Database Reference
In-Depth Information
13. Purchase a plaque, stuffed animal—anything fun or mean-
ingful—and give it to an employee at a staff meeting with spe-
cific praise. That employee displays it for a while, then gives it
to another employee at a staff meeting in recognition of an
accomplishment.
14.
Call an employee into your office (or stop by his or her office) just
to thank him or her; don't discuss any other issue.
15.
Post a thank-you note on the employee's office door.
16. Send an e-mail thank-you card.
17. Praise people immediately. Encourage them to do more of the
same.
18.
Greet employees by name when you pass them in the hall.
19.
Make sure you give credit to the employee or group that came up
with an idea being used.
20. Acknowledge individual achievements by using employees'
names when preparing status reports.
McCarthy and Allen (2000) suggest that you set up your
employees for success. When you give someone a new assignment,
tell the employee why you are trusting him or her with this new
challenge. “I want you to handle this because I like the way you
handled last week.” They also suggest that you never steal
the stage. When an employee tells you about an accomplishment,
don't steal her thunder by telling her about a similar accomplish-
ment of yours. They also suggest that you never use sarcasm, even
in a teasing way. Resist the temptation to say something like, “It's
about time you gave me this report on time.” Deal with the lateness
problem by setting a specific time the report is due. If it's done on
time, make a positive comment about timeliness.
3.
Take advantage of unofficial activity
: I know of few people who have
the luxury of working on unofficial projects in larger companies.
However, this is actually quite a good idea. Management should
allow slack time to be used for creative purposes. Channels should
be put in place such that any great idea nurtured during slack time
has an equal opportunity to be presented for possible funding.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search