Introducing HOT Management
By Bruce Tulgan

Managers in every workplace today are engaged in a tug of war. On one side, employers are demanding more work and better work out of people--often out of fewer people, with fewer resources. On the other, employees are feeling pressured, overworked, and in need of some relief in the form of flexible working conditions, or at least some incentives for all their hard work. (read more...)

When mind-numbing, monotonous work makes retaining employees difficult
By Joan Lloyd

Question
I am a front line manager. The work that is performed by my agents is very monotonous. Therefore, after a few days my subordinates get bored and think of resigning or moving on to some other role, which makes the situation very difficult to motivate them. If you can tell me how to motivate them it would be really helpful. I am really running short of ideas. (read more...)

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #6
By John Putzier

Get Out of Jail Free Card
I am amazed that in this day and age of talent demand and shortages, that there are still employers out there who would never consider "letting" someone come back who had left "the company." Who are you punishing? If that same person applied for a job with your company, but had not worked for you before, would you hire them then? If so, that means it is better to NOT have a track record with your company? (read more...)

Introducing HOT Management (^ top)
By Bruce Tulgan

Managers in every workplace today are engaged in a tug of war. On one side, employers are demanding more work and better work out of people--often out of fewer people, with fewer resources. On the other, employees are feeling pressured, overworked, and in need of some relief in the form of flexible working conditions, or at least some incentives for all their hard work. Stuck in the middle--trying to negotiate these competing needs--is every single person with supervisory authority. How can managers reconcile these opposite forces? How can they possibly win the game? What can they do every day to get more work and better work out of each person and at the same time give people more of the flexibility they need?

Based on our ongoing (since 1993) research in the workplace, I coined the term HOT Management. This term describes the highly engaged management style of supervisors leading high performance teams in today's demanding workplace. HOT stands for "Hands-On" and "Transactional."

HOT Managers are "hands-on." That means they spend time regularly with the people they are managing to help them think through assignments up front, anticipate resource needs, avoid potential problems, and create realistic timetables for results. They also provide regular constructive feedback and coaching to get people on track and keep them there.

HOT Managers are also "transactional." They drive performance through negotiation, rather than just relying on "being the boss." They find and leverage the "needles in a haystack" that are each employee's unique needs and wants--whether it is a choice assignment, Thursdays off, the corner cubicle, or bringing the dog to work. They know they can't give everything to everybody. But they try to do as much as they can for every employee, making a custom deal for every person to give him or her more of what he or she needs or wants. In exchange, HOT Managers hold each employee accountable for meeting ambitious goals and deadlines.

HOT Managers engage in an ongoing dialogue with each person they manage. That dialogue basically sounds like this: "What do you want from me? Good. Here's what I need from you." And conversely, "Here's what I need from you. What do you want from me in return?"

This approach sounds simple, but it's not. HOT Management may be the most difficult and, ultimately, the most rewarding way to build day-to-day relationships with your people and motivate them to higher performance. Managing people is going to take more of your time, energy, and skill than it ever has. High performance in the real new economy ---always uncertain, always high pressure--- requires high maintenance.

Bruce Tulgan is the founder of RainmakerThinking, Inc.® and he is internationally recognized as the leading expert on young people in the workplace.

When mind-numbing, monotonous work makes retaining employees difficult (^ top)
By Joan Lloyd

Dear Joan:
I am a front line manager. The work that is performed by my agents is very monotonous. Therefore, after a few days my subordinates get bored and think of resigning or moving on to some other role, which makes the situation very difficult to motivate them. If you can tell me how to motivate them it would be really helpful. I am really running short of ideas.

Answer:
If the work is that boring, you should consider automating it or outsourcing it. If that isn't an option, and it's data entry, perhaps you can spread the work among the people outside the department, who generate the data. If none of those is an option, here are some other things to try:

Involve the team in creating a measurement system that you can link to rewards and incentives. For example, perhaps you could create some excitement regarding meeting or beating a production goal each week and/or month. When people have a goal to shoot for-a contest to compete for-a record to break, dull work can be more tolerable.

Goals could be created for the whole group, or for individuals, to mix things up. Different goals can be created by day, week or month. It could involve cases resolved, cases input into the system, customer satisfaction scores, days without an absence, percentage of customer complaints, revenue generated, expenses reduced, or any other thing you can measure.

You may get some ideas by talking with sales managers to get some additional ideas. Sales departments have created many ways to keep their sales force motivated. Sometimes they will have contests that reward results or actions, such as the most sales in a day, or the most cold calls made in a week.

Since you are in an office environment, and bound by the company budget, the incentives don't always have to be salary related. For example, you could bring in pizza or extend the lunch hour if a goal is reached. Perhaps tokens or points could be earned that would enable people to accumulate enough to exchange for items of value. Many companies now use points or tokens in situations such as this, so employees have something to work towards.

Recognition for good performance is always welcome. Pats on the back are critical and you may want to go a step further and send a letter to an employee's home for excellent performance-with a gift certificate for the family at a local restaurant.

Sometimes it helps to rotate tasks among a team or across teams. For example, two teams may be able to do some cross training and share duties.

If the duties are so boring no one wants to do them for very long, there is something fundamentally wrong with the design of the position. Speak with your company's HR department and ask them for advice. In today's work world, few people are willing to sign up for a mind-numbing job. If that is the situation you're in, HR should be able to help you re-design the position, or restructure the department, so employees will have some reason to stay.

Joan Lloyd has a solid track record of excellent results. Her firm, Joan Lloyd & Associates, specializes in leadership development, organizational change and teambuilding. This includes executive coaching, 360-degree feedback processes, customized leadership training, team assessment and teambuilding and meeting and retreat facilitation. Clients report results such as: behavior change in leaders, improved team performance and a more committed workforce. Email your question, for consideration for publication to info@joanlloyd.com (800) 348-1944. Visit her article archive with more than 1200 articles JoanLloyd.com or her online store for her management, career and job hunting tools. (c) Joan Lloyd & Associates

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #5 (^ top)
By John Putzier

Get Out of Jail Free Card
I am amazed that in this day and age of talent demand and shortages, that there are still employers out there who would never consider "letting" someone come back who had left "the company." Who are you punishing? If that same person applied for a job with your company, but had not worked for you before, would you hire them then? If so, that means it is better to NOT have a track record with your company?

Face it. If you hire the best and the brightest, it stands to reason that those people will be the hardest to hold onto. Anyone can hold onto a loser. If you have very low turnover, before you break your arm patting yourself on the back, be sure that it isn't because you have people no one else wants.

If you know for a fact that you would hire a particular ex-employee (for example, if they are a rare talent, you know it, and you'll always need it), give them a "get out of jail free" card that entitles them to immediate re-employment without having to go through Human Resources or any other bureaucratic process requirements.

"You want a job? You got it!" It is a powerful symbolic gesture that reinforces their value to you and leaves them with a very positive last (and lasting) impression of what they are leaving. They can escape the jail of your competition at any time!

Human Resources people bristle at such an idea, and are quick to ask, "What about references and background checks, and all the other preliminary work that has to be done?" Why do you need to check references, or complete any other pre-employment requirements? You already hired them once, and they have obviously proven themselves or you wouldn't want them back, right? You've already got something better than references or credentials; you've got past performance!

If it is really necessary, make the hiring offer contingent upon whatever security blankets you need, but you surely don't need to go back before the date you hired them before! Not only is that a waste of time and money, but it sure doesn't say much for your process the first time around. Just be sure to make it clear on the "Get Out Of Jail Free" Card that the offer is contingent upon a suitable position being available, and that current employees have first priority.

There are other benefits to re-hiring former employees as well. They can come in running, they do not need an orientation to your policies or procedures, they know the people and the processes, and they have fresh ideas and perspectives from having been outside your box for a while. Need I go on?

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