How To Spot A Truly Exceptional Employee

A recent international study surveyed more than 500 business leaders and asked them what sets great employees apart. The researchers wanted to know why some people are more successful than others at work, and the answers were surprising; leaders chose “personality”as the leading reason.

Notably, 78% of leaders said personality sets great employees apart, more than cultural fit (53%) and even an employee’s skills (39%)

“We should take care not to make the intellect our God; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”- Albert Einstein

The problem is, when leaders say “personality” they don’t understand what they’re referring to. Personality consists of a stable set of preferences and tendencies through which we approach the world.

Being introverted or extroverted is an example of an important personality trait.

Personality traits form at an early age and are fixed by early adulthood. Many important things about you change over the course of your lifetime, but your personality isn’t one of them.

Personality is distinct from intellect (IQ). The two don’t occur together in any meaningful way.

Personality is also distinct from emotional intelligence (EQ) and this is where the study, and most leaders for that matters, have misinterpreted the term.

The qualities that leaders in the study called personality were actually emotional intelligence skills. And unlike your personality, which is set in stone, you can change and improve your EQ.

Exceptional employees don’t possess God-given personality traits; they rely on simple, everyday EQ skills that everyone can incorporate into their repertoire.

Leaders don’t need to go searching for these skills either (though it doesn’t hurt when you find them); their duty is to help everyone on their teams harness these skills to become exceptional.

Just consider some of the EQ skills that leaders and managers commonly mislabel as personality characteristics. These are the skills that set exceptional employees apart.

1. They’re Willing To Delay Gratification

One thing an exceptional employee never says is: “That’s not in my job description.

Exceptional employees work outside the boundaries of job descriptions. They’re neither intimidated nor entitled; instead of expecting recognition or compensation to come first, they forge ahead in their work, confident that they’ll be rewarded later but unconcerned if they’re not.

2. They Can Tolerate Conflict

While exceptional employees don’t seek conflict, they don’t run away from it either.

They’re able to maintain their composure while presenting their positions calmly and logically. They’re able to withstand personal attacks in pursuit of the greater goal and never use that tactic themselves.

3. They Focus

Student pilots are often told: “When things start going wrong, don’t forget to fly the plane.”

Plane crashes have resulted from pilots concentrating so hard on identifying the problem that they flew the plane into the ground. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is just one example – the flight crew was so concerned about the landing gear being down that they didn’t realise they were losing altitude until it was too late, despite alarms going off in the cockpit.

Exceptional employees understand the principle of “just fly the plane.” They don’t get distracted by cranky customers, interoffice squabbles, or the switch to a different brand of coffee.

They can differentiate between real problems and background noise; whether it’s to ask a difficult ( or embarrassingly simple) question or to challenge an executive decision. However, that’s balanced with common sense and timing. They think before they speak and wisely choose the best time and place to do so.

5. They’re In Control of Their Gods

Exceptional employees have egos. While that’s part of what drives them, they never give their egos more weight than what is deserved.

They’re willing to admit when they’re wrong and willing to do things someone else’s way, whether it’s because the other way is better or it’s important to maintain team harmony.

6. They’re Never Satisfied

Exceptional employees have unparalleled convictions that things can always be better – and they’re right.

No one is ever done growing, and there is no such thing as “good enough” when it comes to personal improvement.

No matter how well things are going, exceptional employees are driven to improve, without forgetting to give themselves a healthy pat on the back.

7. They Recognise When Things Are Broken And Fix Them

Whether it’s a sticky desk drawer or an inefficient, wasteful process affecting the cash flow of the entire department, exceptional employees don’t walk past problems.

Öh, it’s been that way forever” simply isn’t in their vocabulary. They see problems as issues to be fixed immediately; it’s that simple.

Source: The Star, 2nd Sept 2017

 

Presentations Can Impact Staff Buy-In

Powerful presentations are our most critical tools in an organisation today. We use them to build buy-in with our team members, to communicate our big ideas and connect with employees to inspire them into action.

Yet, the majority of the time, our presentations are bland and boring, and the only impact they have is to get staff running for the doors (if they haven’t already fallen asleep in their seats).

Our important and urgent messages are hidden in badly designed slides, complex paragraphs of information, and screens of bullet points that have no clear purpose or call to action.

While you may not be able to magically transform a poor presentation into a powerful one overnight, to truly educate or inspire your team to leap from their seats with glee (not to flee), here are some small changes you can start with.

Pick One Key Message

When you present, pick one clear message to structure your presentation around, and then repeat that message throughout to make sure the message sticks. It is that one idea, purpose or point that is the glue that holds everything else together.

Once there is a clear bumper sticker message then it’s easy to figure out what the key take-home message for the audience and what it is they should do as a result.

Anything else in the presentation that does not align to this message should be deleted, stripped out and banished. What gets left out of a presentation is more important than what goes in.

Make It Emotional

In business we’ve traditionally been thought to do the opposite; to just present the facts. But these days, the best presenters are those who can use a combination of facts and emotion to explain a future place that everyone in the organisation wants to work towards.

Use images that match your words and make your team feel an emotion, whether that’s excited, happy, angry or sad. You may use video in place of static images to make their message more memorable.

Remember, people buy from people they like. We buy based on how we feel about something – or someone.

It’s your passion and authenticity that will help you to bond with your team, so they feel like you’re all in this together, instead of you just barking out orders of what they need to do. That emotional pull is what will impact your team’s decision to “buy in”to what you are saying.

Be Honest

It’s important to not try and hire or cover up negative information or numbers. Nothing turns your team off more than when you lie about your financial position.

You need to treat your team as equals. Provide your employees with confidence going forward. Be future focused and take ownership of the problem.

Explain the steps you’re implementing to turn things around to minimise loss, and how your team can help with this too.

You need to be open and honest about where you are at right now, and what is involved in the journey to get where you are going – together. Leave them inspired, not deflated like it is their fault.

Bad slides and presentations are used like a security blanket to hide things under. So start with small changes to your content and attitude, and stop hiding and hoping for the best. Your team will respect you for that.

Source: The Star, 2nd Sept 2017

Your Data, Your Life

One of the fastest growing threats is ransomware and the reason you should be wary of this malware is because it targets your personal data.

Your photos and videos or just about any file will be locked away if you get hit by this malware.

And as we are storing everything digitally these days, it’s paramount that you know how to protect your personal computer.

Back Up

A lot of people are still guilty of this – not backing up their files. Remember, Ransomware’s real target is your files and if you have made backups then being hit by the malware is just an inconvenience.

All you have to do is reinstall your operating system and apps, and restore your files and your computer will be as good as new – just don’t make the same mistake again.

Pro tip: If you have a lot of programs to install, especially open-source ones, go to Ninite.com. You’ll be able to pick the apps you need – all from your browser – and the site will download all of them while removing any junk (like unnecessary toolbars or third-party software) into one package. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

And even if you don’t get hit by malware, the hard disk drive in your computer will eventually fail as all mechanical things do, and at that point it might be too late to save your files.

The good news is that you now have many more options, especially the Cloud, which makes backing up a breeze.

If you are using Windows, you might as well use OneDrive which comes pre-installed with Windows 10, as it’s Microsoft Cloud service.

The free option nets you 15GB of storage and there are paid options to increase it further.

Or you can try Google Drive – it has just been updated to allow automatic backup which will make the process even easier.

The added bonus of storing your files on the Cloud is that you will be able to access it from anyway, including your phones and tablets.

The Key

Ransomware has become such a menace that the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Netherlands’ police, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, and security companies Kaspersky Lab and Intel Security have teamed up to counter it.

The result is the “No More Ransom” website which offers keys to many of the infamous ransomware so you can unlock your files without having to pay the ransoms.

So if you’re hit by ransomware, head to http://www.nomoreransom.org first.

Price of Paying

If you didn’t back up your files and can’t find the key on the No More Ransom site, you may be tempted to pay. Don’t.

First of all there is no guarantee that you will be given the key to decrypt your files. As they say, there is no honour among thieves but it could also be because the attackers may no longer be using the email or account as it gets shut down quite quickly.

Whatever the reason may be, paying the attackers encourages them to make even more malware.

The monetary motivation is what is making ransomware one of the fastest growing threats so don’t contribute to it.

Free Protection

Microsoft has been improving Defender – the free antivirus that comes with Windows – but you can get better protection for your PC without having to spend a cent.

If you want extra protection – and, more importantly, peace of mind – you can opt for a third party antivirus such as Bitdefender Antivirsu Free Edition, Avast Free Antivirus or Avira Free Antivirus, as they offer robust protection at no extra cost. But do bear in mind that more is not merrier so just pick one of the three.

Spam and Scam

One of the main gateways for malware is your e-mail so never open any message originating from people you don’t know.

Don’t even bother opening that  e-mail that says you have won the lottery or your uncle has left you a big inheritance because scammers almost always rely on a victim’s curiosity and greed.

And if you really must open the mail, be wary of the links, as they could lead you to the attacker’s site.

Even if you are absolutely sure it’s legitimate, still don’t click on it, as attackers can easily disguise a rogue link to look like a proper address. Instead type in the link into the web browser’s address bar yourself.

Now look at the left hand side of the address bar, as most browsers will indicate if the site is secure and verified. In Chrome, for instance, you will see a lock in green – remember never to log in to your account if you don’t see it.

Lastly, and this is the most important part – never open an attachment that is of unknown origin because it is often used to carry the payload.

 

Building Trust, Boosting Productivity

An organisation that is committed to work-life integration has more productive and loyal employees.

Trust is defined as confidence in and reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing. Intuitively, everybody expects and exercises trust in his relationships.

Studies have consistently shown that high levels of trust bring substantial rewards. The Great Place to Work Institute, which has been tracking levels of employee trust in management for over 25 years, showed that the financial returns of the 100 Best Companies (with high employee trust) are better than their lower-trust peers.

Their long-term performance as a group is superior to that of comparable groups of companies such as the S&P 500. Apart from stronger performance and resilience in weathering economic downturns, other advantages include:

• Attracting better talent;
• Experiencing less voluntary turnover;
• Enjoying higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty;
• Fostering greater innovation, creativity and higher productivity; and
• Enhanced public reputation.

More companies are offering flexible work arrangements today to attract and retain talent and to differentiate themselves from competitors.

A culture of trust is crucial in ensuring the effective implementation of work-life integration programmes that will translate into real benefits for employees and employers.

Here are ways to enhance a company’s trust culture:

1. Set Clear and Mutually Agreeable Key Performance Indicators

Employers should help employees understand business priorities and encourage them to be equally clear about their personal priorities.

With all cards on the table, schedules and assignments can be arranged in ways that satisfy both sides. This way, employees are given specific goals but have autonomy over how to achieve these goals.

2. Keep The Communication Flowing

Companies must continually share their vision, values, business strategy and direction with employees and follow up on what they have been assigned to do. Employees should understand business objectives well to help bring the vision and strategies to fruition.

HSL Constructor is one employer who believes in having an open door policy. New employees share their concerns with management through feedback forms and meetings with the management. Also, HSL advocates that to be trusted, one has to learn to trust others.

3. Focus on Relationship-Building

Employers should respect and support employees as “whole people” with important roles outside the workplace. By showing a sincere interest in the lives of their employees, managers will foster trust with their employees, enabling them to tackle their work-life conflicts effectively.

4. Engage and Empower Employees to Solve Problems

To build loyalty, managers need to actively engage their employees in contributing their ideas and creative solutions to solve problems and improve processes.

Empower staff to formulate solutions, and when implemented, give credit to those who contributed.

At Cherie Hearts, a local company that provides child and student care services, the focus on work-life harmony has resulted in a high-trust and loyal environment.

Members of the staff are encouraged to provide feedback and be open in communicating with the management and the human resource department. By doing this, the company gets the performance it wants, and the employees can meet their personal and family needs.

5. Walk the Talk

Good managers know that actions speak louder than words, particularly in how they encourage their staff to embrace work-life balance.

The commitment to rethink and redesign work processes and experiment with new work options that replace the office-centered work model will demonstrate to and instill trust in employees that their company truly cares for them. Many solutions become possible when employers think out of the box and walk the talk.

Companies that work on building up their trust capital will find that they do not have more balanced, engaged and loyal employees. They also experience higher levels of productivity and creativity, which in turn lead to greater profitability and enhanced corporate reputation.

Source: Singapore Straits Times/Asia News Network

 

Move Up The Ranks

Here’s how to show your supervisors that you are management material

The corporate world is competitive, volatile and unpredictable. The secret to scaling the corporate ladder is to move up one rung at a time so that you can manage each step effectively.

How can young professionals build enduring success and advance their careers to the next level – and keep rising? Here are points to keep in mind:

Inspire Trust

Bosses ultimately want someone they can trust to do a job for them. If they know the individual is professional, credible and works in the best interests of the organisation, then they will rely on him to take on a managerial position.

Managing is also about inspiring and retaining the leaders of the future, so bosses will want to ensure that their managers are able to groom those below them to provide a pipeline of future management talent.

Just being good in your job does not necessarily mean you will be a good manager.

This requires a different skill set and relies very much on your soft skills. Your bosses will assess his future managers on their potential people management and leadership skills as well as their performance in their current role.

Be Indispensable

You don’t have to shout from the rooftops about all the extra work you have done to get noticed. It is about making yourself indispensable.

Does your boss always rely on you? Does he turn to you frequently for help and suggestions? Are you making him look good? If you are being assigned specific projects, it is probably because your management feels that you are the most capable person for the job.

So focus on proving that your boss has judged your abilities correctly, and adopt a positive attitude at all times. Learn to take credit when it is due as this will help you climb the ladder more quickly.

You need to have regular “career chats” during appraisals and show you are ambitious by asking your boss what you need to achieve to move on to the next level.

Set milestones so that once you have reached them, you are able to point out that you have successfully accomplished what has been tasked to you to clinch that promotion.

You should also work on your soft skills by interacting, grooming and training your colleagues and new recruits as this will help hone your management skills and display your ability to take the next step.

Know Your Job

You are given a promotion not for the time you have spent in a role but because you deserve it. A management position often comes with serious responsibilities. You will be in charge of other people’s career and you need to be equipped with the right skills to manage and lead others.

Sometimes it is better to stay at a certain level to gain a thorough understanding of the role rather than look for quick promotions and set yourself up for failure. You should feel challenged, but you do not want a position that overwhelms you.

Lead Wisely

If your promotion is based strictly on merit, then your peers and subordinates should not be jealous.

As long as you are not advancing your career at the expense of your colleagues, you should be confident and proud of your achievements.

That said, it is always difficult when you and your colleagues have started off as peers but you are now their manager. It is important that you lead by example and make yourself approachable so they will come and discuss issues with you.

You need to be sensitive to their feelings and realise that although there might be some jealousy, you still have to do your job.

An attitude of arrogance or indifference is not going to win you any friends, but you also have to keep in mind that you are not paid to be their friend but rather, to be their team captain and lead them to achieve your organisation’s business objectives.

Keep Learning

Learn from your mistakes, as well as from those around you and above you. It is important to recognise  that mistakes will be made but as you gain more experience, you will make fewer errors or bad judgement calls over time, which will ultimately make you a better manager.

Observe the people you think are good managers and inspirational leaders and emulate their behaviour.

Constantly  share your ideas, thoughts and opinions with your people to motivate them. The  golden rule for management is: Be quick to compliment and slow the criticise.

Most importantly, spend time with your direct boss and ask for feedback regularly so that you can identify areas for improvement.

 

Get Creative

Creativity is not just for the chosen few – here’s how you can unleash your potential”

Creativity is a fascinating subject.

The word itself tends to evoke images of quirky weirdness, sidelining creativity to a fringe populace of misfits.

However, creativity is less about standing apart from the crowd and more about seeking – and finding – new ways to do things.

As we encounter the little problems of everyday life, the common response is to try and solve them.

Nobody likes being thwarted, so we seek to remove obstacles that are in our way. In trying to overcome these challenges, we automatically engage in a very creative process.

Far from being a special characteristic that is randomly bestowed upon a selected few, experts on the subject are finding that creativity is orderly and, by using a specific set of techniques, “teachable”.

A Good Habit

Creativity is, in fact, a potential that everyone has. At its core, creativity is a matter of expression.

How “creative” you are depends on how often (if at all) you engage in the following five habits which can be considered the “core competencies of creative expression:

1. Preserve New Ideas

You often marvel at new ideas, remarking at the seeming ingenuity of the author, while wondering why you never come up with similar breakthroughs yourself.

Chances are, you have, and it is more than likely that you failed to preserve the new idea or insight as it came to you.

By definition, something that is new falls outside of your normal operating awareness. This means that you hardly acknowledge, much less recall, having had that creative burst of insight.

Sometimes, when you have new ideas, you reject them out of hand, fearing that they may be too weird or advanced to be acceptable.

Therefore, to be truly inspired, you have to cultivate the habit of capturing new ideas as they come to you, without making snap judgments.

A good exercise would be to keep a notepad handy at all times to record new insights as they come to you.

Simply note it down first. Evaluate the idea later.

2. Choose Your Surroundings

Mixing in the right company is crucial to determining creativity.

A large part of creativity involves expressing ideas in different and unique ways.

Creative environments and people are often regarded as interesting because their unconventional take on things challenges and stimulates us.

Therefore, exposing yourself to creative people and environments will prompt your own ideas to become more diverse, which will in turn facilitate the birth of creative insights.

3. Challenge Yourself

It is not enough to simply immerse yourself in inspiring surroundings.

Like any skill, the only way to improve your creativity is to work on it.

Habitually tackling tough problems will help to promote creativity.

When solving challenging tasks, multiple skills and behaviours are engaged, competing with each other for attention.

As a result, interconnections form as the brain synthesises thoughts for a coherent solution, prepping it for new ideas that foster creativity.

4. Broaden Your Horizons

Learn as much as you can about subjects beyond your current scope of work.

Not only will you pick up nuggets of information, diverse knowledge also helps you form more interesting interconnections, which in turn boosts your creativity.

5. Don’t Give Up

Creative people are highly productive and disciplined.

As you unleash and cultivate your flow of ideas, you will encounter many that are downright impractical.

Even promising insights are worth something only if they can be applied in a practical situation.

The solution is to keep working on developing your creativity. The more ideas you have, the higher your ability to have more powerful insights, allowing you to become a better problem-solver.

Sometimes, new ideas need time to be understood by other people, and it is very common for new projects to face initial resistance.

When encountering setbacks, it is important not to give up but to continue with the habits that promote creativity.

Stay focused and disciplined to keep your creative juices flowing, and let the successes you have lead you to a more inspired and satisfying work life.

Household Iems Rendered Obsolete by Smartphones

Many items are no longer as useful thanks to the ubiquitous smartphone

The smartphone’s rise in prominence over the last decade has served as the death knell for many former household tech staples. In just 10 years, smartphones have become the Swiss Army knives of the tech world, being able to do much more than simply making phone calls and sending text messages.

Here are 10 items you’ll never need to buy again thanks to your smartphone.

Address Book

Keeping a dedicated address and phone book has become a thing of the past thanks to smartphones.

Heck, even memorising loved ones’ phone numbers has fallen by the wayside; it’s so much easier to simply tap the person’s name.

Alarm Clock

Having an alarm clock by each bedside used to be the standard in every home. Today, however, with the ability to set multiple alarms at once, select which days to have the alarm trigger and even analyse your sleep in the process, smartphones are the new bedside staple.

Calculator

Math can be hard, but calculators can make math easy.

What’s even easier than using a calculator to do math? Not having to worry about finding batteries for your calculator because the same functionality is included in your phone.

Calendar

Calendars are great for keeping track of events and dates, but what do you do when you leave your pocket calendar in your desk – or, even more likely, when you can’t take your calendar with you because it’s the size of your desk?

You miss your appointment, that’s what.

That’s not the case with the calendar in your smartphone – unless you leave your smartphone on your desk, because then you’re just out of luck.

Camera

If there’s one thing smartphones have truly made mainstream, it’s photography. Taking photos used to primarily be saved for special occassions, as doing so meant lugging around a camera.

The advent of the smartphone camera (and subsequent photo-sharing platforms and apps) has led to people documenting every aspect of everyday life – from putting together furniture to glamour shots of one’s dinner plate. Unfortunately, it’s also led to the rise of the selfie.

Flashlight

Picture this: It’s night. A storm has just knocked out the power at your house. You have to find the circuit breaker to reset the power, but you can’t find it without some type of light.

The real question becomes where’s the flashlight? Hint: not at your side like your trusty smartphone with the built-in camera flash that can pull double duty as a flashlight.

GPS

Remember the days before GPS? Everyone used to keep either a map or an atlas in their car.

The miracle of the consumer GPS unit was quickly supplanted by the even more miraculous smartphone, as the latter came equipped with its own built-inn GPS tracker and accelerometer.

Drivers no longer had to lug around a bulky GPS unit in their glove boxes; instead, they could simply punch their destination into their phone and have the same turn-by-turn directions orated to them.

Landline Telephone

This one’s obvious.

With everyone having some smartphone – and some owning two – there really wasn’t any need for landlines anymore.

Especially now that mobile phone calls are cheap or free, there really isn’t a need to reach out for a landline phone.

Level Metre

For those with limited space in their tool bag, here’s one item you can leave behind from now on.

Your smartphone’s built-in gyroscope allows it to determine angles, which clever app designers have used to mimic the effects of a bubble level.

Hanging pictures becomes a breeze when you don’t have to spend half your time trying to remember where you left your level.

Outdoor Thermometer

Why get out of bed to check the weather when you can just grab your phone and see current and future weather conditions for your location and anywhere else in the world?

There’s probably still a use for these antiquated thermometers, but not in most residential applications.

Source: Newsday/Tribune News Service

Raising Money-Savvy Children

“Here are some tips to teach your kids good spending habits”

At a time when Internet banking, credit cards and online shopping are the norm, it’s not surprising that kids don’t have the best money habits.

Currently, just one percent of kids save their allowance, even though 61% of parents in America who give it to them hope they’ll learn about money, according to the American Institute of CPAs.

But if children think credit cards are the modern-day equivalent of a magic wand, there are ways to help them gain good spending habits before they swipe their way into debt and it’s too late.

Delay Gratification

This is a learned behaviours, said Susan Beacham, CEO of Money Savvy Generation, a financial literacy website for kids.

“It’s a muscle, and it’s something that gets stronger with use,” Beacham said.

A study published in 1972 known as The Marshmallow Experiment, which continues to be referenced today, found that children who can delay their gratification end up with higher SAT scores, lower levels of obesity, better responses to stress and other positive life skills.

Try it in the supermarket checkout line, when your child wants some candy. You can purchase it but not give it to her for a few hours. Or, you can tell your older child that you’re window shopping but won’t be making any purchases that day.

Discuss Needs Versus Wants

Try making this into an activity as you shop, suggested Beth Kobliner, personal finance expert and author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius.

Kobliner suggested doing this at the supermarket: “We might want chocolate milk and vege sticks, but what do we need?” she said. Correct answer: regular milk and regular vegetables, she said. In a store, the child might want a toy but needs a winter coat.

It’s also helpful for parents to curb their own habits: Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I need to race over to the sale?” Your children are listening.

Use Cash

The area of the brain associated with pain is activated when you see a high price, according to Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University researchers.

That’s why subscription services and unlimited usage plans have become so popular.

But using real bills and coins will make money feel tangible and real, for you and for your child, Kobliner said. And if it hurts, maybe you’ll both spend less.

Let Your Child Spend His Allowance

You may have a child who wants to spend all his allowance on gum.

“The key with allowance is to be clear and consistent, and after that, a little bit hands-off,” Kobliner said. “Let your child know how much money she’ll be getting, and how often, plus some general guidelines about what she should use it for.”

For example, Kobliner said, you may still pay for school clothing, but your child will have to use the allowance to go to the movies.

Ground rules about off-limit purchases should also be established.

“For some parents, that might extend to nixing a sugar treat-buying bonanza in the first place,” Kobliner said. “But one of the points of allowance is to teach kids about opportunity cost and to let them make mistakes with money that they’ll learn from.”

So if your child blows all of the allowance on candy but later realises the money could have been saved for a stuffed animal, he will hopefully remember it the next time when walking past the candy counter, Kobliner said.

Shop

While you’re shopping, teach your kids about the importance of comparison shopping and that using coupons can significantly decrease how much you pay for things, said David Bakke, financial expert at Money Crashers. You’ll gain a mini-couponer and a fantastic shopping partner-in-crime.

Motivate Your Team

Here are five ways in which you can keep staff morale high during a recession

During a recession, most people start thinking about their career. If you’re like most people, you will give some thought as to what the year might hold for you. Will you lose your job? Will you get promoted? Will you get a pay rise? Should you start looking around for something else?

If you think like this, the chances are the members of your team do so as well.

And if senior management sends you messages like “profits are down”, “we need to increase sales” or “we might have to rationalise or restructure”, you have your work cut out when it comes to keeping your team productive and motivated.

When people are distracted and stressed, they make mistakes, get into petty arguments and generally can make life in the office a living hell! This is not something that’s going to show you in the best light at the management meetings.

As their manager or team leader, what can you do to help the situation? Here are five ways to keep your staff motivated during a recession.

1. Communicate

Nothing stresses people out more than not knowing what’s going on. People are always willing to think the worst. Make sure your team can come to you and get answers.

Equally when you have information that’s relevant to them, make sure you keep them all in the loop.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that because someone was in the office when you were telling someone else about it that they were listening or even realised that what you were talking about was relevant to them. Have frank discussions and include all the people who are involved.

2. Be Honest 

You need to be as honest as possible with your team. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you divulge confidential information or discuss sensitive information inappropriately.

Being honest with them means explaining the reasons why things are happening. If priorities have changed, your team needs to know about it and when they understand the reasons why, they are generally a lot more co-operative than you might give them credit for.

They may not like what they’re being asked to do – take a pay cut or forgo a promotion – but if they understand why it’s important, you’ll get a much higher level of buy-in from them.

3. Lead by Example

It’s your duty as a manager to act as a buffer between your team and the management tier above you.

To keep your team motivated and productive, you may need to shield them from any politics, panic or doom and gloom, but more than that, you must lead by example.

Even when things are tough, you’ve got to hold it together, be confident and be decisive – this is not a time for dithering or procrastinating. As far as getting the job done is concerned, it’s business as usual.

4. Be More Strategic

At times like these, you need to be thinking ahead. Let your team deal with the minutiae and details.

If you allow yourself to get buried in day-to-day activities, you may find that all inspiration or creativity has been sapped from you.

When times are tough, the whole organisation is relying on its managers to spot opportunities, improve processes and find ways to get customers buying again.

You must keep yourself free to concentrate on the big picture.

5. Put a Lid on Gossip

Gossip has the potential to either damage someone’s reputation or cause widespread panic around the office, particularly if people are gossiping about looming redundancies, so the moment you find out about any gossip, deal with it.

The last thing you want is your best staff member to go and find another job because he thought incorrectly, that he might be made redundant.

Listen, by all means, to find out what’s going on, but don’t start rumours or get caught up spreading them.

Your team needs you now more than they have ever needed you before. They need you to be strong and to lead them through the period of uncertainty.

Engaging Employees

To keep your organisation on track, you need to engage your employees for optimum performance and greater job satisfaction. Studies show that engaged employees:

• Are more likely to stay
• Are more productive
• Maintain profitable customer relationships
• Serve as advocates for your organisation

What exactly is employee engagement and what does it mean to engage your employees? Employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement employees have towards their organisation or job.

According to a study by the Corporate Leadership Council, employees with the highest levels of commitment perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organisation.

Employee engagement means making people feel valued by involving them in decisions, asking them to participate in the planning process, praising them, and continually providing adequate training and support. It’s giving your employees the opportunity to contribute to the company’s overall success.

When you allow your employees to think independently and assist the company, they will respond with increased work effort and greater efficiency. The following are four keys to employee engagement that can help your company grow.

1. Involve your employees in the decision-making process

You can keep morale high and engage your employees by involving them in business decisions that directly relate to them. For example, if your company is considering a dress code change, allow your employees to voice their opinions on the new dress code and offer suggestions for portraying a more professional image. Encouraging their input makes them feel a part of the team and contributors to the company’s overall success.

2. Involve your employees in the planning process

Whenever possible, allow your employees to take an active role in planning the company’s future. Instead of simply declaring a new sales goal your employees need to reach, ask your sales team to come up with their own realistic monthly goals and a plan to reach that number. When employees take an active role in the planning process, they know their input matters to the company’s bottom line. Additionally, they’ll be more apt to strive to meet the goal if they set it themselves and laid out a plan to reach it.

3. Offer praise freely

When was the last time you praised an employee for a job well done? In too many companies, managers inadvertently neglect to offer praise on a regular basis. As a result, many employees are left to wonder how their performance rates. Without such guidance they can easily become uncertain about their job requirements and their ability to handle challenging situations.

When your employees know they are doing a good job, they will want to repeat the process again and again. They’ll also be more willing to try new ideas and challenges to meet your customers’ needs. The result will be motivated employees who are eager to help the company grow.

4. Provide continual training and support

If you want your employees to feel confident in their abilities, they need the proper job training and support. Many companies offer an introductory training period when a new employee comes on board, but training then stops after a certain period of time. Provide ongoing training and coaching for employees at all levels so they can gain greater competence, overcome performance barriers and be more effective in their jobs.

Enable your employees to succeed by giving them the means, opportunity and capacity they need to excel. The result is growth, innovation and satisfaction. If your employees feel important, they’ll transfer those feelings to your customers through improved service and ultimately, greater sales.

So if you want your company to grow to new heights, engage your employees by creating an environment where people are encouraged to explore, discover, take risks and think for themselves. Engaged employees will always rise to the occasion, do the best job possible, and help you compete in the global marketplace.