You may have been selected by your executive to initiate and see through some change program in your organization. Or you may have decided that the time has come to make your mark by dusting off the cobwebs in your workplace. However your change role came about, you have a challenging task ahead of you.

Consider this sobering thought. In spite of the importance of successfully implementing workplace change for maintaining your business’s competitiveness, most change initiatives fail to deliver the expected organizational benefits. This failure occurs for a number of reasons:

• absence of a change champion or one who is too junior in the organization
• poor executive sponsorship or senior management support
• poor project management skills
• hope rested on a one-dimensional solution
• political infighting and turf wars
• poorly defined organizational objectives
• change team diverted to other projects

Do you recognize one or more of these in your organization from previous initiatives? You have probably experienced already one major cost of such failure. The cynical and burned out employees left behind only make the next change objective even more difficult to accomplish. It should come as no surprise that the fear of managing change and its impacts is a leading cause of anxiety in managers.

Your first step in becoming a successful change leader is fully understanding your organization and matching the initiative to your organization’s real needs. This means not just adopting the latest management fad. Recognize that bringing about useful and meaningful change is fundamentally about changing people’s behavior in certain desired ways. It is not primarily about installing a new system or rearranging the organizational structure. If people in the end do not behave and work differently, then the money and time spent in “doing stuff” is wasted.

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One of the most important things you can do to prepare for a job interview is to learn everything that you can about the company before you go to the interview.  Most interviewers ask job candidates why the want the job.  Most people answer this question specifically in terms of their own skills, and why their skills are a good match for the essential functions of the job.  

Having the right skills certainly is an important part of being qualified for a particular job.  However, since employers screen resumes or applications before deciding who to interview, it is likely that the interviewer is already familiar with whether or not your skills are a good match for the position.  

Telling the interviewer what skills you have only lets the interviewer know that you are interested in the type of job that is open, but doesn’t say anything about why you want to work for the company.

If you have conducted research about the company ahead of time, you can use this question to really want to set yourself apart from the other candidates.  When you know specific information about the company, you can answer the interviewer’s question about why you want the job in terms that are customized for this interview.

When you know the company’s mission and general information about its products and services, it becomes much easier to convey a genuine desire for this particular job with this specific organization. 

Interviewers want to hire people who are likely to stay with the company long-term, so they look favorably on candidates who seem genuinely interested in and knowledgeable about the organization as well as the type of job.  The few minutes you spend browsing the Internet to find out about the company are well worth the benefits of making a positive impression on the interviewer.  

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You’ve heard the phrase “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” many times during your life.  While this concept rings true in every aspect of life, perhaps the most important time to stop and consider what this means is when preparing for a job interview.

The overall impression that you make begins, and in some cases ends, with your appearance.  The moment you are introduced to a job interviewer, he or she forms an initial impression based on your appearance.  When you have a chance to interview for a job that you want, it is important that you do everything that you can to make a positive impression on the interviewer. 

When it comes to job interviews, it is a simple fact that appearance matters.  If your overall appearance conveys a favorable impression, the interview is off to a positive start.  However, if your appearance sends the wrong message, the interviewer will probably decide then and there that you are not the right candidate for the job.

The clothes that you wear to your job interview play a major role in the first impression you make on the interviewer.  You should always wear professional attire to an interview for a professional job, even if the office observes a more casual dress code.  In addition to being professional in style, your attire must also be clean and pressed. 

Your grooming also sends a message to the job interviewer.  Women should wear makeup to job interviews so their appearance looks “finished”.  However, it is important not to wear too much makeup.  Hair should be clean and well-groomed.  If you need a hair cut, get one before you go on your interview.  Unkempt hair is often interpreted as an indication of disorganization and laziness. 

The accessories that complete your interview outfit also contribute to the overall impression you will make on the interviewer.

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A major problem for business owners and employers today is getting the best employees and then keeping them. Sounds easy, but any employer will tell you that these activities take up the most time and have the biggest impact on business results. So how do you go about retaining the good people once you’ve found them?

Understanding what your employees want from a workplace sounds like a logical place to start. After all, if you know what your employees are after, you simply need to provide it and all will be well. This is a great theory, but research shows that employers are not that successful at identifying what their employees actually want. In fact there is a significant disconnect between the things that employees say are important to them, and how highly employers rank those same things.

This survey first came out in 1946 in Foreman Facts, from the Labor Relations Institute of NY and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949. This study has since been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); and Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).

When asked to rank a list of ten criteria, the employees and managers/owners ranked them very differently: 

What Employees Want

1
Full appreciation for work done

2
Feeling “part” of things

3
Sympathetic help on personal issues

4
Job Security

5
Good wages

6
Interesting work

7
Promotion/growth opportunities

8
Personal loyalty to workers

9
Good working conditions

10
Tactful discipline

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Have you ever wondered why the people in your team don’t seem as motivated as you do? Or why some people do their jobs with enthusiasm and vigor, and others barely get through the day without taking the frown off their faces?

You are not alone. The topic of human motivation has been studied for hundreds of years. So it’s a topic we know a lot about. Unfortunately it’s not often taught to managers as part of their training.

There are things you can do to influence how much energy people are willing to put into their jobs. Below are 5 critical things to know about motivation.

1. We can’t motivate other people

Motivation is not something we ‘do’ to others. It has to come from within. All we can do is create an environment which encourages motivation. So to some extent we are let off the hook. Our responsibility as managers only goes so far –after that, it’s up to the individual to get on board.

2. Some people just won’t ever be motivated

I think we all know the truth of this. Some people are just in the wrong space, and have no interest in being part of a team, or working any harder than they absolutely have to. It can be very difficult to manage the performance of these individuals, particularly if they are doing just enough to get by. Usually the solution is to include behaviors and attitudes as part of required performance. Then their attitude becomes a tangible performance issue which can be coached and managed through the performance review system.

3. One size definitely does not fit all

The fun thing about motivation is that we are all different, so you need to employ multiple strategies and approaches. Different generations, different stages of life, different needs from a career – these are all things that will influence what people desire as a motivator during their lives.

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You may not realize, but when you bring a new employee into your business you only have one chance to make a good first impression. Research confirms that a poor (or lack of) induction is a major contributor to how engaged that person is. The more engaged they are, the harder they will try and the more effort they will put in.

The best companies have standardized induction processes that can span several weeks, involving building tours, meetings with key individuals, training programs on company history, introduction to systems and so on.

Starting a new job can be an anxious time. Not only are you unsure of yourself, you also have yet to truly evaluate the company now employing you. Day 1 is an employers’ best opportunity to make a new employee feel confident that they have made the right decision.

So what happens in your business? It’s not necessary to go have a program that extensive if your business is smaller, but there are some basics.

Before they Start

• Make sure there is a desk and chair for them before they start. Arranging it on their first day makes it seem like you forgot they were coming (and maybe you did….)
• Arrange any computer equipment and telephones before they get there. Don’t forget to issue any passwords or logon’s they might need.
• Let the team know what day they will be starting, and what their responsibilities will be.

On their First Day

• Be there to welcome them
• Finish off any outstanding paperwork
• Give them a tour of the office
• Introduce them to the team and discuss relevant team processes (eg – weekly meetings etc)
• Take time to explain other significant company processes and how they work.

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The success of your business is directly related to the commitment and productivity of the people who work in your business. And yet it is generally recognized that 60% of employees, or more, are underutilized in their roles at work.

So what are the factors that contribute to low performance standards and expectations?

Communication, or mis-communication, is one of the major sources of low productivity. The messages that move between the owner, employees, managers and even customers are not understood in the same way. One classic example is that business owners tend to assume that employees and managers see things the same way they do.

Managers tend to lower their expectations (unconsciously) so that they will not have to confront employees. Most people dislike discussing declining performance with their employees, and so actively avoid having to do so by reducing heir expectations of what’s required.

Employees have a tendency to protect themselves from possible failure by pushing back on what is expected. They will often negotiate/bargain the job down to a more comfortable level.

Business owners often have difficulty separating what they want done from how they want it done. Telling employees exactly how to achieve a certain goal leaves no room for the employee to think or use their own initiative. Consequently they often stop trying to contribute and become ‘sheep” – just doing what they are told. In this catch-22 situation, the owner is forced into a position where they must constantly be telling everyone exactly what to do.

Some owners may not understand the concept of person/job matching, and so have the wrong people in the wrong positions. This situation can be extremely demotivating for the employee.

So how do you go about setting performance standards and expectations?

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When you ask employees about their impressions of Performance Management processes, the answer is invariably negative or neutral. It’s not often that the process is positively endorsed by those who use it. So where are we going wrong?

As managers, we know we need a management system of some kind for all the components of performance:

•  getting people to work on things that will help the business achieve it’s goals
•  identifying and overcoming obstacles that might prevent success
•  understand and checking our progress regularly
•  giving people a forum for talking about what they are doing and how it’s going
•  providing the appropriate checks and balances
•  recognising and rewarding performance

I believe there are 5 fundamental reasons why Performance Management is not viewed positively.

1. Reviewers don’t have the skills or confidence to give feedback appropriately

Giving feedback constructively is a learned skill. Unfortunately for their team members, many managers haven’t had any training or support in learning this critical skill. So when it comes to review time, feedback is either:

•  blunt and delivered with no thought for the impact or consequence,
•  not provided at all because the manager wants to avoid disagreement or conflict, or
•   is given in such a wishy washy way that the reviewee actually misses the fact they are being given feedback!

This is one of the most critical capabilities a manager can have, with far-reaching positive or negative consequences. Providing ongoing coaching and support should be part of the approach to managing performance.

2. Employees don’t see Performance Management (PM) as a 2 way street

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