Does Your Team Feel Important and Appreciated?

One of the reasons I love private consulting is, the teacher often learns more than the student.  The more I coach business owners the more I’m convinced, the teacher learns more than the student.
 
I was consulting with client the other day when he said, “I think everyone wants to feel important and appreciated.” I told him, slow down I need to write that down.   

He went on to point out that one of the reasons he’s excite to start conducting Personal Development Interviews (PDIs) is they will give him a specific time to show each team member they are important and appreciate.

For the person being interviewed, I say PDIs are their opportunity to brag about what they’ve accomplish.  I’ll now be adding.  It’s their time to feel important and appreciated.

What are you doing to develop each team member so they have something to feel important and appreciated about?  What are you doing to make sure everyone on your team feels important and appreciated?  Discover how to make your staff feel important and appreciated. Go to:  

https://www.performancereviewssuck.com/ right now and get my book, Performance Reviews Suck. It’s free. I just ask they you pay $2.97 to help with shipping and handling.
 
I was so impressed with Dave’s words that I posted a video on YouTube about it.  Dave added this in the comments section below my video on YouTube.

“The hidden truth (or maybe not so hidden truth) behind this video is that when you learn to make team members in your organization FEEL important and appreciated, the law of reciprocity kicks in, and your team works much harder, and more autonomously, because they FEEL invested in. When they work harder, they are empowered, and the business owner has more freedom to enjoy the rewards of business ownership.”

Here is an explanation of The Law of Reciprocity from BrianTracy.com

“Have you ever felt the need to help someone who has helped you in the past?  This is known as The Law of Reciprocity.  It is one of the many different persuasion techniques that you can use to influence others.

Law Of Reciprocity
Persuasion by reciprocation is based on the law of reciprocity.  It’s considered by many to be the most powerful law of human nature. Basically, it states that,

“If you do something nice for me I’ll do something nice for you.  I feel obligated to reciprocate.”

For example, if we go out to lunch and I pick up the bill, you almost always offer to pay for it next time.  Next time we go out to lunch, you insist on paying for the bill.”

How are you using The Law of Reciprocity with your staff?  

What are you doing, other than giving them a pay check, to have your staff feel the need to help you and your business?
Do you understand that they don’t see you giving them a pay check, or benefits, or any of the other “stuff” they have coming to them as feeling an obligation reciprocate?

Your Personal Development Interview is your opportunity to show each team member they are important and appreciated and your opportunity to initiate one of the most powerful laws of human nature with your staff – The Law of Reciprocity.

Go to  https://www.performancereviewssuck. com/ and get your free book now.

How to Have the PAY Discussion

How to Have the PAY Discussion

There is no discussion that creates more anxiety for a business owner or manager than that of talking pay with a team member.  It doesn’t need to be like that.

When you have guiding principles, and a written document, that everyone understands, the discussion simply become another business discussion.  It simply, is not a big deal.

I was talking with a Kyle, a private client, last week and we got on the topic of pay, and raises.

He had previously done Performance Reviews in his business and like most business owners he hated them.  He admitted that he was, in fact, months overdue in getting them done because he hated them.

He was also feeling guilty because the Performance Review was the time they discussed pay, which meant he was behind in giving raises.  Then he confessed that one of the main reasons he hated Performance Reviews was the pay discussion.

Everyone was used to get a raise at their review, and he had a lot of people that didn’t warrant a raise right now.

I pointed out to Kyle that his experience with Performance Reviews and pay is the same as everyone’s.  It’s a NO-WIN for both parties.

I told him the experience of my brother-in-law at Boeing who hated Performance Reviews and why the discussion of pay during Performance Reviews was a NO-WIN for both parties.

When my brother-in-law had a Performance Review and was told he did everything great and got a dollar raise, he left saying to himself, “I did everything great and I got a measly dollar.”

But, seldom would he leave being told that he did everything right because the manager knew he had to limit raises, so he had to find something that was lacking.

So he would be told that he was lacking in some area, and then the next time we saw him he complained about how he wasn’t appreciated at Boeing.

Performance Reviews are stupid to start with.  Managing one’s performance in REVIEW is idiotic!  Adding pay into the discussion is BEYOND IDIOTIC!

Kyle’s question was, how do you address pay in The Make-You-Happy Management System?

My answer – “Pay needs to be transparent.  I don’t mean everyone needs to know everyone else’s pay.  In fact discussing your pay with others in our business if forbidden.”

“What I mean by transparent is, they need to know what is taken into consideration in determining pay.”

We then talked about the pay document included in The Make-You-Happy Management System.  It’s entitled, “How Pay is Determined.”

I told him this needs to be shared with every team member on their first day of employment.  It will make pay transparent for that individual, and it will motivate them to continually look for ways to improve the business.

I also told him he needs to distribute the, How Pay is Determined document to his entire team right away.

How Pay is Determined has eight bullet points that spell out exactly how each person’s pay is determined.  Kyle and I discussed the preamble to the document and the first bullet point.

How Pay is Determined

It is the manager’s responsibility to review the pay of each of their team members, at least, once a year (more often if the manager sees fit).  Whenever the manager thinks it is necessary (s)he should review the team member’s pay with the president of the company, and make recommendations for adjustments.

This is a discussion of how pay is determined:

If you are on commission you should expect that your pay will rise and fall with your commission and that you will create your own pay raise.

While many of the issues discussed below may apply to commission positions, this statement deals primarily with salaried and hourly positions.

A number of issues are involved in determining wages at <Business Name>.
Here are a few:

  • Prevailing wage – The reality is no manager, including the President of the company, sets the pay at <Business Name>. The biggest factor in setting a pay range is the market.

It is very simple.  If our wages are too low, we won’t attract or keep quality employees.  If our wages are too high, we won’t make money and we will be out of business.

Just because someone is here for a matter of time it doesn’t mean they automatically get a cost-of-living raise.  It is very possible, in fact likely, that we currently have positions in which the job being done simply is not worth any more money to the company.  At this point, regardless of how well the job is being done, a wage increase would be very small and possible nothing.

A huge problem with mature businesses is that over time their payroll can get out of line with the rest of the industry and the company can no longer be competitive (think United Airlines, Trans World Airlines, Pan American Airlines, General Motors, Ford).

When we as a company are more efficient and productive than others in our market place our team members can be at the top of the pay scale for a particular job.  In fact, we can create a NEW top above what the market pays for a particular job.

This is why it is so important that you are an active participant in our continuous improvement.  You are needed to insure that our MJRs service both our internal customers and clients in the most efficient and effective way possible.  You need to speak up when you see an opportunity to improve a MJR.

In every Personal Development Interview you will be asked, “Since we last met, what did you find that was broken, or could be improved; and what did you do to fix, or improve it?”  It is critical that you always look for ways to improve our deliverable to our clients.

The How Pay is Determined document then goes on to discuss the other seven factors in determining an individual’s pay in a Make-You-Happy Management System business.

There is no reason for a pay discussion to cause the anxiety it does.  Discover how to truly take control of every part of your business in my book, “How to Control Your Business and Your Life.”  It’s free for you.  All I ask is your help with shipping and handling with a $2.97 fee.

Click here to get “How to Control Your Business and Your Life.” 

The Law of Reciprocity and Your STAFF

The more I coach business owners the more I’m convinced, the teacher learns more than the student.

A few days ago I told you Dave Coyle, the owner of a very successful chain of dry cleaning stores, In The Bag Cleaners, in Wichita, KS, told me that everyone wants to feel important and appreciated and Personal Development Interviews give Dave, and his managers, a specific time to sit down with each team member and show them they are important and appreciated.

I posted this video on YouTube to tell you about that.

Then in the comments section below the video on YouTube Dave added.

“The hidden truth (or maybe not so hidden truth) behind this video is that when you learn to make team members in your organization FEEL important and appreciated, the law of reciprocity kicks in, and your team works much harder, and more autonomously, because they FEEL invested in. When they work harder, they are empowered, and the business owner has more freedom to enjoy the rewards of business ownership. And you see a business owner like Keith who is able to do videos from his boat!! This video is a result of Keith becoming a master at Personal Development Interviews – which inspire and motivate team members! “

Thanks, Dave, for the wish words on The Law of Reciprocity.

The Law of Reciprocity from BrianTracy.com

“Have you ever felt the need to help someone who has helped you in the past? This is known as the law of reciprocity. It is one of the many different persuasion techniques that you can use to influence others.

Law Of Reciprocity

Persuasion by reciprocation is based on the law of reciprocity. It’s considered by many to be the most powerful law of human nature. Basically, it states that,

“If you do something nice for me I’ll do something nice for you. I feel obligated to reciprocate.”

For example, if we go out to lunch and I pick up the bill, you almost always offer to pay for it next time. Next time we go out to lunch, you insist on paying for the bill.”

How are you using The Law of Reciprocity with your staff? What are you doing, other than giving them a pay check, to have your staff feel the need to help you and your business?

Do you have my newest book, Performance Review Suck, How to Replace Demotivating and Counterproductive Performance Review with Motivating, Inspirational, and most Importantly Productive Personal?

You can get it here.
https://www.performancereviewssuck.com

When you implement Personal Development Interviews you initiate one of the most powerful laws of human nature with your staff.

Do What You Do So Well
That People Can’t Help Telling Others About You

Keith Lee
Keith@KeithLee.com

Exposed!!! Owner of Company Named, “Best Business To Work For In Washington State” is a “Ruthless Manager

It was reported today that Keith Lee, the owner of American Retail Supply, which was named the Best Small Business to Work for in Washington State by Washington CEO Magazine is a Ruthless Manager.

How is that?  How can the owner of the company named “The Best Small Business to Work for in Washington State” now be revealed as the co-author of the New Edition of No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits?

It was revealed today that Dan Kennedy, the author of numerous No B.S. books, chose Keith Lee as the co-author for his newest edition of No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits.

Our intrepid reporter, Lois Lane, caught up with Mr. Lee as he was sneaking into his office today and asked him how he could head the Best Business to Work for in Washington State and be a Ruthless Manager.

Mr. Lee replied… “I don’t choose the names for Mr. Kennedy’s books, and Dan and I don’t agree on everything, but when it comes to managing a business and the people in it; we agree much more than we disagree.”

Keith pointed to page 14 in the No B.S. book where Dan Kennedy writes about business owners, “And one thing they all have in common: gripes, complaints, disappointments, frustrations, pain and agony with regard to their employees.  Much of this has to do with unreasonable expectations and a misunderstanding of the actual nature of employer-employee relationships.  Some of it lies squarely at the fault of the business owner for failing in one or more of the Three Requirements for Having Employees: Leadership, Management, Supervision.”

Mr. Lee continued, “While I don’t think the nature of the employer-employee relationship need be as adversarial as Dan, the expectations and the nature of the relationship needs to be addressed during the employees’ first day of employment.  With our DVD training business owners who use our Make-You-Happy Management System set those expectations during the first hour of employment.”

Mr. Lee agrees wholeheartedly with Mr. Kennedy’s statement that business owners failing in one or more of the Three Requirements for Having Employees is the cause of many of their headaches.

Mr. Lee says, “Business owners usually lead, manage and supervise as they were led, managed and supervised, or how they learned in business school; neither of which work very well.”

Performance Reviews Suck

Mr. Lee pointed to Performance Management.  Every business owner knows that they need a Performance Management System but the only type of system they know about is Performance Reviews and they know that Performance Reviews Suck.  With this the business owner continues with Performance Reviews knowing that they suck, or they stop them altogether, and are left with no Performance Management System.

Mr. Lee informed this reporter than Dan Kennedy agrees that Performance Reviews are “like looking in your rearview mirror to drive your car.”  Mr. Kennedy’s tells the story of how the late Mike Vance, who worked personally with Walt Disney on the original Disney University and other projects, laughed and scoffed at standardized annual or quarterly ‘performance reviews.”

Mr. Lee’s management system replaces Performance Reviews with Personal Development Interviews.

Mr. Lee went on to explain.  “Just listen to what they’re called.  Which would you rather give… a Performance Review or a Personal Development Interview?  Would you rather review someone’s performance, or develop someone?

What if you’re on the receiving end?  Would you like your performance reviewed or would you rather have someone work proactively to develop you?

Which do you think gets better results, developing people and coaching them or reviewing their performance after the fact?

Traditional management focuses on catching people doing things wrong.  If every time I do something wrong the boss catches me, but he doesn’t catch me when I do things right, my creativity is stymied and I stop using my creativity, stop stepping out front, and stop helping the organization grow by using my creativity.

Conversely, when we start catching people doing things right, we encourage empowerment.  People start to do things in the organization.  Productivity improves on an ongoing basis.  Improvement doesn’t just come from management but from the whole organization interacting with each other and picking each other up.  The organization is permeated with a motivating environment.

Another benefit of this type of management is you create a learning organization.  Researchers tell us that as we move forward, people are going to stay with organizations where they have an opportunity to grow and learn.  There are going to be many more skilled positions than there are people to fill them.  And if there are a lot of skilled positions and not enough people to fill them, money isn’t going to make the difference.  Money is going to be a given.  You’re going to have to pay in the competitive market to get good people.  But they want to work in a place where they can grow, where they can enjoy themselves, where they can use their creativity to help the organization grow, and that happens in a learning organization.  That’s exactly why my company, American Retail Supply was named the Best Company to Work for in Washington, by Washington CEO Magazine.”

You can get Keith’s hardcopy book (not an e-book), How to Control Your Business and your Life, Proven Secrets to Creating Highly Productive Teams at www.HowToControlYourBusiness.com.  Your cost is $2.97 and that includes shipping and handling.