The employee issue cannot be emphasized enough, tough times weigh heavy on employees and they know when a company is not performing without seeing the profit and loss statement.

The good ones start to abandon ship and seek employment elsewhere. Add restructuring and employee terminations to the formula and keeping your good employees becomes the most life threatening issue you are likely to face during tough economic times.

Losing good employees has a high cost associated with it.

Ten Tips on Motivation

1. Find the right job for the right person - When people enjoy and are challenged by their work they become self-motivated.

2. Empower and delegate - Trust employees to make their own decisions and make their own mistakes.

3. Co-operation vs. Competition - Excessive competition destroys morale. When teams work towards a shared goal they become more motivated.

4. Performance vs. "Presenteeism" - Do long hours necessarily equal quality work? Look at whether your organization encourages a presentee culture rather than valuing performance and results.

5. Involve employees in company development - Keep employees informed on new developments in the organization and how their work impacts the company.

6. The 5:1 rule - Praise and recognize employees' successes five times as much as you provide constructive feedback.

7. Job security - Possibly the greatest single factor for a motivated workforce. How can you improve job security and fringe benefits?

8. Lead your staff - Enable managers to coach their teams and create opportunities for people who are keen to learn skills and grow within the organization.

9. Create a comfortable working environment - Including relaxing the dress code where appropriate, developing areas for socializing, creative thinking, reading and giving employees quality spaces to work in (larger desks, quiet, natural lighting etc.)

10. Treat employees fairly - When people feel they are treated fairly they remain loyal to the company and motivated by their work. Perceived inequality of treatment leads to resentment, low morale and lack of self-motivation.

Frederick Reichheld's book, The Loyal Effect, points out:
"If you are losing employees, you are losing customers. On average, American companies lose half of their employees every four years and half of their customers in five years. This suggests that employee attrition may have a significant impact on customer loyalty."

Check out Rick's new CD and workbook Real World Leadership Kit --- "Learning to Lead So Others Will Follow"

Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution's "Leadership Strategist", founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com. Don't forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.

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