I’ve often wondered if we humans live our lives with one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake? Typically we make our New Year resolutions and/or decide on some new and and exciting business goal and we set off with a rip and a roar – till about March. Then time, life, tiredness and excuses take over. In these fortnightly posts I want to do two things. I want to share simple fortnightly tips/exercises to hopefully keep you on track with those business goals, but I will also offer a half price book each time for those of you who want more in depth info on a given topic.
The following exercise comes from 30+ years of working with teams. It was my way of tapping into the ideas, passion and energy I absolutely knew would be lying dormant in the team. Ideas stagnate because as owners/managers we are usually too busy to ask our people for input and/or we just don’t have systems in place to implement new ideas or to discover their levels of motivation.
EXERCISE: There are 5 stages of a person’s passion for their job.
- New and excited – lots to learn
- Happy and motivated – still stimulated
- Bored (these people tend to arrive late and leave early)
- Bored and a pain in the butt (these are the ones who grumble and moan)
- Brain dead (more professionally known as ‘quit and stay’, the body shows up most days but the passion has long since gone)
Do you know where each of your people sit on these levels? Have you ever asked them? When I used this exercise with a team (without the manager present) I can promise you that 60-80% of staff fall into categories 3, 4 and 5. How tragic is that? What a waste of ideas and energy.
So this is how the exercise works: ASK EACH OF YOUR STAFF WHERE THEY WOULD HONESTLY PUT THEMSELVES. Easy as that. And if they DO fall into the 3/4/5 categories, think about how you can re-motivate them; what other jobs they could do that would stimulate them; what else they could do to take some of YOUR load off you but would be a growth opportunity for them!
And the half price book offer (be aware, I only have a few copies left so first come first served).
20/20: A Fresh Look at Business Growth
(normally $25 – for the next 48 hours $12.50 plus p&p)
Scan and return this form to me and I’ll get your order in the mail immediately.
You will find 20 chapters written by 20 topic experts sharing their wisdom on topics such as:
- Capitalising on social media and the internet (I bet some of your younger people are very social media savvy – how about involving them in promoting your business via Facebook or LinkedIn?
- Building strong relationships with customers and suppliers. How would you rate your customer service?
- The Charles Darwin concept: the premise that the strongest businesses adapt to change. When was the last time you tried something new?
- How to charge less yet make more profit.
Doing things differently is always a challenge; implementing new ideas can be scary, but NOT doing things differently is a recipe for disaster. And as always I’ll leave you with a favourite ‘thought’:
‘One can’t believe impossible things’ said Alice, ‘I dare say you haven’t had much experience, why I have believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.’
Alice and The Queen. Alice in Wonderland