SpeakStrong Newsletter

Surprising motivators

Wendy Mack’s fall newsletter asks: which of the following tools is the most powerful for motivating employees? 

1. Support for making progress, 2. Recognition for good work, 3. Incentives, 4. Interpersonal support, 5. Clear goals

If you’re like ninety-five percent of managers, you believe recognition for good work has the most impact on employee motivation. But Harvard University has proven that support for making progress is the greatest motivator, particularly for scientists, engineers, programmers, marketers, and other knowledge workers. Managing by objectives, which puts the focus on outcome misses the opportunities of managing by means (Profit Beyond Measure, Thomas Johnson). Focusing on progress motivates – but requires skill and comes with a warning… continued: read the warning, get the secret and comment

Webinar update: do you want to improve your communication skills?

Last week’s webinars were fun, informative, and allowed for a delightful sharing of ideas. You can find the links for the replay and the slides here. I’ve also posted the slides to my slideshare account. If you like them, I’d love to read your comments on slideshare or my blog posts about the presentations. Luna Lovegood and the Top Ten Phrases for Admins, and Communication Kata: The Yes Fast.

I don’t have any webinars scheduled at this time, but am working on it. Stay tuned.

Comment on the Admin webinar

Comment on the Kata webinar

PowerPhrase: Manage the process

If you manage the means instead of the result, a powerful phrase for you is:

• How do you want the process to operate?

Managing by results asks about outcome. What are you trying to accomplish? Managing by means asks about the process that achieves the outcome, and is one of the secrets of Toyota’s competitive edge.

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Please, will you adopt me, too?

I just received an email requesting auction items for a fundraiser for a couple to adopt an 11-year-old boy. The tale they tell is that the couple was in the Philippine orphanage to adopt their daughter when the boy came up to them and said,

• Please, will you take me home with you, too? I love America.

He was the oldest child at the orphanage and had watched numerous friends be adopted, leaving him behind. With that ability to make direct requests, I think that young man will do very well in business.

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PowerPhrase: We have good alchemy

What is chemistry in personal relationships can be called alchemy in professional ones.

read the post and comment

“Poison” Phrase: What time?

I’d been trying to find a time to meet with “Darla” and emailed a possible time. My email said:

How about Friday at 12:30?

That was the entire message. Darla replied,

“Friday would be great. What time?”

It didn’t surprise me a bit to note that her reply came from a mobile device. They’re harder to read, and people are often on the go when they use them.

And that is what happens when we rush. We miss things that are right in front of us. I learned a lot about Darla in that quick response. If I didn’t understand the dynamics, I might think she’s not so bright. But she holds down a very responsible job. I can’t conclude she lacks intelligence, but I can conclude that I need to be aware of the fact that she can reply without understanding. I will communicate with her differently than with someone who considers every word. I’ll check her facts and reconfirm our agreements and take more responsibility for the effectiveness of our communication.

It’s amazing how much we can learn about someone from a six-word email. Or a short blog post – which is why I’ll run spell-check on this before I hit save.

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Books by the box

With the holidays coming up, consider giving people the gift of the perfect words. You can get books for you whole team at a great price when you order books by the box. Or, just get yourself a book or two to prepare you to communicate effectively throughout the holiday rush.

That’s it for now. It’s so nice to be back.