Behavior Matters! - Part 24

Page 24 of 38

Teams – Part of the Motivation Equation

On September 26, 2010

In Employee Motivation, Four Drive Theory, Leadership, Motivation, Teambuilding, Uncategorized

Team building

Team Building Fun!

We know teams

We do a lot of work helping improve how teams operate.  Some of it is straight old fun team building – you know the type where you go off-site for a day and do different types of games and activities (note – some people love these types of programs and others detest them with a passion).   Other programs we do are much more intense and involve really working on specific team issues and developing action plans for greater collaboration, communication, or productivity.

We’ve worked with big teams.  We’ve worked with small teams.  We’ve done programs for executives and for line-workers.  We’ve worked with teams that are working well and just want to get to that next level and teams that really are on their last leg and need immediate urgent care or they will implode.

We have done one hour fun sessions.  We’ve created on-going programs that last months and require intensive work by the participants.

Regardless of the type of team development we are doing – it is also part of building a more motivational organization.

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You mean showing appreciation is a bad thing?

On September 15, 2010

In Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

I’m linking to this blog as it has a great post that highlights some of the “old school” thinking that is still out there.  It amazes me that in this day and age there are still managers that believe that showing appreciation is a bad thing….

Employees: Do you take them for granted?

Let me know what you think…

Are you Spock or Kirk when it comes to motivating?

On September 13, 2010

In Employee Motivation, Incentive Compensation, Motivation, Uncategorized

You might motivate like Spock if you focus on…

  • Cash performance bonuses
  • Paid on multiple products/sales/behaviors
  • Complex plans since they are more fair
  • Use of thresholds, kickers, multiple payout levels
  • Use of goal based programs
  • Paid annually

You might be like Kirk if you focus on…

  • Non-cash performance bonuses
  • Paid on one or two measures
  • Simplified earning process
  • Use of simple multipliers
  • Use of ranking contests
  • Paid monthly

Other ideas on this?  Add a comment and let us know…

Motivated by adversity: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

On September 10, 2010

In Communications, Four Drive Theory, Motivation, Uncategorized

First, if you have not watched Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion – please,  please do.  It is funny….ha, ha, ha, he, he, ha…. (ok, I need to work on my laugh – you’ll see the connection after watching).

The Spark

Joss Whedan on why he developed Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:

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Leadership lessons from a dying Raccoon

On September 7, 2010

In Employee Motivation, Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

RaccoonWe had three very cute  baby Raccoons in our yard last Thursday night.  They were fearless, lost, adorable and wondering around lost without a mother.  Kind of like employees without a good leader…but more on that later.

We went out and watched them as the toddled around the yard and gardens.  They were obviously hungry.  The smallest one could not keep up with its siblings and kept cooing out to them (that’s the only way I could describe it, like a mix between a cat’s “meow” and and owl’s “who”).  The siblings would circle back and rub noses with the smallest one.  They would try to get it to climb the rock wall to the garden or move under the table.  The smallest Raccoon would waddle slowly after them and try to keep up.

But the siblings were hungry and cold themselves and soon enough – they left the smallest one by itself.

The next morning, the smallest one was almost dead by the side of the garage.

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No Best Practice Quest Here!

On September 3, 2010

In Communications, Employee Motivation, Incentive Compensation, Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

I read “Sales Comp Demands a Deep Sales Dive, Not a Best Practices Quest” by Ann Bares on Compensation Force yesterday – the article really resonated with me.  The basic premise of the article is that companies should focus on understanding their sales force and not depend on best practices.  Ann states it best when she says, “the problem with the notion of best practices in HR is that it too often leads to a blind search-copy-cut-paste effort whereby we simply lift popular program elements (out of professional journals, books, studies, etc.) and implement them, without sufficient thought as to their fit and strategic applicability.”

It resonated because it is right-on but also because I just completed an assignment for a company where they were looking for “best practices.”

I didn’t give them any (we’ll not really – more on that later…).

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Passion or Lunancy – You Decide?

On September 1, 2010

In Employee Motivation, Four Drive Theory, Motivation, Uncategorized

I was in South Dakota last week on a family vacation.  First off, I forget how beautiful South Dakota is and all that it has to offer.  Secondly, there are some really, really humongous carvings there…

Mount Rushmore

The original idea for Mount Rushmore is credited to South Dakota historian Doane Robinson who thought that it would increase tourism (he was a pretty insightful man).  His idea was to carve local famous people into some of the granite mountains of the Black Hills.  In 1924, after working on Stone Mountain, GA, sculptor Gutzon Borglum was brought in to carve the mountain.

Mt. Rushmore

Borglum expanded on the original idea and wanted it to be a National monument that focused on our presidents.  He insisted that his life’s work would not be spent immortalizing regional heroes but insisted that the work demanded a subject national in nature and timeless in its relevance to history.

Borglum started work on Mt. Rushmore in 1927 at the age of 60.  He worked the rest of his life on the mountain.

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South Dakota

On August 30, 2010

In Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

I just spent the last week in South Dakota with my family.  It was a needed break from the day-to-day stuff that has been going on for the last six months.

A time to unwind and relax.  A time to reconnect and think.  A time to focus on things other than work and obligations…

Buffalo

Buffalo at Wind Cave National Park

REFRESH

I’ve talked taking time off before in order to recharge ourselves (see here: refreshabbatical).  I’ve realized that it is very important that we do this – and yet it is so hard.  I wanted to take the time off completely – without checking in or doing any work.

Oh well…

I ended up needing to be on some conference calls, figuring out a problem with one of our rental units, and checking back into see how an issue was being resolved at work.  As a result I was up way earlier than I wanted to be while on vacation.   Putting it mildly, that sucked.  Setting an alarm for 5:00 AM while on vacation to take a conference call is not my idea of fun.

But by doing it early,  I was able to spend all day with the family – every day.

And I didn’t check twitter, or my blog, or the internet or even the news.  It was almost blissful!

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What Drives Meaning?

On August 19, 2010

In Employee Motivation, Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

What is it that drives meaning in work?  True, real meaning that goes beyond the obvious “completed this project” or “achieved that goal”?  I have some ideas, but would love to hear what other people have to say first.  I’ll keep a track of the responses we get and put up another post on this with some ideas at a later time.

So please, leave a thought in the comment section!

Do you have wisdom you could share with small businesses? We need you!

On August 17, 2010

In Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

As noted before – I am on the board of the non-profit Economic Growth Centers in Minneapolis (http://www.egcmn.org).  We are looking for experts and leaders who have some wisdom to share.

Economic Growth Centers (EGC) is focused on strengthening the economic vitality of Twin Cities communities and neighborhoods.  We do this through helping small businesses grow and prosper.

Small companies are the engines of economic growth for the USA – yet they do not have many of the human or economic resources that larger firms do.

Our goal is to create a library of on-line training presentations that can be accessed at any time for free by small business owners, managers, and employees.   By providing small business leaders and employees with the skills and information that they need to prosper, Economic Growth Centers is helping them grow revenue, increase buying, add employees, and build out infrastructure, thus increasing the economic vitality of the Twin Cities Metro area as well as other communities across the country.

We are looking for  experts in various fields to volunteer to host our training seminars. By volunteering your time and expertise you are helping these small businesses grow and prosper.   The library will be focused around key developmental areas that small businesses need to grow:

  • Marketing and Sales
  • Human Resources
  • Financial
  • Strategy
  • Legal / Regulatory

The success of this endeavor depends on ensuring that we have a robust offering of meaningful courses – I would encourage anyone who is interested in presenting to contact me at kurt@lanterngroup.com or at 612-396-6392 to get further information.

Please share this with people you know who you think might be a good fit.  Thank you!

Kurt

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