Weekly Success Tip

If there existed a tool or technique that cost nothing to implement, produced immediate results and paid off more than the effort required to action it, would you use it?

Well, no doubt most people would answer yes, but I’m actually hesitant to reveal this weeks success tip, because it's so simple that many people simply miss its significance. Yet you may be suprised at the results you can achieve, when you choose to implement it.

In part four of our six part series on what it takes to hire and retain the most talented staff according to research conducted by the Gallup Organisation, I’m reminded of dozens of studies done by the Harvard Business School to find out what drives and improves employee productivity. Contrary to popular assumption, financial incentives, rarely work. What does work is appreciation. And this leads us to question number four...

Q4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?

What I have observed is that what people want, more than money, is to know that they are valued and that what they do counts.

Unfortunately though, in the typical work environment, when 99% of the output produced is satisfactory or even great, but 1% is people making mistakes, we tend to jump all over those mistakes which leaves the person devastated and secretly thinking, ‘what about the 99% that is going great?!” 

Perhaps this is an insidious by product from school days where teachers are conditioned to put a big red X on incorrect answers on an exam paper, who knows?

What this does ultimately is condition people to stop trying, stop innovating and stop thinking for themselves because of the fear of punishment.

A better approach may be to praise your people immediately and often... plus focus on what worked, so that when it does come time to correcting behaviour or discussing what didn’t work, they have a reasonable amount of confidence to handle it and know that it comes from a place of support and development, rather than criticism.

Perhaps the best example I have ever seen of this is our General Manager, Jasinta Marshall. Her talents in getting the most out of her team with a complete spirit of harmony are truly remarkable. It’s not uncommon to hear from a team member in our office, “I love taking orders from Jasi!” When you start hearing comments like that, you’ll know you understand this principle.

I’d also like to suggest that these questions and this principle in particular work for any organisation, marriage, family or a sports team. We all have so much power to do good in small ways and to make everyone we come into contact with feel valued, wanted and appreciated.

So, ask yourself this question right now and rate yourself from 1 (low) to 5 (high): In the last seven days, have I received or given recognition or praise for good work?

If you have people that report to you, whether in business or in your personal life you can use this strategy right now. You may be surprised at the change it can inspire 

Next week we’ll examine question #5.