Employee Motivation - Get The Basics Right FirstWritten by Martin Haworth
To motivate your people, it is vital that you start off with understanding that there are some things that need to be fixed first, before you can get on with above line actions which develop a strong and engaged culture.There are eight things you need to do. Building a team of motivated people in your business is vital to get very best results, but so many managers focus on 'ra-ra-ra', rather than important things - things that make people feel comfortable in their working environment. Here are eight that you might want to have a think about:- - The Weather Is it too hot, or too cold. Your people need an environment which is, like Goldilocks said, 'Just right'. So is office too stuffy in summer? Or too icy in winter? Is it draughty? Do people get wet when accepting deliveries, because outside roof leaks? Literally make sure that external factors are as they wish.
- The Breaks Sometimes working in a day-to-day job can get boring and exhausting. So people need to know when their breaks are and that they wil be able to take them - it's not that complicated. Yet often, they just aren't able to have this basic courtesy in place. Planning and caring for your people's needs is vital. It's what you would want for yourself, isn't it?
- Holidays And vacations/holidays are important too - some would say it's the most important thing on working year calendar. So enable this to happen, when they need to know, so that they can plan their invaluable time away from business and refresh.
- Being Heard You people need you to listen to then and hear them - really hear what they are saying and respond with action and/or acknowledgement. Be out there creating good, open relationships with your people and take in what they say - what's important to them - and deliver solutions to make conditions great.
| | Agendas Make Meetings ProductiveWritten by Martin Haworth
Meetings take up time and effort, so they need to be very productive. And one aspect worthy of special focus is how well you organise your meetings. Using a great agenda does just that.Having a meeting agenda template that works well for you, week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people bought into meeting process. Delivering an efficiency and effectiveness which makes most of valuable time you have together. Key points to note are:- - Circulate Share your agenda in good time, well before your meeting (with reading material for preview). This gives time for review, preparation and challenge.
- RolesIn a meeting there are various roles to be taken on from start. Chair, notetaker, facilitator, reviewer and other, more specific roles. These should be clearly stated on agenda in advance of meeting.
- Items for Discussion Items on your agenda need to be selected carefully and only be relevant for grouping of people who get together. Time is precious, so make sure that when together, only things which need everyone's input are given time.
- Set TimingsGet clear on your agenda just how long meeting will last and how long will be devoted to individual items on it. This gives clear indications of what will happen in meeting.
- Ground Rules Within your agenda will be some rules of how meeting process will work. It is important to set standards of behaviour which eveyone signs up to.
- AOB Often included in agendas, this item is one that really should not be there. Good preplanning before agenda goes out should mean that all items are included at that point and, where dispute occurs, meeting lead takes a decision. AOB can easily take a meeting off rails and lead to missing time agreements.
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