If only my employees would….

Have you ever said that?  Motivating your employees can be a tricky thing.  All you can affect is the environment that your employees work in.  That environment can encourage good work habits or allow bad work habits.  You get to decide.

If you haven’t read the post before this one, go back and read it, before you try any of these tips.

You can test these tips to see if you can encourage the good work habits.  Warning:  For any of these to work, you’ve got to apply them to everyone – consistently.

Here are some more tips you can use if your employees are:

Late!  For individuals who are habitually late it’s time to have a private conversation.  If you’ve allowed them to be late in the past, explain that while you’ve allowed this to happen in the past, it’s no longer ok going forward.  If they show up late again, follow your organization’s procedures for progressive discipline.  I’ve fired employees for being late, it sends a loud signal to everyone in your work group.

My senior management team would stream into our Monday meetings at various times.  When I had enough of that I told them that this wasn’t ok going forward.  I warned them that if anyone showed up late for a meeting they would be asked to leave.  It only happened one more time, I asked the person who was late to leave when he tried to sit down.  Everyone showed up on time after that.

Sloppy!  This can get tricky when it comes to personal appearance.  Privately talk to your staff member.  The language that has worked for me goes something like this:  “Jack, I want you to be a success at this company.  Part of being successful is your image.  You’re probably not even aware that it’s important to [fill in the problem] make sure your shirt is always tucked in.  It shows everyone that you’re professional.”

Sloppy workspaces can slow down productivity.  Try hiring a professional organizer that specializes in workspaces.  You can have them come in to hold a class for everyone – it’s a fun way to learn new tools and a great way to build team work.

Taking this to the extreme, one company I worked with had a policy – nothing could be left on any employee’s desk over night.  No paper, binders, files or anything else.  Each employee had to come up with a system where they would only take out what they were currently working on and everything else was kept in drawers and cupboards.  There were consequences if anything was left out.

What’s been your experience with people being late?  Does it drive you crazy?  Do you fall on the messy or neat side?  Leave a comment and let me know.

I’ll pick up where I left off in the next post!