How to challenge staff to bring out best

Question: We are trying to align our employees’ attitudes toward focusing on building a successful company. However, we are finding a lot of indifference from our staff. If we are to reach our business goals, we must have everyone working together. We can not afford to be spinning our wheels constantly. What do you do with your companies to handle this situation?

Answer: You have to find a balance between an entitlement feeling and anxiety with your employees. In other words, people are most motivated to pursue a goal or master a task when it is a challenge or a stretch. At the same time, reaching the challenging goal also has to be attainable.

Your company’s employees could exist in one of three states:

* No-Consequences. In the state of No-Consequences the level of risk is too low and people take everything for granted. No matter how poorly they perform, they still have security.

* Fear. An example of the state of fear would be frequent downsizings. After frequent downsizings, the level of risk or anxiety is too high, and people can take nothing for granted. No matter how well they perform, they can not earn security.

* Earning. In this state the level of risk is midway, or 50 percent, and people are challenged enough to perform at their best. There is enough risk so that they cannot take what they earn for granted, but the odds are good that they can earn desirable outcomes.

The state of Earning is the attitude you want everyone in your company have if your business is going to prosper, and the people in it are to flourish.

You must convince employees who are fearful that the best chance they have at earning security is through helping the company to hit its critical targets.

The following nine points will help you in creating a company in which everyone reaches the ideal state of Earning:

* Create a realistic sense of urgency to convince people that the company, and their jobs, are always at risk.

* Use leadership to inspire loyalty and commitment by modeling the new values and creating a winning strategy

* Focus everyone’s efforts on the “Purpose” of the business and eliminate garbage activities.

* Encourage people to collaborate with others to achieve the company’s goals.

Select people who have the right personality and character, rather than the ideal skills and experience. It is much easier to improve any one person’s skills compared to changing their behavior.

* Use management methods as tools for reaching the goals of the business, rather than as goals in themselves.

* Establish trust by communicating convincingly, and doing what you say. Walk the talk.

* Give employees a conditional commitment that allows them to earn security through excellent performance.

* Create conditions that help people to achieve success, then celebrate that success in meaningful and fun ways.

Q: What do I need to do to earn a high price tag? I want to increase my value to my company and ultimately earn a better wage. What must I do to achieve this?

A: The strongest asset anyone can have in times of rapid change is the mindset of an entrepreneur, along with optimism that comes from self-confidence. In today’s labor force, being entrepreneurial will be more of an advantage than only having a higher education. Successful people will see opportunities where others see only problems.

While you will need specific goals and relevant skills, you will not be able to predict how you will use your knowledge and skills as the rate of change keeps accelerating. You will have to be proactive and flexible, willing to retrain or even relocate, to maintain your employability. Stay alert to opportunities as they arise.

In the midst of change, the most effective people will be able to grasp, analyze, intuit, and synthesize information so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

You will need to be comfortable with pressure and uncertainty, because decisions in a fast-paced economy must be made long before all the data can be gathered and analyzed. In an unpredictable world, you will need to think on your feet and not try to operate by the book, because the book will always be out-of-date.

Just as companies need a sense of urgency in order to change, so is a reasonable amount of fear an asset to individuals. You must learn to use anxiety about economic insecurity to make yourself do what you need to do in order to increase your value, even if it involves disruption, relocation, and more hard work.

The most important job you have is to keep yourself valuable. And only you are responsible for ensuring that this job gets done.

Greeley resident Russell Disberger is a founding member of Tekquity Ventures LLC, a Louisville-based specialty venture capital firm investing in technology development and licensing. He can be reached at (303) 926-3990 or via e-mail at disberger@home.com.

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