Lately I’ve been horrified by the common comment of:
“Well in this economy, they should be happy, at least they have a job.”
ARGH. Who wants to be the employee at the company where that’s the leadership mantra? Yuck.
When the leadership says “We should be happy to have such excellent employees,” then you’ve got a company that’s truly on to something – success. Why? Because they understand that their employees are their greatest asset and that they should VALUE them, appreciate them, “show them the love.” And guess what these companies get in return? Loyal, extraordinary employees taking excellent care of the customers. AND they won’t have a huge exodus of trained knowledgeable employees when the economy turns around.
Remember that other great diddy – “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.” What does it mean to YOU?
Leaders always need to find out what this buzz word truly means to each of their employees. Here’s just four of many different ways that employees view respect:
- For some it means to respect their “space” – give them a project, leave them alone and trust them to do their job well.
- For others it means to respect their family – when their child has an afternoon game, play etc., you make it possible for them to attend.
- For almost all employees, it’s who you hire – do you hire good teammates for them to work with? Or the heroic superstar who won’t share the credit?
- Oh, and one never to forget, do not “waste” their time and contribution to the company with unneeded meetings. I learned this one the hard way at Exodus Moving & Storage.
How do you find out what makes your employees tick? What respect means to them?
Drumroll please…..
Ask them.
Individually.
Yep, that simple.
And they’ll love you for it – especially if you listen.
Closely.
Ideally we want the company and the employees to be singing “I’m walking on sunshine , wooah, I’m walking on sunshine, woooah, I’m walking on sunshine, woooah and don’t it feel good!!”
May the sun shine on every business that has employees who feel good about coming to work! 🙂
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