Browse Employee Motivation

If you're challenged by employee motivation, engagement, or retention problems, this article is a must-read. Traditional employee motivation and recognition programs fail because companies and managers don't understand Motivatio 101. Humans crave genuine appreciation and recognition. Since we're all connected to each other, we immediately sense insincerity. Token gestures backfire with the kick of a clogged exhaust pipe. I was once hired to extinguish a nasty internal combu

When the fish in a stream are dying, biologists don't attempt to solve the problem by yanking the fish out of the stream, throwing them into a clean fish tank for an hour a day, and then pitching them back into their original ecosystem for the rest of the day. Instead, they search to discover ...When the fish in a stream are dying, biologists don't attempt to solve the problem by yanking the fish out of the stream, throwing them into a clean fish tank for an hour a day, and

Abstract–nThis paper presents a review of the term commitment. It briefly highlights the various types of organizational commitment. Organizational Commitment is an attitudinal or emotive dimension of work motivation, manifesting its form in members’ behavior. Organizational Commitment is a subset of employee commitment, which is comprised of work Commitment, Career Commitment & Organizational Commitment. There Components of organizational commitment have been ide

The Butterfly Effect is a scientific theory that essentially says that a small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. Originally part of the Chaos Theory, numerous scientists throughout modern history have concluded that this happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved.

"Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” Albert Schweitzer Albert Schweitzer was perhaps, one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. He lived from 1875 to 1965. During the course of his long life he was a doctor, an academic, a philosopher, a musician, and a humanitarian. In 1952 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life” which is is a translation of the German phrase: "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben" (more accurately translated as: "to be in awe of the mystery of life").

1. Set intentions. Identify what you want to achieve on during your retreat. Keep in mind there isn’t any right or wrong way to set intentions. It’s just a matter of what you want to focus on during your time together. Last year, for example, my husband and I wrote our intentions down on paper and then taped them to a wall to serve as a constant reminder of what we intended to accomplish and how we wanted to spend our time.

Did you ever wonder where the expression, “ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END” came from? I did, and I decided to check it out. It turns out that the saying is approximately 635 years old. Here is the original version: “There is an end to everything, to good things as well.” This proverb dates back to about 1374… Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer, the author of the famed ‘Canterbury tales’, drew upon his relationships with real people to create his many literary characters. They say that art imitates life and life imitates art… no one knew that better than Chaucer.

In the current scenario, the real challenge in a workplace is to handle and overcome the obstacles and learn from hard and tough experiences. The problems can be tackled by a person only with positive attitude, with focused mind, and with efforts to overcome obstacles. A person with positive attitude can easily survive in many tough situations of life. When a boss or superior comes to a person and asks for some work to be done, and if the response from employee is "I don't th

"I never realized I could accumulate wealth over time by putting a small amount of money aside each month. I always thought I had to wait until I had large amounts of money before I could start a retirement or emergency savings account." This comment came from a woman who had been attending one of my Financial Dating classes. This paradigm shift was causing a new world of financial possibilities to open up for her.

“When my husband and I began dating we would often have a ‘veg out’ Saturday. It would involve sleeping in, watching or renting movies, playing games and eating left over's. It was quiet, relaxing and also very fun. Fast-forward 7 years of married life with 3 daughters … it surely has changed that little bit of respite during the weekend. Last month during our Financial Date® I suggested that we look into incorporating the ‘veg out’ Saturdays and try involving the children.

I was 23 years old and living at home with my parents in Missouri when I became inspired to create my first vision board. I was in between seasonal work and had a deep burning desire to move out west to Montana. I didn't have much money and I had no idea how I could afford the move or where I would find work when I got there.

According to a September 2008 article on the web site for the Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org) under organizational & employee development, “Money isn't the primary driver of employee loyalty and retention, recent studies suggest. Open communication, employee recognition and involvement in decision-making top the list.” This article will give any supervisor and personnel manager ideas to implement an employee recognition program, and fresh suggestions

In coaching women entrepreneurs to transform their relationship with money in their business, marriage and life, I’ve noticed that there are three common money beliefs that consistently come up that contribute to stress, struggle and overwhelm and ultimately cause them to stay stuck at their current income level… Belief #1. “I’m not good at making money.” This was a big belief that held me back for years in my business. I didn’t relate to being a powerful money creator. I could only relate to managing money – not creating it.

Webster’s dictionary defines integrity as the state of being complete or undivided. When we act out of integrity, we’re acting from a deep and integrated place within ourselves, and from this place, we have enormous power to achieve our dreams and goals. We’re not thrown off course by some unacknowledged place within us that is in conflict with what we say we want. Our inner selves and outer selves are in concert with each other. Consider the metaphor of an iceberg. We are able to see about 10 percent of the iceberg above the water.

The email was sitting in my inbox with the subject line, “Who you are makes a difference”. I thought to myself, “Great, another one of those schmaltzy forwards.” However, I felt compelled to click on it and give it a quick read through, since a client had sent it to me. Within the contents of the email, a true story unfolded about a New York City teacher who decided to honor her students by letting each of them know how they had made a difference in her class.

“Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” Confucius...551 to 479 BC Famed Chinese philosopher, Confucius wrote those words over 2000 years ago but never have they been more meaningful than they are today. The world has changed dramatically since the days of Confucius, to the point that nobody should accept a job they do not enjoy. If we simply review the events of the twentieth century it is easy to see that mankind has grown and evolved to allow human beings to enjoy the best of everything.

“Leadership can be an unpopular business. The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) The above quote from Tony Blair led me to the theme for this week’s edition. Throughout my career in leadership I have had to accept this one inescapable truth: I will not always make decisions that will make me universally popular. However, make them I must!

The other day I put my son down for his nap. And then I reluctantly forced myself to muster up the energy to turn my attention towards the endless items on my never-ending to-do list. I was fully prepared to take advantage of my time alone to get a jumpstart on everything that “needed” to be accomplished during the day. But something deep inside me rebelled. I felt a deep soul’s craving to do absolutely nothing. It was as if I couldn’t even make myself glance at my list!

Victor Frankl’s best-selling book, Man’s Search for Meaning, has been listed as one of the ten most influential books in the United States. Frankl chronicles his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. In the opening of his book he writes: “Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.

Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, authors of “The Millionaire Next Door”, studied extensively how millionaires acquired their wealth. They conducted their study over a 20-year period, during which they interviewed over 500 millionaires. In their survey they discovered that most people with high incomes fail to accumulate any lasting wealth because they spend more than they earn. This is in sharp contrast to the millionaires they interviewed.

How To Cultivate An Attitude Of Ownership Among Your Employees Have you ever done business with a company and dealt directly with the owner? What kind of experience did you have? Did you feel valued and appreciated and treated as if you were their only customer? If so, how did that make you feel? What kind of experience do you have if you are dealing with an employee of a company? Do you get that same “royal treatment” you get when you’re dealing with the owner, or is it so

As a young girl growing up I loved throwing parties for my friends and family. These gatherings cost very little – all that was required was a little time and creativity. I remember hosting a tea party with my two best girlfriends when we were 15 in Southwest Missouri. We went to second-hand stores to find dresses and china, and spent weeks discussing and fine-tuning our menu.

“Genuine leaders never pursue or expect adulation or “star” status. When they receive it, they accept it graciously and move on to the next challenge. Leadership is not about personal victory. It is about winning through teamwork and positive energy by and for every member of the team.”rn~Wayne Kehl

Listen to the article here Turn up your speakers and click play rn(If you don't see the audio button, click here to download).

I frequently set an intention to achieve what I consider to be “an impossible possibility” for myself in my business. When I became a mom I realized that I wanted to be an amazing mother while making an even greater difference in my business. At the time this felt like an “impossibility possibility.” My belief was, “You can be a great mom OR a successful business owner, but you can’t have both - especially not at the same time.”

Sometimes conflict and stress in our relationship and/or finances can be the force that wakes us up to the ways we’re not being honest.

Often corporate behemoths and world-class conglomerates are expected to offer society some part of their profits as corporate social responsibility. Brands often cross the line and don’t understand the real value or purpose of such activities. They use it as tick-off-the-box exercise and to do away with it. But customers today are not fools. They totally figure out the differentiation between forced social responsibility activities and one which is done with the conscious m

I’ve noticed that one of the biggest challenges people face is keeping track of where their money goes. They receive their paycheck and deposit it in the bank, and then a few weeks later it’s somehow mysteriously disappeared (again). For all they know it’s being consumed by the black hole in the financial universe. To make matters worse, they still have necessities to pay for: groceries, gas and utility bills, not to mention credit card payments. Somehow they still manage to be surprised when once again there isn’t enough money to cover the necessities.

Here is one of my favourite quotes: “That best portion of a good man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love” ...William Wordsworth This quote was written in 1798 by Wordsworth as part of his work, “Lines composed a few miles above Tinte Abbey.” The significance of it to me is its timing and the sheer simplicity of the message.

Recently, a woman asked me “Should I take your ‘Creating a Blueprint for Financial Success’ workshop?” It was a great question. She had no debt and was curious if the workshop would benefit her. My answer was “yes!” The following story explains the reasons for, “If I have no debt, why should I bother learning about financial success?” The answer lies within three common financial mistakes: 1. Maintaining the Status Quo

* I wrote this article several years ago and this approach has made an incredible difference in my business ever since! I was staring into the faces of the two colleagues who had become dear friends after spending the last several days together. I was bemoaning to them (through the tears streaming down my face),

The image of weaving straw into gold comes to mind when I think of how we can successfully turn dreams into reality. This alchemy is experienced when we take moments of raw inspiration (straw) from the metaphysical ethers and turn them into ideas and action. The result is our own unique creation. However, we are not guaranteed to strike gold every time. Sometimes we tap into a rich vein with ease and synchronicity. And other times we labor endlessly with dogged determination. What creates success for some and not others?

Have you ever noticed that a lot of people tend to take themselves too seriously? You know who I mean: • Those folks who huff and puff with righteous indignation whenever they are challenged. • Those people who glare and stare whenever someone says something they believe is inappropriate. • Those individuals who seem to believe that it is okay for them to say things to others that should never be directed at them.

I am often amazed at how many financial books neglect to focus on the critical issue of how to get financially organized. So many of us are desperately seeking the one quick-fix step that will turn our financial lives around (like investing in the right stock) that we neglect to take care of the seemingly smaller life-changing step of simply getting organized.

1. Your bold annual income goal. Decide how much money you'd like to make in the next 12 months and include that number on your vision board. Hint: you don't have to know HOW you're going to create the money - simply choose a number that is a stretch for you but also feels doable

Sometimes conflict and stress in our relationship and/or finances can be the force that wakes us up to the ways we’re not being honest. Your wake up call might be not having enough money coming in each month and watching the credit card bills add up. It might be getting older and knowing you don't have enough money stashed away in retirement savings, or you have an unexpected illness or injury, and no emergency savings to get you through.

Most women entrepreneurs don’t make money in a powerful way because they’re unable to distinguish their real-life money reality from their misleading thoughts and beliefs. We are mistaken when we assume that that our thoughts accurately describe our financial reality. Most often our thoughts only describe our INTERPRETATIONS about it. In order to create powerful breakthroughs in our money life we must begin by making a commitment to being “truth-seekers and truth-tellers” and become doggedly determined to sort our money facts from fiction.

It seems like most of my life I’ve expended a great deal of energy and attention on trying to control others and everything around me. I kept a diary growing up. One entry read, “My mom got mad at me today. I’m going to promise to be a better person so she won’t get mad at me next time. This is what I’m going to do: I’m going to do my chores around the house without being asked, do my homework and I’m going to be really nice to everyone in my family.”

I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve felt discouraged or fearful as I’ve built my business over the past seven years. When I first became certified as a business coach I remember thinking to myself, “Who am I to be telling self-employed professionals and solo entrepreneurs how to build their businesses and live their lives when I’m brand new and just starting out!”

Over the last few months I’ve experienced several exciting breakthroughs in my business. Yet some of these breakthroughs were immediately followed by “breakdowns” where I found myself seriously doubting my ability to achieve a particular vision or goal that I had set for myself. Recently I committed to taking a bold stand to be not only “an entrepreneur who lives and loves richly – but to also be someone who is a stand for EVERY entrepreneur living and loving richly.”

Does this feel like a familiar experience to you?... As a women entrepreneur in a moment of awareness and panic you realize it's time to take some fast action to bring in some immediate income. So you work extra hours, reach out to prospects, do a little networking and possibly stretch yourself to launch a program or two.

"Wise men talk because they have something to say... fools, because they have to say something."rn- Plato

When I reflect back at the times in my life when I achieved my goals and dreams with the greatest ease I realize that these were times when I wasn’t attached to or trying to control a particular outcome.

ACTUAL CASE HISTORY: Alex had been employed in the Information Technology ("I.T.") department of a large insurance company for 20 years. At 54 years of age, he was looking forward to retirement in just a few years. His wife, Barbara, had recently retired as a school teacher in a private school, and the two looked forward to traveling and spending more time with their grandchildren.

A client was sharing with me how he was afraid to get out and begin doing public presentations to promote his business. While he knew that he needed to make himself more visible he had a long list of concerns about why he wasn’t ready “to go public.” My client was not alone in his conflict - many entrepreneurs struggle with hiding out in their business.

* These stories are real life stories about real life people (all names and identifying characteristics have been changed). Many years ago before I became a business consultant I was a piano player and got a call to play at a venue with a musician friend of mine. Short on cash I eagerly accepted the gig.

I remember struggling years ago with experiencing severe feast and famine cycles in my business and wondering how I could create a consistent stream of income and prospects. I felt challenged because I would focus on serving my current clients to the detriment of marketing my business. And to make matters worse when a client would complete their coaching program I would freak out about how I was going to create additional income.

Do you know that less than three percent of the population has a list of written goals? You can put yourself in the top successful three percent by learning how to write out your goals, either by yourself or with your partner, so that you too can reap the magnificent benefits of living your life on purpose and achieving your dreams. Do You Know Where You're Going With Your Financial Goals?

I was interviewing John Yokoyama, owner of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market, on my weekly talk radio show. It’s widely known that people come from all over the world to watch the fishmongers at the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle as they toss fish to each other. They are drawn to the Fish Market because of the fun, playful, boisterous and connecting environment that the fishmongers have created. From the moment you first step into the market you are instantly greeted by the Pike Place Fish Market energy.

I once received an invoice from my former bookkeeper. The amount didn't seem accurate so I contacted him to inquire about it and was shocked at his reaction. He became defensive and said, "If you don't trust me then perhaps it's best that we don't work together anymore."

Are you a team player? "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision…the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results" Andrew Carnegie The quote above, applies to every member of every team. Everyone on your team must listen to everyone else with an open mind and a positive attitude if the team is to be successful. There is no room on great teams for people who will not listen to alte ative points of view.

There were countless times when I used to rush through my workdays feeling edgy and overwhelmed with everything that I needed to accomplish. I would progress rapidly through my to-do list prioritizing my tasks and then all of a sudden I’d come face to face with an on-going “energy drain” that sabotaged my productivity and derailed my focus.

Have you ever noticed that as soon as you try something out of the ordinary, every body and their Dutch cousin seems to come out of the woodwork trying to discourage you. "Are you crazy, you can't make it on the Internet, that's for those techie people, you're just wasting your time and money." I've yet to hear from one of my friends who says, "oh great, can I help you? What can I do to help you be successful?" Wouldn't that be a switch?

I recently watched a Ted Talk video by Jane McGonigal who shared the top 5 most common regrets of the dying expressed to hospice workers. Her list was fascinating. As women entrepreneurs our lives are often filled with countless tasks and action steps that we must take to market our business that it can often be even more challenging to live a balanced life that makes us happy. And yet if we focus on creating money at the expense of living a happy life then in the end we’re not fully living up to our potential of living and loving richly in our business AND our lives.

* This is a true story and names have been changed Jason was the manager of a multi-million dollar hot tub business. In one of our VIP days we talked about him prioritizing his time in the morning so he could focus on the #1 priority for the business, which involved assembling some much needed financial documents.

One of the common complaints I hear from women entrepreneurs is that they avoid focusing on the top-income producing tasks in their business. They habitually occupy themselves with busy work that doesn’t result in higher paying clients or more income in the door. Here is a simple tip you can use to move from feeling stuck and frustrated to getting motivated and staying on track with the very tasks that you’ve been putting off or avoiding.

Does the thought of work stress you out? Do you feel depressed or overwhelmed while you’re there? Do you have a hard time disconnecting yourself from your job when at home? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you may be working in a toxic work environment. A toxic workplace will negatively affect your life: ● It can make you sick. High levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, in your system can put you at a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. ● You may f

Let's face it - money is an emotional topic. We like to think that money is a logical, left-brain process. But in truth it isn't. Money issues almost always stem from fear and our desire to be in control. Where do these beliefs come from? In her book, "For Richer, not Poorer," Ruth Hayden discusses how our upbringing affects our money beliefs.

I was staring into the faces of the two colleagues who had become dear friends of mine, after spending the last several days together. I was bemoaning to them (through the tears streaming down my face), "I'm so frustrated that parts of my work feel like such a chore! I know I'm making a significant difference - but I'm frustrated that I'm working so hard and exerting so much effort. I feel like I've gotten off track with my integrity.

It was near the end of my radio interview with John Yokoyama, owner of world famous Pike Place Fish Market, when he made what we call in the coaching and consulting world, a 'throw away comment'. It was just an off-handed comment spoken quite casually, but it was rich with insight. John had been sharing about the process he and his staff went through to uncover their vision of being world famous.

Just how important are happy employees to the overall success of a company? Many small and large companies alike are so busy in their day to day activities they overlook the bigger picture to their long term success and survival. In many industries employees have turned from a valuable asset into a revolving door of new hires. Many times the employees are blamed for lack of production or effort on the job. But how much blame should go on the employee, and how much on the orga

Using the internet as a recruitment process has become increasingly popular over the last few years as technology evolves. Posting your job vacancies online couldn't be easier when using an online job board. As an active business, finding possible candidates for your vacancies as well as screening and interviewing them can take a long time. There is the possibility of using a recruitment agency to head-hunt prospective employees, although this can be a very costly process and

Webster's dictionary defines integrity as the state of being complete or undivided. When we act out of integrity we're operating from a deep and secure space within ourselves. This affords us enormous power to achieve our dreams and goals. When our inner selves and outer selves are in concert with each other we are not easily thrown off course with what we say we want.

When I first started my coaching business I felt inept and powerless when it came to making money. I had a difficult time imagining that I could ever make a decent income. I believed that the only way I could end up with any money at the end of the month was to manage it very frugally.

A common assumption that I had always made in my business in the past was thinking that in order to make more money and achieve my desired income goal I simply needed to focus on taking “the right actions.”

Many entrepreneurs wonder how to manifest in their business and life. There is a wonderful story that explains this concept so beautifully... An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.r

“I feel like we’re playing hooky from work!” I turned and looked at my husband’s wider-than-life grin beaming across his face in the afternoon sun. Drawing a deep breath, I took in the incredible beauty around us: snowcapped mountains, blue skies above and fresh snow under our feet. “You know, I feel the exact same way!” I exclaimed. It was early Friday afternoon and we were doing a five-mile backpack-ski to a forest service cabin for a three-day trip in the Elkhorn Mountains in Montana.

How much do you trust your boss? When they imply that by taking on the additional tasks in order to ‘help them out’ or ‘get yourself noticed within the company’, how confident are you that they will follow through on their side of the agreement? This is the psychological contract that you have with the company and is a huge motivator for employees to get up on a cold winter morning, fight through the rush hour traffic in order to be the first one at your desk and show

Like most solo entrepreneurs when I first started my business I was hyper-focused on making money. It made sense - I had to make money to pay my bills and meet my monthly expenses. Then there was always the "in-my-face" annual income goal that I held in the forefront of my mind (which I never seemed to be able to achieve). I was constantly struggling with making money; it occurred as a lot of internal pressure and hard work.

Employees are the assets of the company and they also needs to see the same. At times it is so important to let your employees see, that you acknowledge them. Happy employees give better performance which ultimately lead to the benefit of the company. Lots of MNC’s make sure that they are engaging their employees in some kind of activity on regular basis in order to keep them happy and stress free. Companies can double their rewards and recognition efforts in advanced, cost

In my years of being a business coach and supporting women entrepreneurs in creating financial success in their lives I've noticed that women entrepreneurs tend to make the following 3 financial mistakes: 1. Maintaining the Status Quo The first mistake is maintaining the status quo. We tend to do the same thing we've always done and complain when we get the same results. Dan Kennedy, consultant to millionaires says the following about predicting personal income:

An employee-centered workplace is one in which all individuals, programs, processes, and systems are focused on helping employees become fully successful. Individuals who feel valued will provide excellent products and service, which will result in the achievement of organizational goals. In such an environment, everyone wins: workers, management, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders. nnUnfortunately, this scenario does not occur naturally. Rather, management must make

In this time of economic challenges, one would assume that the future would not be too bright for a 47-year-old unemployed church worker, living alone with her cat in a small village of 5000 in Scotland. By now, many around the world know the name 'Susan Boyle'. When Susan strolled onto the stage of "Britain's Got Talent" ready to sing, people in the live audience didn't expect much. Her physical appearance was described as "frumpy" and "outdated". As she started to sing, how

"Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale." - Vincent Lombardi In the midst of this recession in our country, company sales are down, layoffs are eminent, job security is dictated by numbers, and the remaining staff is overworked, overwhelmed, just trying to keep things going. And to top it off employee morale is at an all time low. So, how do you keep employee morale up in a down economy? Getting and keeping clients happy right now is always a number one conce

In our businesses and work, we have the opportunity every day to take action and move towards our ideal future. The question is, How many of us will move towards our ideal future (or vision) while maintaining a connection to a higher purpose in what we do, versus simply taking action and going through the motions to achieve our desired end result? I recently read a study conducted by psychologist David Yeager. He interviewed high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area about their hopes, dreams and life goals.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do. - Confucius Confucius was a very wise man indeed. Consider the quote above and then think about your own life. Have you ever failed at anything? I hope you answered YES because surely we have all failed at something from time to time. Now think about something that you failed to succeed at or simply could not excel in ten years ago. Did your life come to an end? Are you still suffering from embarrassment or lost of status because of it? Does it keep you from going to sleep at night?

Many years ago I listened to the audio book, "Fish Tales." This is an incredible story about John Yokoyama, the owner of the Seattle Pikes Place fish market and how he took it from a struggling work place, where staff fights and employee walk-outs were the norm to the financially successful, world-famous fish market that it is today.

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw

This is an article that appeared earlier this week in a monthly column that I write for "Balance: A Magazine for Montana Wome "… Have you ever experienced times in your life where things were unfolding with ease, and life seemed to be humming along just great when suddenly, without warning, your "good fortune" came to a screeching halt and you found yourself feeling stuck and stagnant?

Employee motivation that connects the Human Spirit with Business Results. Topics include: Team Motivationr Self Motivationr Emotional Intelligencer Change Managementr Stress Managementr Goal setting