Articles

You probably have an employee in your work group that is highly focused and productive and has risen above the rest of the group in terms of value. If you do, this type of success-driven individual has specific things that motivate them and you should endeavor to meet these needs.

Companies spend thousands, if not millions of dollars on advertising and customer service training to promote their extraordinary service and yet if the service department isn't on board all of this time and money is wasted.

About a month ago I took my lawn mower in for servicing at a local power tool and lawn mower company. The man in the service department told me the mower would be ready in 7-10 days and that they would call when the mower was ready. After 12 days, I hadn't heard from them so I called to find out about the status. I was told that it was going to be serviced that afternoon. The next day I showed up to pick the mower up and found out that it wasn't done, but would be done later that day. When we called the next day, the mower wasn't done but would be done that afternoon. To make a long story short, this happened again and again for the next week until we finally got the mower - ten days late.

Recently, I went to my favorite ice cream shop and nearly pulled my arm out of my socket trying to open a locked door. The strange thing was that the store wasn't closed. For some reason, the double glass doors were only open on one side. Earlier in the day, I had gone to a local hardware store. (Yes, I know what you are thinking. Believe it or not there is still an independent local hardware store open in my city.) The hardware store also had this strange one door open, one door shut issue. Just like the ice cream shop, I nearly pulled my arm out of the socket on the locked door. These two establishments started me thinking. I realized that half of the stores I went to had a locked door when they were open. I also realized, as I looked back on it, that every single time I grabbed one of these locked doors I twinge of anger shot through my body and I entered the store annoyed.

In a recent survey one hundred people were asked to describe the moment in time when they were most motivated to succeed. The overwhelming response for all the men and women surveyed involved a team. Sometimes it was a sports team, other times it involved music with a band and other times involved a work or community project. Why is this? Why do people work harder and become more motivated when they are part of a team? The answer is simple but at the same time extremely powerful. When people are part of a team they simply don't want to let their teammates down and when people are part of a group working together to reach a common goal they get caught up in the momentum of something bigger than themselves.  Motivating employees at work can be accomplished through the team effect.

Change is inevitable. Unfortunately, change can bring about fear, uncertainty and distrust amongst your workforce. These reactions are normal. Most people will feel one if not all of these feelings at some point when faced with change. It's your job as a manager to get them through these tough times. The business world is constantly in flux and it will be a constant challenge for all managers to bring their employees along and through these changes.  Change management training will help them through the process. Here are three ways to help your employees to embrace change.

Customer service training is the key to a successful business. A company can have every other aspect of their business set perfectly, yet if the service isn't right, then the business will fail. Great customer services starts with great training. Every employee needs to know the company's service policies and how to work within these policies to provide the best service possible. Some of the most important skills in every customer service training program are active listening, defining customer's needs, making every customer their own and helping customers outside their department.

It's really easy for companies to fall into the trap of having feelings rather than standards when developing a customer service policy. Without clear, concise standards its easy for employees to misinterpret policies and also very difficult to train new employees on what is expected.  Customer service training should be as crystal clear as possible.

Sexual Harassment in the workplace comes in many forms. Most of us are familiar with the most famous form of sexual harassment - the male boss harassing a female subordinate and trading work privileges for sexual favors, however there are many other behaviors that constitute sexual harassment. The victim does not have to be the same sex as the perpetrator. Harassment can occur with a man harassing a woman, a woman harassing a man or both parties can be of the same gender. Harassment occurs when one of the parties is receiving unwanted sexual attention and the gender of the parties is not relevant.

Empowerment is one of the most powerful tools available to a manager and an organization. No one person can do everything by themselves. It takes a group of dedicated individuals to effectively run an organization. They benefits of empowerment are not only the ability to get more work accomplished, but also make the creative minds of an entire organization available. A workforce free to innovate and work unencumbered by micro-management is a happy workforce and a far more productive and efficient one.  Leadership training should focus on empowerment whenever possible.

The power of vision in business is perhaps the most important strategic advantage available to businesses today. If businesses don't have a vision of where they want to be in 5 or 10 years then they are treading water in the present. Every business decision made in the present affects positively or negatively where the company will be in the future. If they don't know where that future is then decisions made today are like shooting in the dark.