It's press day today for two of our publications and they need to be uploaded to the printer before 5:00 and the time is now 4:12. Seems we are up against the clock but in publishing it seems this is just a normal process but I would rather it not be the norm. In owning your own business you can look at ways to make a process run smoother and hopefully it will help the employees with their daily work load but there are times when looking into it you find that the best way to get something done is to do it the way it has been running. So why the same issues of pushing it to the very end? I can knit pick until I am blue but the bottom line is your employees need to do their best from day and make each minute count but not every person has the same motivation as that! Me and my managing editor whom is soon to have additional rolls can see that there are always some that are just taking advantage of the good nature of people around them and they are just plain lazy with a lack of motivation! Motivation has always been such a huge part of my make up of who I am, God has placed that in me and I am thankful my parents instilled that in me and my sisters as we were growing up. So now the challenge is how to instill motivation into those that work for you who lack this. Yes we are motivated to get up in the morning to go to our jobs or we will not see a paycheck, yes we are motivated to keep ourselves clean (hopefully), yes we are motivated to eat without food we do not exists yes we are motivated to keep gas in our cars so we can get to point A to point B and on and on and on I could go with many more but you get the picture! So I will continue to work on this motivating the troops and see what works and what does not. If any of you have some insight please feel free to share I am open to hearing your thoughts.
On to other things....going to have a great dinner this evening at Carraba's they are having a special night to raise money toward "Relay For Life" the tickets are only $15.00 which is a small contribution for such a huge need but every little bit helps for continued research.
Gotta Run
Live Is A Journey....Live It
Karen
Motivation is a funny thing. By that I mean, different people are motivated by different things. Some people are driven by Money (Which is ALWAYS nice), some are driven by trips, or family and so on. There are also those who have no motivation for anything. They are like donkeys, stubborn and hardheaded. You can hang a carrot two feet in front of them and they will stretch as far as they can but wont take that one step forward to actually eat it. They just say o-well.
ReplyDeleteI think motivation comes from people knowing that they are needed. If that donkey knows that you need him for his stability on rock terrains and without him you would fall, then I think the donkey would be more motivated to do his job.
Hope you enjoyed your dinner!
I think motivating employees is a recurring challenge, especially for an entrepreneur. They'll never think the way you do; they're employees; It's a different mindset. But, I've found the best motivators to be thanks and praise. The more I've let my staff know I appreciate them and I tell them when they exceeded my expectations or those of a client's, it seems to help.
ReplyDeleteAs a boss, I've always tried to lead by example too. I use terms such as "let's" and suggest that we do things together, so that I'm not asking THEM to do things, rather we're doing it as partners.
You can't make people more productive, and sometimes if they're lazy you've just got to cut them loose.
It ain't easy being queen, is it?
I'm proud of you, Karen,
~ Lizz
Motivating people is one of the biggest challenges facing any "Boss". Many employees want to see how much they can get for as little effort as possible. (This leaves them more time and personal space for what is really important to them....family, friends, play time and even church.) Plus many employees are so afraid that if a business "Takes Off" they will be asked to do more and more. So....some employees will always feel it is in THEIR best interest to "hinder" the bosses agenda.
ReplyDeleteThis is sad but true. Then there are the employees that want to do everything just right but they seem to have a hard time finding the ballpark. You know the ones I am talking about. "I would like to do that but....". "I tried what you said but......". Etc, Etc, Etc.
I really think with 2010 here the day of paying someone $XXXX to do XXXXX without specific performance criteria is history. No Business is going to be able to afford to pay an individual $600 per week if that individual is not an asset to the bottom line.
I think the day is here when salaries are gonna be smaller and bonuses for specific goals achieved are gonna be a bigger part of your take home pay.
I certainly do not claim to have all the answers. To quote my Grandfather Dozier Davis (who picked strawberries with Mel Tillis many a time), "People are the funniest people!"
Brent