Bob came to a recent session with a big problem. His troops are getting restless (and unmotivated and disgruntled) because they haven’t received their usual yearly performance increase. It was supposed to happen in January. Oops...

It’s true - lots of companies are holding off on raises these days. At least salary freezes are better than layoffs, right? And if this salary freeze stuff is communicated clearly and honestly by company officials, most employees really do understand. They understand what’s going on with our economy. So they get it - times are tough all around. They don’t like it, but they get it.

But Bob’s company made a critical error...they cried wolf. And more than once. You see Bob’s company told employees in January that raises would come in March. And in March officials claimed raises were coming in May. And in May...you can guess what happened. May came and left - no raises. But employees did get another empty promise. Just two more months, guys. But alas, it’s November 1 and still no raises.

These days company officials have stopped crying wolf. In fact, they aren’t saying anything at all. First make a bunch of empty promises and then clam up. Brilliant strategy.

So what does this stroke of management communication genius mean for Bob? It means that he’s stuck with an apathetic staff who really doesn’t want to work hard for a company run by a bunch of liars.

As we discussed last time, your attitude and motivation level is absolutely critical to success of your department re-energization plan. This plan just cannot work if you are anything less that 100% committed and motivated to make it happen. It's up to you to model your work ethic and attitude to your staff.

Now I'm not saying all of this to put undue pressure on you. I doubt you need any more of that. I'm just trying to over-emphasize it so that you will never lose sight of importance you play in all of this. On those days that you find yourself discouraged or un-motivated, remind yourself that YOU are key to your department's success!!!

Okay, enough of that, let's get onto fun stuff. Uh, let me re-phrase that...Let's get onto stuff. Or should I re-phrase it yet again, perhaps a bit more formally this time...Let us proceed with discussion of employee motivation techniques which, when implemented consistently over a period of time, will significantly enhance attitude, motivation levels and therefore productivity of one's staff.

Nah, I like let's get onto stuff better. But what is this stuff? Well, there are six parts to this stuff. So today we'll focus on parts 1 -3, and next issue we'll wrap it up.

Stuff #1: Let them know your plans.

As you may have heard me say before, communication is KEY. Especially when you are dealing with a situation like our current one. In our situation we are presuming that employees are de-moralized and de-motivated because Senior Management has been less than truthful or communicative. It's up to you to assure your staff that you DO believe in telling them truth and that you plan to keep them in loop as much as you can.

So tell them you are sorry that things have been especially tough and tell them that you are committed to turning things around so that your department can be a functional AND fun place to work.

Announce that you are launching a plan to make your department BEST and ask for their input. Ask them for ideas as to how you can work together to accomplish your goal of creating "super-department."

Make sure to impress upon them that you are totally committed to effort and that it is NOT just some B.S. cheerleading meeting.

Stuff #2 Be involved, be visible and be around.

Now more than ever before it's really beneficial for you to be in your department. This shows your staff that you are involved in daily departmental issues - you're not just a figure-head sitting in your office reading WSJ.