TIPS NewsletterTIPS Newsletter
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 20:10:17 -0800
To: CommonSenseManaging@growthassociates.org
From: Common Sense Managing <bill@growthassociates.org>
Subject: Tip of the Week
Table of contents:
Rewarding Employees
Mini Survey
Motivational Work Environment?
Contest
REWARDING EMPLOYEES
Reward employees for their good work.
* Use intrinsic rewards - respect, job pride, responsibility, personal growth, recognition, etc.
* Use extrinsic rewards - bonuses, benefits, time off, prizes, etc.
When in doubt regarding the best reward, go back to #1: Respect employees. Ask them how they wish to be recognized and rewarded.
Common Sense Managers favor intrinsic over extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards have a much longer shelf life and don't have to be approved by a budget committee. How much does it cost to say thank you, ask another's opinion, or recognize and acknowledge successes?
"Money motivates neither the best people, nor the best in people. It can move the body and influence the mind, but it cannot touch the heart or move the spirit; that is reserved for belief, principle, and morality. As Napoleon observed, "No amount of money will induce someone to lay down their life, but they will gladly do so for a bit of yellow ribbon.""
?M. Michell Waldrop, Dee Hock on Management
What specific things are you doing to:
Demonstrate respect for your staff?
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
Build job pride within your staff?
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
Delegate responsibility to your people?
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
Provide personal growth for your staff?
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
Provide recognition for staff members?
1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
NOTE: If you can't come up with at least one answer for each category you've identified an opportunity for improving your working environment. Best place to start is to ask your people for their help. Feel free to call Bill at 541.386.1117 for other suggestions.
This Common Sense Managing Tip is from the Motivation section of Common Sense Managing: Simple Ideas That Produce Results. The book is immediately available at http://www.growthassociates.org or amazon.com.
____________________________________________________________________
MINI SURVEY
Last week we asked the following two questions and got many responses. If you haven't responded, please do. I will summarize all the responses in the next Tip of the Week. Thank you.
If you could fix one thing about your organization it would be to:_____________________
The biggest challenge your department faces this year is to: _________________________
Your answers will be tabulated and included in a future Tip of the Week newsletter. No names or organizations will be identified. The data will be used to determine future Tip subjects.
____________________________________________________________________
Motivational Work Environment?
The following is allegedly based on actual experiments. Since I can not find the actual source, accept it for what it's worth. I have certainly seen it replicated in our organizational world.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when any monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the
banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or
why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?
Because that's the way it's always been around here.
And that's how company policy begins..
Are you spraying your people with cold water when they try something different?
Are you "teaching" your people to strive for continuous improvement or maintaining the status quo?
What do you do to demonstrate that you treat mistakes as learning opportunities?
____________________________________________________________________
CONTEST
We're looking for original humorous customer communications stories. Please email me your favorite experience. I will include the best stories in future newsletters. If your story is used you will receive a complementary copy of Common Sense Managing.
If you want to add additional names to our free email newsletter, you can simply email the names and addressed to bill@growthassociates. You may want additional people in leadership positions throughout your organization to receive this newsletter. There is no limit to the number of names you may add. It's free.
Bill Werst
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