Angry and grumbling about one of the provisions in the company policy, the employee asked for a private meeting with my client, the owner of a small sales company, and began to tell her in direct terms what was wrong. The client couldn’t hear anything the employee was saying because she was too busy planning her own rebuttal strategy. It was important to let the employee know that the policy was a good one. On the other hand, she didn’t want to lose her top sales agent. Physically, she could feel her body clenching and mentally, she was preoccupied with what she should say.

<b>She Who Speaks First Loses</b>
Fortunately, she remembered an old adage from her own sales days: when you are negotiating to close the sale and you’ve asked for the order, it is almost always true that “the person who speaks first loses.” The client thought about this, took a deep breath, and listened instead. Almost immediately she felt the physical tension drain away, and found she was really listening for the first time since the employee had started talking.

<b>Seek First To Understand</b>
In Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the most well known of the habits – and perhaps most difficult to achieve in difficult moments – is the 5th Habit: Seek First to Understand, Then To Be Understood. My client began to ask questions to find out more of what lay behind the outburst. She became curious, wanting to know as much as she could about her employee’s point of view. She grew increasingly interested, and soon it became fun to learn how the policy appeared to this person. The more she listened, the more she could see the situation through other eyes. As she sought clarity, she began to regain her own equilibrium and power. She saw that she could acknowledge and build on her employee’s thoughts and at the same time speak what was true from her perspective as the company’s leader.

<b>Hard on the Problem, Soft on the People</b>
She heard not only the employee’s words but also what motivated the message – the employee was concerned about fairness, clarity of communication, and the reputation of the company. So was she. It seemed that they were on the same side of wanting what was best for all. From this common ground, the client explained her own view of how the company policy supported clarity, fairness, and company vision, and specifically how adhering to it might support the employee in the long run. She was able to stay open to some positive suggestions for change and, in the end, to reassert her role as leader and mentor. The company owner helped to position the problem as something they could work on and solve together, and the conflict became an opportunity to reinforce their relationship and their ability to handle future challenges.

Morihei Ueshiba, 20th century martial artist, philosopher, and founder of aikido, is quoted as saying: “Opponents confront us continually, but actually there is no opponent there.” It is fascinating, rewarding, and an exercise in a different kind of power, when we can turn our opponents into allies. It is one thing to think we are listening, quite another to actually do it – to imagine ourselves in the place of the person we are listening to, and to position the issue so that it can be worked on as a mutual problem-solving endeavor. Try it. You will discover that when you have security in your own power, you will be able to step away from it temporarily and discover something even better.

Miscellaneous reports present very clearly which applications were used most often as well as which of them and for how long were in the foreground. On one hand, it allows you to assess the applicability of software installed, and on the other hand it may be the basis for assessment of employee commitment in completing his tasks.

Statlook then combines two functions: it allows you to use your application licenses rationally and significantly enhances office labor efficiency.

Normally, the first tangible results can be noticed right after the implementation of Statlook. The employees’ awareness of the presence of the Statlook system on their computers is enough to obtain measurable effects within a very short period of time. Many non-productive activities will be reduced drastically as soon as Statlook is installed.

Due to its reasonable price, universal appeal and operating ease, Statlook gains popularity in Europe and the United States. The number of the companies that apply this tool exceed 5000 at present.

An internationally operating company A plus C Systems is now creating its authorized partner system. Negotiations are conducted with several leading IT companies, among which are software resellers, network integrators, and hardware providers. They are engaged in implementing safety procedures as well as Software Asset Management. By the end of the year, A plus C Systems intends to gain 50 partners all over the world, offering them very good business conditions as well as full technical and commercial support.

Increase your employee’s productivity and significantly improve your effectiveness as a manager and coach. Managenius delivers results! With the Managenius Coaching for Success program, you will be able to: 

Some employees have problems when it comes to work load responsibility. These employees may be those that simply do not want to do more than they are supposed to do within the stipulated daily work time. However, as an employer you would need to ass whether this is a real condition or if the employee has genuine problems handling a particular work load. Employees that are overloaded feel that they are either not getting paid enough for their work or that they simply can not handle all the work that they are given even if they were to get an increase in salary.

In cases of overload, where an employee feels that s/he has been working more than the compensation offered overtime payment may arise. As an employer you may want to pay your employee extra to make sure that s/he continues to perform well. Sometimes it is just the matter of being paid more that helps an employee work more and take on a greater load. Remember, more money can do wonders. Naturally, employees that put in greater efforts and a greater number of work hours also need to be compensated. So, you justifiably need to pay an employee extra if s/he is willing to work on assignments that take more than the stipulated work-time.

1. How To Determine Levels Of Reward

To determine how much reward is appropriate, consider the question what level of employee reward will attract, retain, and motivate people of the calibre that you require. If an employee does something that results in a one-time boost for the company, a one-time incentive is most appropriate.

2. Why Give Employees Added Rewards In Addition To Wages?

Keep in mind that the main reason why you are giving an employee reward is because you want exceptional results, not comparable performance. Exceptional productivity will more than cover extra pay.

- Employee rewards should be set for noteworthy achievements
- Rewards must be related to a particular completion of a given task
- Employees should be encouraged to express their recent achievements
- Ensure the employee knows they deserve it, it will have a great impresion on their personality

3. Employee reward should never be an alternative for a reasonable remuneration scheme

This type of award should not be set as an enduring option to stable income amendments when, in fact, these changes should be carried out for constant and regular completion of tasks, excellent execution, and notable modifications in conscientiousness, or enhanced assessment of a status. Remember that employee reward is a one-time incentive program; therefore, it should be set out clearly and must be understood well by the employees so that they will know where to stand.

6. Employee rewards should not reflect the impression that these are changes to one’s basic pay

It must be set out clear to the employees so that they will not expect anything more than what they have to receive. Make it apparent that the extra pay is for special achievement only and nothing else. Generally, employee rewards may be in the form of cash incentives or non-cash fringe benefits. It could even be something of no real financial worth such as a personal letter of commendation.

7. Reward By Volume

If you have to use a monetary type of employee reward, give reward based on results. This means that the employee gets a fixed amount for a specific amount of results. In theory, this gives the employee the best incentive to maximize output. In fact, employees tend to put a ceiling on their earnings and thus on their effort. Nevertheless, the key concept here is that the management should only give an employee reward that is tied to an individual achievement. The reward must be reasonably large to have value – no one likes getting an overly small reward as it could have the opposite effect and make the employee view the company as cheap or undervaluing them. Never reward an employee for what has been accepted as a sensible objective. It should be given for extraordinary achievements only.

1. Goals For Employee Motivation:

- Increase employee performance at work
- Spice up team spirit and build a cohesive team
- Eliminate individual differences and avoid conflicts
- Have an open communication between peers
- Set and achieve a common goal

2. Lead By Example

There is one joke where it says that the new definition of a boss is one who is always early when you are late and who is always late when you are not. Do not let this apply to you. Be consistent. The simple gesture of arriving before or as the same time as your employees will show them how much you value their time and yours. This is also a good way of showing employees that you respect the company that pays you for your time at work. If you do come in late, apologize to those who are under you and explain why you are late. This is so that they would not think that the no-late policy does not apply to the boss, showing them that you are equals when it comes to company rules and policies.

2. Keep Communication Lines Open

Some employees are afraid to talk to, or even look at superiors who exude the touch-me-not aura. This is not a good way to motivate your employees. When you come to work, do not just go straight to your office and deal with your paper works. Mingle with the employees and ask them about their previous day, on what they have accomplished so far. Then you can tell them about the output that you expect by the end of the day. This way, you would know what to expect from the employees and vice-versa. It will not only help you set a goal for the day but with this, you are also optimizing your interaction with the employees by mingling with them on a more casual basis.

3. Share What You Know

Do not be selfish. Sometimes, a company does not grow because there are employees who know something advanced about the industry or a certain aspect of the company, and they are not willing to share their knowledge to others. They think that this would make them invaluable to the company, especially if they are the only ones who know about a particular process or idea. This attitude would not help your company succeed. There should always be a sharing of knowledge. When an employee is asked to train abroad, they are often asked to sign a contract that they should not resign for the next year or two. Why do you think this is so? Imagine what would happen if the employee who trained abroad or attended an exclusive seminar about an advanced technology on the industry just up and leaves right after the training. A company would not spend thousands of dollars to train an employee for nothing. They want you to share and impart the knowledge to your fellow employees. If you share a new technology to your entire team, who knows what newer and better ideas the knowledge would bring? Do not stutter the company’s growth by keeping your ideas to yourself.

4. Implement Your Ideas

What good would a new idea or technology do if you do not apply it? After sharing the knowledge, gather the team and think of ways to improve the company’s operation with what you all have learned. As a leader, you should be a people person. You must know how to adopt to the things that motivate your team members and use this knowledge to your advantage. Without a good and solid workforce behind you, you will not accomplish anything. You may have ten or a hundred employees, but if you apply these steps to motivate your team, you can bring out the best in them and contribute towards your company’s growth and success.

If you do not know what your employee turnover cost is, many experts agree that you can come surprisingly close to the cost of a single turnover incident by simply multiplying the annual salary for the position times 2.5 – that will cover productivity loss, recruiting and hiring cost, training cost, liability, unemployment and the other 101 hidden costs that we usually try not to think of when we lose an employee.

Employee turnover often begins with a poor hiring decision.  When we hire someone who is a poor job fit, we have already begun an almost inevitable course that will end with failure – and another turnover casualty.  Part of the problem of poor hiring lies with our poor tools:  One comprehensive study of the hiring process indicated that, if an interview is your only tool, you have only a 14% chance of making a good hire. Add good reference checking (and we all know how difficult that can be), you can raise your success ratio to 26%.  If your goal is to beat one out of four odds, you need better tools!

Fortunately, the science of employee assessments has produced increasingly useful tools to add to the art of hiring.  While no assessment, or even a combination of assessments, guarantees success, the same study showed that use of personality, abilities, interests, and job matching measures can raise your success rate to 75% or better. Equally important, valid pre employment screening assessment tools in all of those areas can be applied for well below 1% of the projected cost of a bad hire.

Why don’t more of us use employee assessments to improve our hiring (and lower turnover)?  Part of the answer lies in lack of education on the topic – not many of us have even attended a single seminar on use of scientific assessment tools. Part lies in reluctance to spend any money on new processes.  Part of it, frankly, is the already overwhelming load we place on the people who are doing the hiring – they are so busy bailing the boat, they can’t take time out to turn on the bilge pumps!  To change the course of turnover, you must recognize that the costs are killing you, that you can change course, and that the rewards are well worth the trouble.

It is no easy task to see that all real estate taxes are paid on time, that properties are adequately insured, and that PMI and MIP premiums are paid; and at the heart of escrow administration are escrow analyses.  The staff members involved in conducting escrow analyses must be well trained and have a good understanding of all aspects of escrow servicing.   

In addition to handling taxes, insurances, and analyses, the escrow department deals with loss drafts, PMI cancellations, and in some companies, customer inquiries.  Also, they deal with lender placed insurance.  If a property not previously in a SFHA is later determined to be in a SFHA, the escrow department notifies the customer that flood insurance is required.  Flood insurance is placed on the property, if the customer fails to provide a policy.  Many customers do not agree that their property is in a SFHA and resist purchasing a flood insurance policy.  Lender placed insurance, whether it is flood or F&EC, frequently results in telephone calls and complaints from customers.

If all of this isn’t enough, these functions must be performed in compliance with state and federal laws.  Indeed the escrow department has been severely impacted in the last few years by changes brought on by HUD’s Final Rule for conducting an escrow analysis, the Homeowners Protection Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac requirements for PMI cancellation, HUD’s regulations for cancellation of FHA premiums, and flood insurance regulations.

Department managers, supervisors, and employees of escrow departments have a great deal on their plate.  However, the process works and works well in most cases because escrow departments are made up of talented and dedicated people.  Unfortunately, in spite of their best efforts, errors can occur that create problems for the customer, and for the company. 

There is one item that can help the escrow department immensely and that is employee training.  There are always new employees coming on board that need training and seasoned employees that need refresher courses to strengthen what they have already learned.  Everyone will agree that a well-trained employee is more productive and generally happier with his or her job.  An effective training program creates a much higher quality of work and usually reduces employee turnover.

Depending on the size of the company, an employee may be trained only on the particular function assigned to him or her.  In this case, it is difficult for the employee to understand how it all fits together and how one function impacts another function.  An employee responsible for escrow disbursements may not realize how a processing error will affect the customer.  Generally, new employees are trained how to process their work, but unfortunately they are not always taught why the work they do is important.  They may not understand what the ramifications are to others if the work is not performed correctly.  If they were provided with all the background information and an understanding of the components of escrow servicing, their work would be a lot of easier. This would result in the overall success of the escrow department.

The need for ongoing training exists in all business types. Some companies rely on a department’s management team to provide training.  Since managers, supervisors, and other employees know the company’s internal policies and procedures, they are wonderful resources for providing training.  However, these same people are key players in the day-to-day management of the department and may find it difficult to find time to provide training.  Ongoing training classes should be structured with dedicated resources to provide the training needed. There can never be too much training and training is one of the best investments a company can make.

Teach employees “why” and not just “how”.