Here’s an important lesson that helped moved my business even in the dark times that we are experiencing. If you get this, it will totally change your perspective on things.

What do I mean by this?

In the current economic situation we are facing, listen to what people are saying. What are their minds thinking about most of the time? Is there brightness of the future or is it dominated by doom and gloom?

I recently had a tea session with a business friend of mine and he lamented that things were going to get worse from Oct 2008. He painted an extremely bleak picture and was rather despondent on what is to come, eg. further lay offs, his company diving into the red and looking at ways how to cut his business cost. His mind was the impending doom and he basically focused on how bad the situation was.

He asked me, “How about you? How are you doing now?”

I told him that I was fine; in a position that was much better than I was last year.

I totally agree with him that times are bad and some of my clients have already cut back their training budgets. This affected me. However, I told him that this economic crisis was interpreted differently from me.

I choose not to stumble to all the negativity and decided that I had personal responsibility in deciding how I should react to the bad news.

I chose to spend even more money in advertising this year and started to work with strategic partners in pushing out programs. We also started explaining to companies how we could help their employees be resourceful in their work. This lead to over 9 clients meeting up with me over a span of 1 month, indicating interest in spending on my programs.

I choose to focus on abundance even during this period, because companies need help in getting their employees to stay motivated and start generating profits, even if they are not sales people.

I choose to see the dark times as an opportunity to evaluate what are the inefficient things that have plagued my company that I want to eliminate them.

What we focus on in times like this is really important. This is not just positive thinking but actually focusing on what we have influence over and doing something about it. I cannot change the economy, but I can change the way I make my company grow. For employees, are you afraid of the lay-offs that are happening? Can I urge you to add more value to your organisation, till the extend that there is really no fear of being fired simply because you are too valuable.

So… what are you focusing on right now? Possibilities or Limitations?

Kenneth’s notes:  I actually hang the flipchart on my side of my office to remind myself to focus correctly. This keeps me focused in what I should be doing. Why don’t you try it?

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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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