Each full-time member of your staff will spend at least 235 days this year coming in to work for you. On December 31st, which of those day(s) will they remember for something you did and why? In five years, which of those days will they still recall? Which day will their families remember as a day their loved one was so moved it dominated the dinner-table discussion. Which day will their friends remember as the day you made them wish they could work for you, too?
In order to make any day memorable, something deliberately divergent and positive has to take place. Something out of the norm and completely unexpected. It needs to leave the employee thinking "what just happened?" Examples include:
- recognizing what someone did right, even if it's what is expected of them;
- taking an employee to a one-on-one lunch with no agenda, just for small talk... the further he/she is down the ladder from you the better;
- summoning someone into your office just to say you appreciate what he/she adds to the workplace;
- giving someone a "fifty-dollar handshake," (i.e. handing an employee a $50 bill and saying "You're worth well more than what any employer can possibly pay, but thanks for all you do for me").
Mere managers only communicate directly with most employees when a correction is in order. Empowered managers realize if communication is always negative, the manager's attention will always be something to dread. It's the difference between an oppressive environment and fertile ground for the spirit. The good news for mere managers is changing why they interact is as easy as choosing to do so. If that's a bridge too far, the mere manager will always have mere employees.
Flip your switch and give your staff something positive to talk about at the dinner table and they'll soon flip their switch and wonder what else they can do for you besides the minimum.
Switches turn on lights.
Give someone something to glow about.
At the end of the year they'll still remember that day. Maybe even five years later.
So will you.