I've Been Thinking...

A commentary

About PASSIONATE PERFORMANCE... Today's performance problems (or lack of passionate performance) are more about management than employees; employees are not lazy - they are uninspired. Personalize it for a minute - If I were to ask how willing are you to do your best in a workplace that did not respond to your needs, or for a manager who did not express any interest in you as a person, or for a job that had no clear definition of the future? Would you give it your all? Most likely you would not. So you see performance problems are more about management than employees. We continue to use outdated and ineffective management methods to activate employees and drive performance; the results are consistently poor at best. Time for a change.

Today, we are in an intellectual workplace; much of manufacturing moved offshore and ended the industrial age. Managing employees in an industrial age (make things era) is different than managing in an intellectual age (make ideas and service era). Intellectual age employees now contribute thinking, ideas, connections and relationships. The degree of contribution in each of these is controlled by the employee; managers today cannot mandate intellectual performance. Command-and-control is out; inspire-and-engage is in. Don't think that I am advocating the continual coddling of the younger generations. Instead, I am proposing a way to manage employees that makes them more accountable by activating and igniting their passion for performance. So, managers, it is time to Fire Up! your employees. This is up to you and your effectiveness with it will be largely due to the quality of the relationship you create with each of your employees. In today's intellectual workplace, that is how the job gets done. Dictating and demanding gets management nowhere. Change with the times. Learn how to FIRE UP! employees - help them love their jobs! This is the most significant role of managers today.

Go to our new FIRE UP! website at www.fireupyouremployees.com for articles, tools, discussions, ideas and energy events to ignite performance. Learn how to engage and inspire your employees...this is the key to performance. Link in to our daily BLOGucation on www.humanetricsllc.com for an important performance information. Contact us for help; we know how to help you FIRE UP! your employees.

We work with managers who want to be more successful at activating and inspiring exceptional employee performance, to significantly drive customer loyalty and improve company profitability.

I bet you never knew...

Each person in the US uses more than 50 gallons of water a day that adds up to over 107,000 gallons a year.
Leaving the water on when you brush your teeth for 2 minutes uses more than two gallons of water; that is like pouring the two gallons right down the drain. The same is true when shaving or washing your face.
Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, slashes the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and decreases the risk of bladder cancer by 50%.
For better health, drink the water you save by turning off the water when you brush, floss, wash or shave!

Time for Action

"Ask... Then Really Listen"

It is important to have a team of great people; after all, your people are your profits. But having the right people isn't the full story. The more important task of the millennial manager is to understand employees well enough to know how to "cast" them in the right roles. That means that a truly successful millennial manager commits to spending the time getting to know his/her people; this is the only way to start the process of understanding their talents and skills and what they need, value and want from their jobs.

You can imagine that if an employee works in a job that is not in line with the way that she thinks or addresses some of the things that she loves, this employee is not likely to commit extra effort or to be fully engaged in his job. Today, employees need to be happy at work...it ignites their performance. And to find out how to help them be happy, we need to invest the time in getting to know them; this starts with the art of conversation.

Conversation is now a millennial manager skill. It is critical to become proficient in the art of asking powerful questions, listening well and then using the information to guide great decision-making. Only then will we become wiser about not only who to hire, but where to place each employee and to build the important relationship that will FIRE UP! each employee to perform at her greatest level.

Build a repertoire of powerful "get to know you" questions - questions that address both work and personal perspectives. The following are strong work-related and personal questions that, when employees respond, you have a clearer sense of what they think, what they value and what they are interested in. Consider asking your existing employees these questions to see if they are well suited for their current roles and include them in your repertoire of questions to ask existing employees and candidates. Also, use these questions to build that important person to person rapport that is critical in today's service economy (employees give their best to managers who they trust, like and respect):

What matters most to you in your work? What makes (or will make) you excited about work?
What does "work ethic" mean? What is your work ethic?
Presume you have no limits on time or spending, if you were in charge of the company for a day, what is the most urgent or important thing you would do? What makes it urgent or important?
Define the perfect job for you? What makes it (or would make it) perfect?
What two performance areas, roles or skills would you still like to develop? Why?
How to do you play to your strengths? How are these strengths obvious to others - what do they say about these strengths?
What are three things that motivate you to perform in work and three in life?
What would you do with a free afternoon? How do you like to spend your free time?
How do your friends describe you? What makes them think this? What personal qualities do you have that you are most proud of? Why?
Who is one of your heroes and what makes this person a hero for you?

The more you ask meaningful questions - focused, relationship-based and direct - the more important information you have. Ask really great questions...then listen. Don't listen only with your ears, but also watch body language. Notice what gets the employee excited and what he finds boring. Notice confidence levels and areas of fears. How an employee feels affects her performance. Know what makes employees happy; build as much of it as you can into their roles. Happiness and performance go hand in hand. You are now investing in your employees - the time to know them well enough to place them in the right role and how to communicate with them. It takes time; the return is significant. So, ask... then really listen; all the answers you need are in their responses.

It's All New

Check out our new www.fireupyouremployees.com site - your site for links, ideas, articles, free tools, stories, and discussions about keeping the workplace sizzlin' and igniting passionate performance from your employees.

We blew up our main site at www.humanetricsllc.com and our programs; we reinvented everything. Check out our new programs:

Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition!
A program that introduces the process of millennial management and how to Invite, Incite and Ignite employee performance.

Sending Service Into Orbit
A program that introduces the customer Loyalty Formula and how to use it to create consistently memorable and "STAND OUT" service.

Cross the Testosterone Barrier
A program that helps women maximize their great verbal, communication and nurturing talents to excel in today's management roles. The shift from the industrial to intellectual age economy now more favors the feminine brain of engaging and inspiring than the male brain of competition and domination. Women now have a managerial advantage; now is the time for women to ascend into greater management roles.

Show Up, Step Up ...STAND OUT!
A program that introduces how to live and work without limits...to learn how to make the biggest dent in the universe and grab the greatest slice of life possible by a creative reconnection to your talents and the things you love to do. Own your life; own your work. Learn how.

Everything we write, teach, consult about and suggest involves STAND OUT human performance. There is no room for average; average or ordinary is a formula for failure. We know how to drive success through extraordinary (human) performance.

Contact Humanetrics for more information on powerful performance - employee, customer, women's roles or living well. Use the resources on the site to advance what you know. Go for the best you can be - in work and in life.

The Humanetrics Mission

We offer practical, dynamic, innovative and customized education and consulting to significantly advance our clients' personal and professional performance.