Management needs training too!

There is no nice way to put this...

Lots of managers are terrible at being managers.

Some are manipulative, some are glory-hogs taking credit for staff accomplishments, some hide behind rules instead of taking the lead, some are know-it-all's, and some are control freaks who micromanage employees to death.

If you're in the HR department, you know I'm telling the truth. You see it, hear about, and all too often, try to clean up the messes bad management leaves behind. So what is HR doing about it?

Are you training your managers? Odds are, the answer is no.

Somewhere, somehow, we got the idea that training was for the rank and file. Managers occupied a glorified, exempt realm where they were free from all training needs except for the odd time-management seminar or maybe an intro to the newest corporate initiative to reorganize the rank and file.

And that's sad. Because the right training at the right time could transform those rule-huggers and glory hogs into leaders. A properly designed workshop could teach managers why their success depends upon letting their staff do what they do best without the pressure of micro-management. Good management training can introduce an emotionally-distant manager to the idea of collaborative success through listening, engagement and participation.

No, it is not a cure all. Some managers are just wrong for the job, and will spend the rest of their tenure exemplifying the Peter Principle, as they continue at their level of incompetence.

But with training, the majority of bad managers can become, at the very least, less bad. Lots can become pretty good. And a few, with the right tools and training, will become leaders.

Cutbacks creating witch hunts at work -- and very little net savings

Picture a department with a half dozen employees. They work together pretty well. It's a comfortable and productive group.

Then something changes. Someone in management decides that the best way to reduce costs is to eliminate an employee or two.

The word leaks out that someone is going to be cut.

And suddenly, that cooperative group of employees turns into a finger-pointing, fault-finding mob, all accusing each other of incompetence, malfeasance, or just plain stupidity. The witch hunt is on, and everyone is fair game.

And while such things can occasionally bring some relevant details to the surface, most of the time the "facts" about who's doing what, and who's been late and who made personal phone calls on company time have as much value as the crowd's logic in Monty Python's Life of Brian as they accuse a village girl of being a witch...



In the meantime, work doesn't get done, customers are ignored, and the company risks lawsuits for all kinds of things ranging from discrimination to harassment to creating an unsafe workplace.

From one HR pro to another, I am here to tell you that it just isn't worth it! Sure, there are times when a cutback is absolutely necessary. And in those cases, it needs to be done quickly and with chance for rumors to start.

But most of the time, the savings from eliminating a person are more than offset by the cost of lost productivity and higher turnover among those left behind. Unfortunately, most managers don't know it.

Training managers in the real versus short-term savings

As part of your management training program, address the cost of cutbacks. Teach managers how to weigh in factors like lost work hours, reduced productivity levels and higher error rates among survivors. Make sure they understand the price of a jump in turnover, as people scramble to move to someplace where they will not be "next on the list."

When cookie-cutter sexual harassment training just won’t cut it

The number of sexual harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are up 11% from last year and stand at the highest rate since 2002, according to EEOC data.

But as the statistics show, many of the cases don’t resemble the situations portrayed in most of the “cookie-cutter” sexual harassment training videos out there. Sexual harassment charges filed by men amount to 16% of total charges reported to the EEOC, up almost 5% from the late 1990s.

A recent case involving retail giant Dillard’s reveals just how important same-sex harassment training can be.

According to the EEOC, Dillard’s violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by permitting a sexually hostile work environment to exist for male employees at one of the company’s Florida locations. The charges against Dillard’s included verbal and sexual harassment of a male store associate and young dockworker by a male supervisor.

The male workers accused their supervisor of exposing himself to them, making sexual propositions, and making sexually explicit and derogatory comments. Managers continually ignored complaints made by the workers about the harasser.

After the store manager told the associate involved in the case to “get back to work” because he was being “hypersensitive” and “overreacting” to the situation, the associate quit.

It wasn’t until another employee reported similar offenses made by the same supervisor that the store manager decided to take action. The store manager notified the district office and fired the supervisor.

The EEOC filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Dillard’s in response to the two employees’ complaints. Dillard’s argued that it was not liable because the company had an anti-harassment policy and had fired the accused supervisor. The company also claimed that the supervisor’s actions did not create a hostile work environment.

The court rejected Dillard's argument and found that Dillard's anti-harassment policy could not absolve it of liability if the policy hadn’t been effectively implemented. The store manager’s failure to report Reed’s two claims was a violation of the company’s own reporting procedures.

The court noted that the store manager held one of three positions detailed in the anti-harassment policy’s reporting procedure. When he twice failed to escalate the complaints to the district office, he violated Dillard’s policy. (Business Management Daily)

Use this case as a reminder that even though harassment may not look exactly like what you saw in the training video, it’s still harassment. Male-on-female, male-on-male, female-on-female or female-on-male, sexual harassment is sexual harassment and should be treated as such.

Poor ‘team spirit’ at work is depressing

Do your employees seem depressed? Are they mopey, dragging their feet and stuck in a general state of grouchiness?

On first guess, you may assume that it’s the economy to blame, but a new study is showing that may not be the case.

A lack of team spirit in the office and poor work climates could be causing employees to feel depressed, according to a new study published in the journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

"As depressive disorders are a major cause of work disability and account for a considerable proportion of the disease burden, more attention should be paid to psychosocial factors at work," lead author Dr. Marjo Sinokki of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Turku told Reuters Health via e-mail.

Through a series of tests, Sinokki was able to determine that people who work in a “poor work climate” characterized by feelings that their workplace was highly prejudiced and quarrelsome, were 61% more likely to be depressed. The same group of workers were also more susceptible to feelings of anxiety.

While there’s still more research to be done in this area, Sinokki notes that his findings provide evidence that a disagreeable work environment can cause depression.

"The U.S. work environment right now is far more tenuous and toxic than in recent history," said Josh Klapow, an associate professor of health-care organization and policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who had no role in the study. "With layoffs and downsizing, the opportunities for increased stress, negativity and pressure have all greatly increased."

Because we spend most of the day at work, our work environments have a substantial effect on our overall psychological well-being, said Klapow in a recent BusinessWeek article.

With the effects our economy is having on our households and workplaces, it’s getting harder than ever for many people to cope with stress. A certain level of stress is a normal part of life, but when it starts to interfere with productivity and emotional and physical health, it’s time to find better ways to keep that stress under control

Earlier this month, TrainingTime.com published an article, titled “I’m Not Stressed – That Pencil Had It Coming!!!” that outlines a new training exercise to practice with yourself and your team to help reduce work stress. Feeling happier and less stressed at work all starts with a simple lesson in reading and writing.

1. First you must identify the source of your stress. Without knowing where the stress is stemming from, it will be next to impossible to treat it. Write down a list of specific things that make your job stressful.
2. Then review your list of stressors and determine at least one thing you can do do reduce or relieve each source of work stress. Identify specific, concrete and definable actions that would help alleviate each problem.
3. Systematically start going through your list to determine what you can do to change each stressor. If it’s within your power to change it, find a way to check it off your list and get at least one stressor off your back each week.

Write, read and review your list regularly to make a positive impact on your work stress levels. Read the Training Time Library article for detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to hold your own stress-reducing training exercise.


How do you manage work stress? As a manager, how do you help your employees reduce their stress levels at work? Leave a comment and let us know.

Employees want more informal, in-person communication

Whether your company is moving offices or has just gone through a round of layoffs, effective communication is critical throughout each step of the process. Employees who are informed will find it easier to adapt during a major change and at handle the stress it creates.

While most communications and human resources professionals are content with the amount of information they’re getting on the state of their company during the recession, many want more opportunities to use social media and have face-to-face conversations with company leaders, according to a survey by Heyman Associates Executive Search.

Heyman developed the survey to gauge the effectiveness of corporate communications in today’s difficult economy, Marketing Charts writes. According to survey respondents:

• 85% say their CEO has done a good job communicating with them, but
• 65% would still like more informal, in-person communication opportunities.
  

When the 550 respondents were asked whether they were getting the right amount of information about their company:

• 71% answered “yes”
• 17% answered “somewhat”
• 68% answered “no”
  

Those who were satisfied with the communication coming from their company said they are receiving information about the company’s short- and long-term prospects and challenges on a regular basis from an official and credible internal source. Sources included presentations, town-hall meetings, email newsletters, CEO blog teleconferences, intranet postings and staff meetings with their manager.

Those who were unhappy with the amount of information they were receiving say the lack of communication has been causing mistrust of the organization among employees.


Try something new

One of the most revealing findings is the way in which employees want to receive information. Though most companies utilize email and other mass communication methods, the survey showed that employees desire more in-person communications.

When asked how they would improve the way they receive information about their company, 65% of respondents would like more informal, face-to-face communication.

Written survey responses show that employees trust informal, in-person communication because it shows that the company wants employees informed on the latest information and encourages feedback.

Responses also indicated that more employees would like to see more use of social media within the company because of its interactive nature. Many respondents would like to see an mix of in-person and social media communication, believing that it will increase the frequency and trustworthiness of messages.

If your organization is experiencing major changes as a result of the recession, remember that including employees in the conversation and trying new forms of communication will improve your chances of success.

Does your company utilize any forms of social media for internal communication? Do you think it’s a useful tool when it comes to company communication?

How a yellow sticky note can boost morale

Over at the Proper Pants blog, I came across a great idea for employee recognition that requires a familiar item in most office environments – the Post-it Note.

The process is very simple. Grab a pen, pull off a sticky note for each employee and stick them to your desk. Start every note with the words: “I appreciate you because ...” Follow that opening line with something you genuinely appreciate about each employee.

After you’re done writing, stick the Post-it Notes on each employee’s desk and watch what happens.

“I thought this was a fun thing to do at the office and I hoped it would make them smile for a while. This evening I was walking around at the office and noticed that several notes where hanging at their partition wall. And I started to realize that this really meant a lot for some of them,” said Frode Heimen, author of Proper Pants, after he tried the recognition idea in his office.

In return for his kind display of employee recognition, Frode received a Post-it Note signed by an entire shift of employees saying that he was a great boss, a couple of thank-you emails, improved morale and an overall smiling department.

Employee recognition doesn’t have to be expensive or loud. Sometimes it’s the simplest gesture, like a heartfelt message on a sticky note, that can have the biggest impact on employees.

Have you ever tried anything like the Post-it Note recognition idea in your office? Do you know of any other simple and effective recognition ideas that our readers could try out?

How workplace conflict can be positive, even productive

When you think about conflict at work, a cheerful picture rarely comes to mind for most. Though it's unlikely you're imagining sunny skies and smiles, research suggests that workplace conflict, if managed correctly, can have very positive, even productive results.

An article at Human Resource Executive Online examined a new study by Psychometrics Canada that reveals how conflict in the workplace may benefit an organization if it is handled properly.

"The word conflict has such a negative connotation, but what we heard from HR leaders is it isn't always necessarily bad," says Shawn Bakker, a psychologist and researcher at Psychometrics Canada.

"Conflict is always going to be there. The idea of eliminating it from a workplace is impossible, and, from what we learned, probably not desirable."

The study found that conflict at work can help employees discover better solutions, spark major innovations, and boost motivation, among other workplace benefits.

More than 350 human resource professionals across Canada were surveyed to reveal that conflict can trigger:

• Better understanding of others (77 percent);
• Better solutions to problems and challenges (57 percent);
• Higher work-team performance (40 percent);
• Increased motivation (31 percent); and
• Major innovations (21 percent).

Another report on workplace conflict by CPP, Inc., found that U.S. companies spend an average of 2.8 hours each week dealing with conflict, which translates into nearly $359 billion in paid hours.

The CPP report also found that while conflict costs us time and money, it can result in positive outcomes if managers and employee have the right training.

“These figures should be a wake-up call to industry leaders,” said Jeff Hayes, CEO, CPP, Inc. “Companies are losing billions of dollars because of poorly managed conflict, and we expect that figure to grow in a down economy as stress and workload – two of the biggest causes of conflict – rise.”

Right now is the perfect time for that training, with most workplaces ripe for conflict. A mixture of layoffs, mounting financial stress and the pressure to cut spending is only adding fuel to the existing fire.

With successful conflict management training, your employees and managers can learn to deal with workplace disputes in a way that benefits everyone involved. Here are just a few ways conflict at work can be positive:

• The issues that a dispute stems from could reveal a new area of training that should be addressed.
• Conflict could open the doors to a new process that could improve the way employees get their jobs done.
• Arguments often occur when an employee feels like they’re not being heard. Employes who are given a chance to voice their opinions will feel valued and more engaged.
• Conflict may open your eyes to areas where managers require more training in handling heated situations.

No workplace will ever be void of conflict. Many times, it’s through conflict that we improve and find more effective ways to get things done at work.

Conflict may never be easy to deal with, but it can lead to growth and change. By training employees how to handle conflict, you'll be fostering a workplace culture that accepts differences and promotes new ideas.

Training the trainer: From employee to instructor

Informal training occurs everyday in the workplace, from one employee showing another how to put together a report to a coworker sharing advice on how to handle an angry customer. Training is usually delivered from coworker to coworker or from manager to employee.

But what happens when the tables are turned and managers find themselves being trained by a subordinate?

It may not happen often, but when your employee becomes your instructor, some managers may find themselves in an unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable position.

In a recent post at Jobacle, Lauren Kleinman explains that when employees train managers, it can be a “tough pill to swallow” for the manager involved and shares some great tips on how managers can successfully “maintain the balance of powers” throughout the process.

While it may not be said in the same exact language, employees training managers is a common practice in most workplaces. It often takes place when a new manager joins the team or even when an existing manager wants to learn about the latest online tools employees are using.

Learning from your employees can be a rewarding experience for any manager. We liked Lauren’s tips for getting through it, but would like to explore the added benefits for both parties when the tides change and the trainee becomes the trainer.

Top 5 benefits of learning from your employees:

1. No training costs. Learning something new from a peer or employee requires no subscription fees and no shipping costs. Better yet, you don’t even have to leave the office.


2. Team building. One of the easiest ways to strengthen a team of coworkers by having them teach each other new skills. When subordinates train managers, it fosters teamwork and shows that the manager is an active part of the group.


3. Fun. Some days you can spend an entire workday stuck inside your cube or office, barely coming up for air long enough to grab your sandwich out of the lunch room. Training a coworker will help you get out of your bubble and maybe you’ll have a little fun in the process.


4. Confidence. When employees train managers, there’s an added sense of accomplishment employees feel when it’s all over. Boost their confidence by asking an employee to explain something you’re unfamiliar with.


5. Building connections. Sometimes it’s easy for managers to lose touch with what is going on with employees’ everyday projects. When employees become trainers to their managers, it helps build connections and keep managers in the loop.

As a manager, have you ever been in a situation where an employee has become your instructor? How did you benefit from it?

Friday fun: Could your boss be president?

In honor of Monday's President’s Day holiday, we have a fun question for you:

If you could choose a boss similar to a U.S. president, who would you pick?

It turns out that most employees wish their boss was more like Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, according to a recent survey by Randstad US, with 28 and 24% of the votes, respectively.

However, many described their real boss as a “Dominator,” someone who tends to be bossy, demanding and domineering, personality traits similar to Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson.

When asked if they would “re-elect” their boss if given the opportunity, 66% of respondents said they would. More than one quarter (27%) of respondents said their boss’ personality traits were worthy of impeachment proceedings.

Almost two-thirds of those who have a boss and have an opinion on the subject (63%) agreed that their boss handles stress and adversity well, while over half (51%) believe that their boss’ management style brings out the best in their work.

President Barack Obama was not included in the survey taken in late January, though almost a fifth of Gen Y employees chose an Abraham Lincoln boss, a choice that Randstad notes as a possible Obama connection.

We would like to know - If you could choose a boss similar to a U.S. president, who would you pick?

Today is the old new Form I-9 deadline

Remember the Form I-9 “Hokey Pokey” we played last summer? Are you ready for round two?

A new I-9 form was scheduled to take effect today, but in a surprise move, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) retracted the mandatory changes late on Friday, January 30, pending further comment and review.

I hope you remember where you put your old I-9s, because DHS says we must continue using them until April 3, 2009. The good version of the Form I-9 should have the “(Rev. 06/05/07) N” date on the bottom right-hand corner of the form.

Last Friday, DHS extended another 30-day comment period for the new Employment Verification rules and pushed back the scheduled update by two months, instructing businesses to go back to using the previous guidelines and I-9 forms.

In preparation for the new I-9 forms, many hiring managers and HR departments across the country discarded the previous forms, believing them to be outdated. The retraction and re-instatement of the old forms has some employers scrambling to respond and replace the forms they threw out last week.

Ashley Kaplan, Labor Law Compliance Attorney for G.Neil, received the DHS announcement Friday evening and immediately recognized the potential challenges.

“We worked overtime last week to ship out the updated forms to our customers to begin using on February 2, and now need to get back to them with new instructions,” Kaplan explains. “We’re providing a free pdf of the previous I-9 Form and instructions to our customers who purchased the updated forms. We’ll also closely monitor the extended review period in case further changes occur before the April 3rd deadline.”

If there was ever a time when procrastinating on compliance deadlines could work in your favor - this was it. You now have more time to get the right forms in order and finish up that Form I-9 training.

Still confused and need more information? Read G.Neil's new Form I-9 Q & A.

Why happiness at work matters and how you can still have it

Alex Kjerulf, aka The Chief Happiness Officer, is one of the world’s top experts on happiness at work and author of the bestselling book: Happy Hour is 9 to 5 - How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work.

During a recent interview with Terrence Seamon of the American Management Association (AMA), he explained how happiness at work is no longer a luxury and is now essential to business success.

Even in the midst of crisis and without any room in the budget, companies can still focus on happiness at work. They must, according to Kjerulf. When you’re going through tough times, it’s critical to have people performing at their best. If people are happy at work and treated well by their employer, they will do anything they can to help the company succeed.

In the absence of a large budget, companies are forced to get creative with employee motivation and many times, it is the simplest idea that has the best results, says Kjerulf.

Find out more about the power of happiness at work, why the happiest companies are the most successful and the importance of saying good morning in this quick, 15 minute podcast.

You can hear the entire podcast here.


Related posts:

Why the happiest companies are so happy

Creativity, innovation and happiness at work

Friday office humor: Leadership thought of the day

I was going to put up a long and detailed post on the importance of leadership during uncertain times today, but then I remembered that it’s Friday. The weekend is a few hours away and nobody wants to think any harder than they have to today.

So, we’ll hold of on the leadership during uncertain times post and instead give you something to smile about. Without any further delay, here’s a great new Dilbert comic strip on the wrong way to deliver a “leadership thought of the day” to your department:



Have a Happy Friday!

Achieve your 2009 goals: Start with the right list

January is an optimistic month, full of goals and New Year’s resolutions set in hopes of making the next 12 months better than the last. Unfortunately, that optimism may quickly turn to frustration when it’s time to start attacking those goals.

Making a New Year’s resolution is simple. It’s following through with your resolutions that is usually the difficult part. By the time March rolls around, much of what we planned for in January has fallen by the wayside and we’re left with disappointment.

Whether it involves improving your safety training program or creating more learning and development opportunities in your organization, sticking to your New Year’s goals doesn't have to seem impossible.

Increase the probability that you’ll actually follow through with the resolutions you set in January by focusing on how you determine your goal list.

In a recent article from our Workplace Training & Development Learning Library, the author suggests using a new approach to goal setting that may work out better for you this year.

Follow these five steps to goal-reaching success:

1. Outline your priorities. What is most important in your life right now? List your top five priorities. You’re not thinking about goals yet, just the things that matter most to you.


2. Identify one goal. Determine one major goal for each priority you outlined in the first step. Make sure your goal is achievable, measurable, directly related to your priority and within your control.


3. List the steps. Look at each goal and list the steps you need to take in order to achieve it.


4. Set deadlines. Once you’ve identified the steps, create deadlines for each step. Be realistic with your timelines and consider other responsibilities as you assign each date.


5. Keep goals close by. Put all of your goals, steps and due dates into your daily planner and carry it with you every day. Check it frequently to make sure you’re staying on task.

How to improve the workplace, tips from Dilbert

Anyone who works for a big company can relate to the characters and story lines Scott Adams shares in his Dilbert comic strip. From a “dicey” start in the early years of his business career to the trials of owning two successful California restaurants, Adams has used real-life experiences in middle management to create America’s most lovable corporate drone.

In a recent interview with Fortune, Adams shared his thoughts on creating career stability and how the corporate workplace could use some improvements. For starters, corporations could stop worrying about employees’ every move and treat workers better when tough times roll around.

“One thing that's definitely worse is that employers have a much greater ability to monitor employees' every move. They can count the keystrokes on your computer, keep track of where you go on the Internet, and so on. It's creepy. But the big macro change now is, employers are a lot nicer when the economy is strong, because they know you have choices and can go elsewhere if they don't keep you happy. When times are bad, the gloves come off and employers are less nice. People become disposable.”

Though he doesn’t typically give advice, he wrote a book years ago called The Dilbert Principle, about how he thinks the ideal workplace should be organized. Here’s Adams’ advice for human resource professionals:

“If you don't have a lot of money to give people, then give them two other things. One is flexibility. Allow people to have a life outside of work. Does an employee have a reasonable chance of leaving the office on time, which I define as 5 p.m.? I mean, is that extra hour or two or three that people put in, in the evening, really necessary?

And second, give them at least half an hour every day to learn something they don't already know. Lots of surveys of employee happiness show that keeping people happy in their jobs really isn't so much about money anyway, it's about these other things that many companies don't think to offer. Work is like the rest of life. The best parts are free.”

And just for fun, here’s a Dilbert comic to get your Monday off to a great start

Go on vacation without worrying about work, 6 tips

Vacations are meant to be a time to unwind, leave everything behind and recharge your worn-out batteries. But when it comes to the office, the thought of leaving it all behind has become something much easier said than done these days.

As wireless technology and mobile devices continue to advance, it’s getting easier and easier to remain connected with the office when you’re gone. Those connections can be wonderful when you’re away on business or working from home for a few days, but they have no place in your vacation.

One in four workers will be keeping in touch with the office while on vacation this year, according to CareerBuilder’s 2007 vacation survey. Close to one in ten (9%) said that their bosses expect them to be getting work done or at least checking messages while away on vacation.

So, if a vacation is meant to be a time to unwind and disconnect, can you truly call it a vacation if you’re still logging work hours on your laptop?

When it’s time to go, leave work at work and out of your suitcase. Follow these six tips to stop worrying about work while you’re on vacation:

1. Have a plan. Let everyone on your team know the dates you’ll be away from the office in advance. If there’s something that needs to be worked on while you’re away, plan to have it finished before you leave or have someone else take over. Give at least one person on your team a copy of important information (e.g. contact names, phone numbers) they may need in your absence.


2. Inform clients. Instead of returning to a voice mail box full of disgruntled messages from clients, let everyone know that you’ll be on vacation ahead of time. Provide your clients with the contact information of someone else at the office they can talk to in case there’s a problem.


3. Clean up. Before leaving the office for vacation, take a few minutes to clean up your work area. Clearing your desk will help you make sure you didn’t miss anything important and your coworkers will be less likely to dump anything on a tidy desk while you’re gone. Remember that a messy desk will only add to any stress you feel when returning to the office.


4. Keep an open calendar. You may feel like you have to jump back into it right away, but resist the urge to schedule anything for the day you come back to the office. If necessary, block out time on your calendar for a long meeting with yourself, so no one can sneak anything in while you’re gone.


5. Leave the laptop. No matter how much you tell yourself you won’t use it, leave your laptop behind when packing for vacation. The temptation to check your email will be too strong if you know your laptop is tucked inside your bag. Your family and friends will appreciate it, too.


6. Lead by example. If you’re the boss, do your best to limit contact while you’re gone. Employees will feel more comfortable taking time off and enjoying themselves when their vacation time rolls around.

As difficult as it may sound, use your vacation time to have a vacation and leave work where it’s meant to be - at work. The more you enjoy your vacation, the more relaxed and recharged you’ll be when it’s time to get back to work. Along with your family, friends and coworkers, you’ll thank yourself for it later.

Creativity, innovation and happiness at work

The key to innovation is happiness at work, says Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf.

In a recent post on one of his favorite subjects, Alexander shared some insightful take-aways from a trip to London to attend the Top Dog Live innovation conference. This year’s theme - innovation in tough times.

Whether you’re working in London or in the U.S., the theme is especially fitting today with the National Bureau of Economic Research officially stating that the U.S. is in a recession and has been for the past year.

As our economy struggles, businesses continue to make decisions that cut back on work benefits that foster innovation, including training and development. Those decisions are “precisely the wrong thing to do,” says Alexander, reminding us that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

Alexander’s main take-away from the event was the focus on people and how to make employees happy at work. The majority of conversations dealt less with compensation and stock options, and were more centered around “praise, recognition, good leadership, openness, trust, freedom and fun in the workplace.”

Like Alexander writes about in most of his posts, happy employees are more creative. According to Harvard Business School Research:

If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day.

There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.

In order to harness that creativity, more businesses must understand the importance of play and playfulness in the workplace. At Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds examined the belief that “play is good for you” and for business. In the post he shares a video of Tim Brown, CEO of Ideo, making a presentation on the subject.

In this wonderful short presentation Tim makes many salient points about the role of play, playfulness, and creativity and why they matter in our professional or academic lives. You may be a designer of consumer goods, or a medical doctor, or a researcher, or a teacher — every situation is different. But listen to what Tim Brown says and ask yourself how the idea of play might be introduced into your organization in a way that would benefit workers, patients, and students, not only in terms of productivity but also in terms of simply having people feel better (and isn't there a correlation?).

Watch Tim Brown’s presentation below and visit Presentation Zen to read Garr’s summary of the most important points.



Use this holiday season to boost employee creativity and bring more happiness into your workplace, read these related posts:

How to improve morale during the holidays

Employee recognition ideas on the cheap, it’s easier than you think

Employee engagement down, how training can help

Friday office humor: Dodgeball at work

Workplace communication: Using the right words

When you tell someone, “remember the meeting time” or “don’t forget the meeting time,” you’re saying the same thing, right?

Not at all, according to Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace. The statements are different, because our brains fail to register negatives.

When you use a negative sentence like, “Don’t forget the meeting time,” your brain ignores the “don’t” and only hears “forget the meeting time.”

If you get rid of the negativity and start using the positive alternative, saying “Remember the meeting time,” your coworkers will be more likely to show up on time.

The mind wants direction, not a sense of "lack." That's why it's important to pay attention to how you say things. If I tell you that something is "not very expensive" you'll focus on "expensive."

This is how improvement efforts often get bogged down: "I want us to make fewer mistakes" translates differently than "I want to increase the accuracy of our customer service solutions by 30% before November 30."

So, instead of telling you “Don’t forget to have a Happy Thanksgiving.” I’ll simply say, “have a Happy Thanksgiving!”

Employee feedback: 5 cent experiment

How much should you spend delivering quality feedback to your team each week?

According to the Slacker Manager, “5 cents can be the best investment you’ll ever make in your team.”

Last week, he outlined a great experiment in employee feedback that every manager should try. Anyone with pockets and some loose change can participate.

Instructions:

Every day this week, put 5 cents in one pocket, in the form of 5 pennies. Each time you give someone specific positive feedback, move a penny to the other pocket. Each time you use all 5 of your pennies, start over and move them to the other pocket.

Try to give at least 5 cents worth of specific positive feedback to your team each day.

Repeat this exercise for the next 30 days. If you like to keep score, add up how many cents you’ve shared with your team, and donate the change you’ve made to a worthy cause, or to an office fund that your employees can benefit from.

Not only is it an awesome idea, but it’s a great way to recognize employees on the cheap and takes just a few minutes out of your day. Invest 5 cents in your team this week and let us know how it goes.

Employee engagement down, how training can help

With businesses across the country suffering under the flailing economy, now is not the time for employee engagement to start deteriorating. Unfortunately, experts say that’s exactly what’s happening.

Employee engagement levels are dropping across the board, revealing that 21% of U.S. workers actively disengaged, according to a recent national study by Modern Survey.

Notably fewer workers feel a strong sense of pride in their companies. Now only about half say they are willing to put in extra effort to help their company succeed and only about half say they intend to stay with their company for a long time.

“You can’t open a newspaper or surf the internet without being bombarded by headlines and stories about the country’s ever-deepening economic troubles. Month after month, we’ve all been learning about the subprime mortgage mess, plummeting property values, foreclosures, layoffs, and the collapse of some of our largest financial institutions. People are spending a lot more time worrying about how to make ends meet than they did just a year or two ago,” said Bruce Campbell, a Senior Consultant at Modern Survey.

Among a long list of unexpected costs, poor employee engagement can lead to unplanned absenteeism, a lack of teamwork, low productivity and damaged morale. Though we can’t do much about the nation’s economy, we can do something to improve employee engagement within our own organizations.


How training can help

Engage employees by providing opportunities where they can improve personal leadership skills. Leadership training gives employees who may be feeling stuck in their current position an outlet to explore the next step and the ambition needed to move up in the company.

Outside training courses and seminars can be expensive and require companies to dole out hundreds of dollars in travel expenses. The best way to keep costs low is to provide in-house employee training and put existing resources to good use.

An employee mentoring program is one low-cost and effective leadership training idea that can help boost employee engagement. Partner employees with managers and executives and have them shadow each other or work on a project together. Both partners will appreciate the change of pace and the employee will pick up valuable, hands-on leadership training that can’t be found at any off-site workshop.

Times are tough right now for everyone. Providing employees with leadership training opportunities will improve engagement and help your business come out on top when the storm clouds pass.


For more employee engagement ideas, check out these related posts:

Incentives and rewards: Now is the time to act

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

Corporate volunteering builds teamwork, improves employee retention

Employee incentive ideas on a budget

5 tips of employee training on a tight budget

Nixed holiday party impacts employee morale

It looks like the trend of canceling holiday parties has spread from under the umbrella of Viacom companies and into Main Street businesses.

Following Viacom’s lead, Morgan Stanley, ABC News and American Express are three of the latest major employers to cancel company holiday parties this year.

The current economic downturn has employers cutting back on end of the year costs by trimming expenses and muting, sometimes canceling, year-end parties.

According to a national survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.:

• 77% of employers are planning holiday parties this year, down from 90% in 2007.
• 13% of employers are cutting their party budget an average of 53%.
• Only 4.3% are increasing party budgets, and increases average only about 5%.

This depressed holiday season will mark a 20-year low in the number of company-sponsored celebrations held, according to a survey by executive search firm Battalia Winston Amrop of more than 100 American leading businesses.

About 37% of businesses said their event has been canceled or scaled down because of the economy, almost double the 19% of companies affected last year, according to the Battalia survey.

Of those companies celebrating the season with a holiday party, the most popular cost-cutting measures include:

• Not serving alcohol or limiting open bar hours
• Not using a caterer or outside party planning service
• Hiring a DJ instead of a live band
• Holding a party in January when rates are less expensive than December
• Limiting the party to employees only
• Holding the party on a workday or near the end of a workday

Even with a strapped budget this holiday season, studies show that simple employee incentive ideas can be just as effective as throwing a lavish party. Companies can improve employee loyalty and increase productivity with simple communication, including telling employees “thank you,” leaving a lighthearted holiday card on the employees’ desk or taking a deserving employee out to lunch.

“Hosting a more low-key or low-budget celebration is better than canceling the party entirely, says Challenger, who advises employers that “these year-end celebrations are an effective way of boosting employee morale, especially in tough economic times.”

With a struggling economy and worried employees, now is not the time to forget about employee appreciation. If your company canceled their end of the year party, or are thinking about it, remember to find other creative ways to recognize employees and spread some holiday cheer.

We would like to know - Is your company having a holiday party this year? Do you have any new ideas for cutting holiday party costs?