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March 24, 2010 By Susan Barr 3 Comments

12 Ideas to Motivate Employees

Motivated Employees
There is no doubt that employees are feeling the stress of the economic downturn. They may be experiencing their own financial issues or are living in fear of losing their jobs. Consider how you can keep them motivated now so you can retain them – their expertise is an asset upon which you can grow your business out of the recession. Here are a few ideas to consider for improving morale, loyalty, and productivity so you will be ready for the economic rebound.

1. Acknowledge your employees personal life events: birthdays, anniversaries, births, deaths, graduations, etc. Let them know their life and personal well-being is important to you.

2. Have a staff field trip. Go bowling. Have a picnic in the park. Rent a skating rink.

3. Create a “volunteer day.” Provide time off for your employee to volunteer at the charity of their choice or sponsor a team event such through organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or Relay for Life. Your employees will be refreshed and energized by the ability to contribute to a worthy cause.

4. Create a training and development plan for your employees. Low-cost training is available via the web with webinars and web-based conferences which are often recorded and archived. Give each employee a training allowance of time and/or money to spend on virtual or live events.

5. Don’t’ stop there! Where possible, allow your employees to apply new skills on the job. Can they complete a new project using skills or technology they learned? Empower them beyond the limits of their job description and prepare them for the next level of promotion.

6. Do you need a retention package for key employees? Consider retention bonuses if employees are at risk of resigning especially if you want to secure their employment until after your business undergoes transition.

7. Reevaluate compensation packages if economically feasible. Consider whether your compensation package is reflective of the market wages and compensation practices. If not, develop a plan to transition to a more competitive package.

8. Create a formal incentives program that rewards performance based upon achieving a desired outcome. Sales professionals are generally compensated based upon a combination of salary and bonuses. Don’t stop at your sales staff! If you have key business priorities that lead to bottom line results, let your staff share in the profits.

9. What are their life & career goals? Sit down 1 on 1 with your staff and ask them. Turn off the blackberry/IPhone and just listen. Develop a plan to further their goals through additional responsibility, mentoring, projects and training.

10. Involve your staff in creating a new vision for the business. What are their thoughts on how you can improve processes and grow markets? Whether you ask in a 1 on 1 session or via a formal planning process with the team, employees become more invested in business strategy which they help formulate.

11. Consider flexible work schedules and tele-commuting options. Does your business structure allow employees to work from home? Investigate cloud computing options to enable a virtual office. Begin with document sharing and collaboration, web scheduling, and web conferencing applications and investigate whether your mission critical applications provide a cloud-based solution.

12. Say thank you! It is such a simple and easy thing to do but it means so much to employees when their work has been appreciated.

Be careful with incentive programs that involve goods and services with the company name imprinted on it – unless it is a cash debit card with the company logo, your well-meaning attempt at a reward may end up in a garage sale. Some of the best incentives I ever received were: time off, trips, cash bonuses and tickets to local events. I am also a big fan of “development opportunities” such as training and special projects but every employee is different.

The savvy business owner who inspires loyalty recognizes that each employee has a “currency” – a motivating inducement with value to him/her for its appropriateness and personal meaning. What is your employees’ currency? Is it time off? More money? Is it more responsibility or authority?

Let’s face it. These ideas reflect good leadership practices whether we are in an economic downturn or not but we often need to be reminded of the obvious when business is slow. Making an extra effort to improve employee incentives will pay dividends as your staff is motivated and inspired to assist your business attain new heights when business is booming.

Filed Under: Achieve!, Lead with Vitality! Tagged With: employee compensation, small business, staff motivation, teams

January 26, 2010 By Susan Barr 3 Comments

Books for Business Inspiration

nullOver the holidays, I caught up on some much needed rest, relaxation, and reading (love my Kindle!) I was looking for inspiration and found it in two books which are now among my personal favorites. I share them with you for encouragement as you begin the New Year and New Decade.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void

Although this book was released a few years ago, I finally got around to reading it and consider the advice timeless. It is worth every bit of positive press it has gotten for MacLeod’s irreverent way of inspiring creativity using his own story of success and art created on the back of business cards. Hugh’s wisdom will kick you in the pants and inspire your imagination. Here are a few gems from the book:

“The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours.”

“Good ideas have lonely childhoods.”

“Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on earth to climb.”

“Merit can be bought. Passion can’t.”

“The best way to get approval is not to need it.”

Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change by Jeremy Gutsche of Trend Hunter
Believe everything you have read about this book – it is simply amazing! Some of the 150 points of wisdom were so inspirational; I found myself putting the book down just to absorb the meaning and consider applying the ideas in my business. Best of all, the points were presented with concrete suggestions for spotting trends and applying them with the Trend Hunter Adaptive Innovation Framework. A few of my favorites:

“Don’t become a boiled frog.”

“Exploit crisis to accelerate change.”

“The right questions don’t change as often as the answers do.”

“Make failure a part of every day.”

“Fight the confidence that you know your customer.”

“Convey everything in 7 words or less.”

These two books will stay within handy reach of my desk in 2010 for those moments when I am searching for motivation, inspiration, or renewed enthusiasm. If you’ve read them, let me know your thoughts. What other books do you reach for when searching for business inspiration?

Filed Under: Innovate!, Lead with Vitality!, Strategic Thinking Tagged With: innovation, nurture soul of biz, small business, small business marketing

September 15, 2009 By Susan Barr Leave a Comment

Got Social Media Strategy?

Social Media is no longer optional. Including video, audio, and communities along with interactive and sharable content within your marketing strategy is required if you want to remain competitive in this business climate. A social media strategy is not a plan for collecting 1000’s of friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter. It is a well-defined series of campaigns planned to meet the needs of today’s customers who are ever-connected, ever-social, and ever-engaged. A winning social media strategy leverages the right combination of technology and content to create a unique customer experience with “buzzability”.

It’s not about the technology. It’s all about the customer!

1. They Are Looking for You. 4 out of 5 buyers are using the web to locate business and product information before they make a purchase yet less than half of small businesses can be found on the web. The location options for web real-estate are numerous, including platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and a variety of other directories and communities. Your plan must ensure you can be found by your target market who wants to read and hear testimonials about your offer. Potential buyers are more likely to trust a business with customer generated reviews and ratings than one without endorsements. Your strategy must include a plan for generating fresh content with the purpose of educating the consumer and informing the buying decision.

2. They Want an Experience with You. You have less than a minute. Prospects will abandon your website or business profile within seconds if they are not engaged. Create engaging and informative content with the aim of evoking a response from your customers. Multimedia and interactive content such as pictures, video, podcasts and product reviews is affordable and easily created by businesses with modest budgets and minimal technical expertise. A planned series of campaigns which include a call to action and which integrate with traditional media (newspapers, radio, etc) will create a community of loyal supporters among your customers.

3. They Want to “Buzz” About You. Your customers want to spread the word! A growing number people on the web share content such as video, articles, audio, etc with their friends. Over 90% of people trust the recommendations of friends when making purchase decisions and less than 15% trust advertising so give them something to buzz about! Generate participation and enthusiasm. Create a call to action. When you create a buzzable social media strategy, prospects become customers and customers become loyal evangelists.

Creating a social media marketing plan is like creating a special family recipe. It is not accomplished with “out-of-the-box” solutions. Every social media marketing strategy includes a vision, brand message, web and social platforms, a content strategy, and a buzz plan. Be prepared to actively listen to your customers and allow them to co-create with you. Ultimately, creating a unique social media mix tailored to your customers will keep your evangelists buzzing and your business soaring.

Filed Under: Get Connected, Get Customers!, Prepare for the Upswing, Strategic Thinking Tagged With: small business, small business marketing, social media

September 8, 2009 By Susan Barr 1 Comment

Small Business Disaster Planning

Last weekend, a tornado touched down within a few miles of my home and home office. No damage to our home but others suffered wind damage, fallen trees, and electrical service interruption. In other news, our nation and world is bracing for an outbreak of H1N1 virus. Wildfires ravaged thousands of acres across the West Coast of the U.S. destroying homes and businesses, causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

In my local metropolitan area, thousands of homes and businesses are bracing for the threat of floods throughout the Green River Valley this winter as the Army Corps of Engineers is predicting rivers overflowing from damage to the Howard Hanson Dam. Local counties and cities, as well as most large businesses, are preparing for a disaster.

Whereas I don’t get caught up in the fear of these kinds of events, I do think it is prudent to have a business continuity plan in place in the event of an unforeseen emergency. Yes, even for the small office/home office.

A business continuity plan, also called a disaster recovery plan, is defined by www.businessdictionary.com as a “set of documents, instructions, and procedures which enable a business to respond to accidents, disasters, emergencies, and/or threats without any stoppage or hindrance in its key operations.”

In its simplest format, a business continuity plan should include the following information which ought to be communicated to and in the constant possession of all key employees.

• Communication Plan
• Relocation Plan
• Evacuation Plans
• Emergency Supplies
• Vital Records
• Emergency Staffing Plan

Start by developing a Communication Plan. It takes very little time to make preparations that include a list of critical phone numbers of staff, suppliers, customers, local and national disaster assistance centers.

Backing up vital records off-site requires a minor monthly investment and is a must for any business. Web-based backups such as Mozy or Carbonite are my favorite choice for consistent and dependable backup security as there is no hassle required with manual backups, transporting the hard-drives to a safe deposit box offsite, etc. Businesses with more than 5 networked PC’s could consider contracts with Managed Services providers such as CMIT Solutions.

For more thoughts on how to develop a Business Continuity Plan, check the following resources:

http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/index.html
http://www.ready.gov/business/index.html
http://www.score.org/disaster_preparedness.html

If you are a home based business, make sure your business assets are covered in the event of a disaster. Most homeowner’s policies do not cover home-based business losses. For more information about types of home-based business insurance:

http://businessinsure.about.com/od/insuringyourbusiness/a/homebusins.htm

Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst!

Filed Under: Achieve!, Forward Momentum, Prepare for the Upswing Tagged With: business continuity, business insurance, online backup, small business, small business technology

August 20, 2009 By Susan Barr 1 Comment

Five Tasks in the Morning

blue nights_3232939922_lLast week, I read an article by Chris Brogan entitled “Five Tasks in the Morning” which has me thinking about the importance of self-discipline for business and personal success. Chris Brogan’s article is a description of the 5 social media actions he takes every morning to begin his work day. It’s a great starting point for those who want to learn from the best on how to manage social media for their business. Chris is unquestionably one the real “experts” in a world overrun by “social media experts”. However, what strikes me about this post has nothing to do with social media.

For me, the real meaning in Chris’ post has to do with discipline, being successful, being the best, and achieving your goals. As Jim Rohn says, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and achievements”.

When I think about the truly successful people I know, they all have one thing in common. They have a short list of daily habits that they execute every day. Their personal lives are framed by a handful of daily habits such as: 1. Prayer; 2. Exercise; 3. Healthy meals; 4. Dinner with family; 5. 8 hours sleep, to name a few. In their work lives, successful people can describe a structure of habits such as: 1. Reading newspapers; 2. contacting sales leads; 3. checking sales numbers; 4. reviewing goals; 5. measuring progress, and so on.

For another reflection on the subject David Campbell offers, “Discipline is remembering what you want.” In running your business, are you focusing your time and energy on what you want? If someone asked you the keys to your success, could you author an article entitled “Five Tasks in the Morning”?

If not, spend some time with your business mission and vision. Brainstorm a list and narrow it down to a top five for your business. If you start every day with those “5 Tasks in the Morning”, imagine the difference it will make to your business.

Filed Under: Achieve!, Forward Momentum, Get Profits, Lead with Vitality! Tagged With: leadership, small business, small business productivity, success

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