Spring and March Madness

By Ken Leslie, EDP

Hello all, spring is finally here! Time for March Madness! No, I am not talking basketball. I am talking about the feeling we all have to finally be able to get the hell out of the house and get outside!!! (For you down south and on the West Coast, it would be like 3 continuous month’s of torrential rain.)

Cabin Fever is real up north. It is 3 months of pent up energy as well as the body’s severe thirst for sunshine. The light of the sun provides a degree of nourishment. Lack of it in the winter can cause deep depression.

Why this is relevant is because we take those anxieties into work, and it can affect our jobs and our relationships with our peers.

I suffer from this malady. But this year I was lucky. It wasn’t as bad as past years. Perhaps this is because midwinter I attended the Xplor Leadership Conference in San Diego. Seemed to be the shot in the arm I needed in a variety of ways.

Neat isn’t it. You get involved in something just to help out, and you get all of these wonderful side benefits you never imagined! Not really meant as a plug, but if you are thinking of getting involved more deeply in Xplor, I promise there will be some wonderful side benefits you never imagined.

Feature Story:

Landing Your Dream Job

By Debbie A. Cannon, EDP

Walt Disney said, "You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality."

Every one of us is faced with the reality that the old rules of hiring and keeping good employees have gone out the window. We can no longer guarantee the jobs of the most loyal and productive employees. In turn, they cannot guarantee us their loyalty.

If you work with employees you have to constantly be in the mode of recruiting, retaining and motivating them.

Here are a few tips to guide you on your journey.

1. Constantly be on the lookout for your next great hire. They may be sitting right in front on you. Daily you have the opportunity to meet qualified candidates. Be prepared with brochures and information about your company. Have employees give testimonials about why they enjoy working at your company.
2. Invest in education and re-education. Think of your employees as your partners. Give them the tools they need to succeed. Remember they are the front line folks speaking with your customers. Can you afford to have them untrained and unmotivated?
3. Communication skills are paramount at all levels of the organization. If you do not effectively communicate with your staff they will be left to the rumor mill; which destroys trust and quickly divides what loyalty you have worked hard to build.
4. Acknowledge that human nature has a craving to be appreciated. At the end of ever day each of us are left feeling a little drained and with little left to give. Appreciation is the fuel that will keep us going one more step. William James, the pre-eminent psychologist more than a century ago said, "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."
5. Words of praise are absolutely free.

The recruiting, retention and motivation of your employees is a continuous cycle. It is no different than all of the latest buzzing about Customer Relationship Management and Client Retention. Keep motivated and enthusiastic employees and we will never have a client retention problem.

Recently I read this quote and could not agree more. "We do not quit jobs, we quit managers."

» Debbie A. Cannon, EDP, is President of DAC Enterprises and frequent speaker on How Technology Impacts the Workplace.

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Visit Internet Talent Bank for more information about each job.