Successful companies understand the importance of employee recognition.  Structured programs consistently implemented become a valuable benefit to employees, and a strong retention tool for business leaders.  Unstructured, more immediate recognition is also a powerful way to help employees stay motivated.

Employee recognition is not just something nice managers do.  Recognizing positive performance rewards the behavior you want repeated.  People crave feedback.  It’s a simple thing that many managers miss.  Acknowledging a situation where an employee accomplished something extraordinary can be viewed even more favorably than a pay raise.  In fact, lack of employee recognition is a common reason for people to resign from their position.

Communicating effectively means talking about what is working as much or more than talking about what is not working.  People appreciate positive reinforcement, and will respond in a productive way when they get it consistently. 

Whether you incorporate a structured employee recognition system, or simply reward people with praise when a job is well done, employee recognition is an important management strategy.

Coach Charrise

A common mistake leaders make in business is assigning responsibility to a person without giving that person the appropriate authority to fulfill their responsibility.  This creates stress, and also affects the level of effectiveness of your staff.

Assuming that you’ve got the right people in the right positions, we can also safely assume that they are up to the tasks you assign.  There is nothing more frustrating for a good employee to know exactly what needs to be done, and then have to gain approval from someone higher up the management chain in order to implement the action.  People inherently want to make a difference.  They want their work to have a positive impact in moving the business forward.  They can’t do that if their hands are tied.

Nobody knows what gets in the way of progress more intimately than the person in the trenches, doing the work.  Your employees have ideas for improvements, and sometimes we fail as leaders to open the door to that dialogue.  Employees want to have a voice, as much as they want to have an impact. 

Here are suggestions for balancing responsibility with authority:

1.  Realistically assess skill levels and assign responsibility and authority according to talent, ability, and desire to do the job.

2.  Effectively communicate to both the person you are assigning to, and all of the team members affected by the move.  If a person has been given responsibility and authority, others need to know what that means to work flow issues.

3.  Balance responsibility and authority – too much authority without responsibility is a recipe for disaster.

4.  Check in often, offering resources to smooth the path for quick, effective decision making.  Ask what the obstacles are, and move them out of the way.

5.  Trust your team.  They will either succeed or fail.  Either one is better than treading water.

6.  Give honest feedback often. 

7.  Trust your instincts, and ask a lot of questions to make sure people understand what is expected of them.  If you perceive there is a problem, you’re probably right.

8.  Imagine what you could be doing if you weren’t micro-managing.

Ultimately, we tend to underestimate the abilities of people, and we want to maintain control.  By raising our expectations, we’ll be pleasantly surprised at the increased productivity that follows.

Coach Charrise

Many business people think one must be very serious in order to achieve their business goals.  After all, business is serious business, and work is not supposed to be fun.

I submit to you that laughter in your place of business is as important as any other function that may exist inside your walls.  With laughter, serious situations are more manageable.  With practice, there is a funny side to everything. 

I’ve never met anyone that didn’t enjoy a good laugh.  Having fun at work might seem non-productive to some, but being around happy people who make you laugh has a significant impact on whether or not a person wants to come to work.  Of course, the work must get done as well, but people will respond productively to a happy workplace.

When a workplace is stressful, laughter is a great tool for easing tension.  There are health benefits to laughter in the workplace, as stress is a big factor in causing health related issues.  Did you know that laughing 200 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine?  Laughter drops your blood pressure and oxygenates your blood giving you more energy.

So, there are lots of reasons to lighten up.  It makes life a lot easier.

Coach Charrise