LESSON 3 - HOW TO MANAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES AND BUILD A STRONG TEAM - Get the most out of your employees

Introduction:  Get the most out of your employees including working as a team

The definition of a team is a group of individuals who clearly know what is expected of them both individually and as a whole.  They know the objectives and have a common goal while working interdependently.  To have the best team, however, you also need to get the most out of the individuals.  You can get the most out of your employees by learning how to best manage them.  Once you get the most out of each individual, a strong team will start to develop with respect and purpose.  You do this by giving them clear expectations, motivating them to hit those goals, recognizing the good work done, evaluate their performance and if they did a good job, rewarding them with a merit increase or other meaningful awards.

Great managers need to make people function in a collaborative fashion.  This can be quite a challenge when you have so many different personalities to manage.  You need to mold them to think as a team, and motivate them to exceed the level of performance they normally would under another manager who’s not of your caliber (after all, the skills you are developing will separate you from the rest).  Your employees will recognize your managerial and leadership capabilities and you will be respected.

In this lesson we will give you the necessary tools to build strong and motivated individuals, who will in turn work as a great team.  Putting these tools into effect will not only benefit your department, but also the company as a whole.

Shape the individual and build the team in 5 steps

By following these 5 steps, you will be on the right path to building a strong team.  You will get the most out of your staff and also develop a strong spirited department:

1. Create and Develop a strong team with solid expectations
2. Motivate Professionally and with respect
3. Recognize and Praise great work
4. Evaluate and Appraise employee performance
5. Compensate and Reward a job well done

These 5 steps will be discussed in much greater detail throughout this lesson.  The goal is to build the best team possible so you, your staff, and the company succeeds.  To have your employees performing to the best of their abilities, they must know:

·         Exactly what is expected of them (Creating and Developing)

·         Exactly what it is they will be doing (Creating and Developing)

·         That they will be trained (Creating and Developing)

·         That they will have the right tools (Creating and Developing)

·         That teamwork is essential to success (Creating and Developing)

·         That high morale is key (Motivating Professionally)

·         That they will work in a great environment (Motivating Professionally)

·         That they will be continually challenged (Motivating Professionally)

·         That they will be noticed when they have done good work (Recognizing and Praising)

·         That there will be affirmation of good work (Recognizing and Praising)

·         That they will take full responsibility for their work (Evaluating and Appraising)

·         That their performance will be reviewed (Evaluating and Appraising)

·         That there will be rewards and gifts given for exceptional work (Compensating and Rewarding)

·         That there will be monetary incentives for a job well done (Compensating and Rewarding)

Step 1 - Create and Develop a strong team with solid expectations

You need to create a team atmosphere within your department with a sense of mission.  You need to share your vision of what the company can be, so they have a common purpose.  To get a group of individuals to think as one positive team, they also have to see you as a positive, good spirited and motivated hard worker. 

Here are 19 ways to help create and develop a strong team with solid expectations:

1. Make sure the team is set and ready to go.  You need to first make sure you have planned, organized, and structured your department to its maximum potential.  We talked at length about organizing and structuring in Lesson 2.  Once structured, you will most likely have sub-team goals such as that of a Tier 1 and Tier 2 group.  In most cases you will have at least one team lead or SME.  This person must have the people skills in order to handle any individual issues in their group.  Even though a person might be technically inclined, they may not know how to deal with the everyday people issues that are commonplace in the work environment.  The ideal is to have a technically competent person who is also a people orientated team lead.  The point here is to have someone in the group, or in the sub-teams, who can help build teamwork by being there to help their team address the everyday type of issues.  This person might just be you if the department is not very big.  If you do have your department structured in a way that has sub-teams, make sure everyone within the whole department understands the goal of being part of one big team. 

2. Start off with a fresh approach.  Are you a new manager with old staff?  Old, meaning they are settled in their bad habits.  When trying to create a team, you need to start with a fresh approach and positive attitude.  You might be asked to rescue a dying department.  If so, if you cannot make the old staff see the new light, you might need to clean up shop.  This also goes for employees with bad attitudes who are unwilling to change.  A few changes like these can turn around a department’s performance and morale almost overnight.  All it takes is a few bad apples to spoil the lot.  You do have to first try to rectify the situation before making any drastic decisions.  Lesson 5 goes into detail on how to deal with difficult employees.  However, if you have done all you could, you sometimes have to make the difficult, but needed decisions.  It’s important to make your mark right from the start.  People want a manager who will bring in a new and fresh approach to an old and stale department.  If there are no problems, then leave it alone.  That’s a fresh approach in itself; not changing for changing’s sake.

3. Create a one or two paragraph mission statement.  This should be sent out and posted on the wall and should contain the company’s and departments values.  When we say mission statement, we are not talking about some corny poster on the wall that no one reads.  This is what you want the department to be known for, and what you want engraved into the minds of every employee.  The department’s goals and mission must have meaning for your employees.  They should be involved in creating the mission with simple declarative sentences.  The mission statement should come across, as making it seem like their job is truly important to the success of the company.  Make them feel connected to the company rather than just a place to pick up a paycheck.  The goal is to make them feel like they “fit in” and is a good part of their life.  The best words you can ever hear from someone is, “I like this company so much that I plan on working here until I retire.”  Here are a couple of ideas to use depending on the type of company you work for:

• If your company provides a service that is making a positive contribution to the community, then you should promote something like, “Our contribution to the greater good makes the world a better place.”

• If your company provides a service that is making a positive customer experience, then add something like, “Our every action can lift the customers spirits and soul.” 

• If your company provides a value towards customer service, then you can add something like, “Providing world class service will set us apart from the rest of the competition.”  You might want to add something like, “We will win the customer over by going the extra mile.”

Try to consider things like:

·         What is the value of the company that the customers pay for? 

·         What is the competitive advantage? 

·         What kind of quality is expected?

At the end of the day it’s all about profitability, however, with stringent control and practicing ethical practices.  In other words, you do not want to make a statement such as, “Do whatever it takes to make the sale.”

The mission statement should be short and general, yet has a powerful punch.  You might want to throw in some team guidelines, or “Norms,” on team interaction as well.  It is also important to regularly review the goals with your staff associated with the mission.

Actually make it a point to test the mission statement.  Make sure people perceive the way you’re leading and managing the organization as being consistent with the mission statement itself. 

This statement might even be used as part of a marketing campaign or posted on the company’s web site, so make it good.

4. Periodically walk around the department.  Take the time to sit down with your employees in their environment.  Have a small impromptu meeting with one individual or a couple of people every once in a while.  Bring a notebook with you and clearly show that you are documenting some good ideas, requests, issues, etc.  If it’s not something you can answer or resolve at that very moment, tell them you will look into these suggestions and comments and follow up as soon as possible.  They will be surprised that you truly listened and followed up even if you could not fulfill the request or idea.  They will know you tried and you will earn their respect. 

5. Periodically hold team meetings.  For example, hold weekly meetings to go over the goals and share the direction in which the team is heading.  Go over items such as performance based stats, sales, customer compliments (and complaints…), needed materials, training requests, and any other pertinent information.   Also announce upcoming events such as new projects, new products, visiting VIP’s, or structure changes.  You want to always keep your team well informed and not left in the dark.  This is also a good chance to gain ideas for improvement, and if needed, how to ease any tension in the group.  Make sure to set up the meetings in your Outlook calendar to re-occur for at least 6 months.  You can update each meeting request with an agenda with items you would like to discuss.  Also make sure you have all of the needed paperwork to pass out to the team, or show in a PowerPoint presentation.  This will show you are serious about your expectations.  See Lesson 7 for more advice on holding effective meetings and giving presentations.

6. Make sure everyone is fully trained and has what they need.   Although training was already mentioned in Lesson 2, it is worth mentioning again.  Always be aware of any training the team needs to accomplish the goals at hand.  They also need the right materials to do the job to its optimum. 

7. Teach them how to work as a team.  Talk to your employees about how important it is that there is support amongst team members with respect for one another.  Team members need to rely on other team members to accomplish the work or the goals of the team, which is the basic principle of team spirit.  They will listen to you as you are their manager and more importantly, especially in this aspect, their leader.

8. Show how the goals of the team tie into the organizational goals.  Explain to the team why their part in obtaining the departmental goals are also part of the big picture within the company’s goals.  When they perform to or above standards, the company is more likely to succeed.  Keep in mind that even though you do not want your department to be the weakest link within the departmental chain, you should still want to see other departments succeed.  You will have a solid company in which to work, and a very happy upper management team.  This should be stressed to the team as well.

9. Make their opinions count and always follow up.  If someone brings a training idea, talks to you about furthering their career, or confines in you about how some improvements can be made, make sure you follow up on everything that has been brought to your attention.  If you can provide what was requested, you will not only build that persons morale, but it will inevitably get around the department that someone approached you with and idea and you followed up.  People like being taken seriously and if an idea is implemented, a strong sense of pride happens which can be contagious amongst other team members.  Stress that you want your team to be innovative and that you’re always willing to do whatever it takes to improve any process, procedure, or make any functional improvements.  Even if you cannot accommodate the request, or it is something they do not want to hear, at least they know you listened and took them seriously.  Just make sure you always follow up with the reason why.

10. Support the differing strengths of your teammates.  Allow each person to bring their unique qualities to the table. There can be some new and innovative techniques and processes that can lead to doing things in new and different ways.

11. Sometimes let the team decide.  Encourage the team to come up with improvements to existing processes, ideas on troubleshooting, equipment they need, etc.  If you build the right type of team, you can trust what is presented to you, and you can give it your blessing.  This is a great motivational tool as well.

12. Make sure your team members are not afraid to speak up.  If no one speaks up or contributes anything during a meeting, there are potential ideas that will not be shared, or even worse, there may be problems that are not identified.  You want any ideas or concerns to be dealt with right then and there.  Make sure you stress that you want people to share even if they might create some waves.  You also want to make the timid people feel comfortable to participate.  Let them know that their contribution to the team is just as important as anyone else’s opinions.

13. Make sure everyone understands what is expected.  Just saying we need to work as a team and leave it at that does very little and sounds like a corny cliché.  You need to give clear details of the expected goals, and potential consequences if the goals are not achieved.  Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member is key.

14. Demand the needed attention to detail.  Express the importance to become a world-class organization by striving for perfection.  Make sure to stress the importance to “dot every I and cross every T.”   Inspire the team to make it their goal to treat each situation they find themselves in with absolute professionalism.  Customers and upper management knows the difference between good and great, or even great and brilliant performance.  Strive for brilliance in making sure every possible detail is given full attention.  You have to be excessively meticulous or else the flaws will become acceptable.  Once your team knows the attention to detail that is expected, you will see excellent results.  The higher quality the team, the better the teamwork.

15. Stress that the customer is right, no matter how wrong they are...  When you are creating your team, you need to make sure they understand this simple core value.  Always tell your staff, and yourself, that without the customer there is no company, thus no paycheck.  You do not have to be quite so dramatic, but this is basically the truth.  Teams work a bit harder and are a little more patient when they remember this fact.

16. Try to curb any negativity about customers or other departments.  It’s so easy to complain, criticize, and always find faults in customers or people in other departments.  A prime example is how customer service is always bashing a salesperson.  Even if it’s justified, you as manager do not want to add fuel to the fire.  You can always have a lighthearted thing to say like “Sales sure seems to pass the buck,” but follow it up with something like, “but we need sales to sell or else they will not bring income into the company.”  Then follow up with letting the team know that if it gets too out of hand, you will meet with the salespersons manager (and you should truly have a brief discussion with the sales manager).  Your staff might have a common grief about a customer or company employee, but watch it closely and don’t let it get out of hand.

17. They should act as if a camera is filming them.  Have them pretend that a camera is filming their actions when working.  They will find themselves treating the customer like gold or precisely producing a product.  This little tip will always keep them in check (try it sometime…). 

18. They should act like they are Ambassadors for the company.  If an employee and team feel like they truly represent the company in their actions, words, and attitude, they should feel like ambassadors to the company.  The team will feel their contribution to the company means something.  As ambassadors, they should feel like a true part of the success in the growth of the company.

19. Team Building is not a one-time activity.  Be prepared to continually work on improvements, ideas, functions, etc.  Just calling a group of people a team does not necessarily mean they are working in harmony as a team.  This should be looked at as a continuous ongoing project.

Points to keep in mind:

• Strong teams do not need to be micromanaged.  Even though micromanaging was mentioned in lesson 1, it is worth mentioning again.

• Make sure you know what they know.  Just saying “do it” without knowing what needs to be done is a morale killer that will destroy teamwork.  You should be able to do the basics of each individual’s job in your department whether it is answering a phone, taking an order, making a product, or technically supporting a customer.  Besides, your confidence level will also rise if you understand the work being done by your team.

• Balance is key.  You want your team to be happy, but at the same time not acting goofy.  You want them to be serious, but at the same time not stressed.  You want them to communicate openly, but at the same time not always complaining.  You want them to be easy going, but at the same time not flaky.  You want them to be communicative, but at the same time not so much of a social butterfly.  You want them to be independent, but not disrespectful.  Always make sure there is balance in the air and be prepared to counter-balance as soon as possible.

• Project teams within a team.  This is a temporary team used for a specific reason.  For example, you might need to have some of your testing software updated.  This would not need the whole teams participation, but it is too big of a task to delegate to just one or two individuals.  In this case you would pick a small team whose task would be to work together on the project until the mission is complete.  Be sure to communicate exactly what is expected and in what timeframe. 

Step 2 – Motivate Professionally and with respect

To motivate you need to be positive, honest, encouraging and direct.  To be honest, motivation starts at home.  If you are truly motivated, it is easier to spread that enthusiasm to others.  Share your vision and mission with confidence.  Your attitude, the way you handle yourself around others, and the way you talk to each individual will subconsciously build morale.  Do not come to work stressed out and miserable, and yet expect your department to be happy and enthusiastic. 

Some people work hard and do good work for pay and recognition.  It is your job to give them monetary increases and praise a job well done.  Some are lazy and do bad work, yet still expect to get paid.  It is your job to get them motivated and show where they need improvement.

Motivating a team uses a “one for all and all for one” approach.  Motivating an individual is more of a one-on-one approach to get your point across and to inspire.  The people you are trying to motivate must be truly motivated themselves.  They are motivated in different ways:

• By the actual work they perform
• Their pay
• The work environment
• A helpful manager when needed
• Not micromanaged when all is under control

Whatever you do, don’t patronize your staff with silly gimmicks such as balloons, bells, and whistles for ordinary work done.  This just makes it look like you are treating them like children in a kindergarten class.  Motivate professionally with maturity and respect. 

Although monetary increases, rewards, praise and recognition are big motivators, we will first look at 23 other ways in which to motivate professionally and with respect:

1. Be a solid leader.  Be the person who can make decisions, solve problems, has an open door policy, knows how to delegate, and provides regular feedback.  People are motivated when they trust their leader.   

2. Give clear instructions.  A person and team are more motivated to do a good job when they know exactly what is expected of them.  No one likes to be given daily tasks or a project with little to no direction.  People are more motivated when they know the exact goals to reach, both individually and as a team.

3. Show how much you value everyone in your department.  This especially holds true for the good workers.  Quite often you should take them aside and truly communicate to them your appreciation.  When they know you know how hard they work and how valuable they are, it makes them feel great and continue to be motivated.  A simple pat on the back, shake of the hand, or a simple thank you goes a long way, much more than you would know.  It is so simple to say kind and encouraging words.  This simple people skill will get you more than just about any other motivational technique.

4. Help people grow.  Always try to help people grow their skills and develop their careers through training, providing opportunities, and spreading the word through upper management.  This will make you be the person people want to work for and be in your department.  When employees feel they are learning and growing, they work harder and more efficiently.  Don’t let them become board and stagnant or else they will become sluggish, both personally and professionally.  Challenge and empower your employees with tasks, projects, and assignments.  You will both win.  Coaching and mentoring your employees by focusing on the needed strengths for them to learn and grow is one of the best things you can do as manager and leader.  Build their confidence when they are unsure about themselves, bring them out of their shell when they are shy, and help with reporting and process skills when they are not program experts.  By helping your employees learn and grow, you will have more people in which you can delegate tasks.  This in turn gives you more time to focus on other aspects of improving your department, which is a win/win situation.

5. Encourage your employees to recognize each other for great work.  Whenever a co-employee does great work, goes the extra effort by helping out one another, or inspiring extra teamwork, try to get them to pat each other on the back.  When employees respect and help one another, you have a highly motivated department.  There are reward programs like “power points” that you can set up for just this type of scenario.  Rewarding ideas will be covered later in this lesson.

6. Motivate by building their confidence.  This should be done both individually and as a team.  When people feel good about themselves, they work better as a team.  They need to clearly understand the big picture and believe that working as a team produces better results.  This will get the slower performers working faster, and the faster performers continuing to work hard.

7. Motivate the already confident by listening and discussing triumphs.  The more you show these “self starter” type of employees that you really care about their expert skills, the more they will be motivated to keep you impressed.  You would also really try to make sure you get these employees whatever they request.  For example, if they ask for a software package, get it for them without asking too many questions.   You want to especially build respect with these key employees.

8. Show the team you truly care.  Showing concern and understanding for your employees are signs of management strength, not weakness. Let them feed off of your positive and caring approach.  Strong leaders show they care by getting the team what they need to succeed, even if they have to work across department lines.  Ask about their interests, family, hobbies, and genuinely be curious about their lives.  Know the little things like how their kids did in the game.  You can do this in a group atmosphere as well.  Many employees who feel you are uncaring or unfair are more willing to cheat on their expected workload and think they can get away with it.  They will feel like they are just a number so why should it matter what they do.  So make sure you are there for them and show that you care.  This really helps build harmony and teamwork and thus more productivity.

9. Stress their importance to the company.  Let them know that what they do is a vital part of the company’s success.  Even an operator who just answers a phone is vital as they are the first customer touch point.  If the operator comes across as a positive happy person, the tone will then be set to the person who receives the transferred call.  Another example would be a support technician who not only fixed the problem, but also asked if there is anything else they can do and go the extra mile.  This can result in future sales just based on the support the customer received.

10. Create more interesting and admirable job titles.  For example, add the word “Specialist” after a normal mundane title.  “Technical Support Specialist” sounds a little more important than “Technical Support Representative,” yet has the same job responsibility.  This also looks better in the customer’s eyes.  Some employees might find this a bit suspect.   They will think a better title with no monetary increase is a bit dubious.  It is up to you to judge whether or not this idea would work for your department.  This should also be considered when writing a job description as described in lesson 4.

11. Do not rule by intimidation.  Only short-term gain is usually achieved with this approach and a higher rate of attrition usually occurs.  It is good for a little healthy fear associated with the natural approach to hierarchy and respect for the position, but that is as far as it should go.  Intimidation is a morale killer. 

12. Don’t raise your voice.  Show people their errors and mistakes in a calm and professional way, even if you want to scream.  Calmly show them how to do it right.  Morale goes down when your temper goes up.  A sergeant in the army has a need to yell, as it could be a matter of life and death.  A manager of a business department luckily does not have that responsibility.

13. Don’t penalize them for doing their best.  If you do not hit a goal or complete a task, don’t take it out on your staff.  It is your job to set a truly achievable goal, provide the right training and materials, and hire the right people.  If they are doing their best but their best is not good enough, you need to re-evaluate how to achieve the goals or complete the tasks.  See lesson 2 for ways to set up your department to its optimal.

14. Focus on their strengths and try to work around their weaknesses.  There will be times when a person is better suited in another position or other duties.  That is not to say that they should be rewarded for poor performance, it is more about working with what you got.  Many times you will have inherited someone who has some sharp skills but are not happy in their work.  For some reason, although they are sharp, they are just not getting the job at hand.  You may have tried to get them trained, talked to them about the need to improve their performance and/or attitude, and you still have someone who is not performing up to speed.  You can go through the discipline and firing processes as described in lesson 5, but if there is a chance to truly utilize this person, do all you can to keep them.  You might first need to post the job for others to apply before you can move this person into the other position.  That might be up to HR.  If it works out and you keep this person after you moved them to another position, you would want to talk to them about your high expectations.  This could really be a win/win situation for both of you.

15. Really, really motivate your favorites.  This goes against conventional “all for one” thinking but lets face it, you want to keep the employees who enjoy doing the difficult tasks, who never complain about the work given, work after hours to complete the task, and is willing to do what it takes to make the company succeed, fully motivated with extra perks and pats on the back.  Try hard to accommodate any of their requests. These are the people who can help you, help the rest of the team, to understand what is going on.

16. Continually train and keep your department up to speed.  Whenever there is something new on the horizon such as a product launch, software release, or any new projects ahead, make sure you train them to fully understand the new entity.  It is really important to make sure the supervisors of the department are always involved in the latest training opportunities.  This is where daily meetings come into play as discussed in lesson 7.  It is important to show the department that you want to make sure they have all the training they need.  They might also have some training ideas or requests.  This is one thing that can really earn you a great deal of respect, and show great leadership skills.  Constant training builds and motivates both the team, and individual.

17. Make the environment for the employees as nice as possible.  The environment in which your employees are expected to work should be clean and ethically pleasing.  You should also make sure they have all the materials they need, no matter how trivial, to perform to their optimum level.  An unorganized department, dirty bathrooms, or not having basic supplies are fairly easy to amend and at little cost.  If possible, get the best chairs and replace the old broken equipment.  These small changes can enhance employee morale, and improve productivity.  Give them what they need to produce, and they will produce.  Even a $5.00 item can make a big difference to someone.  Try not to nickel and dime everything unless absolutely necessary.  Also, make sure that your team knows and sees that you are doing everything you can to improve their working environment.  Even if you are unsuccessful, they will appreciate the fact that you tried.  Just make sure you don’t have the attitude of “this is what you get, so get use to it.”

18. Motivate the good workers by disciplining the bad.  Another way to keep the good workers motivated is to discipline the bad workers when it is truly time to do so.  Putting your head in the sand when there are problem employees is a de-motivator for the good workers.  You also want the poor performing people to feel a little uncomfortable so that they know they need to improve. 

19. Make your positive attitude seen.  Make it a point to at least once or twice a day, depending on the size of the department you manage, to walk around the department and say hello with a positive, feel good smile on your face.  Ask how things are going or if there is anything you can do for them.  Even asking them if they would like a Coke or something trivial like that helps build morale.  You also want to really motivate your supervisor staff.  They are your front line to all complaints and getting your point across in a daily if not hourly fashion to the team.  They are the ones in the trenches with the rest of the department.  This is why it is so important to meet daily, or at the least weekly, with your supervisors.  In meetings, you are sharing the goals and discussing improvements all the while motivating due to the time you give each day. There will be more information regarding meetings in lesson 7.

20. Don’t let them burn out.  When you start seeing that the challenge is getting to be too much, people feel more like a number than part of the company family, are easily disappointed, stressed over changes, too much anxiety trying to obtain the goals, or just basically losing interest, you need to remedy the situation as soon as possible.  Provide a bright outlook for the future, listen to their worries and concerns, let them know you care, let them know how valuable they are, provide more interesting yet related training, and rejuvenate by reducing the de-moralizing tasks and increasing the interesting work.  Signs of burn out can lead to employee resignation.

21. Have some fun.  Depending on the type of department you have, certain external team building events like bowling, paint ball, golfing, and picnics are a good idea at least one time a year.  You can also have some internal fun such as a pizza lunch, have a potluck lunch, or a jersey day in which you wear your favorite teams jersey.  Some people are not into after work activities, and that’s fine, as long as it’s a majority decision.

22. Buy Cokes, donuts, bagels, pizza, etc for the team periodically.  For a few bucks, you will have happier employees.  You may be able to expense this as well for morale purposes.  Even while you are walking around the department, just ask if you can get them anything such as a bottle of cold water.  Write down the order on a notepad and maybe ask one of your supervisors to help personally pass them out.  These little gestures go a long way.  Don’t make it a corny event, just a nice simple gesture.

23. The Management team cooks a barbeque for all the staff.  This is both motivational and rewarding for a job well done.  Employees will appreciate the fact that their manager is barbequing for them.

Point to keep in mind:

• When you hit a plateau… There will be times when your department does great for so long that the challenge is no longer there.  When you get to this point, try to motivate by looking at beating your competitor’s goals.  For example, if you are at a 95% customer satisfaction rating, try to make it to 98% by focusing on every little bit of detail.  Another way to motivate is by finding new training courses with certification.  You can also try cross training your employees by having team members sit with other team members in different groups or even departments.  Also let your boss or upper management know you are willing and capable of taking on new projects and additional responsibilities if applicable.

• Ask a few of your most trusted employees what truly motivates the team.  There is nothing wrong with this.  You shouldn’t keep on throwing darts at the board hoping one of them hits the bulls-eye.  Not only is it ineffective, it can make you look bad and silly trying some obscure motivational techniques. By understanding what truly provides the motivation the team needs to succeed, the quicker you are to obtaining your goals.  Pep talks and fun games might be ok for short-term goals, but in the long run they have no effect.  Communication again is key.

• Hire nothing but the best people.  New employees who have the right aptitude and attitude tend to motivate and build morale with existing team members.  There will be more about hiring the right people in Lesson 4.

• Don’t forget the people out of sight.  If you work in a 24/7 type of company or providing after hours support, you will not see the swing and graveyard shift personnel as much as you would like.  They need to be motivated as well.

• Again, do not micromanage.  If you plan, organize, train, communicate, direct and lead correctly as described throughout this course, you should not have to micromanage your staff.  Continually over shadowing or controlling excessively and not letting them have a chance to prove themselves is very demoralizing.  Looking over someone’s back is very uncomfortable unless they ask for the help.  This does not mean that you shouldn’t monitor the work going on in your department.  It means to trust that your staff is capable of doing the work expected of them.  If there are any problems or training issues, you handle it by meeting with the supervisor or with the individuals themselves to discuss ways in which to improve.

Step 3 - Recognize and Praise great work

People like to be recognized and crave praise for doing good work.  People crave praise, but do not always like to give it.  One of your jobs as manager is to make sure you give out praise as often as possible.  In the workplace it really holds true because it is a place where they spend on average 40 hours a week.  People want to be happy and secure in a place where they spend so much of their time.  It only takes a few seconds to say, “Thank you,” and “great job,” but you get years of return.  It’s so easy, and quite effective. 

Here are 12 ways to recognize and praise your staff in a professional and dignified way:

1.      Don’t hesitate to acknowledge the good things.  Whenever there are events such as when a project is completed, a task is performed, monthly goals are achieved, a compliment from a customer is given, evidence of good work is seen in documentation, or a compliment from another co-worker is given, be absolutely sure you make it a priority to talk to that individual as soon as possible and give them a true hearty thank you.  There might even be times when the employee already knows, for example, a customer gave a nice compliment regarding their performance.  It would do so much harm if you did not take the time to thank that person.  An employee, who feels they have not received any praise recently, or that their best efforts and work performed is ignored, will end up de-moralized and un-motivated. 

2.      Praise in public.  Not only will the person or team feel good that you praised them, their peers or other departments will also see it.  It is also contagious as the more you praise, the more they will want to receive it.  There are, however, times when you should praise privately...

3.      Don’t publicly praise an individual on a team related effort.  Depending on the situation, in most cases if you only single out one person with praise that was based on a team effort, you are going to damage team morale.  For example, if the customer satisfaction goal was achieved you want to first praise the team.  You can give praise to an individual as long as you first gave praise to the entire team and then added in the individual praise related to the subject at hand.  However, you can and should praise the individual in front of the team if it’s an individual accomplishment not necessarily tied to a team goal.

4.      Post the results on the wall in big letters and in clear view for all to see.  You and your team should take pride in achieving the goals set.  There should be constant reminders around the office regarding the departments’ objectives.  Besides, this will also inspire and motivate everyone to achieve those goals and objectives or else all will see the dirty laundry of the department… 

5.      Make it publicly known when there is something positive to share about an employee.  This is not necessarily praise for individual performance in front of the whole team, but an anomaly of sorts when something good is said or happened with a particular employee.  Don’t embarrass the person or make the other team members jealous, but do it in a way that shows how this contributes to the overall success of the team and department.  For example, an important customer who normally is hard to please gave a compliment to a particular individual.  This good news should be shared.  You should also periodically share good news with the senior management team.  It’s a win/win situation because it also makes you look good as the manager of the individual.  *Note:  If there are any negative comments about an individual, you should never broadcast that information to other employees.  This should be a one-on-one conversation with the individual only.

6.      Create a storyboard on the wall to show motivational achievements.  Every time you get a customer compliment, one employee recognizes another for extraordinary work, or an exceptional task was completed, you should document and post it on a “Celebration Wall.”  It does not have to be elaborate and will cost next to nothing.  Document the achievement with the employee’s name, or team effort, in big print and pin it to the wall.  Continue doing this and before you know it, your wall will be filled with inspirational comments.  The more stories that are posted, the more people will want to be included in the storyboard.  If you run out of room, continue it on another wall.  There does not need to be any big fanfare, just a posting on the wall.  You should, however, have already given a personal note of gratitude to the individual or team as well. 

7.      Recognize and praise quickly.  It you wait too long to tell someone about a recognizable event, it will lose its effectiveness.  It can also create a certain anxiety, as the employee would have thought up to that time, that you did not notice the exceptional work.

8.      Give Praise, recognition and positive feedback on what means the most to the individual and team.  Be sure to praise correctly.  Praising a job well done on a specific skill or true attained goal is meaningful.  Generically praising for praising sake, especially if you are missing the important point, looks bad on you and you will lose respect.  For example, a technician troubleshot and fixed a very difficult repair.  Instead of focusing on the technician’s excellent troubleshooting skills, your praise was related to a lack of typing mistakes.  Sure that’s important, but it missed the true mark.  This is why it is important to fully understand just what it is that your employees do related to their job functions.  Using the example above, if you do not realize how difficult the troubleshooting was done to fix the problem, the technician will be demoralized thinking you do not realize just how good they are and how hard it was to truly resolve the issue.

9.      Admiration of a person’s skill is a show of respect and recognition.  Sometimes the most important way to recognize good work is to be in true awe of an employee’s performance.  This can be based on their skills, knowledge, attitude, etc.  True respect for the team or individual is truly meaningful.

10.  Go into detail regarding the recognition.  Follow up the "thank you" with more in depth comments about the good deed done.  It will show you truly mean it and understand the positive impact that was made.

11.  Write a letter, forward the e-mail, or write the e-mail yourself.  Proof of a written compliment is very powerful.  You can cc the team and if desired, upper management.  Simple, but effective and so easy to do.

12.  Have someone in upper management take the time to acknowledge the individual or team.  Ask your boss or someone else in senior management to personally thank the individual or team.  This simple gesture goes a long way.  It also makes upper management feel good about what they are doing, and makes you look good for suggesting it.  Another win/win situation.

Points to keep in mind: 

• The effect of giving praise is a very powerful and productive tool. The individual or team not only feels better about themselves, but will most likely think, “I can do it even better.”  So chances are their performance will improve to an even higher standard.  Studies show that positive feedback releases the chemical “Dopamine” which is a stimulant of excitement.  Interestingly enough, you will also feel more positive about yourself. 

• Don’t start with praising, and end with a lecture.  If you approach someone or the team with the intention to praise, don’t then turn it in to a time to focus on the negative.  It’s like a child who is proud about getting an “A” on their report card, but you then quickly focus on the “C”.  There is a time and place to talk about the “C”, but not at that moment.

• Praise when praise is truly due.  The team or individual needs to earn praise, not just get it because they all showed up to work on time or just doing normal daily tasks.  If you praise for the expected things, it will lose effect on the exceptional things.

Step 4 - Evaluate and Appraise employee performance

Giving feedback, whether positive or constructive, can truly be effective if done timely and correctly.  Effective feedback is specific, not general.  For example, you would not just want to give positive feedback like, “Good job on fixing the problem.”  You would want to go into specifics like, “Good job on the troubleshooting skills you used to determine that the problem was a customer router misconfiguration.”  Make this positive feedback timely, specific, and frequent.  Recognition for effective performance is a powerful motivator.  Most people want to obtain more recognition, so recognition fosters more of the appreciated actions.

The same holds true if work done was not up to standards.  In this case you would make a constructive observation.  Constructive feedback is not criticism, but alerts to an area in which performance could improve.  It is descriptive and should always be directed to the action, not the individual or team.  The main purpose of constructive feedback is to help people understand where they stand in relation to expected, and productive, job behavior.

By sharing information and observations, when done sincerely and honestly, will help the individual or team on specific actions or behavior that they can do something about.  It is a good idea to approach the situation by saying something like, “I would like to give some feedback on how you troubleshoot if that is ok with you?”  This way it will come off looking like you want to help rather than scold.  After you have provided the feedback, make sure they fully understood what you said by asking them a question or two or by observing their behavior.

Employee evaluations can be a positive, encouraging, and a good synopsis on how they are doing in the many categories of their job responsibilities.  On the other hand, it can also be considered a waste of time and doesn’t work if neither you nor your employees take it seriously and just go through the motions.  Many managers hate having to do these evaluations.  Managers usually just want to get the necessary info together as fast as possible and are happy it only comes once or twice a year.  Depending on the amount of employees you are evaluating, this can be quite a big task.  However, if your department has been managed right, it could become a rewarding experience.  Evaluations, also called performance appraisals, are important and most companies perform them so they will be discussed here. 

Performance reviews can be an effective tool but only if you and your staff take it seriously.  This is not just a snapshot of how they are doing at the moment of the appraisal, but a review of the past 6 months or year.  You need to have the necessary data to back the appraisal, and everyone needs to understand what is expected and how they are appraised. 

In general, most appraisals cover the set goals and objectives including:

• Volume or production levels
• Thoroughness and attention to detail
• Accuracy
• Attitude
• Teamwork
• Attendance and punctuality
• Corporate values
• Future goals
• and Final notes

When developing a performance review:

• Be sure to meet with your employees and review the performance appraisal goals, values, and expectations. 

• Meet with them at the beginning of the year or evaluation period and establish the timeline.  Most companies perform these appraisals once or twice a year.

• Make sure you and your supervisors have detailed records of each employee’s performance.  Outline the recent accomplishments as well as improvements needed.  You need all of this data for the review itself and to back up the review if questioned. 

• When it's time to do the performance review, make it a priority to eliminate any employee anxiety.  Don’t put it off.

• Once the review has been discussed, be sure to come to terms together on the evaluation rating and goals going forward.  Short-term and long-term goals should be established whether for growth or improvements.

• End the review on a positive note.  If there are any issues, be sure you have discussed and offered training, counseling, and coaching to help improve on the needed skills and remedy any deficiencies.

You want the review to be thought of as professional and an inspirational experience.  Reserve plenty of time for the meeting with no interruptions.  If performed correctly, your employees will feel you truly understand their strengths and weaknesses, and will leave with a positive outlook for the future.  It will also establish your credibility as an effective leader.  To help create a successful outcome, here are 19 valuable tips to think about when performing employee evaluations:

1. Evaluations keep a written record to support pay increases.   Documentation of the employee’s performance lets the employee officially know where they stand in the company and what you think about their performance.  You want your team to feel like you really do want to take the time to let them know what they are all about.  It will inspire them to perform better and they will respect you more as manager and leader.  The goal is to make them feel as if they have had special attention, whether it is praising or encouraging.  This same mindset should always be used for everyone you evaluate.  It is their scorecard to see how well they did and if tasks were achieved or completed on time.  It can also be thought of as a report card.  The evaluation process makes sure that you are utilizing the talent in your organization that not only benefits the employee, but you and the company as well.  So you can see, even though these types of appraisals are usually thought of as a waste of time for many managers, there is some important underlying value.

2. In most cases evaluations have a set of core job objectives and corporate values.  The core objectives would basically refer to the overall job performance expectations.  The corporate values refers to open communication such as working with others to produce the best result, a caring culture treating others with mutual respect, or unmatched service & support taking personal responsibility for customer satisfaction.  They are based on a scale of something like 1 to 5 with 5 being best.  There can also be statements such as “exceeds expectations, meets expectations, and below expectations.”  These ratings would be for each job objective and each corporate value along with an overall score.

3. Appraisals, at the very least, lets the employee know that someone at work is thinking about their job performance.  When employees know they are working hard and doing a great job, they want it put in writing.  Your employees should be well aware of what is expected of them as long as you put the lessons learned in this course into place.  This is because you have communicated, coached, and guided your individuals and team to achieve their goals, objectives and values.  This will also make it much easier to create the appraisals since all of the goals, objectives, tasks, responsibilities, and corporate values have already been well communicated to the team.

4. Hopefully because you have managed the department so well, you will have mostly “meets” or “exceeds” expectations.  However, this does not mean they all “walk on water.”  If you give a score of “exceeds expectations” or a “5 out of 5”, they truly need to be considered your star performers.  A common mistake is rating people too high, know matter how they performed, which does not give a clear way for improvement.  It does not mean you should be necessarily be giving more negative reviews, just keep it balanced.  If they truly are a star performer, give them top marks.

5. Be sure your supervisors also follow these guidelines.  If they are performing the reviews with their direct staff, then they need to have the same mindset as you have.  In most cases, depending on the size of the company, you would review your supervisors and you supervisors would review their direct reports.

6. If you expect or anticipate complications with a particular employee performance review…  You need to make sure you have all documentation and data to back up your evaluation.  If they are confrontational, and indeed not happy with the appraisal or the amount of the raise given, make sure you stay open and understanding.  Prepare to discuss and stay professional at all times.  Do not be confrontational or take a hard line approach.  You do, however, need to be decisively direct.  Stay focused to the points at hand.  Have the confidence that you have truly previously communicated your vision, goals, objectives, and values to the individuals and team, and have coached all you could have up to this point.  Stand by the fact that your appraisal will be fair and accurate, and that you're not coming across like you are on a witch-hunt.

7. If you have an employee who is performing below expectations…  You need to find ways to coach and provide training for improvement.  This could be because they are still fairly new, were previously a good employee who is losing their way, or recently promoted and still growing.  You might want to give a 30 or 60-day action plan to improve along with a follow up meeting to discuss.  If, however, you have an employee who is just non-retainable even though you’ve coached all you could, repeatedly spoke to them about their bad attitude, or their performance is just not acceptable anymore, it is time to terminate the employee.  You should deal with this as soon as possible.  It does neither of you good to prolong the issue.  Lesson 5 deals with this subject in much more detail.

8. Whatever you do, make sure you complete the performance appraisals on time.   You should even strive to be ahead of schedule if possible.  It will not only make you look efficient as a leader who cares about their department, it also makes HR and upper management happy.  Some people really do care about these evaluations and work hard all year just for this moment.  This is another time to really thank the good workers, and try to get the bad workers to become inspired within themselves.  The last thing you want to do, is do an “11th hour” rush or miss the deadline.  Whenever money is involved, you need to do all you can as quickly and efficiently as possible.  The good news is if you are consistent and have communicated your vision and goals, you should be able to complete these in a timely fashion.  Most companies already have an appraisal form for you to use along with directions.

9. It is better to focus on the positive rather than the negative.  Start out with the positive.  People tend to take the positives lightly, but the negatives heavily.  If you start off with a negative, the positive will practically be ignored and forgotten.  Only bring up the negative if it relates to the performance review.  If the negative is performance related, this would be a perfect opportunity to coach the individual and create actions to improve.

10. When discussing appraisals, be sure to tailor each one to each person’s personality.  You should know what makes them tick and to get the most out of the evaluation.  A “cookie cutter” approach just wont cut it…  You want to stay consistent with the documentation and expectations for all, but unique with the verbal presentation for the individual.   See the managing different personalities section in this lesson for more on how to deal with particular personalities.

11. Make an outline of the significant items to cover.  By creating a cheat sheet of sorts, you can be sure to hit the important areas like:

·         Important contributions the employee made to the company

·         Personal interests

·         Making or missing a specific goal

·         Accuracy issues

·         Attitude

·         Potential growth possibilities

12. It’s a “bit of an art” to encourage someone with poor performance.  During the evaluation, when you are dealing with a poor performance related situation, stay confident but not intimidating, serious but not scary, and make your point but not be disheartening.  You also cannot be sheepish and intimidated such as hiding behind jokes, passing it off as no big deal, etc.  If you act like it’s not a big deal, even unintentionally, then your employees will think it is no big deal and will continue to perform badly.

13. Do not compare the employee to other employees.  This is demoralizing, hurts teamwork and will not accomplish anything but antagonism towards the compared employee.

14. Encourage open communication.  You want your employees to always feel comfortable to be able to talk and share any issues, concerns or ideas.  You should welcome as much input as possible.  The same goes for you as manager towards your employees.  Be open and not defensive if your employees make comments like, “I’m not advancing quick enough” or “my salary is not at the level as the work I perform.” Use the skills taught throughout this course to be able to communicate efficiently, no matter what the topic.

15. Treat each appraisal with the same mindset and professionalism of a job interview.  You have to always keep in mind about any possible anti-discriminatory issues that can arise.  Although they have already been through the interview process at one point, and you most likely feel much more comfortable with them than you did in the beginning, you still need to be “politically correct” and careful on what you say and how you act. 

16. Stay on track and keep to the specifics.  You have to know when to move on to the next subject once the point was made, discussed, or debated.  There is nothing wrong with a good debate, but when you hit a brick wall or the subject has been exhausted, there is no use in continuing on with that particular conversation.  You need to make the decision to move on with confidence.  Try to find a nice segue into the next talking point.

17. Focus on the significance of each success and failure.  This should be looked at as it pertains to the company’s possible successes and failures.  The importance you add to each objective looking at the big picture adds more impact. 

18. Always make sure the employee leaves knowing what is expected in the future.  This goes for both good and bad performance reviews.  Just saying something like, “Good Job, keep it up,” is not enough.  You need to embellish what is expected in the future besides “keep up the good work.”  You should have a plan to enhance the individual’s goals and keep them wanting to continually strive to improve.  You’ve got to always be looking forward and never just settling on the “status quo.”

19. Always be sure you did everything you could before terminating an employee based on the performance appraisal.  Sometimes it comes down to the point where there is just no saving an employee based on such poor performance.  You do, however, truly need to make sure you’ve done all you can to coach the person, help improve their skills, or help with any personal issues.  If you can look yourself in the mirror with no trepidations, then you know you did all you could and are making the right decision.

Points to keep in mind:

• If you have an employee who is disruptive, has a bad attitude, or is a “bad apple…” you need to deal with the person as soon as possible.  It only takes one bad attitude to spoil the team.  You should never pretend this problem does not exist or hopes it somehow corrects itself.  You will lose the respect of your team if you do not deal with the situation.  Bring the person into your office without making a big scene, and make it as private as possible.  Be upfront and discuss what you are seeing and how important it is to have the whole team working in “harmony.”   This also goes for the employee who is not performing up to standards.  Don’t wait until it comes to the point of no return.  Many times issues blow over without incident and things get worked out without intervention, however, you need to be aware of any growing concerns, especially if it affects team performance.  Lesson 5 will cover how to deal with problematic employees in more detail.

• Measure the goals and show proof.  You need to visually show your staff on whether or not you hit your targeted goals with statistical reports, customer surveys, or any other type of pertinent data.  By showing the results in your weekly or monthly team meetings, the clear directions and specific time frames you give to them will have more meaning.   Examples of these types of reports are shown in lesson 2.

• Make sure they feel accountable and take responsibility for their work.  You want them to feel proud of what they do, and not take any short cuts or perform sloppy work.  You need to instill into them that they should take pride in their work.  They should also know that poor work will not be tolerated and that they will be held accountable.

• Lets face it; it’s mostly about the money…  When it comes to appraisals, sure it’s important for you to get your point across, praise and encourage, and let the employee know what‘s expected in the future, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the money.  If possible, it would be best to be able to discuss the merit increase during the appraisal meeting.  It is usually an hourly increase based on the overall evaluation score, which is normally a certain percentage increase of around 3% to 5%.  It can be as high as 10%, or as low as 1%.  Sometimes it is nothing.  In many cases you have to wait a few weeks after the initial appraisal to inform them about the merit increase.  Just let them know to be patient and that you will get back to them the moment you have the information.  Also, always make sure you let each and every employee know they should never discuss the increase amount with their fellow employees.  This goes with their hourly rate as well.

Example – Employee Appraisal Form. This is an example evaluation form that has the goals and objectives expected of the employee.   In this case you can check whether the employee exceeded, was able to meet, or fell below targets and expectations.  Each goal is also weighed by a percentage. This example just shows the goals and objectives.  The full appraisal also contains corporate values, notes, comments, and a place for signatures.  This should be presented in the beginning of the year, or appraisal period, so that the employee understands how and when their performance will be appraised.  

Sample Corp - Performance Appraisal

Step 5 - Compensate and Reward a job well done

Kind words go a long way, but rewarding with money, gifts and awards goes even further.  Compensating and rewarding employees goes a long way in helping retain employees for good job performance.  This is also a chance to really reward the best of the best.  Depending on the company and budget, you can be creative in some aspects, and traditional in others.  You as manager will sometimes need to come up with reward expenses and increased pay percentages out of your budget (see lesson 8 for more information on budgets).  On the other hand, you have to always be striving to keep costs and expenditures down.  It’s a fine balance, but one that can, and should, be achieved. 

To begin with, you should have a full list of everyone’s salary within your department.  You will most likely have a salary range for each position already established, if not you should set levels so that you do not have employees performing the same job functions with too much difference in pay.  Look to see if some employees are obviously underpaid for what they are doing, and others who are at a capped level of pay.  Past and present performance reviews are a good way to capture someone’s exceptional work in a way that justifies a larger than normal increase in pay. 

Here are 16 ideas for you to incorporate regarding compensation and other rewards:

1.      Try to pay them what they are worth.  When it comes down to it, if you offer an above-market wage, the employee usually matches it with more effort in their job performance.  HR or upper management usually sets the rate of pay for employees, so you need to be creative in order to get a raise for your best employees. 

The catch 22, when it comes to motivating, training, praising, and getting great results, is now you have employees who are much better than they were when they first started.  The better they are, the more they are in demand.  Usually you can give somewhere around a 3% to 5% increase during their annual performance reviews, but there are times when you need to give more to certain individuals who truly deserve it.  You don’t want to lose them to the competition.  This is when you need to do some creative talking to your boss or upper management.  With all of the positive data you have regarding the employee, it should be easy to at least state your case. 

Hopefully there is room in the pay scale to give them an increase.  Here’s a typical scenario: The yearly salary for the position is set at $30,000 to $40,000, and the employee currently makes $35,000.  You ask to move the rate of pay to $40,000.  That would be a little over a 14% increase.  Most companies do not give more than a 10% increase at any one time.  Even though $5,000 may not sound like a huge jump as far as dollars are concerned, it is regarding the percentage jump based on the existing salary.  It is up to you to present your case and see if you can bend that rule.  If you cannot get $40,000, and only get the 10% increase (which would bring it up to $38,500), at least your employee will know that you tried and will still appreciate the increase, even if it was not exactly what they were hoping for... 

The main goal here, besides the obvious increase in pay, is to show the employee that you and the company are eagerly looking out for their best interests, which in return, the employee should be looking out for the company, by exceeding job expectations in their work performance.

2.      A raise based on the Employee Appraisal/Performance Review.  The better the review, the higher the increase should be in pay.  It may be by only a percentage or two, but at least it is something.  A great review shows how much you value them, even if the reward is just a small increase in pay.  The most you will usually be able to give your employees, based on yearly performance reviews, ranges from 3% to 5%.  What usually happens is you have an overall department percent average that you cannot go over.  For example, if you cannot go over a department average of 4%, you could give one person 8%, one person 6%, one person 4%, one person 2%, and one person, due to extremely poor performance, 0%.  You would still be on target as the overall average is 4%.  This is why performance reviews can be so important. 

Your employees will no doubt know how the raise percentage is structured.  If you give a raise to your best employees that are above the average percentage, they will feel justified and happy.  In turn, you would give a lower than average raise to the under performers.  If you have been doing your job right, there should be no surprises.  If just about everyone in your department is above par, then you will most likely be giving average raises to most of the department.  They should understand, as they will realize that their co-workers are of equal caliber.

3.      Promotion is the reward.  This might seem obvious, but this is the best reward.  A good team member, who is motivated, continually praised for good work, and exceeds expectations on appraisals, might just be worthy of being rewarded with a promotion.  You should always be looking out for these possible growth opportunities for your top employees.

There also comes a time when an employee is at the top level of pay, or capped, for the position they hold.  You want to give them more money, but there is just no more room for them to grow in their current role as far as money is concerned.  The answer could be to promote them to another position.  There might even be times when you need to create a position just for this cause.  For example, you determine a lead technician is needed in your department.  Although you might be tailoring this position for just this one individual, chances are you will need this position in the near future anyways.

If you promote someone to a position that requires the supervision of others, start off on the right path using a personal development program.  Don’t just throw them off into the deep end and expect them to pick up the necessary skills needed to be successful.  Make sure you train the person on the skills associated with:

·       Thinking strategically.

·       Establishing priorities.

·       Giving and receiving feedback.

·       Developing communications skills.

·       Conducting effective personal interviews.

·       Conflict Resolution.

·       Understanding the full scope of the company strategy, policies, and procedures.  This is very important and is usually a mystery to people.

·       The use of the latest technology, tools, applications, and programs such as Excel Spreadsheets, Word Docs, and PowerPoint’s.

4.      Try to have the power to give on the spot raises.  In most companies HR will not allow such a thing, but if it’s possible, strive for the ability to give an increase at your discretion as long as you do not go over budget.  You can let upper management know that you will not abuse this power, and that performance levels will rise because of it.  This is because employees will tend to work harder knowing you have this capability.  If not, they might only put in the extra effort right before appraisals are due.

5.      Do your research when it comes to requested increases in pay.  Be sure the increase is truly due, and is justified through past performance results.  By checking the employees history of performance and pay levels, you can either be extremely confident when pursuing getting the increase, or content in denying the request.

6. Give small gifts such as movie tickets, gift certificates, credit cards with a limited amount, and even cash.  For only a few dollars, you can give a small award for a job well done.  Do not make it a predictable thing or else it will lose its impact and become expected.  Be creative.  Try things like taking them out for lunch, letting them go home early, or giving them a $50 voucher.  The only potential problem would be a complaint that one gift is better than the other.  Maybe you can give them a choice?

7. Employee of the week parking space.  Simple, but effective, especially in the bigger sized companies.

8. Move the person to a better office or desk.  This is a nice reward, which is also motivational.

9. Bonus for hitting the goals.  This is quite common and usually a semi-annual or annual event.  This is why setting clear expectations and goals with the stats to back it up are so important. 

10. Paid time off and unpaid leaves.  Letting people go home early when it is slow, and still get paid, can be considered an award.  This can also go for longer lunch hours and extra vacation time.  Some people are happy to just go home early, even if it is unpaid. *Keep in mind that company rules and/or state laws can be a factor on the legality of these types of rewards. 

11. Awards such as plaques, trophies, or certificates.  An employee of the month engraved on a plaque might work, but don’t be surprised if it gets a bit old after a while, especially if the same person always wins.  Another problem could be if it’s the same manager who always does the picking, it will look like favoritism.  Use something like this for a true major accomplishment or achievement that is more of a yearly type of recognized reward.  If it is truly treated as something truly special, it will be much more effective.

12. Employee points used towards company provided gifts.  This would be for company merchandise such as hats, shirts, jackets, or even a product the company sells.  Have a program in which employees can award points to other employees for a job well done.  You can also give out these points.  Once you get a certain amount of points, you can redeem them for merchandise.  As long as it’s not abused, it is a fun and simple program.  It lets everyone decide who is deserving of a recognition award.  An example of abusing the program would be best friends who award each other just, because they think the other has a good attitude, etc.  

13. Annual recognition banquet held for award events and ceremonies such as employee of the year.  Major awards like trips or cash, grossed up to cover taxes, can be given.  This can be a fun event for all, not just the winner.

14. Make sure to reward as quickly as the achievement was accomplished.  Giving a reward out months after hitting a targeted goal does not go over very well.  Besides, at that point they are most likely already focused on the next target.

15. Match the award with the person.  It is better to give an award out that means something to someone, and that they will truly enjoy.  If they like music, then give them a certificate to a music store.  If they like fine dining, then give them a voucher for a great restaurant.  When you get to know your employees, this will not be so hard to figure out.

16. The reward should compliment the achievement.  The better the achievement, the greater the reward.  For example, don’t give the same $20 gift certificate for a person staying late one night to finish a task, as you would for a person who saved an important account through months of extraordinary effort.

Points to keep in mind:

• Reward programs require a lot of planning and preparation.  Don’t just wing it.  Take it seriously so that your employees take it seriously.  You should get some kind of reward committee to help.

• Don’t make rewarding predictable.  It will lose its effectiveness and not taken seriously after a period of time.

• Do not reward if the goal was not achieved.  Seems obvious but it happens all the time.

• When it comes to compensation you need to be careful.  Most of the time people do not know what the other is making, even when they are in the same department performing the same job functions.  You need to try and prevent employees discussing their rate of pay.  Some companies have a set rate of pay, so this will not be a problem.  You may need an interpreter or union representative with you when discussing pay.  Don’t make promises you cant keep, it not only demoralizes, but can also turn into a lawsuit.

• You will have your favorite employees.  You most likely will, if truly deserved, promote them at one point.  You might even take them out to lunch or dinner.  The important thing is not to show too much favoritism in front of your department.  You need to make sure the whole department knows you are setting the same standards and goals for all.  You need to show that when it comes to business, you treat the people you don’t really like the same as you do with those you do like.  Just make sure to treat everyone in the same professional manner.  That is the key, always be professional to everyone, equally, to eliminate the possibility of being accused of favoritism.