Do I really have to compliment my employees all the time? That's why they get paychecks.

In my last post, I shared the Hartman Performance Diamond as a model to think about the four key enablers to effective employee performance. Those were 1-Expectation Clarity, 2-System for Success, 3-Competence, and 4-Motivation.

When I conduct assessments to uncover why team members are not performing well, the most frequent breakdown I find is Expectation Clarity, which I recently covered here . The next most frequent breakdown I see is in the area of Motivation.

How can you make sure your people are getting what they need in the motivation department? To help, I like to use Chapman and White’s Languages of Appreciation, which I’ll cover here and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Motivation-Hygiene Theory, which I’ll share in a future post.

Motivation can be tricky, because what motivates one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. People get their job-joy in a variety of ways. Some folks get satisfaction out of a job well done. Some enjoy being part of something exciting and bigger than themselves.  Some enjoy the challenge of their work. Some are motivated by their relationships with team members or customers.

On top of some combination of those, most people need to feel appreciated in order to bring the best of themselves to the job.  In the organization assessments I mentioned, the leaders may appreciate their employees but are not expressing that appreciation in a way that resonates for the employees. Sometimes when sharing my findings with a leader, he or she scoffs at the idea of having to do anything special to show appreciation. I often hear something like, “Isn’t that what the paycheck is for?”. The short answer is no. The paycheck is necessary but not sufficient for most employees to dig deep and give their all at work.

Gary Chapman and Paul White’s The 5 Languages of Appreciation at Work, teaches us that there are 5 different ways people might prefer to have appreciation demonstrated.

1) Words of affirmation: Such as, “Hey John, you crushed it in that Sales presentation. Way to go!”

2) Gifts of service: For example, you might do his evening cleaning duties or run an errand for him.

3) Quality time: This could include spending time with the employee to understand his or her interests or taking the time to provide mentoring.

4) Tangible gifts: For example, a bonus, gift card, chocolate or tickets to a movie she’s been talking about wanting to see.

5) Appropriate touch: Such as, a high-five, pat on the back, or maybe a hug. Be careful with this one and make sure that it is APPROPRIATE for your work environment and comfortable for that employee. Someone may like touch but not a hug from you.

Homework: When do you feel most appreciated? Is it when a customer praises you or a co-worker brings your favorite homemade brownies? Maybe it’s something else.  

What are the things that seem natural for you to do to show your appreciation for your employees? Do you do the same thing for everyone or tailor the approach to the person’s preferences? Consider asking each employee privately about the sorts of things that have happened in any workplace that truly made him/her feel appreciated. Then, customize your approach to demonstrate appreciation in the way that is most powerful for each employee.

Uh, Thanks for Vacuuming the Broom Closet…. Not! – Tips for Managing Employee Expectations and Motivation

Sometimes employees believe that they are taking initiative and being helpful by doing a little ‘something extra’. Their initiative and intentions are great! However, if the extra thing is something that doesn’t make any difference to you or your business, the employee can feel unappreciated when no one causes a fuss.

If an employee isn’t performing in the way they should - you may ask yourself if they know what is expected. Employers think this should be obvious or common sense. Unfortunately, common sense isn’t common. That is unless your employees grew up in the same neighborhood as you, were born in the same year, in the same birth order, with the same parents as role models, etc., etc..

In my coaching and consulting work, I often help leaders who struggle to address employee performance issues.

In order to account for the multiple variables involved, I’ve developed the Hartman Performance Diamond.  It is a model that pulls together the key aspects of employee performance management into one simple graphic, allowing you to examine the reasons behind performance issues and develop appropriate approaches to solving the issues.

We start things at the top with the ‘Expectation Clarity’ smaller diamond within the larger diamond. The first thing you want to verify is that you’ve been clear about your expectations. Bottom line: just because you said it didn’t mean it clicked. Maybe you gave your employee instructions or gave a demonstration. Or worse, the expectations were buried in page 52 of the Employee Handbook given on Day 1. How do you know he truly understood?  Maybe he didn’t have the context to process it. Or perhaps he heard from a co-worker “ah, we don’t do it that way”…..etc.  

He might have been led astray by some other factor.  Thus misdirecting his initiative and leading to potential upset that he is working so hard and not getting recognized for his efforts, which can in turn lead to further issues with motivation.   

Solution: You need to set expectations about everything from dress code, job duties, how to track hours worked, how to request time off, how to treat co-workers and what’s okay and not okay to discuss with customers.  Those expectations can be made even clearer if you paint the picture of how each expectation impacts the business success.   Then, ask the employee to explain his understanding so you can make sure your message was clear. Often, fully discussing expectations is all that is needed to improve employee performance.

Want the complete picture? Check out this video to learn about the entire Hartman Performance Diamond.

Why a Red Gucci Purse is Totally Part of Strategic Planning

You might be asking yourself, “What in the world does strategic planning have to do with a Red Gucci Purse?” My answer to that would be EVERYTHING!  

It’s the beginning of the year. You’ve updated your strategic plan, including your 2017 goals, and are getting back to business at hand. This is great, but how do you keep focused on achieving those goals while keeping everything else going? And for multi-step goals, at what point do you claim success?

If you’re a driven person, as I know many of you are, you are likely to keep setting new goals and driving for more without stopping to take a breath and acknowledge your accomplishments. This forward momentum, no matter how impressive, will inevitably lead to burnout.  I’m going to help you avoid this by introducing you to my ‘Gucci Purse’ rewards program.

For those of you who have participated in my Own Your Future Strategic Planning process, you know that Step 2 -Inspiring Future - includes establishing major milestones. Milestones are significant accomplishments that give your business a big lift.

While milestones are good, hard driven people tend to keep moving the goal line. It is great to keep driving - but you need to refuel your tank before moving on. In order to push myself to achieve, I like to have a physical reminder or memento.  The personal reward I am currently working to earn is a Red Gucci Purse, which I will treat myself to when I’ve completed the professional recording of my No More Feast or Famine webinar series. I found an image online for the purse I want and taped it to my milestone timeline, right below the webinar series recording date. The Red Gucci Purse will serve as a visual reminder to me that I focused, persevered and made that milestone happen. Even after the recording, there will still be tons of work to be done to market and distribute the webinar series. But for me, recording the webinar series represents a major milestone. The reward will help propel me forward to take those next steps.  

Not everyone’s reward needs to be a pricey gift. Other ideas are treating yourself to a day off, getting a massage, or taking a trip. The idea is that you stop, acknowledge your hard work and celebrate. Identifying the reward-worthy point can be tricky. For example, you may set a milestone to secure a new type of client. Do you get the prize when the client says yes, when you start the work, or when you get paid for it? For complex multi-step projects, consider identifying a critical step in the process that feels like the biggest hurdle.

I’d love to hear about which milestones you plan to celebrate and how. What’s your ‘Red Gucci Purse’?  

I Love Them, I Love Them Not

We’ve all had them.  The ones who’ve made things feel so exciting and effortless.  The ones you think about and can’t wait to see again and again.  No, I’m not talking about the Valentines of years gone by, I’m referring to the favorite customers of your present.  There are the customers you LOVE to love and the customers you love ‘not so much’.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just love them all?  Or at least figure out how to make the ones who you don’t love, more lovable? Or just wrap things up and move on?

As my Valentine gift to you, I’ve created the ‘Customer Love Assessment’ to help you do just that! (The 9-box will look familiar to those of you with experience in Talent Management.)

Step 1:  Take the name of each of your recurring clients and put it in a small, medium or large heart. The size of the heart indicates how much you enjoy the work for that customer.

Step 2: Place the heart in the appropriate space on the 9-block grid.

• The x- axis, identifies how much effort it takes to deal with that customer for invoicing and scheduling. I refer to this as “wrapper hassle”. Do you have to regularly follow-up to have your invoice paid? Does your client constantly cancel or reschedule appointments?

• The y-axis, identifies how lucrative the work for that customer is.

 Now What?

For my business, and I assume for yours too, the goal is to have mostly big hearts in the high Revenue and low Wrapper Hassle box of the grid. Sometimes a visual like this helps bring important things to your attention.

For example, some clients, like Client C, are taking a lot of energy for not very much money and not very much satisfaction.

Think about the following:

• What have you tried to minimize the wrapper hassle?
• Is there anything that could be done to make the work more fun?
• If not, what about wrapping up the work for that client and replacing them with a client who is a better fit?

On the other hand, some clients, like Client B make you LOVE your work and bring out best in you.

• What makes the work with Client B so fun?
• What can you do to get more of that kind of work?

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Now go grow your own customer LOVE!

What the Heck is Strategic Planning and How Do You Do It?

Many people have heard the term but are unsure what strategic planning is. Strategic planning is a process that helps leaders design their organization’s destiny with intention, instead of simply reacting to what the world throws at them. If you own a small business, you might think strategic planning sounds like corporate hogwash. Even if you see value in it, perhaps it seems daunting and boring. Frankly, if done poorly, it can be all of those things.

By helping over 20 businesses a year in many different industries do strategic planning, I’ve had the benefit of LOTS of cycles of learning. So I am confident to say that my version of strategic planning, which I call Own Your Future, provides the structure to get business and life-altering results, is fairly straightforward to follow AND is fun. Boom!

Even if it isn’t possible for you to work with me right now to do strategic planning, you can get started on your own. Since it is my vision to double the small business success rate in America, I’m willing to give away a skinnied-down version of my 5-Step Own Your Future, Strategic Planning process right here in this post! So dig deep, have some fun and Own Your Future!

Step 1: Identity

In step one, start with building a solid foundation.

• Values and Behaviors: Take some time to journal on what you stand for and how.
• Mission: Think about why your business exists (not just what you do). For more on this, check out my Tear in My Beer post.
• Core: Are there any aspects of your business that must always remain?

  Step 2: Inspiring Future

You likely started, bought or took over your business because you envisioned an exciting future.  Amid the daily challenges, you might struggle to keep that alive.  You’ll more easily muster the energy to power through those challenges if you have a long term vision. It has to be BIG, like leaving a legacy so it is compelling enough to keep your fire going. A near-term vision is helpful too as it is inspiring, attainable and a great motivator for staying the course.

Dive in to Step #2: 

• Develop a Near-Term Vision (the “next level of better” in terms of money earned, time required, work quality and customer satisfaction). Pick an approximate date you’d like to achieve that Near-Term Vision. Maybe it is 6 months, a year or 18 months out.
• Now, develop a Long-Term Vision (a legacy you’d like to leave). For example, mine is: To double the small business success rate in America.

Looking for further inspiration? Check out my Double Vision
post for more on how to establish both a near and long-term vision. 

  Step 3: Current State

With this next step, you’ll take a look at what you have going for you that will help you achieve your near and long term vision. Maybe you have a unique and super effective process, or there is a global trend towards buying products like yours. You should also make yourself aware of the things that stand in your way like new regulations in your industry or a marketing-savvy competitor.  

In the Own Your Future strategic planning process, I encourage participants to be thorough in thinking through what’s currently working and what’s not for various aspects of their organization. To help, I offer my System Elements model. Check out the short video here.

Step 4: Architecture for the Future

This is definitely a Catalyst-only step (since I invented it) and is one of the reasons my clients’ strategic plans produce better results than the average strategic plan. In this step, put your near term vision at the top of the page. Next, identify each of the groups of people who need to do something in order for your vision to become a reality (e.g. employees produce a specific average of products per week, customers buy a certain amount of your products or services). For each, think about what you’d imagine that group of people would need to think, feel and know that would motivate them to do what you’d like them to do. The last part of Step 4 is to brainstorm things you could do to influence what those people think, feel, know, so they are motivated to do what you’d like them to do. I understand this is the trickiest step. Email me directly if you’d like a template for completing Step 4. You might also check out this video on the model. 

Step 5: Goals & Strategies

Hang in there, you’re almost done! To close the gap between the current state and your desired future, develop 10 or fewer SMART goals, and a handful of strategies for each.  For a refresher on my version of SMART goals, check out this post.  A strategy is an approach you are going to take to reach a goal. Pull strategy ideas from your Step 4 brainstorm on what things you can do to influence your customers, suppliers and employees. And remember, you can always email me directly if you would like templates to help compile your answers for any of the steps in the Own Your Future process.

There you have it, your very own strategic plan. Next you can start taking actions to implement those strategies. Review and adjust your goals and strategies throughout the year. Don’t forget to celebrate your wins! That reminds me of an upcoming post. Stay tuned for:“Why looking for a Gucci purse online is totally part of strategic planning”.