March 25, 2010 by admin.

Ken Haycook, PMPHas your culture and traditions gotten to the point that “That’s that way we always do it” has become the company motto? Have your facilities been transformed into a storage space rather than offices or shops; boxes and old computers stacked everywhere? Is it difficult to find parking even at opening time? Maybe you need a CHANGE! Most companies change ever so slowly over the years and it’s like the frog in the cold water pot, you never now what’s happening until it’s too late. As the manager, now is the time to determine if it is too late and to implement a plan to make things better for you and the morale of your employees. 1.     Take a look around your office, not only at the physical nicks and dings in the walls and on the floors. Take a deep look at the attitude of your employees. Are there traditional actions and reactions to each other and to customers that may be losing both? Will there be resistance to making the situation better. If so, start by initiating new traditions. Don’t settle and don’t let your staff settle for a “that’s good enough” attitude. Be a leader in make the initial change in attitude. If you have fallen into this habit, it’s time for you to make the change. Posters on the wall is not enough. You will have to get involved with the staff to show them a change is coming. 2.     As you are working with your employees, talk about changing the attitudes. Ask them what they think needs to change. A coat of paint and a new chair will make a big difference to your staff for very little cost. It will be a visible indication of your seriousness. Also, to reduce costs, take an afternoon away from the golf course to man a paint brush. Be active in your leadership. Keep the idea of change in the mind of all employees. It will minimize their resistance to change. 3.     Make sure your key employees are aware that they are also leaders and must embrace and support the changes. Your expectations may need to be discussed again with an emphasis on making sure the company grows or changes. 4.     Take a look at how all of your company is doing things procedurally. Make sure your company is not difficult to do business with. Test your customer service staff to see what you customers are really experiencing when they contact your company. Internally, test your marketing staff to make sure they work well with Sales. Do the same for Accounting and Sales, Marketing and Customer Service, Sales and Production and Management with all organizations. Communications will be the key. Encourage open communications by getting out of your office at least 50% of the day to see employees and customers.   5.     Plan far ahead for the biggest change of all: your retirement or exit from the company. Train new leadership to take over and provide your staff with the training it will need to be able follow in your footsteps. Here is where you will get back those afternoons on golf course or the lake, as well as continued income. You will be really prepared to face the rest of your life. Questions? Ken Haycook at khaycook@kendelgrp.com or 501-351-3942. More articles are at www.kendelgrp.com/

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July 4, 2009 by admin.

Ken Haycook, PMP

I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise that you can’t motivate anyone to do something they just don’t want to do. You can give incentives. Begging, pleading, cajoling and threats usually don’t work but too many managers still use one of these techniques then complain that, “I just can’t keep good people.” We all need to understand that motivate is an internal process. I can’t get you to want to come to work. You must want to do it. As a manager, my job is to set up your environment so that you want to come to work on time and do the job you agreed to do. Here are 5 top areas in which you need to consider to help you retain your top talent:  

1.   Show full appreciation for work   Sure you say thanks to people who you ask to do things for you. You may be one of those who are over zealous when you express thanks. That will come across as insincere and your employees will notice it. Be sincere, be open for areas to express your appreciation and be prompt in showing your gratitude. 

2.   Give your employees a feeing of being in on things  On major decisions, let your employees help you with the decision. Don’t make it sound like the decision is already made and you just want to defend it. You might be surprised as to the intelligence that your top talent will exhibit to help you. Use their suggestions. This will give them experience in making decisions so you can trust them to make the smaller decisions on their own. Remember that the quickest way to get buy-in is to build trust with your staff.  

3.   Sympathetic help with personal problems  As the top person in your company, you might think that; “This is my life and I have to perform.” You have a lot of people depending on you to make the right moves to make life better for everyone. Guess What? You employees don’t feel the same way. They have other area’s of their lives that affects them. The best leaders are open to providing all the assistance they can to make those personal issues minimal. You hear about leaders keeping employees on the payroll while they rebuild their factory. You need to consider that same level of commitment to your staff.  

4.   The feeling of job security  

This is a big motivator. If you have ever been in a large company that had rumors of a layoff, you probably seen the reaction. Most people are spending time talking about it or searching for a new job and not taking care of your business. While it may be unpleasant, a layoff has become the first choice of most businesses to reduce costs. Recently here in Little Rock, Acxiom reduced salaries of most of the employees rather than do a layoff. This was a smart move since the talent they need can’t be replace easily or quickly. Think about it, this is a leadership move that will prevent the inconvenience and costs by both the company and the laid-off employee.  5.   Good Wages helps  This may shock some of you but the Labor Relation Institute ranks money as only the fifth highest area for self motivation. Under paying people in a down economy will definitely rock their motivation and as soon as the outlook gets better, you will lose this person. Find out the market price of your employees and pay it. Bite the bullet. The best employees will work hard for you and you should work hard for them. It may mean that you have to reduce your wages to comply but you will get that back. If you have to reduce wages then make sure everyone knows why. Be open to complaints but the most motivated people will hang in there with you.  The Labor Relation Institute list 5 more self motivators and I will cover that in future articles because the bottom 5 is as important as the top 5. Look around your organization to take advantage of this list. You will see better customer and interpersonal interactions. Remember, a motivated employee is a retained employee. 

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June 19, 2009 by admin.

Responsibility/ownership/commitments

·         Acceptance; There has been a lot of discussion about authority for responsibility. As a Manager, if you delegate an issue to be resolved, you also delegate whatever it takes to complete the task. If you accept ownership of an issue, you also have to accept the authority to complete it. When you have several issues to work to complete the job and needed permissions are not granted, the responsibility is transferred away from you to those who have the authority.

·         Organization; Always be organized with projects and time so that the team has enough time to handle emergencies which crop up. Address each issue directly until you and your team cannot go further. Give others a chance to address their issues only until you think they should have been done. Then follow-up to get the actions completed. 

·         Limitations; Always commit to your physical and mental limitations. Also commit your staff to their limitations. If you don’t, you cannot help the organization grow.  

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January 28, 2008 by admin.

What I Believe; Communications1 of a series…..           

When it comes to importance in business, Communications between individuals is the top priority.  Just imagine what issues can come about if people can’t or won’t talk to each other.  Even worse is if they don’t tell all they know about something that can be dangerous.  Visualize the money companies lose when good ideas are not shared or if shared, ignored because of the source.  Here are my 4 top priorities to enhance communications. Communications

·         Relate all news, good or bad.  Management cannot get help with a problem if don’t know about it. Management needs to be positive with bad news and think about a solution or course of action to present also. The good news is important also due to the positive spin it puts on co-workers/employees and the company.

·         Ideas; there are no such thing as bad ideas. Ideas are the foundation of growth in any organization and as such, each person is responsible for providing ideas for implementation.

·         Priority; each professional can usually set their own priorities. When an employee gets conflicting directions, it is best to let the manager settle the issue. In this way, doubt can be eliminated.

·         Follow up; in general, you cannot depend on everyone to do what he or she says they will. Always follow-up on requests, directions, and assumptions. Follow-up verbal instructions or commitments with a written record that can be agreed to by all parties.

    Ken Haycook, PMP

Kendel Group

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January 16, 2008 by admin.

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