Published January 2006

Make work more satisfying
for your employees

Despite all the columns, all the books, all the seminars and speeches on how to create a motivating workplace culture, sadly, I continue to hear stories about bosses who wreak havoc in their managerial domain.

Perhaps they believe surveys that report only 12 percent of Americans “give their all” at work, which must mean everybody is slacking. Their way of firing up people is by shouting, bullying and blustering.

They think their job is a pain. Since they’re miserable, so will everybody else be.

Staff morale low? Just throw money at the problem.

If any of the above pertains to you, as a manager, it’s time now in January to decide whether to continue the downward spiral or to change.

What do most people want from their manager? Only to be respected as a “whole person” who has a life outside of work.

You ask, “Why don’t they give ‘all out’ at work?” Because 63 percent of them say they aren’t rewarded or recognized for good work they do; that 63 percent say supervisors don’t know what motivates them to do their best, that “empowerment” is a joke, while only a third say supervisors value their input.

When was the last time you rewarded even one employee for a job well done?

Here is some information regarding employees. Based on answers from 1,200 nonmanagement employees asked by Chicago-based management consultant and public speaker Barbara Glanz, here are significant strategies to make work more satisfying and more productive for employees:

• Know how to reach them. Just over 90 percent want to be trusted; 89 percent want to perform meaningful work; 88 percent want to feel appreciated; and 86 percent want better training. Glanz also found that 75 percent left their last job because their boss lacked sensitivity to their issues. “Many of them failed to even say ‘good morning’ to their employees,” she said.
• Adjust attitudes. “Find ways to get people to smile and laugh while working. For every hour at work, there should be 10 minutes of laughter.”
• Make meetings positive. Instead of holding meetings only to fix what’s wrong, spend the first few minutes asking all participants to share good news. That sets the tone for the rest of the meeting, when meeting challenges and goals can be discussed.
• Instill respect. For $99 you can attend a seminar to learn how to criticize your employees. Or, you could spend nothing and look for ways to encourage and praise employees when appropriate.
• Boost enthusiasm. Hold impromptu contests — like an office putting contest or a darts competition. Party occasionally. If the boss is enthusiastic about work, it will spread to employees. Finally, Glanz suggests giving everybody a job title. “Even the lowest-rung employees will feel much better having their own job title,” she says.

(This is the last Manager’s Memo that will appear in the Snohomish County Business Journal, as I now embark on new challenges. It has been my humble pleasure to serve you since the SCBJ was launched in April 1998. Thank you for your support and following. You are forever in my debt.)

Eric Zoeckler can be reached by sending e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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