TIPS ON MOTIVATING and KEEPING EMPLOYEES

"Leadership is not about the prestige of your title but the quality of your character."

A leader is one who is in control, takes charge of a situation, and is decisive. A good leader or manager is fair, firm, and consistent, as well as flexible. Being flexible doesn't mean that you have to change your personality. You can be firm and still be friendly; you can be decisive and still be polite. You can give someone more freedom without giving away the company. The better you are at knowing how to treat your employees, the more effective you will be as a manager. And the employer-employee relationship will be more satisfying to both parties.

People will not follow you if they do not trust you. Great leaders remember that the little things are the big things when it comes to building loyalty.

"Simply fill the needs of your staff and they will remain with you until someone who can do it better comes along. But if you deeply connect with them on a human level , they just might remain with you for life."

Many theorists believe that people have different need levels in their work environment. They progress from one stage to the next, although some people "plateau" or stay at a certain stage for a period of time before advancing on. Briefly the stages follow:

The basic or SURVIVAL level is the starting point. In order to accept a position, a person needs to be assured that the wages offered are sufficient to meet his/her basic needs for survival (food, shelter).

A person's SECURITY needs relate to job, financial, and health security. These most often addressed by an employer in a benefits package. Examples include: training and development, tuition fees for night courses, seniority systems, wage incentive plans, profit-sharing plans, insurance, pensions, medical/dental plans.

Having satisfied the basic and security needs, a person then seeks to satisfy his/her SOCIAL needs. Having an opportunity to learn new skills, to make suggestions, to interact with other staff, to attend staff meetings and be called upon for input are examples or how social needs may be met.

The SELF-ESTEEM needs are satisfied by promotions, praise and recognition, added responsibility and challenging work. At this final stage the employee is working independently, competently, productively, and has a sense of pride in performing at this level.

Raise your standards;

Learn from the Best;

Take time daily to refine your talents and read great books on Leadership; and

Take time weekly to reflect on the way you are conducting your business so you can build the next week on the past one.

A manager's job is to recognize what stage the employee is at, and to assist and encourage them to progress along the ladder to their highest level of capability. Pushing too hard may sometimes discourage and frustrate staff who may have a different learning pace. Effective use of a variety of motivation techniques will foster personal development for the employee, and in turn increase productivity and profits.

You can reduce unwanted employee turnover and the high cost of recruiting, hiring, and training new staff by shifting the costs of hiring new employees to keeping and developing experienced ones. For example, you can motivate an employee to increase productivity by providing opportunities for career development. At the same time you have improved the worker's skills and shown recognition of the worker's value and aspirations. There are other motivating techniques, such as delegating responsibilities and shared decision-making. Incentives such as pay increases and fringe benefits are also motivating factors.

By applying some basic principles of respect and encouragement in the development of each staff member as an important individual,

you will reap the rewards of loyal, trustworthy, and dependable staff.