I recently came back from a 10 day trip from Japan and really had a great time with my family. It was really difficult to just let go of work but I felt that being able to let go and take a break is just as important as working hard.

For the first 7 days of the trip, it was basically a guided tour. At the end of it, we had to give tips to the bus driver and tour guide. However, as I reflected on the whole tipping process, I believe that there are 2 lessons we can draw and apply in our workplace. Here are the following powerful techniques on motivating your staff to work hard and get results!

Here are my thoughts:

1. Do we ‘tip’ our staff before they work?

At the end of each tour, tour guides are usually given tips. However, what do you think will happen if you were to give it to them right from the beginning of the tour? Do you think their attitude will change and you will get better service? I know that this is a rather unconventional, but I am sure that it will get results.

Even in our workplace, have you considered rewarding your staff this way? This means that we actually reward our staff even before they even start their work. We are actually telling them that this is what we need to do and if we achieve it, more reward will come. This powerful technique actually demonstrates your leadership in helping to bring the desired future into the present and excite your staff when they work towards getting results.

Bill Zander writes in his book together with Donald Trump “Think big and kick ass in business and in life” that he effectively rewarded his employees straight with big wads of cash (USD $10,000) even before they started the New Year. He tells them that “This is just a taste of the riches about to come your way.” Some of the staff called back home to tell their husbands and wives about their bonuses and their spouses told them to concentrate on the retreat while they took care of the kids back home. If you take care of your staff, your staff will take care of the company for you.

2. Do we ‘tip’ our staff well?

If a tour guide does his/her job fairly well, they are rewarded for their efforts. They already know what their rewards will be and are willing to work hard for it. Do our staff know what how they will be rewarded if they work hard? Many times, most managers do not know how to set specific rewards to motivate their staff towards organisational effectiveness. Simple rewards other than money can be given, here are some that I recommend: Staff recognition for adhering to deadlines, letting a staff go back early after a tedious project they completed, buying them movie tickets and saying that you want them to take a break and bring their kids out for a show. Even a simple acknowledgement in front of the rest of the staff is important in the motivation process. We should seek to reward and emphasize GOOD behaviour rather than keep disciplining bad behaviour.

So… how are you going to tip your staff from now onwards?

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I recently went to Malacca, Malaysia to conduct a recce on a particular hotel for a huge convention slated in end 2009. The experience of being able to visit all the suites and rooms was rather pleasant and it gave me a good impression of the quality and services offered by the hotel.

At the end of the recce, I sat down with my companions to discuss our observations. Just before we left the hotel, I realised that my parking coupon was not validated yet. I approached the front desk staff and asked them to help me with it and this is how the conversation went:

“Excuse me, I was with your Sales Manager Azizah, just now (pointing to the front lobby) and after such a wonderful conversation, I forgot to ask her to validate my parking coupon. Is there any way you could do that for me?” I asked politely.

“I’m sorry Sir, but this is only for our hotel guests only.” The frontdesk lady replied… surprised by my request.

“I understand, but its only a small ticket and I’m sure that Azizah will it be able to handle it.” I retorted.

“I see, but still….. it is strictly reserved for our hotel guests.” The frontdesk lady stood unwavering.

“Ok, then can you please call Azizah and tell her its me. I request for her to do this… “. I was feeling a little frustrated because it was going no where and we just discussed a deal that is worth over hundreds of thousands of ringgit (Malayisan Dollars). A parking coupon was not a big deal at all, compared to what the negotiations we discussed earlier.

While I stood there waiting for Azizah to respond, I was wondering why the frontdesk personnel were so rigid in their policies. Imagine how things will be if they were just empowered to make decisions that will make their guests (or potential clients like me) happy? What if their managers told them that they could do anything to please a guest as long as it does not cost more than $50? I am very sure that decision making will be really quick and people like me will be impressed by how their management trust them to do things.

Isn’t great if staff are empowered to make decisions? Wouldn’t a lot of unneccessary distractions be reduced for their managers? However, when I look some managers or employers , particularly entrepreneurs, this is still not the case. There is still a lot micro-managing; which unfortunately demands time and attention.

The role of a good boss is to give their staff a good framework of the desired results, empower them to make decisions and tell them that he/she trusts them. Once this is achieved, people tend to take a more pro-active approach in their work because they now know that they are responsible for the decisions they make. They will also feel a sense of empowerment that their boss really trust them to do what it takes to make their clients happy.

Back to my situation, I finally got my ticket validated by Azizah… I smiled knowing that a small thing like this made a customer happy.

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Here are some insights to Teamwork that I picked up from the Recent F1 Night Race in Singapore:

1. Clarity of roles

Every single person in technical team knows what their job description is and they execute their task to perfection. The pit stop crew (which involves changing tires and refuelling) practices about 80 times every race weekend and about 1700 pitstops per season. That means that if your purpose in the team is to clean the visor of the driver, you will be doing that all the way. There is no glamour between different job scopes. There are no individuals, only team players.

2. Speed and Precision

Each pitstop takes approximately 5-9 seconds. Imagine, with 25 crew working at the same time, they have perfected the art of quick change and not getting in the way of each other. There are a total of 4 wheel men to remove each tire and it takes only 4 seconds to do it.

3. Everyone listens to each other

Most people will think that F1 Drivers are the stars of all teams. The person behind him, called the Race Strategist is equally important. He/she decides when to make a pitstop and what strategy to adopt when the race progresses. Even drivers will have to listen and follow the strategist’s plans. A good strategy will put their car right infront of rival cars when they exit the pit lane.

4. Trust among team members

The Front Jack Man has to stand infront of the incoming F1 car even when it is approaching the pit lane at 80km/hr. He has to trust the skills of the driver to stop right infront of him as he quickly jacks up the car for the rest of team members to do their jobs.

Here is a short clip of a pitstop I took from the recent F1 Night Race in Singapore

See more exciting photos and videos of the F1 Race at Kenneth’s Facebook.

I was asked by my friend some time ago about how I managed to be popular among friends. Even strangers who never met me before could remember my name. He asked me alot of questions about how he could make himself entertaining, whether there were interesting jokes he could remember and so forth…

“DO you really want to know the Secret? It will just change the way you talk and think!” I asked rather mischievously.

He nodded his head and I started to explain…

“Here’s the Secret: Most people in the world really want to talk about themselves. Sometimes all we need to have a great conversation is to ask questions! Get them to talk about themselves. The Secret to being the most interesting person is to be the MOST INTERESTED! Practice Active Listening and show your interest by asking questions.”

I shared with him a real life example with another one of my friends called D (name with-held to protect his identity). I met up with D to have dinner and the whole night I did nothing but just asked questions. This is how the conversation when:

“So… how’s life with you now?” (D shared)

“How’s your job now?” (D shared some more)

“Oh… really… what happened.. tell me more?” (D talked about a particular incident)

“How did you feel about the whole thing?” (D talked again)

We went on like this for one and a half hours. All I did was ask a ton of questions. All I needed is to be really interested in what D did. At the end of the whole conversation, D mentioned that “It was the BEST conversation he had in his entire life!” I smiled after that.

In my mind, I was saying “BUT I didn’t say anything about myself at all!” However, it proved a point. It proved that to connect with people, I must constantly show them that I am sincerely interested in what’s happening in their lives. If I am truely interested in knowing a person, I will really listen first and talk much later. Its all about them, and not about me. This is the simple law of human interaction, nothing sexy about it.

Imagine if we were to practice active listening and be interested, how much will it help in our ability to persuade and move people? How will it change the way you manage people or improve your relationships, especially when people are resistant? How will this be able to build your team in the areas of empathy towards others?”

This is really a tough question. There are many incidents when leaders are always tempted to show their followers that they are the best in what they do and they can never fail. We all like to support people who are always decisive and confident in what they do. However, when leaders fail in certain areas of their lives, should they reveal it?

In one of the leadership seminars given by the no. 1 Leadership Guru, John Maxwelll was asked the above question. One of the participants was concerned that if leaders are not placed in a good light, they will lose their respect and authority in the organisation.

John asked back a question, “You mean to say that your followers already do not know that you have these flaws? Every single day they are in contact with you and yet they cannot see it?” How gullible am I if I still think that my team members do not know my short-comings.

One of lessons that I have learnt as a Leader in my organisation is to be quick in acknowledging my flaws. I must admit that pride and ego do occassionally scream out loud telling me that I should not do it. Despite of this, I went ahead and shared with the rest of my team. It made a BIG difference. They saw that I was transparent and am willing to make amends. Not only that, they knew that I was humble enough to acknowledge my mistakes. This resulted in creating trust and accountability on my part to the team.

So the next time you make a mistake, what will you do?

In 2008, acccording to FORTUNE Magazine, Genentech was voted again to be the top 100 places to work in. This year they are ranked 5th place. To give you an idea of the immensity of this ranking, a total of 100,000 workers from 446 companies evaluated their employers.

Rather than just creating a whole benefits and compensation plan, it is much better to just study what why they have done correctly and learn from them.

Business Profile:
Researches and develops drugs that cure diseases.

Culture: 

• Having a clear sense of purpose in their jobs, which is to develop safer and more effective therapies through their drug discovery efforts, especially in serious or live threatening illnesses. This clarity of vision is constantly transmitted to remind all staff, right down to the janitors that they have a purpose in reaching that goal.
• Causal work environment; Everyday is “Dress Down” day. Even the CEO dresses in jeans and sneakers.
  Encourages freedom to make intelligent risk-taking.
• Employees can ask any questions “Why” and “Why not?”
• They celebrate major milestones or wins in their company, sometimes even with celebrity bands.
• Supports employee community service and donations.
• Posters of their patients are placed throughout of their workplace to remind employees of their mission.

Benefits:

• Staff are given an average of 160hrs/yr Professional Training
• Free access to full concierge service who can provide different services such as planning celebrations and finding hard to get tickets.
• Onsite child care.
• Doggie day care.
• Daycare and nursing rooms.
• Company store on campus.
• Free parking.
• Staff are given up to 20% on their work week to pursue their pet projects.
• 6 weeks of paid sabbatical for every six years of service.
• Onsite fitness centre.
• Free coffee and iced tea.
• Ho-Hos party on every Friday evening to get to socialise with co-workers or meet new friends
• Tuition Assitance Program, where 100% of costs of up to $10,000/yr is reimbursed.
• Bring your daughters and sons to work day is celebrated regularly.
• 95% of  employees are shareholders.
• Weekly polls are conducted to ensure that complaints are surfaced and things are working in the company. They are usually quickly dealt with.

Rewards:

• Employee referral programs of up to $2000 are given to employees who refer new hires.
• Additional cash bonus acknowledging key employees who contribute exceedingly above their responsibilities.

I understand that not all companies are able to afford similar benefits offered by Genentech because to have these systems in place is costly. However, they can be a huge reason for your staff to stay long term with you, especially when they know you care about them.

Have you ever heard people say the following phrases:
“I’m not sure if this job suits me!”
 “Why does Sarah always leave things to the last minute and then do it?”
“I just need to get this job done fast, why is she asking so many questions?”
 “Why can’t my boss make decisions quickly and instead of sitting on things?”

If you look closely at each statement, you can actually see that personality has a part in every one of them. The BIG question is how we can effectively communicate with the different personalities.

If we truly understand each personality, it is possible to say the right words that can connect to people quickly and emotionally.  This is extremely critical since everything we do at work or home, is all about handling relationships. This works the same for people in customer service, sales staff, managers communicating with staff, or you with your peers.

There are many different types of personality profiling tests in the market today, but one of the most famous assessments is the DISC Personality Profiling. Although everyone is different, everyone is predictably different. Using DISC greatly aids you in identifying why people work in a certain way and then relate to them in a way they want to be related.

DISC is a simple tool that assesses human behaviour into four types and is the acronym for Dominant, Influencing, Steady and Compliant.  It is wise to say that we are not just one personality type, but a combination of all. The question is the degree of which is more.

High “D” personalities are competitive, demanding, decisive, pioneering, love challenges and solve problems.  They prefer not be bogged down with supervision and details and love freedom from controls.

A High “I” person is generally motivated by flattery, praise and attention they get from people. They strive in a friendly environment and love to handle the relational aspects of things. They are the people-person, enthusiastic and sociable. They are the ones who say that there is no such thing as strangers, only people you have not met.

High “C” behaviours have exceptional standards of quality. When you have finished a 10,000 word essay, they will point out the 3 words that you have misspelt and offer to correct your sentences. They are meticulous people and love logical flow of information. They also provide perspective in all your brainstorming and anchors you back to reality when you get too idealistic.

High “S” personalities are usually dependable, passive and patient. They are also loyal and relaxed. When it comes to people volunteering for a job, they will never be the first to raise their hands and prefers to wait for others to take action first.

In a team setting, you will definitely need a mix of personalities to cover the full range of tasks taken. It is important to know your personality and how you can contribute effectively to the team. Know yourself and know others. Work on your strengths and allow others to compensate for your weaknesses. This creates synergy in the team and frees each person to excel in their capabilities.

How to Slash Staff Turnover And Create Transformational

Change In Your Team Performance

Do you struggle with office politics and a dispirited work environment? Are your colleagues constantly talking about problems in the work place or new challenges they are excited to overcome? Do they become guarded when they share or do they display open trust and support whenever they talk?

What’s the difference between a Great Team and a Mediocre one? In all the organisations that I have been to, they set specific objectives for the whole year. They expect their staff to achieve higher profits, better efficiency or reduce operational costs. While this is important, my question is: “How many of them actually take time to develop and coach their Team towards better dynamics and cohesiveness?

It is the people that make the team and not just because you want better results, you will definitely get it. This is important because when the team is under pressure to perform, it will be the strong relationships between colleagues that will prevail and NOT your expectations of their performance.

There are 7 Deadly secrets that I want to share with you right now to propel your team to greater heights. Follow them and people will follow you.

1.    Purpose and Mission Driven

What drives your people to work everyday? Are they there to work for a living or are they going to a work that is purposeful. In my experience, most people start of trying to find a sense of purpose and fulfilment in their work. However, over time, they lose this sense of WHY THEY HAVE TO DO THINGS and everything starts to become just work.

It is important as a leader to always remind each person on your team WHY they are doing things, WHY they are involved in a project that is not part of their work scope, WHY they have to put in more effort and etc. This is because without the WHY, there is no ownership in their work. It is important to constantly remind and realign staff, especially when the going gets tough and the staff are under tremendous pressure to achieve results.

Every year, Fortune magazine lists out the Top 100 Companies to work for. A particular company (within the top 10) lists how they were able to share their Corporate Vision with the rest of their employees. From the Head of Departments right down to the administrative staff, all know that they have a vital role to play in creating a better quality of life for their patients who suffer from life-threatening diseases. Even in the annual staff meetings, this company invites a few of their patients to give testimony to how their drugs were able to give them a new lease of life and extend their fragile life by many more years.

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