by Alan Fairweather

(c) Alan Fairweather - All Rights reserved http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/ ==========================================================

Are workers telling truth when they say they are ill? This question was posed on Money Programme on BBC Television in December 2004. British Bosses are reporting that more and more of their staff appear to be skiving off with faked illnesses and many firms are taking new steps to crack down on malingerers. Research by Confederation of British Industry suggests that workplace absence is on rise for first time in five years. Last year we were off sick on average for 7.2 days up from 6.8 previous year. It costs UK businesses £11.75bn a year, CBI says. The CBI also estimates that 15% of all illness is due to people taking days off when they are not really ill.

Now while I accept that there will always people who take time off work for no good reason, I believe managers need to take a long hard look at how they manage their people in first place. Perhaps if made workplace a far better place to be then a lot less people would take a "sickie."

If you want a highly motivated team who don't take time off work, don't keep looking for other jobs and make a positive contribution to your business there are three things you need to do.

#1 Spend some quality time

I didn't say "quantity time" I said "quality time." One or two minutes of quality time on a regular basis are far more productive than a one hour review every year. You need to get to know your team better and they need to get to know you. It will help you build a relationship with individual. You'll gain a much better understanding of them and how they're handling job. It will also give impression that you care about individual and show that you're there to help with problems both personal and business. Spending quality time will encourage opinions and ideas to flow from them and allows you to explain company's mission. It gives them a feeling of being in on things which is a big motivator. It will also help you build an "early warning system" of any problems both business and personal. Finally, it builds team spirit and morale.

#2 Give feedback and coach

Recently, America lost one of giants of late night television, Johnny Carson. He was a master at his craft,because he would conduct his show, essentially like a ninety minute meeting. The program would be entertaining, insightful, informative, and leave you wanting more.

Many times we fear going to meetings because we feel, based on past experiences, that they are going to be boring, not relevant, lack information, and we can’t wait until meeting ends.

Here are my eight techniques used by Johnny Carson to make your meetings outstanding for all involved:

1. Do Your Research Johnny Carson would invest time before each show to find out information on what was important to his guests and audience members. He would find out about his guests’ personalities, their interests, and concerns.

Why not do same? E-mail participants with your agenda before meeting. Ask them for feedback or any concerns they may have concerning meeting. This allows you address any concerns before meeting and to think through any potential problems and come up with better answers for solutions during meeting.

2. Plan Meeting Master details for your meeting. Set an agenda with points to be covered and time period for which they will be covered.

3. Invite Only “Guests” That Can Contribute When Johnny was finished speaking with one guest, then it was time to bring out his next guest and engage in conversation with that guest. When he finished speaking with his guests he would excuse them so they could leave.

Invite only “guests” that are relevant to subject matter at hand. How many times have you wondered, “Why am I here, this meeting doesn’t pertain to me?” Also once your “guest” has contributed to meeting and there is nothing else in meeting that pertains to them, excuse them so they can leave.

4. Keep on Time You knew every night Tonight Show with Johnny Carson would start at its assigned time (unless there was a special event).

Starting you meeting on time shows respect for participants who made effort to show up on time, and let’s late comers know that this behavior is unacceptable.

Also designate one person to be time keeper. They are responsible for keeping you on track to stay within time limits for each subject covered in meeting. The results are that you start on time and end on time while accomplishing your meeting agenda.