Keeping Employees Motivated During a Recession

I’m a big fan of BNET it’s a great source for business ideas and thought leaders and I’d encourage you to use them as a resource. But I came across this videocast on their site today which was so far off the mark that I had to comment.

In the video Sumi Des interview Caty Everett, Vice President of Alliance Coaching, on how to get more from dissengaged workers. She’s right – two thirds of workers are dissengaged, it’s a huge problem costing the USA about $350 billion and the UK £30 billion per year in lost productivity. Now Caty puts forward that improving engagement is as “basic as having one-on-ones…asking people what motivates them and what they enjoy about their job” so good so far but as Sumi puts it what if “your hands are tied and you can’t give them what they are looking for?” Caty responds by saying she believes that it’s enough to have “Started a dialogue” and that you need to manage expectations…say things like “I hear you, but not sure we can focus on that now… got my feelers out for you… you don’t have to give them an immediate solution”

Oh come on! As Bruno (aka Ali G / Sacha Baron Cohen) would say this is soooo yesterday’s approach to management. Today’s employees have heard this all before – coaching and 1-on-1′s – the “we’ve heard you now so get on with your job” no longer cuts it, especially not with Gen X and Gen Y workers, who seek instant gratification in their work now.

Coaching and 1-on-1s are important don’t get me wrong but if you want to get your employees more engaged and get more from less, then you need to be creating a deep rich culture that connects with people’s value systems, it’s about creating a tribe culture through regular, informal, company meetings and celebrating mistakes and not just success. It’s about building fun and even a little zaniness into the workplace. if you want to get more from less you need to be tapping into people’s value systems…Zappos is a company that appears to get this right. The Zappos management team got their workers to come up with their own company values and they didn’t come up with lame ones like trust, integrity and honesty, which lets be frank are values that everyone expects. They came up with this list and it forms the bed rock of their “tribe culture”.:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10 Be Humble

New workers are even bribed with cash to leave Zappos if they feel they can’t live these values. And the results:

- over $1 billion in sales within 8 years… not bad for a online shoe retailer!

Check out some of the activities they get up to in the Zappos as they live these values.

If you want to get more from less and improve engagement with your workers then you need to connect with people on a more personal level and to treat your staff like adults and partners who you need to get you through the recession and not like kids who you sit down with have a one-on-one and say “we hear you but can’t do much about it because our hands are tied”

Take a feather out of Zappos’s cap and create a tribe culture. What they are doing is fun, inexpensive oh and by the way Zappos customers love them!

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