These surveys come out on a fairly regular basis. There is a part of me that believes 20 years down the road we will still be seeing similar results to the findings in Inc.com’s Employees Feeling Underappreciated.

Of more than 500 full- and part-time employees surveyed nationwide, 35 percent said the company they worked for was ineffective at rewarding strong performance, according to OfficeTeam, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing services firm. At the same time, 30 percent of 150 senior executives surveyed admitted that employee recognition wasn’t a high enough priority.

The reason I mention this survey is that that Gen Y/Millenials have a different take on employment. They value work/life balance and look for different rewards from their employment (skill development, authority, horizontal organization, purpose). I don’t think these topics are new, but their prioritization of them is.

Retaining employees requires effort from their immediate managers. Understanding the employee’s motivations and rewards provides the recipe for building a stronger feeling of appreciation.

Most managers make the mistake of showing their appreciation by using rewards that reinforce their own personal motivation. I worked for one boss who always wanted to reward our team by taking us and our spouses out to expensive dinners. As nice as the meal was, I never looked forward to these outings. No matter what the setting, he was still the boss so the meal was not relaxing.

A $50 bill would have been far more pleasing to my Utilitarian motivation.

Comments(0)

It has been a while since I last posted about important upcoming dates. I was looking through a promotional calendar and started chuckling at some of the titles I was reading. Instead of highlighting just one this month, I thought I would provide all of July’s honor:

• National Recreation and Parks Month
• Blueberries Month
• Cell Phone Courtesy Month
• Family Reunion Month
• Herbal & Prescription Awareness Month
• National Baked Beans Month
• National Culinary Arts Month
• National Grilling Month
• National Hot Dog Month
• National Make a Difference to Children Month
• National Purposeful Parenting Month
• Skyscraper Month
• Social Wellness Month
• Women’s Motorcycle Month
• Mental Illness Awareness Month

Comments(0)

We have a couple of approaches to purchasing gasoline within our company. If you are like me, you keep a close eye on the price of gas and attempt to purchase it before it spikes. If not, you are similar to the Hammer who fills up whenever and wherever he needs gas regardless of the price.

I read an article on ManageSmarter.com that provided a link to software for your phone. The “Cheap Gas” widget is a free application from GetMobio. They provide an entire suite of applications designed to help cell phone users with a variety of tasks.

The program has over 50 applications and the “Cheap Gas” widget allows users to instantly search and compare gas prices for any geographical location€”determined by a user-provided street address€”as well as search gas prices by brand. The application also presents map displays for all gas station locations within the direct area.

I doubt the Hammer will add this widget to his phone, but I highly recommend it.

Comments(0)

Quality of standards is an important aspect of successful selling.  A salesperson who does not ensure quality has a tendency to appear inaccurate, or to the extreme – sloppy.  Since salespeople are initially the face of the company, this quality disconnect can present a poor view of the company’s quality as a whole.

Quality Orientation
This trait is a measure of a salesperson€™s affinity for seeing details, grading them against a preset standard (internal or external) and identifying flaws. This is directly related to a person€™s preference for paying attention to detail. Whereas attention to detail is more a measure of how capable a person is to appropriately see detail, this capacity also measures their proclivity for such accuracy as well. Instead of simple ability, it answers the question €œHow much of a desire do they have to ensure quality?€

A salesperson with strength in this trait will have an underlying desire to constantly evaluate things at a subconscious level; to be comparing them to predefined set of standards.

A weakness in this area does not indicate the lack of ability to see details, but rather a lack of motivation to use their innate ability to see details and ensure a high quality of work. They either do not understand the standards, which have been set, or they are not capable of using their own judgment to set such standards for themselves.

Comments(0)