During the next five days, keep a written record of how many times you say something positive or negative to your team members. If the positives do not outweigh the negatives ten to one, set up an action plan, which will force you to practice management by appreciation (MBA). Track your progress on a "Catch People Doing Things Almost Right" chart or use the rubber band approach to keep yourself on a positive track. Put a rubber band on your right wrist. Every time you say something negative to a team member, pull the rubber band. You'll catch on real soon! TREAT EMPLOYEES LIKE VOLUNTEERS Starting today, treat every one of your team members as if they were a volunteer. You will know how good youÕve become at this by counting the number of times you use these powerful words: please; would you be so kind; would you please do me a favor; and thank you. ======================================================= 4. HOW TO GET YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED ======================================================= High employee turnover? **** Low customer satisfaction? Unproductive employees? ** Low morale? ** Lack of trust? **** Resistance to change **** Poor communication? **** Our high impact consulting services and customized management and personal development training will solve these and other "people" problems! Call us at 800-828-9653 or mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com to ********* Tired of the same boring meetings? ********* Would you like your next meeting, retreat or conference to be a "howling success"? Contact us. Dr. Rinke is a highly effective motivational and management keynote speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives. Call him at 800-828-9653 or mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 5. HUMOR BREAK ======================================================== A man walks into a pet shop in Silicon Valley. While browsing a woman walks in and says to the shopkeeper, "I'll have a C monkey, please." The shopkeeper goes to a cage, takes out a monkey, fits it with a collar and leash and hands it to the woman, saying "That'll be $2,000." The customer pays and walks out with his monkey. Startled, the man asks the shopkeeper: "Why is that monkey so expensive? Most of the others are only a few hundred dollars?" "That monkey can program C code, he is very fast, writes tight code, without bugs. He is worth every penny." Having his curiosity aroused the man looks at the other monkeys and notes that there is one that is even more expensive -$5,000! "What does it do?" "Oh, the shopkeeper replies, that one is a C++ monkey; it can manage object oriented programming; Visual C++, even some Java. All the really useful stuff." The man continues to look around and sees a third monkey in a cage all on its own. The price tag round its neck says $20,000. He exclaims, "That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?" "Well, I don't know if it does anything, but it says it's a consultant." ======================================================== 6. FREE STUFF AND SPECIAL OF THE MONTH ======================================================== ### SPECIAL OF THE MONTH ### ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS ### Hardcover BOOK: Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations, by W. J. Rinke. Price: $24.95. ONLY $20.00. Plus FREE shipping. SAVE $9.45!!! ###### You must mention this offer when you order!! ###### ***** 100% UNCONDITIONAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. ***** Order NOW! Offer expires 4/15/2000. Call 800-828-9653 or http://www.WolfRinke.com/WMprod.html For FREE articles, inspirational messages and other money saving offers on books, audio and video tapes that will help you and your company succeed FASTER visit our website: http://www.WolfRinke.com ======================================================== 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP President Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 350 Clarksville, MD 21029-0350 USA (410) 531-9280, Fax (410) 531-9282 For orders in the US (800) 828-WOLF (9653) Email: Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com Website: http://www.WolfRinke.com If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive your own FREE subscription mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com and type the word SUBSCRIBE WM in the subject box. To remove yourself from this mailing list, please type the word UNSUBSCRIBE WM in the subject box. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not make your name available to anyone. Period!
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