What Does It Take?

What does it take to recognize employee's? Not much.

Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Greatest Management Principle in the World said, "Everybody works smarter when there's something in it for them." For you managers that have been around for "awhile" that may be a lot of hoo-hah. For you leaders that work in "the now" it makes a lot of sense.

Reward programs are extremely important today, and contrary to common thought, it does NOT have to be expensive. What's expensive is not having a reward program.

Here are a few examples:

pay for a trade magazine subscription
off-site training seminar
lunch with the CEO
day off with pay
certificate
traveling trophy
pay for a professional membership
"thank you" and a handshake (wow, what a concept)
tickets to a game
restaurant gift card
make your own taco party
visit to headquarters
free car washes
spa day
bowling party
off work 1 hour early
Entertainment book
lottery tickets (hope there's not a $20million in it)

All of these things are either inexpensive or basically free to you. Add a little fun to your recognition program and watch employee's get more involved and stick around longer.

Where The Heck Did The Time Go?

Where the heck did the time go? Wow. How many of us have asked ourselves that one . . . many times?

The average day can be divided into six segments (with average hours):
Sleep - 8
Work - 8
Eat - 3
Personal Hygiene - 1
Commute - 2, and
Various - 2

Most people think they know how much time they spend on what they do. But unless you’re keeping track of it, mmmmm no, you really don’t. It’s like a diet. Until you start writing down EVERYTHING you eat, you don’t really have a clear picture of what you’re putting in your body – believe me, I’ve done it.

According to Merrill & Donna Douglass in their book Manage Your Time Your Work Yourself, “we have about two hours each day to do the various personal things that make life worth living. That’s not much. But it gets worse. By their own account, most people waste at least two hours every day”! Any free evening is a luxury.

The only way to get out of this rut is to sit down and figure out just what you’re spending time on and learn to manage your time better. This is called – work life balance.

The Douglass’s suggest drawing three circles divided like a pie. In one, distribute your time the way you THINK is true. In the second, indicate how you ACTUALLY distribute your time. In the last, draw an IDEAL pie. “The difference between where you are now and where you would like to be is the source for possible goals.”

Just like anything you do to be successful, you need to plan and set goals.